Reflecting
the Past
Har var d East Asian Monogr aphs 433
Reflecting the Past
Place, Language, and Principle in Japan’s
Medieval
Mirror
Genre
Eri
n L
. Brightwell
Published by the Harvard University Asia Center
Distributed
by Harvard University Press
Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London 2020
© 2020 by The President and Fellows of Harvard College
Printed in the United States of America
The Harvard University Asia Center publishes several monograph series and, in coordination with
the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the Korea Institute, the Reischauer Institute of Japanese
Studies, and other facilities and institutes, administers research projects designed to further schol-
arly understanding of China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, and other Asian countries. The Center also
sponsors projects addressing multidisciplinary and transnational issues in Asia.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Brightwell, Erin L., 1973– author.
Title: Reflecting the past : place,
language, and principle in Japan’s medieval mirror
genre / Erin L. Brightwell.
Other titles: Place, language, and principle in Japan’s medieval mirror genre
Description:
Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Asia Center, 2020. |
Series: Harvard East Asian monograph series ; 433 | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020003449 | ISBN 9780674247819 (cloth) | ISBN 9781684176182 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Japan—Historiography. | Japan—History—Philosophy. | Japan—History—
To 1600.
Classification: LCC DS834.7 .B75 2929 | DDC 952/.02072—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020003449
Index by Do Mi Stauber
Printed
on acid-free paper
Last figure below indicates year of this printing
29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
List of Figures
vii
Preface
ix
Note to the Reader
xii
Introduction
1
1 New Reflections: Refuge in the
Past during the Final Age
34
2 Deviant by Design: Multilingual Writing in Postwar
Medieval Japan
84
3 Containing China: The Continent as Medieval Object
of Knowledge
138
4 Moving
Mirrors
: Ordering the Past in the Wake
of the Mongols
197
5 Memories of
Mirrors
: Nostalgia
for a Unified Realm
238
Epilogue:
Mirror
Legacies for Early Modern Japan
275
Character List
287
Bibliography
291
Index
307
Contents
I.1
Utagawa Yoshitora. The Precipitous Descent
at Hiyodorigoe Pass. 1845.
xiv
I.2
Map of the settings for the
Mirrors
.
24
2.1
Excerpt from
The Water Mirror
.
Late Kamakura
manuscript.
118
2.2
Excerpt from
Abbreviated Records
. Early Edo
manuscript.
119
3.1
Excerpt from
The China Mirror
. Late Kamakura
manuscript.
192
5.1
Excerpt from
The Clear Mirror
. 1402 manuscript.
256
5.2
Excerpt from