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Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness)徒然草
"With nothing to do, I sit all day long facing the inkstone, and as I set down without order the idle things that rise and fade in my heart" — 243 short pieces that open with that one sentence. The priest Kenkō wrote them after turning his back on the world, moving between impermanence and what makes a person, flowers and the moon, the old proprieties and the manners of the day. Passages long quoted stand throughout, such as "Are blossoms to be seen only at their height, and the moon only when nothing veils it?" (section 137), and pieces that raise a laugh are mixed in, like the priest who pulled a cauldron over his head or the tale of the shrine at Izumo. With the Hōjōki it is counted one of the two pillars of the Japanese essay.
All 243 sections. The section numbers of the source edition were kept as they stand, and the whole was divided into twelve bundles of twenty sections each. The editor's collation notes 〔…〕 and the ruby readings were taken out.
Complete in one volume
- Sections 221–243221~243단 · 23 passages · 6,416 Chinese characters
- Sections 201–220201~220단 · 20 passages · 4,398 Chinese characters
- Sections 181–200181~200단 · 20 passages · 4,690 Chinese characters
- Sections 161–180161~180단 · 20 passages · 4,774 Chinese characters
- Sections 141–160141~160단 · 20 passages · 3,999 Chinese characters
- Sections 121–140121~140단 · 20 passages · 7,131 Chinese characters
- Sections 101–120101~120단 · 20 passages · 5,119 Chinese characters
- Sections 81–10081~100단 · 20 passages · 4,406 Chinese characters
- Sections 61–8061~80단 · 20 passages · 4,111 Chinese characters
- Sections 41–6041~60단 · 20 passages · 6,070 Chinese characters
- Sections 21–4021~40단 · 20 passages · 4,369 Chinese characters
- Sections 1–201~20단 · 20 passages · 5,467 Chinese characters