and a letter and thus opened direct trade with China. Although no official
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Part II: Scholars
diplomatic relations were established, beneath the surface of Minister Kibi’s
Adventures were lively Song-Japan activities.
It is significant that in Minister Kibi’s Adventures, Kibi no Makibi called
himself “a messenger of the king of Japan.” (The same appellation is used
in Gōdanshō, the source story.) This title had traditionally been taboo. But
Cloistered Emperor GoShiraka, who allegedly watched the scroll making
attentively, accepted this title in the scroll. Taniguchi Kōsei conjectures that
GoShirakawa must have superimposed himself on the character of Minister
Kibi, who solved the Chinese court’s challenges one after another, and that
an audience of Minister Kibi’s Adventures could perceive GoShirakawa’s fear
and inferiority complex mixed with the distorted sense of national superi-
ority toward China that he must have felt in dealing with the Song delega-
tion (Taniguchi, “Kibidaijin emaki” 274). GoShirakawa, who did not seem
too concerned about the significance of receiving the title king of Japan,
may have simply enjoyed Kibi’s ingenuity against the Chinese court as if it
were his own. This leads to the second issue, the text used for Cloistered
Emperor GoShirakawa’s political machinations in domestic arena.
internal Political affairs: Cloistered emperor goshirakawa
While Japanese attitudes toward foreign diplomacy are overtly manifest,
Kuranishi Yūko surmises that Minister Kibi’s Adventures is signaling Cloistered
Emperor GoShirakawa’s covert message regarding his domestic politics;
GoShirakawa had Minister Kibi’s Adventures made as a manifesto to launch an
anti-Heike campaign (Kuranishi 215).
As a person who has been incarcerated several times, Kuranishi believes
GoShirakawa was interested in Minister Kibi’s story. In pictorializing the
story, GoShirakawa compared himself to the protagonist, Minister Kibi,
who outsmarted the Chinese court. Earlier, Kuroda Hideo observed that
the image of the Tang palace is actually the throne Seiryōden, or the Japanese
emperor’s private residence in the Japanese palace. He asserts that the way
the Chinese officials sat directly on the green floor suggests that the floor
was understood as a tatami mat, and the way the Chinese put their train of
clothes on the railing suggested the Japanese aristocrats’ custom at Seiryōden
(Kuroda, Kibi Daijin nittō emaki no nazo 112–14). Kuranishi takes up Kuroda
Hideo’s observation and considers that if the Tang palace is construed as
Seiryōden, then Emperor Gensō (or Xuanzong) in Minister Kibi’s Adventures
is the Japanese emperor Takakura or Antoku, titular emperor of the Taira
clan. The tower where Minister Kibi was confined is comparable to the
Hōjūji Palace where GoShirakawa was often incarcerated by the Heike.
The oni in formal attire corresponds to GoShiraka’s supporters at the
The Il ustrated Story of Minister Kibi’s Adventures in China
99
Shishigatani Incident of 1177, a failed uprising against Taira no Kiyomori’s
rule (Kuranishi 171–228).
Just as GoShirakawa sent his anti-Heike manifesto to the Genji clan in
the provinces, Kuranishi Yūko hypothesizes that Minister Kibi’s Adventures
perhaps had the intent to visually present GoShirakawa’s own predicament
and his resentment of the Heike. Also, by illustrating the “Yabatai” poem,
GoShirakawa wanted to inform the audience of the Heike’s scheme to
bring about the fall of Japan.14
The “Yabatai” poem needs a little explanation. It is a text of mirai-ki
(writings on the future), foretelling Japan’s demise—after the 100th emperor,
self-proclaimed warlords vied for hegemony, and Japan would eventually
perish. The text comprises 120 characters altogether, but the characters are
placed at random so the reader has to decipher in what order the characters
should be read. When these characters are properly ordered, it becomes a
poem consisting of twenty-four lines, each of five characters. During the
medieval period the poem had great authority as the textual source for nam-
ing Japan “yamato.” As an authoritative text that directly concerns Japan,
the poem spawned many annotations and quotes. Although during the Edo
prediction poem was written by a Japanese person during the Heian period,
throughout the medieval period Dhyana Master Bao Zhi (418–514), a mys-
terious monk during the time of Emperor Wu of Liang (464–549, reigned
502–49), was firmly believed to have been the author of this poem (see
Komine, “Yaba taishi” no nazo).
