"Ihara Saikaku (1642-93) was a poet, who turned to short story writing late in life. _The Nippon Eitai-gura_ (‘Japanese Family Storehouse’) was written in 1685; it is a collection of thirty short stories, illustrating the methods tradesmen should adopt in their pursuit of wealth, the conduct they should follow, and the pitfalls to avoid. The basis of the stories is usually real life; what has made them endure is the combination of Saikaku’s unsentimental eye and the remarkable city-society he recorded.
Mr Sargent’s introduction is a study of the poet and of this book in particular. The translation follows, and the book ends with a commentary on those points which western readers need help with."
Author(s): Ihara Saikaku, G.W. Sargent
Series: University of Cambridge Oriental Publications #3
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 1959
Language: English
Commentary: Translation of 1685 anthology
Pages: 306
Tags: Japanese fiction, _The Nippon Eitai-gura_/_Daifuku Shin Choja Kyo_, anthology, Edo period, chunin/townsmen, Osaka, commodities, futures trading, kompeito, Dutch trade, Nagasaki, Kyoto
1. Preface
- INTRODUCTION
1. "Saikaku the Haikai Poet"
2. "Saikaku the Novelist"
3. "Haikai Principles in _Nippon Eitai-gura_"
4. "Modernised Millionaires"
- TRANSLATION OF _NIPPON EITAI-GURA_
1. "Coins, rice measures and silver weights introduced in the translation"
2. "Note on the illustrations"
- _The Japanese Family Storehouse_
-- Book 1
1. "Riding to success on a lucky horse"
2. "A fan-shop fortune breezed away"
3. "Steady trade winds for the good ship Jinzu"
4. "Ancient on-account and modern cash-down"
5. "A lucky draw from the world of greed"
-- Book II
1. "The foremost lodger in the land"
2. "A thunderbolt not included in the calculations"
3. "A feather in Daikoku’s cap"
4. "The demon with a windflower crest"
5. "By land and sea to the Abumiya"
-- Book III
1. "A dose of what the doctor never orders"
2. "From Kyoto’s streams to Bungo’s baths"
3. "Throwing dust in the Buddha’s eyes"
4. "The man who built the cenotaph of debts on Mount Koya"
5. "A paper fortune torn to shreds"
-- Book IV
1. "A tray of good things for a god"
2. "A subterfuge behind a literary screen"
3. "Showers of zeni"
4. "All the goodness gone from tea"
5. "Extortionate prices for Ise lobsters"
-- Book V
1. "Making a clock in slow motion"
2. "Yodo fish for fortune building"
3. "A solitary bean which lighted the way"
4. "Salt in the morning, oil in the afternoon"
5. "A handful of silver at dawn"
-- Book VI
1. "Sprigs of holly from a money tree"
2. "A genius as a foster-child"
3. "Sound investments and good friends"
4. "A solid fortune floating down the Yodo"
5. "Rations of worldly wisdom from a man of eighty-eight"
- COMMENTARY ON THE TRANSLATION
-- Abbreviations of references page
-- Commentary
-- Glossary of Japanese terms
- APPENDICES
-- Coinage
-- _Choja Kyo_ (_The Millionaires’ Gospel_): translation
-- _Shimai Soshitsu no Yuikun Jushichi-ka-jo_ (_The Seventeen Injunctions of Shimai Soshitsu_) : translation
-- List of References
- Index
- MAPS ( following page 281)
-- Osaka (based on a map of 1687)
--- (a) Edo (based on a map of 1689)
--- (b) Edo business quarter (1689)
-- Japan, showing place-names connected with _Nippon Eitai-gura_
-- Kyoto and environs (based on a map of 1686)
