Tsurezuregusa (徒然草, Essays in Idleness, also known as The Harvest of
Leisure) is a collection of essays written by the Japanese monk Yoshida Kenk
ō <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshida_Kenk%C5%8D> between 1330 and
1332. The work is widely considered a gem of medieval Japanese literature
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_literature#Medieval_literature> and
one of the three representative works of the zuihitsu <https://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Zuihitsu> [1]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsurezuregusa#endnote_1> genre
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_genre> , along with Makura no Sōshi
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillow_Book> and the Hōjōki
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C5%8Dj%C5%8Dki> . [Wikipedia reference]
And here we could almost find in Kenko an ancestor of Speranza . . . or
perhaps, further down, Wallace Stevens:
“Everyday speech, too, is growing regrettably bad. Whereas they used to
say ‘Lift up the carriage’ and ‘Turn up the lamps’, now they have
changed the way they pronounce it. Old people say that it is a great pity
that for the assembly of servants of the Household Department they now say
‘Get up and light the lamps’, and at the recital of the Golden Light
Sutra, instead of saying ‘Hall of the Imperial Lecture’ they say ‘Lecture
Hall.’
“But despite the degeneracy of these latter days, happily the
nine-times-encircled imperial palace still remains aloof from the world,
serene and venerable as of yore. Fine-sounding names are used, such as the
Platform of the Dews, the Dry Rice of the Morning and the divers styles of
gates and halls. Even the names of such things as are in the houses of the
common people, blinds, verandas and doors, are pleasing to the ear.
“I like to hear the command ‘Make ready for the night’ in the nobles’
quarters, and the cry ‘Hasten to light the lamps in his Majesty’s
Bedchamber’. . . It is amusing to watch the important air of the high
officials’ underlings, or to see them on a coldish night dozing as they sit
here and there the whole night through.
“The Prime Minister Tokudaiji said, ‘I love to hear the beautiful sound of
the bell in the Shrine of the Sacred Mirror.’”
Lawrence
