Posted by John Fiorillo on January 06, 1999 at 19:49:26:
In Reply to: Re:Senchô title translation posted by Hans Olof Johansson on January 06, 1999 at 17:41:45:
Hello, Dan and Hans Olof,
I fear we may be losing other "once interested" participants on this chat site as we continue with this interesting but rather narrowly focused discussion. Still, here goes. I do not think we should be strictly limited to the order of characters when interpreting print titles. In fact, that was the very point in writing titles with unusual characters or in unusual word order – the audience was challenged to make unusual connections. The character "ryû" is critical to the connotation of the meaning, so I still stand by my view that one principal meaning of the title is "Comparisons of Courtesans as Sources [implying "example" or "models"] of Fashion," regardless of the position of the characters in the title. I’m not sure about the kyôgen connection, though I hope it is also a possibility just to make things even more complex! I agree that senryû when read as a homonym provides a connection to comical or satirical poetry, which is likely what is shown in the illustrated book in the background, and thus another principal meaning is "Courtesans Compared with Senryû." Hans Olof’s "Senryû style" is a bit far fetched but why not! The artist could have been having a field day with word play.
Hans Olof – your response to the other web question regarding "kai-awase" seems correct to me, though I am not especially familiar with the fine points of the game and have not studied Kunisada II’s series.
To recall the original discussion and the ghosts vs. poets debate: Last night I happened upon an old image in my files showing another design from Kunisada’s 36 poets. I will try to find a better image of the design and do a little research, but time is limited and I may not be able to do more than post the image (or provide it to Theo for posting if he wishes). In any case it will serve as another example of a story not related to ghosts for the Kunisada series.
John