Page:Japanese Literature (Keene).pdf/95

Rh sometimes pornographic work which shows in many respects Saikaku’s indebtedness to The Tale of Genji. The characters of his novels are drawn for the most part from the merchant class, rather than from the aristocracy or the ranks of the samurai. Most of his so-called novels are in reality short stories of varied lengths based on the same general themes. Although the plots of these tales often show great invention, Saikaku’s outstanding qualities as a novelist are his wit and style. He is often able with a single sentence to catch a man’s character or to depict his whole way of life. For example, in describing how one alert merchant never missed a chance to increase his fortune, he says, “Even if he stumbled he used the opportunity to pick up flints for lighters.” Again, he says of this same man, “Nothing delighted him more than watching over his daughter. When the girl grew into womanhood he had a marriage-screen made for her and, since he considered that one decorated with views of Kyoto would make her restless to visit places she had not yet seen, and that illustrations of The Tale of Genji or The Tales of Ise would encourage wantonness in her mind, he had the screen painted with busy scenes of the silver and copper mines at Tada.” These excerpts are from the Treasury of Japan, a collection of stories on the theme of how to make (or lose) a fortune. The heroes of these stories are men who permit themselves no extravagance, realizing that the way to wealth lies in meticulous care of the smallest details. When some young men visit the rich merchant Fujiichi on the Seventh Day of the New Year to seek his advice on how to become millionaires, he at first has them kept waiting in his sitting-room. Then:

“When the three guests had seated themselves the pounding of an earthenware mortar could be heard from the kitchen,