Spring 2026 Literature Course The “Floating World Fiction” of Ihara Saikaku

This course will introduce three key works by Ihara Saikaku (1642–1693), widely acclaimed as early-Tokugawa Japan’s greatest writer of fiction. The first lecture will outline the historical and cultural context of Saikaku’s stories and novels: the status-group system imposed by the Tokugawa regime; the rapid growth of cities in 17th-century Japan, the expansion of a literate bourgeoisie and the concomitant emergence of a publishing industry; the licensed prostitution quarter as cultural hub; the Buddhism-derived aesthetics of evanescence; age-structured male homosexuality and normative male bisexuality; consumerism and sumptuary laws. In our first session we will also examine Saikaku’s first published work of fiction, Kōshoku ichidai otoko (The Life of an Amorous Man, 1682), a sophisticated parody of and homage to the aristocratic courtly romances Tales of Ise (900s) and The Tale of Genji (early 1000s) whose hypersexual bourgeois protagonist devotes his life to the pursuit of erotic adventure with female and male prostitutes and some “amateurs” as well. The second lecture will focus on Saikaku’s Kōshoku gonin onna (Five Women Who Loved Love, 1686), whose bourgeois heroines arrogate to themselves the male prerogative of sexual pursuit, with, in four out of the five stories, disastrous results. The third and final meeting will focus on Ihara Saikaku’s collection of samurai vendetta tales Budō denraiki (Exemplary Tales of the Way of the Warrior, 1687), which portray, variously, samurai bravery, cowardice, heroism and abuse of power. Reflective of the fact that in Tokugawa Japan age-structured male homosexuality was considered an erotic specialty of the samurai, this collection includes stories in which samurai youths avenge the deaths of their male lovers.

David J. Gundry is Associate Professor of Japanese and Undergraduate Faculty Advisor for Japanese at the University of California, Davis, where he teaches classes on Japanese literature from the early period to the present. He earned his Ph.D. from Stanford University. He has written several books and contributed numerous articles and book chapters. Tuttle Publishing just released Ihara Saikaku’s This Scheming World: Classic Tales of Desire, Deception and Greed in Old Japan, which was revised and with a new introduction by Prof. Gundry. He is currently working on an article regarding depictions of sexuality in Ihara Saikaku’s fiction, as well as translations of Saikaku’s Budō denraiki (Exemplary Tales of the Way of the Warrior, 1687) and Honchō nijū fukō (Twenty Cases of Filial Impiety in Japan, 1686). His research interests are medieval and early-modern Japanese literature, comparative history of the novel, and Edo period popular culture.

Reading materials will be shared with registered attendees.