To read Minister Kibi’s Adventures in China as code for an anti-Heike opera-
tion is an interesting hypothesis. According to Michelle osterfeld Li, “Tales
set in the past would have been shaped in part by the contemporary con-
cerns of compilers whether the stories were newly created, recorded from an
oral tradition, or appropriated from earlier texts. There would have been no
impulse to repeat stories without meaning for the new writers and audiences
within the context of their own lives” (Li 141). Kuranishi notes that picture
scrolls were sometimes created to convey a didactic message; for example,
the Tale of Heike describes Shinzei presenting a picture scroll of Bai Juyi’s
famous poem “Chōkonka” (Lament Everlasting), portraying the love between
Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei (719–56), his favorite concubine, to
warn GoShirakawa against his uprising (Kuranishi 213). Worldwide, there are
many examples of paintings and artwork used as an edification or warning.15
Minister Kibi’s Adventures works not only as a catharsis for GoShirakawa and
Japanese elites who suffered from the inferiority complex toward China but
perhaps also domestically as a political instrument to start a civil war.
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Part II: Scholars
kibi’s Position as the ancestor of Japanese Onmyōdō
Minister Kibi’s Adventures is part of a series of texts that make Kibi no
Makibi the father of Onmyōdō. By the beginning of the twelfth century
there were a number of stories placing Kibi no Makibi as the Japanese
ancestor of Onmyōdō. For example, Fujiwara no Akihira (989–1066)
writes in Shin Sarugōki (Account of the New Monkey Music, ca. mid-
eleventh century) that the husband of the tenth daughter of a secretary
at the Six Guards Headquarters is an onmyōji, and he practices the art of
Onmyōdō, which has been handed down since Kibi no Makibi (Fujiwara,
Shin Sarugōki 132–34).16
A famous setsuwa about Kibi no Makibi is number 6 of volume 11 of
Konjaku monogatarishū (Tales of Times Now Past, ca. 1120) titled “Genbō
sōjō Tō ni watarite Hossō o tsutaeru koto” (Priest Genbō Brought the
Hossō Sect of Buddhism to Japan from China). It describes that Kibi no
Makibi was a master of Onmyōdō and used his yin-yang skills to appease
the vengeful spirit of Fujiwara no Hirotsugu, who had killed Priest Genbō
( SNKB
Z 35: 52–55).
