[KS] 5th 14th 23rd

[Best, Jonathan]

Greetings Werner,

Sounds to me like the kind of Buddho-Taoist, essentially folk, superstitions that were rampant In Heian Japan and that appear repeatedly in the Genji monogatari and other wonders of Heian literature, so even though it's not my field, I can't imagine that there isn't a deep body of Japanese scholarship on such things. It's my vague recollection that even in Ivan Morris' The World of the Shining Prince there's a whole chapter dedicated to such superstitions because they are so important to an understanding of the tale.

Jonathan


"It's harder to write fiction than nonfiction. Fiction has to make sense." — Tom Clancy


________________________________________
From: Koreanstudies [koreanstudies-bounces at koreanstudies.com] on behalf of Marc Miyake [amritavira at gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2016 8:54 AM
To: Korean Studies Discussion List
Subject: Re: [KS] 5th 14th 23rd

Dear Werner,

I am sorry I cannot help you solve the mysteries in that passage from
Tongguk sesigi, but I hope you may find these notes of some use.

> 九曜(skr. Nahagraha, often translated as “planets” or “luminaries”) <

九曜 corresponds to Sanskrit navagraha with -v- like its Latin cognate novem.

Graha, incidentally, is literally 'seizer' (and by extension,
'influencer' - i.e., seizer of destiny); its root is gra(b)h, and its
English cognate is grab.

Marc Miyake
amritavira at gmail.com
http://britishmuseum.academia.edu/MarcMiyake