SOURCE: Geddes, Ward. “The Courtly Model: Chōmei and Kiyomori in Jikkinsho.” Monumenta Nipponica 42, no. 2 (summer 1987): 157-66.

In the following essay, Geddes examines how Chōmei is portrayed in the Jikkinsho collection.

Compiled in 1252, Jikkinshō is a collection of short tales, or setsuwa, that generally touch on incidents in the lives of famous men in Chinese and Japanese history. Its unknown compiler states that his intention is to produce a sourcebook of moral and social conduct for young men. Apparently written for the youth of the newly rising military families and lesser provincial aristocrats, Jikkinshō sets out to instill in its readers a proper understanding of courtly sensibilities and values, the kind of attitudes and values essential to those who wished to enter the administrative offices of the Kamakura government.

To communicate the essence of courtly refinement and elegance to which Jikkinshō's compiler feels his readers should...