Kamo no Chomei, Collected Tales of Spiritual Awakening, Le Bruit du temps 2014

Introduction of the original work

It is a collection of Buddhist stories written by Kamono Chomei, the author of “An Account of a Ten-Foot-Square Hut”. The “Collected Tales of Awakening” which strongly reveals Chomei’s thoughts and his essays in “An account of a ten-foot-square hut” which portrays his life, are closely related to each other. Chomei’s records superbly how he took a hard look at the various aspects of the easily changeable “heart”, and goes into how he struggled against and how he appeased his own desires. The state of “adversity” that Chomei needed for his peace of mind, as well as a “transient” view of the world, no doubt also gives us an obvious suggestion on the way we should live our life today. (Mr. Kazuhiko Asami)

Introduction of the translated work

“An Account of a Ten-Foot-Square Hut”, the famous work of Kamo no Chomei, who is a representative author of the Kamakura period, was translated by Michel Revon a hundred years ago, and once more after the second world war by R. P. Sauveur Candau. Another of Chomei’s works, a miscellaneous collection of tanka poetry entitled “Nameless Selections”, was selected as the target of research and translation by the “classical works group” that I belong to, and was slated in 2010 to be published in the French version. Due to this, I resolved in 2008 to translate Chomei’s 3rd piece of prose, the “Collected Tales of Awakening”. The “Collected Tales of Awakening”, as the title indicates, is instructive literature that is entirely founded on Buddhist beliefs. However, Chomei makes his explanations brief, and instead it is the actions of all sorts of people that become the moral lessons. Expression through words takes priority, including humor, and diverse stories come alive with the stroke of his brush. Thus, the “Collected Tales of Awakening” becomes a collection of short stories that holds fascination even for the modern reader. That is why, every time I start on each tale, I am always filled with curiosity so I had fun translating the entire work. However, even though the teachings are few, being a non-expert on Buddhism, I ran into a few problems, and I surpassed those difficulties thanks to the assistance of Buddhist scholar Professor Jean-Noël Robert. In the interpretation of the text, I am indebted to receiving the instruction of Professor Kazuhiko Asami.