Abstract
Current paper examines the views on war and war consequences in medieval Japan. The reference text is How starving people drowned (Kinin mi [wo] nageru koto), the 4th section of the 33rd scroll of the samurai tales Records of Great Peace (Taihei ki), which was completed in the second half of the 14th century. This passage describes the Japanese capital Kyoto after the devastating battles for the city in 1352–1355. Battles were fought between supporters of the two branches of the sovereign dynasty, the Southern and Northern courts. As a result, the family of a certain junior official of samurai origin was forced to wander and ultimately commit suicide. In the course of the study the Kinin mi [wo] nageru koto section was firstly translated into European language. A detailed analysis of the translated text is presented in the paper below. This fragment is present in the oldest manuscripts of the Taihei ki, obtains considerable artistical, didactic and historical value, and still having an impact on Japanese culture. The aim of current study is to determine the views on war presented in the text. For this aim, linguistic and stylistic features, historical accuracy, narrative structure, logical framework, target audiences, author’s position, as well as possible interpretations in Buddhist and Neo-Confucian perspectives are considered. The conclusions of the study could provide not only a deep understanding of circumstances of the text creation and its key features, but also some thoughts regarding the perception of military operations in Japanese tales on wars.
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