Winner of the 1991 Japan-United States Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature

"An interesting and readable book [that] provides unusual illumination."
--Carmen Blacker in the Bulletin of the Schools of Oriental and African Studies

"A significant contribution. Ideal for classroom use."
--William E. Deal in the Journal of Japanese Studies

"Childs's careful explanation of [these tales] transforms them from inaccessible oddities into small illuminations of a distant time."
--Jeanne DuPrau in Small Press

"Scholarly, useful, and entertaining . . . it belongs on textbook order forms as well as on the shelves of specialists."
--Janet R. Goodwin in Monumenta Nipponica

"With her careful analyses, background survey, and translations, Professor Childs provides us with new and fascinating insights into the interplay between popular literature and its ideological roots. Rethinking Sorrow is squarely at the intersection of current inquiries into the medieval storytelling tradition and our rethinking of the nature of 'Kamakura' Buddhism."
--Robert E. Morrell, Washington University in St. Louis

"In addition to revealing much about life, literature, and religious practices in medieval Japan, these tales are fun to read, and they provide fresh, new material for Japanese literature courses taught in English."
--Karen Brazell, Cornell University

"Rethinking Sorrow helps increase our understanding of the diversity, effectiveness, and appeal of late medieval Japanese fiction. Margaret Childs's sprightly yet scholarly translations bring these tales alive in English."
--Susan Matisoff, Stanford University

Childs argues that "The Tale of Genmu," "Tales Told on Mount Koya," "The Three Monks," and "The Seven Nuns" form a small, coherent subgroup of stories that describe how people were inspired to religious commitment. These "revelatory tales" consist of firsthand accounts offered by groups of monks and nuns who tell and listen to each other's tales in turn, a public sharing that is, in fact, a religious ritual by which means the storytellers hope to confirm their beliefs and strengthen their religious resolve.

Rethinking Sorrow is important reading for anyone interested in medieval Japanese literature and culture, in Buddhist didactic literature, and in homoerotic literature. It provides a private, personal look at the religious and literary world of late medieval Japan.