Lu Sheng's Dream Soul: The Day Before - An Edo Manga Picture Book Depicting the Origin of the Origin of Master Kinkin
The idiom Lu Sheng's Dream or The Dream of Handan is a phrase used to describe the fleeting nature of life.
It originates from a story in ancient China about a young man named Lu Sheng who, while on his way to the capital to seek his fortune, borrowed a pillow in Handan and experienced a whole lifetime in a dream, only to wake up to find that the millet he was cooking had not yet finished boiling.
Such dream stories are common in Kibyoshi, and the work said to be the beginning of Kibyoshi, Master Kinkin's Dream of Glory, is a parody of this story. This work is a further parody of that.
The Kibyoshi Lu Sheng's Dream: The Day Before was written by Santo Kyoden, illustrated by Kitao Shigemasa, and published in 1791 (Kansei 3) by Tsutaya Juzaburo.
I will introduce a modern translation (quite a loose one) of the three volumes in three parts.
Volume 1
Preface
Appearing in the preface is Ichikawa Danjuro himself.
A rainy night is especially evocative. What shall I say? Are you saying that dreams as a theme for Kusazoshi are already old-fashioned? Well, you are quite right, sir. However, seeking the old to write the new is what constitutes a new theme. Is it your dream that is old, sir, or my dream that is new? Is the floating world a dream, or is the dream the floating world? Ah, the book, the laughable Zhuangzi indeed. Chan chan chan.
is all I can say.
Bedding for the night, hoping to have a good dream Night of January 2nd, told by Santo Kyoden
1
Long ago, in the land of Shu in China, there lived a man named Lu Sheng. He lived a poor life and nothing went as he wished; he had no money to buy a courtesan, he was not good with women to deal with amateurs, and he had no money to eat good food. Having no pleasures, he spent his days seeking out new Kusazoshi imported from Japan to read and cheer himself up. After seeing books like Master Kinkin's Dream of Glory and The Dream of a Single Meal
published in previous years, he wished for something fleeting, hoping that at least like in these books, he could reach glory, even if only in a dream. From then on, he thought being awake was a waste of time and lived waiting only to have a dream of glory.
Lu Sheng: "Master Kinkin's dream and the dream of Seitaro Ashinoya in 'The Dream of a Single Meal' are both so interesting. It seems Japan is a place with many dreams, and Kusazoshi themes often involve dreams. Well, I can't even imagine reaching true glory, so I'll just have to dream."
2
Here, on the mezzanine between the celestial and human realms, there is a world called the Kingdom of Dream-Chara, where many dreams live, and their business is to conceive of various dreams and show them to humans. The leader of this country is called Dream-Soul Daoist
. As for what the human form of these dreams is like, if you think they are men, they seem like women; if you think they are young, they have white hair; if you think they are Chinese, they are like Japanese; they are elusive and impossible to pin down.
Needless to say at night, they must also show little dreams during naps, so there is nothing as busy as a dream, and the Dream-Soul Daoist worries his head every single day thinking of dreams.
Dream-Soul Daoist: "Lately, in the human world of Japan, learning is popular and they say there are many gentlemen, so it seems I might have a bit more free time. They say, 'A man of the world has no money, a gentleman has no dreams.'"
"I try to think of cheap dreams, so it's back-breaking work."
Dream: "It seems this author also had a hard time thinking of the costumes for the dreams."
Text on the back
1. Dreams of Kyoto, Dreams of Osaka - Complete set of props
1. Dreams of Hell and Paradise - Complete set of props
1. Dreams of Wealth and Fame - Complete set of props 1. Dreams of Japanese and Chinese Fortune - Complete set of props
1. Medicine for Buddha and God's Dream Pillows, etc. We accept all orders
Fixed
Total Dream Prop Dolls
Costume Storage
Unauthorized persons are strictly forbidden from entering the warehouse
3
The Dream-Soul Daoist thinks of various dreams and orders the dreams to make dream props and dolls. The busyness is like preparations before a festival.
