This Scheming World: Classic Tales of Desire, Deception and Greed in Old Japan

by Ihara Saikaku, Masanori Takatsuka (Translator), David C. Stubbs (Translator), David J. Gundry (Introduction)

Overview

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 of:

• Philanderers who slip off to hide in the homes of their mistresses
• Hustlers who leave town suddenly on "very important" business trips
• Connivers who become actors for a day to hide-in-plain-sight on stage

"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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804859325
Publisher:	Tuttle Publishing
Publication date:	10/21/2025
Series:	Tuttle Specials
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Ihara Saikaku (1641-1693) has been called "the greatest popular Japanese novelist of the 17th century." He began as a successful merchant in the up-and-coming city of Osaka. The tragedy of losing his wife and daughter moved him to abandon his business and become a roving Buddhist monk and for twenty years he wrote haiku verse and prose. Saikaku founded the Ukiyo-zoshi (Floating World) genre of literature, which flourished between the 1680s and the 1770s.

Masanori Takatsuka, a graduate of Hiroshima Koshi, and David C. Stubbs, a graduate of Florida State University, were both faculty members of Kwansei Gakuin Universityin Nishinomiya, Japan.

David J. Gundry is Associate Professor of Japanese at the University of California, Davis. He has published numerous articles on Japanese literature as well as the book Parody, Irony and Ideology in the Fiction of Ihara Saikaku.

Read an Excerpt

"It's Expensive to Lie When You're Lying Low"

Excerpt from This Scheming World by Ihara Saikaku. pgs. 69-71

EVERYONE was getting his pate shaved and his hair dressed and donning holiday attire. So far as appearances went, a universal mood of festivity prevailed throughout the country in keeping with the New Year. But actually everybody was not facing the New Year in exactly the same fashion.

For example, there was one merchant who was so hard pressed that he determined not to pay any of his bills at all. On New Year's Eve, no sooner had he finished his breakfast than he put on his haori, and with his short sword at his side made ready to disappear temporarily. In an effort to placate his wife he said to her, "You must learn that above all the most important thing is perseverance. There will come a time," he continued, "when our circumstances will improve, and then you can ride about in a sedan chair. Remember, there's still some leftover duck meat from last night's supper. Warm it over, seasoning it with sake, and eat it. When the bill collectors come, pay them all the money there is in the house. But, mind you! Keep back one kan for your treasure-drawing game. When the money on hand is all gone, just let matters look after themselves, and lie in bed with your back to the bill collectors." So speaking, the fellow hurriedly left home. Is it any wonder that the man was bankrupt? Seeing his funds grow shorter day after day, he had failed to come up with any ready plan to improve the situation. Woe to the wife of such a fellow: she looks old while not yet a mother. On this day of days, when every single mon counted, he put two or three one-bu coins and about thirty monme of silver in his purse and set out for a teahouse to which he owed no money.

"Oh," he said to the mistress as he entered the teahouse, "you haven't settled your accounts yet, have you? Just look at all those bills, scattered about like a thousand letters. I'd say they must add up to two or three kan. Well, each household has its own expenses to meet, you know," he continued glibly. "Why, I've got to pay the draper alone six and a half kan. Pity a man whose wife is so extravagant. It would really be much better for me to get a divorce and spend on prostitutes the money it costs to keep my wife. Unfortunately, however, I can't do it because she became pregnant in the third month, and just this very morning her labor pains started. They say the baby will be born today, but even before it's born they're already making a great fuss over the choice of its swaddling clothes. They send for the wet nurse. Then midwives come—three or four of them. Then the family yamabushi comes to charm and change the unborn infant from a girl into a boy. On top of that they have to prepare a bellyband, a cowrie shell, and a sea horse to be held in her left hand. The family doctor is busy in the next room boiling some birth-inducing herbs. Why, they even send for stems of matsutake mushrooms, but goodness knows what they're for. Worst of all, my mother-in-law has just arrived, and she goes around poking her nose into everything, whether she's welcome or not. It's all so annoying! Fortunately for me, however, they tell me I'm not supposed to be in the house; so I just dropped in here to pass the time away. Since you know nothing about my financial situation, I'm afraid you may think I'm here to escape the bill collectors, since it's New Year's Eve. But believe you me, I'm a man who owes nothing at all to anybody in this whole neighborhood. Do you mind if I stay here until the baby is born? I'll pay you in cash. By the way, that yellowtail on the fish hanger is too small; it just won't do. Here; you'd better buy a bigger one right away." So saying, the customer plunked down a one-bu gold coin, which delighted the mistress no end and brought a smile on her face.

"How lucky!" she exclaimed. "I'll keep this a secret from my husband and buy an obi with it to satisfy a longstanding desire. It's really good luck to have such a generous customer as you to come in on New Year's Eve. It's a sure sign, I believe, we'll have good luck all next year. By the way, you're much too fine a fellow to stay here in the kitchen. Why don't you move into the regular room?" she urged him sweetly.

"Well, all right," he replied. "But just remember that I'm an awfully particular eater, altogether different from other people."

……

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher