Allusion and Authority: The Love-Song of Lord Takafusa Illustrated Scroll

Prof. Joshua Mostow
University of British Columbia

Friday, 23. October 2009, 18.15 -20.00
KO2 F 174
University of Zurich
Karl Schmid-Strasse 4
8006 Zürich

This talk examines the Takafusa shû, a narrative one-hundred poem sequence describing the triangular love affair between Fujiwara no Takafusa (1142-1209) Lady Kogô and Emperor Takakura. Takafusa structures his story by comparing it to that between Ariwara no Narihira, the Nijô Empress, and Emperor Seiwa from the Ise monogatari. The speaker will then turn to the illustrated scroll pictorializing Takafusa’s story, the Takafusa’kyô tsuya-kotoba emaki, made during the time of Emperor Fushimi (1265-1317), and explore some possible reasons for its production.[singlepic id=198 w=316 h=240 float=center]

Joshua S. Mostow is Professor of Asian Studies at The University of British Columbia. This year he is affiliated with SOAS, University of London, as a Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. His new translation of Ise monogatari, done with Royall Tyler, is forthcoming from the University of Hawaii Press in June 2010.