Page:Japanese Literature (Keene).pdf/101

Rh a number of books there, both to teach religion to their converts and for their own use as manuals of instruction in the Japanese language. The only important European literary work of a non-religious character which was translated into Japanese at this time was Aesop’s Fables, although some scholars believe that at least the general outlines of the story of the Odyssey were transmitted to their Japanese acquaintances by the foreigners. This, they say, is evidenced by the curious set of stories dating from the seventeenth century about a man named Yuriwaka, whose name itself they derive in part from that of Ulysses. These stories tell of the adventures of a man who, after scoring a great triumph abroad, is abandoned on the way back to Japan at a lonely island by his wicked companions. With much difficulty the man Yuriwaka returns to his country, to find his wife the subject of the unwanted attention of various suitors. He arrives just at the time of the New Year festivities, and as part of the amusements of the day several men attempt to bend the iron bow that Yuriwaka left behind, but all fail. Whereupon Yuriwaka takes up the bow and bends it to good effect, shooting the most troublesome of his wife’s suitors. He is thereupon recognized by members of the court, reunited to his wife and granted high rank.

The resemblances in the story to the Odyssey are evident, and some of the other episodes show similarity to parts of Camoens’ epic The Lusiads. However, certain Japanese scholars have adduced arguments to show that the elements in the story are indigenous, and that resemblances to European works are mere coincidence. If the story of Yuriwaka was indeed a case of European influence on Japanese literature, it was the first, and remained the only important one for 150 years, for with the prohibition of Christianity and the virtual annihilation of the converts in 1637–8, Japanese lost all contact with European literature.