“Kibi nittō no kan no koto” (Kibi’s Adventures While in China) in
Gōdanshō, the source of Minister Kibi’s Adventures, states at the end of the
episode, “Ōe no Masafusa says, ‘I haven’t seen this story in detail on writ-
ing, but it has been handed down through the line of [the] late Lord
Takachika [Masafusa’s maternal grandfather] . . . We owe Japan’s high rep-
utation to Minister Kibi. Thanks to him, we have Monzen, go, and “Yabatai”
Poem.’ ” Monzen, go, and the “Yabatai” poem were all introduced to Japan
before Kibi no Makibi’s time, but Kibi no Makibi is credited for bringing
them to Japan.17
According to Gōdanshō, when the oni told Kibi no Makibi that the
Chinese court was going to test the minister on his knowledge of Monzen,
Kibi no Makibi asked the oni to listen to Monzen and let him know about
it. The oni said that would not be possible, but he could take the minister
to the Chinese palace using the oni’s art of flying. (The oni’s knowledge of
the art of flying is not surprising, but one wonders why the oni did not take
Kibi to some Chinese port and send him back to Japan or, better yet, why
they did not fly back to Japan together so the oni could see his own descen-
dants.) In Minister Kibi’s Adventures, in contrast, it is Kibi who knows how to
fly or escape the tower. Kibi no Makibi asks the oni: “ ‘Is it possible for you
to listen to their reading and let me know?’ ‘I can’t do that,’ the oni replied,
‘but I can take you over there while they are discussing it and have you listen
to them. But the tower is shut. How can we escape?’ The Minister replied,
‘I know the art of flying.’ ”
The Il ustrated Story of Minister Kibi’s Adventures in China
101
It is rather strange that the oni, without knowing how to fly, tells Kibi
he can take the latter to the palace. But in any case, it is Kibi who knows
the art, and that makes one wonder why the minister stays in the tower to
begin with. According to Komine Kazuaki, Kibi’s (self-)confinement is an
opportunity for him to face superpower China and exhibit his abilities. It
was China that had been challenged. Makibi’s magical image had already
been established in the Heian period. So the theme was to bring Kibi’s abil-
ity into full play with such arts as invisibility, flight, and hiding the sun and
the moon. Kibi’s mission was to accept all the challenges and overcome dif-
ficulties (Komine, “Kibi no daijin nittō emaki to sono shūhen” 7). Kibi no
Makibi is already magical in Gōdanshō, but Minister Kibi’s Adventures empow-
ers him even further. He is an almighty magico-religious figure of whom
later diviners claim to be descendants.
For instance, in the preface of Sangoku sōden onmyō kankatsu hoki naiden
kin’u gyokuto-shū (Transmitted through Three Countries, Collections of the
Sun and Moon Yin-Yang Treatise Held in the Ritual Containers, ca. early
fourteenth century, hereafter Hoki naiden),18 a great yin-yang master, Abe
no Seimei (921?–1005), is written as Kibi no Makibi’s scion. The preface
attempts to uphold the prestige of Abe no Seimei’s lineage of divination by
connecting Seimei to Kibi no Makibi. The annotation book of Hoki naiden
titled Hoki shō (The Ritual Containers, Annotated), which was obviously
created later than Hoki naiden, describes how Kibi no Makibi handed the
invaluable Hoki naiden to Abe no Seimei as his legitimate successor.
A story of an undisputed underdog winning over an unequivocal favor-
ite is entertaining. But when the nation’s names are assigned, with the audi-
ence’s perception of the story as real, the tale becomes less fantastic and the
characters more empathetic for the audience. In the case of the Illustrated
Story of Minister Kibi’s Adventures in China, it was not considered purely imagi-
nary in the medieval period, and as such it had the potential to become a
political tool. Komine Kazuaki believes it was no accident that the picture
scrolls of Minister Kibi’s Adventures, Ban Dainagon ekotoba, and Hikohohodemi no Mikoto emaki were all housed in the Shin-Hachimangū Shrine of Matsunaga
Manor in Wakasa Province after they left GoShirakawa’s Rengeō-in Temple.
GoShirakawa commissioned them as a set to maintain his sovereignty.
Hikohohodemi no Mikoto emaki is a myth of ancestral imperial authority,19 and
Ban Dainagon ekotoba was made to appease vengeful spirits that attack the
capital.20 Minister Kibi’s Adventures is, as we have seen, a myth of foreign
diplomacy (Komine, “Kibi no daijin nittō emaki to sono shūhen” 13).
A myth of Japanese foreign diplomacy is intricately related to fear of the
unknown. China, with its advanced culture, was unfamiliar space, with people
102
Part II: Scholars
unfamiliar to the Japanese. Minister Kibi’s Adventures thus becomes a political
tool. Various messages in the text centripetally point to GoShirakawa’s claim
to power—to show Japan’s superiority domestically to expel his opponents.
