The Method of Tsurezuregusa Tettsui as a Commentary

Tsurezuregusa Tettsui（徒然草鉄槌、1648）, attributed to Aoki Soko（青木宗胡）, occupies an important position among the numerous commentaries on Tsurezuregusa（徒然草）written in the Edo era. The oldest commentary on Tsurezuregusa is Hata Soha’s Tsurezuregusa Jumyoin Sho（秦宗巴、徒然草寿命院抄）published in 1604, which was followed by Hayashi Razan’s Nozuchi（林羅山、野槌）written in 1621. The third oldest commentary is Tsurezuregusa Tettsui. Then followed Matsunaga Teitoku’ s Nagusamigusa（松永貞徳、なぐさみ草、1652）which is a commentary book with illustrations, anonymous Tsurezuregusa Ginwasho（徒然草吟和抄、1690）, Namura Johaku’s Tsurezuregusa Esho（苗村丈伯、徒然草絵抄、1691）etc. Tsurezuregusa Esho has no verbal notes and tries to explain each chapter of Tsurezuregusa by illustrations alone. After that Kagami Shiko（各務支考）wrote Tsurezure-no-San（つれづれの讃、1711）, a long critical study which transcended all previous concepts as to a commentary. I have considered more or less the commentaries above mentioned in my previous monographs but left Tsurezuregusa Tettsui, one of the earliest commentaries, untouched. This time I will focus on Tsurezuregusa Tettsui and examine its characteristics and its relations with the commentary books on Tsurezuregusa published before and after it, referring to the various commentaries discussed in my previous monographs. Cosideration will be done from following three points of view. Firstly, I will compare Tsurezuregusa Tettsui with its two forerunners. So far Tsurezuregusa Tettsui has been considered to be an extract from Nozuchi. I will verify this commonly accepted view and ascertain the fact that Tsurezuregusa Tettsui refers oftener to Tsurezuregusa Jumyoin Sho than to Nozuchi. In this way I would like to illustrate the method of Tsurezuregusa Tettsui as a commentary. Secondly, I will compare Yamaoka Genrin’ s Tsurezuregusa Zoho Tettsui（1669） with Tsurezuregusa Tettsui and consider the influences of the latter on the former. Thirdly I examine Keichu Kakiire（契沖書き入れ、made before 1690）which is marginalia written in a published copy of Tsurezuregusa Tettsui by Keichu（契沖、1640～1701）, a Waka poet and Japanese classical scholar. I consider how Keichu understood Tsurezuregusa with the aid of Tsurezuregusa Tettsui, paying particular attention to the parts where Keichu offers his original interpretations. Tsurezuregusa Tettsui was widely circulated in the Edo era, as is shown by its many editions published at different dates. This monograph tries to explicate a part of the reason of its popularity.