Official (yakunin)

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Official (yakunin)

***** Location: Japan, Edo period
***** Season: Non-seasonal Topic
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

Here we are concerned with the officials (yakunin) of the Edo period only.

official, yakunin 役人
minor official, petty official, koyakunin ko yakunin　小役人
a humble official position

living quarters of an official, yakutaku　役宅





Not to mix with

kooyakunin 公役人, people who were compelled to do official duties for the government, like foot soldiers or manual labour for official buildings during the Edo period.
公約人 seems a mis spelling .


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Organization of Officials in the Edo period

In our times, they would be the state officials, Beamte in German.


© PHOTO Mizutani Mitsuhiro


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

夕立や樹下石上の小役人
yuudachi ya juka sekijoo no ko yakunin

in a cloudburst
under a tree, looking miserable
a minor official

Kobayashi Issa

Translator's note:
Shinji Ogawa explains that the phrase, juka sekijoo, which literally means to sleep or dwell under a tree and on a rock, figuratively denotes "being a monk practicing austerities." Here, he says, Issa uses the phrase to mean "poor," or "petty." It seems to me, however, that the minor official is literally standing under a tree to avoid the rain, a visual image that provides Issa with this opportunity for word-play.
My dilemma as a translator, then, is to decide whether I should:
(1) mention the literal level of being under a tree and on a rock but lose the figurative meaning of practicing austerities; or
(2) translate the figurative meaning (Shinji suggests the middle phrase, "how miserable") but lose the literal image of the official crouching under a tree.
My compromise: I keep the tree but lose the rock, adding Shinji's "miserable."
Tr. David Lanoue




濡れずに済みて　仏の顔に
nurezu ni sumite hotoke no kao ni

without getting wet
becomes Buddha face

©　Haiga and renku by Nakamura Sakuo


cloudburst ...
the harsh life
of a petty official
Tr. Gabi Greve, free translation


sudden cloudburst --
a city clerk stonefaced
under a tree

sudden cloudburst --
a stonefaced town clerk
huddles under a tree
Tr. Chibi


meditating on a stone

The head is the sky.
The eyes are sun and moon.
The breath is the wind.
Mountains, rivers,plants and trees
are your very own body.
You are Buddha.


©　PHOTO : Kanshin-Ji
Ascetic practise at temple Kanshin-Ji


樹下石上 : juge sekijoo
taking one's lodging at the roadside in the wilderness
Buddhist Ascetic practise, sometimes also expressed as

sekijoo juge 石上樹下
(juge, under a tree ... is the reading of Buddhist texts)
on a stone, under a tree


ishi no ue san nen 石の上三年
sitting on a stone for 3 years
is a proverb in Japanese.



Compiled by Larry Bole:

Who is this "minor" or "petty" official?
I found a definition of the word 'juka 儒家' by itself, which gave as its meaning: "Confucianist."
The 'juka' I found may be a homonym for the word Issa used, but maybe　Issa meant the word he used to suggest a Confucianist meaning as well　as a Buddhist meaning. And I found as a meaning for the　word 'koyakunin': "Low ranking samurai with various light duties such　as guarding the gate or patrolling the grounds."

And looking up "Japanese Confucianism," I find this: "Neo-Confucianism (especially Chu Hsi Confucianism) was the most important　philosophy of Tokugawa Japan in government and education."

So, during the 'sengoku jidai' period of Japanese history, "the age　of the country at war," even a samurai of the lowest rank would　ideally be imbued with the martial spirit, would at his best be　influenced by Zen Buddhism, and would be expected to stoically endure　austere conditions, even unto death.

Who had this 'koyakunin' become by Issa's time? Although still　allowed to carry a sword (or maybe not?), he was a minor or petty official, imbued more with neo-Confucian values than with Zen Buddhist values.

I think Issa might be mocking the 'koyakunin's' samurai heritage or　pretensions. Gone is the samurai stoicness. Instead of enduring the　cloudburst as if it were part of a Buddhist austerity ritual, the　minor official, a samurai in name only by Issa's time, looks　miserable under the tree.

cloudburst
sleeping under a tree, on a rock
a petty official
Literal translation by Larry Bole



More is here :
Discussing the translation
Translating Haiku Forum




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Related words

***** Edo, The City That Became Tokyo

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