places not essential to a story have sometimes been omitted in the interest of easy reading for Westerners not able to absorb large quantities of Japanese proper names. Puns, allusions, repetitions, and incommunicable stylistic fripperies have also been discarded whenever possible. Extracts have been made with the intent always of presenting the given work in as favorable a light as possible, even though it might at times be fairer if the book were presented as rather uneven.
There are many objections to the practices cited above, and I am aware of them. But I think it highly important that this first anthology of Japanese literature have as wide an appeal as possible. For those interested in more literal versions of Japanese works, there are at least two scholarly books of recent years designed to meet their needs: “Translations from Early Japanese Literature” by E. O. Reischauer and J. K. Yamagiwa and “The Love Suicide at Amijima” by D. H. Shively. Both of these books give translations of complete texts; all allusions, wordplays, etc., are explained; and words which have been supplied by the translator are enclosed in brackets.
In presenting the anthology I have, for the sake of convenience, divided the literature into political periods: Ancient, Heian, Kamakura, Muromachi, and Tokugawa. However, this division is to be considered as little more than a convenience; it is obvious that a change of regime did not instantly produce a new literature, and it is sometimes indeed difficult to decide to which period a given work belongs. But, just as “eighteenth-century literature” has a meaning for us in spite of the qualifications we may make about its appropriateness as a general term, so “Tokugawa literature” makes enough sense for such a division to be made.
It will be noted that a majority of the translations in this book have never before been printed. Some of them have been made especially at my request, and at some urgency when the translators were engaged on other projects. I wish therefore to take this opportunity of thanking them all for their collaboration.
As far as my own translations are concerned, I should like to thank first Professor Noma Kōshin of Kyoto University, under whom I have studied for two years; D. J. Enright and Carolyn Bullitt for help with the poetry; Hamada Keisuke and Matsuda Osamu for their