At the same time, Minister Kibi, upon whom GoShirakawa superimposed
his alter ego, becomes almighty; his magical power is enhanced, and he
gains the prestige to be the founder of Onmyōdō.
transLatiOn Of kibi Daijin nittō eMaki
This translation is of the Illustrated Story of Minister Kibi’s Adventures in China
(Komatsu, Kibi daijin nittō emaki 3: 162–65). The missing parts are supple-
mented by “Kibi’s Adventures While in China” of Gōdanshō, the source for
the Illustrated Story of Minister Kibi’s Adventures in China. I have also consulted
Kibi daijin monogatari ( Tale of Minister Kibi, twelfth century to the beginning
of the thirteenth century).21 For the illustrations, see also Bosuton Bijutsukan
Nihon bijutsu no shihō 82–95.
Minister Kibi’s Adventures in China
When Minister Kibi, renowned for his intelligence and the most erudite
of his peers, made his first visit to China to study, he excelled in numer-
ous forms of scholarship and performing arts. He was wise and quick of
thought, and in the face of such sage knowledge and wit, the officials of the
Chinese court felt extremely inadequate and ashamed of themselves. When
it became known that Kibi would return once again to China as an envoy of
Japan’s official legation, they secretly plotted Kibi’s demise.
“I feel uneasy about Kibi coming here. We cannot lose in an ordinary
competition. He will make us all look like fools in comparison,” one of
them said.
“Simply putting him to death will cause great problems with the Japanese,
as will making him return to Japan,” said another.
“But if he stays here,” said the first, “it will result in great shame for
us. When the Japanese envoy comes to China, we will lock him high in the
haunted tower. No one who goes there has ever survived. So we have but
to take him there and wait. Let us keep silent about our plans.” Thus, on his
arrival, Minister Kibi was taken to the tower ( Gōdanshō 63).
It was late at night, perhaps. The wind blew hard and rain poured down
in torrents. It was a frightening scene t
hat Kibi beheld when an oni, looking
around the area, came into the tower from the direction of northwest.22 The
oni could not see Kibi, for upon seeing the oni, Kibi had made a charm to
make himself invisible.
,
apanese
entures in China, Scroll 2, J
s Adv
e, 32.131.2.
chang
apanese Minister Kibi’ old on paper 32 x 459.3 cm (12 5/8 x 180 13/16 in.), Museum of y ex
wn, J
, and g
tist Unkno
w Collection, belo
y, Handscroll; ink, color
he oni visits Minister Kibi. Ar
ts, Boston, William Sturgis Big
Figure 3.1. T Heian period, 12th centur Fine Ar
104
Part II: Scholars
“I am a messenger of the king of Japan,” said Kibi to the oni’s surprise.
“Things concerning the king are unshakable and not to be opposed. Who
are you and what do you seek?”
“I am most happy,” the oni replied. “I, too, came to China as part of the
Japanese delegation to Tang. I would very much like to have a talk with you.”
“If you seek an audience with the king’s ambassador,” Kibi replied in
a voice of commanding authority, “you must change your appearance and
come back in the proper formal attire.” The oni left and indeed returned in
formal attire, and Kibi appeared before him as promised.
The oni spoke first. “I, too, was an envoy to Tang China,” he said again.
“Do my descendants, the Abe family, still exist in your mortal world?” he
then asked. “I’ve wanted to know this for a long time but am unable to get
an answer. I came here as a minister,23 but the Chinese put me here without
food, so I was starved to death and became an oni, living in this tower. I
have not the slightest desire to harm people, but when people see me, they
are so frightened by my appearance that they die anyway. I’ve also tried to
inquire into the state of affairs in Japan, but neither have I learned about
this. Today, fortunately, I have met with you. There is no joy beyond this.
Do my descendants have any official rank?”
Minister Kibi answered the oni in detail about the comings and going
of the Abe family, the affairs of court, much to the oni’s great delight.
“To repay your kind news,” said the oni, “I will tell you all about China.”