- 著者
-
今関 敏子
- 出版者
- 国文学研究資料館
- 雑誌
- 国際日本文学研究集会会議録 = PROCEEDINGS OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON JAPANESE LITERATURE (ISSN:03877280)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- no.26, pp.17-34, 2003-03-01
I would like to discuss how travel was viewed and discussed in the Heian and Kamakura periods through examining the themes of the culture and literature of travel.Travel has been a reoccurring theme in literature throughout history and throughout the world. By travel one can mean that for business or errands, enjoyment or sightseeing: all indicating very different purposes. In any event, for us in the modem world, travel means getting away from our daily existence and, for a period of time, entering an environment different from our normal one. For us, travel sets our heart alight with anticipation, and offers an opportunity to renew ourselves.However, how travel is viewed differs greatly from culture to culture and era to era. For example, in Japan's classical and medieval period, travel was seen basically as leaving one's home, and traveler's rest (tabine) could be had staying the night even at a location relatively near to home. Also, a journey to a far off location was not necessarily a cause for joy.It goes without saying that how travel is viewed is reflected in how it is illustrated in words. In the Kamakura period, traffic and trade between the capitol and the East grow beyond what they were previously. In what ways does the depiction of travel change? Most of the authors of travel literature of this period are men. Women left memoirs detailing not individual journeys, but rather a broader scale of their lives including their travels. Women in Japan have from times of old traveled a great deal indeed, but what brought about this difference in expression?Also, H. E. Plutschow wrote “Tabi suru Nihonjin” (1983, Musashino Shoin), while discussing how different Japanese and Western travel logs are, that in Japan, even if one does not leave on an actual journey, if he makes his way down a series of Utamakura, he may write a travel diary from within his own home. I would also like to look at the unique culture of travel within Japan as seen through the use of typified expression.