originally referred to sites in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

famous for their associations with specific poetic or literary references. With the development of woodblock printing and newer styles of tourism during the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, the term came to denote a wider range of places of interest.

Literary ''meisho''

Used in conjunction with ''

utamakura is a rhetorical concept in Japanese poetry. Definition is a category of poetic words, often involving place names, that allow for greater allusions and intertextuality across Japanese poems. enables poets to express ideas and themes concise ...

'', ''meisho'' add layers of allusion to poetry and literary and dramatic works which would not otherwise be present. Many of the most famous ''meisho'' derive from references in the

Genji Monogatari is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman, poet, and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu around the peak of the Heian period, in the early 11th century. It is one of history's first novels, the first by a woman to have wo ...

Heike Monogatari is an epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). It has been translated into English at least five times. ...

, and

Ise Monogatari is a Japanese ''uta monogatari'', or collection of ''waka (poetry), waka'' poems and associated narratives, dating from the Heian period. The current version collects 125 sections, with each combining poems and prose, giving a total of 209 poems ...

. In addition to being referenced in poetry and literature, ''meisho'' very often make appearances in

Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. It is Japan's oldest major theater art that is still regularly performed today. Noh is often based on tales from traditional literature featuri ...

kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

, and jōruri theatre, and in

ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...

and other visual art forms. One example is that of the '' miyakodori'', or "birds of the capital", originally referenced in the ''Ise monogatari''. As most ''meisho'' derive from

Heian era The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

source, this is among the very few which related to the

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

area. The protagonist of the ''monogatari'', having been exiled from

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

, finds his way to the

Sumidagawa The is a river that flows through central Tokyo, Japan. It branches from the Arakawa River at Iwabuchi (in Kita-ku) and flows into Tokyo Bay. Its tributaries include the Kanda and Shakujii rivers. It passes through the Kita, Adachi, Arak ...

in what is today Tokyo; at a particular point in the river, he spots a particular type of

plover Plovers ( , ) are members of a widely distributed group of wader, wading birds of subfamily Charadriinae. The term "plover" applies to all the members of the subfamily, though only about half of them include it in their name. Species lis ...

s which he has not seen before. Asking the boatman what kind of bird they are, he receives the reply that they are ''miyakodori'', "capital birds," which makes him long for the capital and weep, asking the birds what they know of events in Kyoto. This episode was later referenced in the Noh play ''

'', in which a woman journeys to the region seeking her kidnapped son. Her boatman does not know the name of the birds, and she reprimands him for not being more cultured and knowing that they are ''miyakodori''. Once the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

was established at Edo in 1603, this spot on the river where the birds were said to be found became a very popular site for restaurants and other forms of entertainment. Many people would stop here and ponder the poetic resonances, or just enjoy seeing a famous site, while on their way upriver to the

Yoshiwara was a famous ( red-light district) in Edo, present-day Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1617, Yoshiwara was one of three licensed and well-known red-light districts created during the early 17th century by the Tokugawa shogunate, alongside Shim ...

. The spot also appeared frequently in ''ukiyo-e'' representations of famous sites or famous restaurants in the capital. Another keen example is that of Suma shore, a beach near modern-day

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

, where one episode of the Tale of Genji took place. The

battle of Ichi-no-Tani The was fought between the attacking Minamoto clan and the defending Taira clan at Suma, to the west of present-day Kobe, Japan, on 20 March 1184. It sat on a very narrow strip of shore, between mountains on the north, and the sea to the sou ...

, related in the Tale of the Heike, also took place there, and thus many of the Noh, jōruri and kabuki plays which involve that battle, such as '' Atsumori'' and '' Ichi-no-tani Futaba Gunki'', make reference, either outright or silently implied, to the poetic associations of Genji's episode there.

Popularization of ''meisho''

With the development of

woodblock printing in Japan Woodblock printing in Japan (, ''mokuhanga'') is a technique best known for its use in the ''ukiyo-e'' artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period. Invented in China during the Tang dynasty, woodblo ...

and newer styles of tourism during the

(including

literary tourism Literary tourism is a type of cultural tourism that deals with places and events from literary texts as well as the lives of their authors. This could include visiting particular place associated with a novel or a novelist, such as a writer's hom ...

), the use of the term "meisho" broadened considerably. Meisho were featured in various types of books, including travel guides as well as travelogues and regional histories, with names such as ''

Edo meisho zue is an illustrated guide describing famous places, called '' meisho'', and depicting their scenery in pre-1868 Tokyo, then known as Edo. It was printed using Japanese woodblock printing techniques in 20 books divided among seven volumes. Initi ...

'' (Illustrated famous Edo places, 1834) and ''

Owari meisho zue is an illustrated guide describing famous places, called '' meisho'', and depicting their scenery in pre-1868 Owari province in central Japan. It was printed using Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Oce ...

'' (Illustrated famous Owari places). Meisho also provided a popular subject for numerous series of

ukiyoe is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; tra ...

prints such as the famous ''

One Hundred Famous Views of Edo ''One Hundred Famous Views of Edo'' (in ) is a series of 119 ukiyo-e prints begun and largely completed by the Japanese artist Hiroshige (1797–1858). The prints were first published in serialized form in 1856–59, with Hiroshige II completing ...

'', a late series by

Hiroshige or , born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format landscape series '' The Fifty-three Stations ...

completed by

Hiroshige II was a Japanese designer of ukiyo-e art. He inherited the name Hiroshige II following the death in 1858 of his master Hiroshige, whose daughter he married. In 1865 he moved from Edo to Yokohama after dissolving his marriage and began using ...

between 1856 and 1859.

References

{{Japanese poetry Japanese poetry Japanese literature Japanese literary terminology

Literary ''meisho''

Popularization of ''meisho''

See also

References