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This Scheming World: Classic Tales of Desire, Deception and Greed in Old Japan
A Great Classic of Japanese literature and the masterpiece of novelist Ihara Saikaku--now in a completely new and revised edition with introduction by noted scholar David J. Gundry
The culmination of Saikaku's perceptive genius, the 20 short stories within This Scheming World recount raucous events and incidents on New Year's Eve as everyone tries to settle their debts for the year, as is the New Year's custom. Crafty money lenders attempt to collect their money from equally crafty debtors, and Saikaku portrays his characters with so lifelike a touch that, even though three centuries have passed since his time, it seems as if they were our contemporaries.
The new Introduction by Saikaku expert David J. Gundry explains how and why this entertaining work still resonates with modern readers today.
The finely-crafted tales include stories
"The New Year's Eve is more precious than a thousand pieces of gold. It is the Great Divide between winter and spring, which none can pass over without copper and silver." --Ihara Saikaku
The culmination of Saikaku's perceptive genius, the 20 short stories within This Scheming World recount raucous events and incidents on New Year's Eve as everyone tries to settle their debts for the year, as is the New Year's custom. Crafty money lenders attempt to collect their money from equally crafty debtors, and Saikaku portrays his characters with so lifelike a touch that, even though three centuries have passed since his time, it seems as if they were our contemporaries.
The new Introduction by Saikaku expert David J. Gundry explains how and why this entertaining work still resonates with modern readers today.
The finely-crafted tales include stories
"The New Year's Eve is more precious than a thousand pieces of gold. It is the Great Divide between winter and spring, which none can pass over without copper and silver." --Ihara Saikaku
- GenresJapan
192 pages, Paperback
Published October 24, 2023
12 people want to read
About the author
Saikaku Ihara
106 books62 followersSaikaku Ihara (井原 西鶴) was a Japanese poet and creator of the "floating world" genre of Japanese prose (ukiyo-zōshi).
Born the son of the wealthy merchant Hirayama Tōgo (平山藤五) in Osaka, he first studied haikai poetry under Matsunaga Teitoku, and later studied under Nishiyama Sōin of the Danrin School of poetry, which emphasized comic linked verse. Scholars have described numerous extraordinary feats of solo haikai composition at one sitting; most famously, over the course of a single day and night in 1677, Saikaku is reported to have composed at least 16,000 haikai stanzas, with some rumors placing the number at over 23,500 stanzas.
Later in life he began writing racy accounts of the financial and amorous affairs of the merchant class and the demimonde. These stories catered to the whims of the newly prominent merchant class, whose tastes of entertainment leaned toward the arts and pleasure districts.
Born the son of the wealthy merchant Hirayama Tōgo (平山藤五) in Osaka, he first studied haikai poetry under Matsunaga Teitoku, and later studied under Nishiyama Sōin of the Danrin School of poetry, which emphasized comic linked verse. Scholars have described numerous extraordinary feats of solo haikai composition at one sitting; most famously, over the course of a single day and night in 1677, Saikaku is reported to have composed at least 16,000 haikai stanzas, with some rumors placing the number at over 23,500 stanzas.
Later in life he began writing racy accounts of the financial and amorous affairs of the merchant class and the demimonde. These stories catered to the whims of the newly prominent merchant class, whose tastes of entertainment leaned toward the arts and pleasure districts.
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June 8, 2025
An invaluable contemporary collection of short stories with the subjects of the Tokugawa Shogunate a couple of generations after Sekigahara as the subject. It's a rare window into the lower classes, ordinary lives and the struggles they have, primarily with money, more specifically debt, which is as common now as it was then.
Each story is short, punchy, often humourous, as ordinary Japanese folk struggle with debt, and the debt collectors. Each story stands on its own merit as a story, with the scheming of common folk as the common thread, and highlight just how desperate and deceptive we can be, regardless of the era or the culture.
In doing so, according to the blurb on the back, Ihara not only brings forth these delightful little tales of cunning, but founds an entire literary genre (Ukiyo-zoshi, Floating World), ironically in the end while emphasizing the impermanence of money and experience, highlights the permanence of money problems for the underclasses worldwide at any time in history.
Stand-out stories for me were 'Lord Heitaro', which would almost make a perfect contemporary sit-com episode, 'The Extravagant Wives of Wholesalers' and 'Even Gods Make Mistakes Sometimes'.
As universal as many of these stories are, they are also windows into the unique culture of Japan in the mid 1600's. It's a gem of a book for all of these reasons.
Each story is short, punchy, often humourous, as ordinary Japanese folk struggle with debt, and the debt collectors. Each story stands on its own merit as a story, with the scheming of common folk as the common thread, and highlight just how desperate and deceptive we can be, regardless of the era or the culture.
In doing so, according to the blurb on the back, Ihara not only brings forth these delightful little tales of cunning, but founds an entire literary genre (Ukiyo-zoshi, Floating World), ironically in the end while emphasizing the impermanence of money and experience, highlights the permanence of money problems for the underclasses worldwide at any time in history.
Stand-out stories for me were 'Lord Heitaro', which would almost make a perfect contemporary sit-com episode, 'The Extravagant Wives of Wholesalers' and 'Even Gods Make Mistakes Sometimes'.
As universal as many of these stories are, they are also windows into the unique culture of Japan in the mid 1600's. It's a gem of a book for all of these reasons.
Displaying 1 of 1 review