The discovery of self or “I” can be traced back in ancient times when one suddenly came to recognize the absurdities of diseases, poverty, and other adverse phenomena. Then one started to find out why one must suffer from them. But such individual efforts were possible in relation to the Buddhist philosophy of karma which was then widely spread among the public. It is at this historical moment that the ever-lasting problem of conflicts between “I” and community emerged.

It is almost impossible to make a definite distinction between “public” and “private” spheres. This article examines such a fluctuating and changeable relation between these apparently opposing terms through an analysis of the dynamism of public authority in medieval literature. Tenshō-ki, for example, represents Toyotomi-Hideyoshi as a “public” figure in absolute control of transportation and distribution, but it also irrelevantly relates a “private” anecdote of his imperial origin. In this way public authority very often needs and produces something private in the form of narratives. The theme of “public” and “private” is worth further exploration in literary studies.

In the appendix of Jokō-aishi, Wakizō Hosoi's proletarian reportage, there is a collection of “kouta” ballads which the author heard women laborers singing in the factories he visited. They are improvised songs which were orally passed down among the working class. They are also communal songs sung in vernaculars which were replaced by the modern standard Japanese language. In his essay “Yanagida-Kunio-nitsuite” (1959), Kiyoteru Hanada criticized proletarian writers for their uncritical dependence on written language and complete indifference to oral tradition. But those “kouta” ballads reveal an oral and communal moment in proletarian literature.

This article focuses on the two words “nadeshiko (dianthus)” and “kaki (fence)” to explore the poetical usage of Genji-monogatari. While it is well known that “nadeshiko” or its old name “tokonatsu” is a word for expressing affection, it is little known that “kaki” represents motherhood. Interestingly enough, the word of love is not used for Akashi-no-Himegimi and Kaoru but exclusively reserved for Murasaki-no-Ue This means that she is the dearest one to Hikaru-Genji not as “kaki”/mother but as “nadeshiko”/lover.

This article examines the dramatic role played by Minamoto-no-Yorihira in Kanhasshū-tsunagiuma, a drama about Minamoto-no-Yorimitsu and his four great retainers. Yorihira first appears as a rebel who threatens the order of the Minamoto clan. Inspired by Mita-no-Jirō-Tomoduna's self-sacrifice, however, he makes up his mind to become a faithful member of the clan. It cements their bond so much more firmly that they can destroy a monster spider Tsuchigumo. This plot of a delinquent hero's reformation is greatly influenced by the genre called “kinpira” jōruri.