A Parallel Translation of Chiteiki (982)

Abstract

This publication includes a complete and annotated English translation of Chiteiki 池亭記, presented in parallel with the original text. Chiteiki is a literary memoir written in 982 by Yoshishige no Yasutane 慶滋保胤 (c. 933–1002), a mid–level court official and celebrated member of the Kyoto literati. This brief text, written is Sino-Japanese (hentai kanbun 変体漢文), includes a rare, first-person account of the tectonic changes that were transforming Kyoto’s urban landscape during the late Heian period (794–1185). The narrative explains how the master-planned city, established in 794 and modeled on the great Chinese capitals of Luoyang and Chang’an, was undergoing a fundamental spatial reorganization. The western half of Kyoto’s urban grid had begun to deteriorate while the population clustered with dangerous and stifling density in the northeast. Development beyond the city’s northern and eastern boundaries threatened the natural environment and exacerbated the danger of perennial floods.