Education and the Art of Calligraphy in Japan's Middle Ages: the "Jubokusho" and the "Saiyosho" (Kanji).

Abstract

This dissertation is a translation and comparative analysis of two treatises on Japanese-style (wayo) calligraphy, the Saiyosho, written in the twelfth century, and the Jubokusho, written in the fourteenth century. The purpose of the dissertation is to articulate the educational philosophy of twelfth to fourteenth century Japan as represented in the treatises. The concept of michi (the Way) is used as a focus for the comparative analysis. Michi is defined by Konishi Jin'ichi as containing the following five components: specialization, universality, transmission, conforming ethic, and authority. The Saiyosho is based on the teaching of Fujiwara Norinaga (1109-1180) as imparted to Fujiwara Koretsune (d. 1227). The Jubokusho was written in 1352 by Prince Son'en (1298-1356). Son'en, a central figure in the history of Japanese calligraphy, wrote the Jubokusko for Emperor GoKogon (1338-1374) of the northern court as a guide to the young emperor's study of calligraphy. The treatise is a compendium of information that Son'en considered important for the beginning student of calligraphy. The Saiyosho, on the other h and , was not written for a specific reader and is not presented in an integrated form. Rather, it is a collection of independent statements on the study of calligraphy. This dissertation consists of four levels: (1) annotated transla- tions of the treatises, (2) an outline of the two treatises and the specific teachings that they presented to students to calligraphy, (3) an articulation of the position of calligraphy in the education of the aristocrats of the Heian capital, and (4) a comparative analysis of the two treatises in light of the concept of michi. It was found that the two treatises, which fall on either side of a two-century period in which the concept of michi fully developed in Japan's Middle Ages, in many ways illustrate the changes that took place during those years.