Essays in Idleness (Tsurezuregusa)

This set of colorful screens was inspired by a celebrated Japanese literary work called Essays in Idleness (Tsurezuregusa), compiled around 1330 by the monk-poet Yoshida Kenkō (ca. 1283–1350). Having given up the comfortable life of a Shinto priest serving the palace, Kenkō took Buddhist vows and dedicated himself to the study of poetry. As a semi-recluse, he compiled this miscellany of wry, insightful, and often humorous commentaries on the contemporary life and culture of the aristocracy. One theme that permeates many of the episodes is the Buddhist-inspired concept of the impermanence of all things. Kenkō suggests that the beauty of nature, always changing with the seasons, lies in the transience of all its varied aspects.

By the seventeenth century—when this set of screens was created—Essays in Idleness came to be recognized as a Japanese literary classic. Unlike the Tales of Ise or The Tale of Genji, however, scenes representing iconic episodes were rarely illustrated in painted handscroll or screen formats. This rare example is just one of a handful of known sets of screens on this subject.

Selected Scenes from the Right Screen
Preface (upper right corner)
“What a strange, demented feeling it gives me when I realize I have spent whole days before this inkstone, with nothing better to do, jotting down at random whatever nonsensical thoughts have entered my head.”

Episode 8 (second panel from the right, middle)
Leading the Heart Astray
“Nothing leads a man astray so easily as sexual desire. What a foolish thing a man’s heart is! …The holy man of Kume lost his magic powers after noticing the whiteness of the legs of a girl who was washing clothes; this was quite understandable, considering that the glowing plumpness of her arms, legs, and flesh owed nothing to artifice.”

Episode 53 (second panel from the left, bottom)
About a Priest at Ninnaji Temple
“A farewell party was being offered for a acolyte about to become a priest, and the guests were all making merry when one of the priest, drunk and carried away by high spirits, picked up a three-legged cauldron nearby, and clamped it over his head. …. After the priest had been dancing for a while he tried to pull it off his face, but it refused to be budged. …They stuffed straw around the priest’s neck to protect it from the metal, then pulled hard enough to tear off his head. Only holes were left to show where his ears and nose had been, but the pot was removed…”

(Translations by Donald Keene)