Life of an Amorous Woman Book

Pretty cool collection of stories written by Saikaku Ihara at a time when Japan was closed off from the rest of the world. the stories generally have a pretty light, comic tone that I really enjoyed, which is ironic since I bought this book for the title story because I watched and loved the movie The Tale of Oharu which if I remember correctly made me cry watching it on lunch at work. it's cool to see such a frank description of life in Japan at the time, not only from the high and mighty classes, but also from the point of view of prostitutes, untouchables, merchants, etc. i liked that this was so accessible too. of course there are a lot of elements to ihara's original prose that I miss (like what I might have gained reading it in Japanese, in his handwriting as it was produced and read at the time, with all of the pictures, all of the stories, and an understanding as to why detailing every friggin thing a person is wearing as part of their kimono) but compared to the tale of Genji, which yes was written waaaay before this, there were far fewer blatant allusions to China and obscure Chinese poetry, also the people are generally taken as people with flaws and needs as opposed to gods. I liked that the translator who I believe also tranlsated my version of Tale of Genji mentioned that modern readers are very quick to read some progressive meaning in to Ihara's work despite it being pretty unfounded that that was his intention. it really made me reflect on the value of reading old literature as a reimagining of present day reality and the morality that is seemingly wrapped up in it. We read into things. We make everything a mirror of ourselves. But also, how closely can we really get to the true intentions of an artistic work created hundreds of years ago, and in my case in a different country, language, economic system? I also thought it would be interesting to contrast amorous woman and his other book about an amorous man with Fanny Hill and Memoirs of a Coxcomb, which are similar in the sense that they are old books about people in prostitution, though the later books, despite having been written in Victorian England, are faaaaaaaar more explicit. Oh and also, I found it pretty surprising that gay sex was so acceptable at this time. I'm not sure about gay relationships but gay sex was pretty much accepted as much as men having sex with woman prostitutes was, both relegated to the pleasure district, though gay sex was also accepted in the monastery. Many of these stories however pair up sex and death very closely, like Mishima, and it would be interesting to pull in some sort of comparison or relationship between their eroticism. That being said, the sex in Mishima's books is definitely his own sexuality while I'm not really sure I can say anything about Ihara's at all, maybe even nothing on a personal level. Which is interesting considering I would say most modern Western literature is in some way an illustration of oneself.