Dream on the right: "This pine is the pine that a man named Ding Gu from the state of Wu in China dreamed grew on his stomach. If you break down the kanji for pine, the tree radical becomes 'eighteen', and it is said that eighteen years later he attained a 'public' position, the highest rank at the time. However, unless you have read the Chinese book 'Mengqiu', you probably won't understand this story."
The butterfly from the dream of Zhuangzi, who dreamed he was a butterfly, is not worth making themselves, so they buy the 'I caught it' type from a butterfly seller and use it. At the time, there was a business that sold butterflies.
Center dialogue: "These two arrows are the arrows called 'Water-Breaker, Soldier-Breaker' or 'Circus Reputation' given to Minamoto no Raiko. The character 'this' is a pose of 'a person under the sun'. It seems this is a prop to show to Mashiba Hisayoshi, who is modeled after Toyotomi Hideyoshi."
The dream of Zhong Kui shown to Emperor Xuanzong of China and the dream of the older brother Sukenari shown to Goro Yane, the protagonist of 'The Tale of Soga', are made by crafting dolls with wire, making them sturdy, like the lanterns of Yoshiwara. Dream on the bottom left: "Little monk, go to the pharmacy and buy some glue for sticking, and some verdigris and red cinnabar for coloring."
Four
Mukon Dōjin: "Now, now, once you've finished that, I'll have you move on to the next task. Afterward, there are two orders: a divine revelation and a dream oracle from Buddha. The words for the revelation are written right here. I want you to make the opening 'Zenzai, zenzai' and the closing 'Do not doubt it in your dreams' stand out significantly. First, please make a doll of a child."
Central Dream: "Well, since this dream oracle order is meant to be neither a dream nor reality, this craft is going to be tricky."
The dream shown to a person with a fever is a dream of being dropped from a high place, so it is made with a marionette. In the case of a more elaborate dream, it is made with a spring mechanism using Takeda's clockwork. Of course, a painted mountain is used.
The dream one has when wetting the bed is made by setting a water pistol to the doll's anus. Therefore, when one dreams of urinating, it sometimes doesn't come out easily. This should be understood as the water pistol being in poor condition. The same applies to the dream one has when defecating in bed. You stuff a bamboo tube with miso paste and push it out. It is the same method as making tokoroten (agar jelly).
Left Dream: "This guy looks like a sign for a shop selling tokoroten."
Left Dream: "When the water pistol is working well like this, high-class futons can't stand it, they can't stand it. Anyone who has a dream like this is a bed-wetter."
Five
Dōjin: "I hear that a certain Confucian scholar around Kanda is acting like Confucius himself, holding his head high and saying things like, 'I have not seen the Duke of Zhou in my dreams for a long time' (based on the story that Confucius said he no longer dreamed of the respected Duke of Zhou in his old age). I want to make him see the Duke of Zhou in a dream and scare the wits out of him. Also, a certain courtesan in Yoshiwara wants to meet the handsome man she is in love with, and wants to see him at least in a dream, so"
"When I miss you so dearly, I sleep with my robe turned inside out in the dark of night"
she seems to have slept with her kimono turned inside out last night as well. Poor thing. Let's let her see a dream of her handsome man too."
Dream: "In that case, let's get started on these two preparations."
"When I miss you so dearly, I wear my robe turned inside out in the dark of night"
is a poem byOno no Komachi. It was believed that if you slept wearing a kimono turned inside out, you could see the person you loved in your dreams.
"Ubatama no" is the original word for the pillow word "mubatama no", used to evoke "night" or "black". The original poem is written with some arrangements.
Continuing to the next installment while depicting the world of dreams,
The modern translation of Koikawa Harumachi's "Kinkin Sensei Eiga no Yume" (1775), said to be the beginning of Kibyōshi, is here,
The modern translation of Santō Kyōden's masterpiece of Kibyōshi, "Edo Umare Uwaki no Kabayaki" (1785), is here,
Please take a look as these also contain introductions to other Kibyōshi.