Essays in Idleness

Tsurezuregusa (徒然草, Essays in Idleness, also known as The Harvest of Leisure) is a collection of essays written by the Japanese monk Yoshida Kenkō between 1330 and 1332. The work is widely considered a gem of medieval Japanese literature and one of the three representative works of the zuihitsugenre, along with Makura no Sōshi and the Hōjōki.

Tsurezuregusa comprises a preface and 243 passages (段, dan), varying in length from a single line to a few pages. Kenkō, being a Buddhist monk, writes about Buddhist truths, and themes such as death and impermanence prevail in the work, although it also contains passages devoted to the beauty of nature as well as some accounts of humorous incidents. The original work was not divided or numbered; the division can be traced to the 17th century.

The work takes its title from its prefatory passage:

つれづれなるまゝに日暮らし硯にむかひて心にうつりゆくよしなし事をそこはかとなく書きつくればあやしうこそものぐるほしけれ
Tsurezurenaru mama ni, hikurashi, suzuri ni mukaite, kokoro ni utsuriyuku yoshinashigoto wo, sokowakatonaku kakitsukureba, ayashū koso monoguruoshikere.

In Keene's translation:

What a strange, demented feeling it gives me when I realise I have spent whole days before this inkstone, with nothing better to do, jotting down at random whatever nonsensical thoughts that have entered my head.

Here つれづれ (tsurezure) means “having nothing to do.”

For comparison, Sansom's translation:

To while away the idle hours, seated the livelong day before the inkslab, by jotting down without order or purpose whatever trifling thoughts pass through my mind, truly this is a queer and crazy thing to do!

Despite the distinguished work of Kenko being continually held in high regard among many and considered a classic since the 17th century, the origin to the publication of Kenko’s work is unclear. Many people have speculated different theories to the arrival of his work, however, little is known to the exact manner of how the book itself was compiled and put together. One of the most popular beliefs held among the majority was concluded by Sanjonishi Saneeda (1511-1579), who stated that Kenko himself did not edit the 243 chapters of his work, but rather, simply wrote his thoughts on random scrap pieces of paper which he pasted to the walls of his cottage. It was then hypothesized that Kenko’s friend, Imagawa Ryoshun, who was also a poet and general at that time, was the one who compiled the book together. After finding the notes on Kenko’s wall, he had prudently removed the scraps and combined the pieces together with other essays of Kenko’s which were found in possession by Kenko’s former servant, and carefully arranged the notes into the order it is found in today.

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