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"However, historians in the latter part of the 19th century began to cast doubt on the accuracy of this account of Hōryūji's destruction and to question whether or not the fire truly did occur. "
Horyuji : A Brief History
http://www.horyuji.or.jp/en/garan/

This quote highlights the disagreement between historians and what happened in the past. I think that over the years stories are dramatized and they change through tellings. While this many seem obvious it also raises the question on religion. According to the introduction it states that Emperor Yomei build the temple in a religious motive. Religion plays an importance because it can change the story. In the quote historians disagree on whether the blaze happened because "not a single building" was left standing and if that was the case then how are records still quoted as " according to 727 records". It would seem similar as a miracle perhaps.

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introduction

Hōryūji: A Brief History

The grounds of Hōryūji (Hōryū Temple) house the world's oldest surviving wooden structures, conveying images of Japan as it existed more than 1,300 years ago, during the Asuka Period (A.D. mid 6th - beginning of 8th c.). The story of Hōryūji's founding can be discovered in the historical writings engraved on the back of the halo of the Yakushi Nyorai Buddha statue, located on the eastern side of the room in the temple's Main Hall, and in the official inventory of Hōryūji property holdings recorded in 747.
According to these records, the emperor Yōmei vowed to build a temple and an image of a Buddha as a form of prayer for his own recovery from illness-a vow he was never fated to fulfill, for he died shortly thereafter. These same writings state how Empress Suiko and Crown Prince Shōtoku fulfilled Emperor Yōmei's deathbed wish by building in 607 a temple and a statue of a Buddha, to which the temple was dedicated. The Buddha statue was of the Yakushi Nyorai (Bhaisajyaguru)―literally, "arrival as a healer"―and the temple was named the Ikaruga Temple (after the name of the location), or Hōryūji ("Temple of the Flourishing Law [of Buddhism]")
On the fateful night of April 30 in the year 670, however, a great blaze swept through the temple grounds, leaving "not a single building" standing, as it is recorded in the ancient Chronicles of Japan (Nihon Shoki). However, historians in the latter part of the 19th century began to cast doubt on the accuracy of this account of Hōryūji's destruction and to question whether or not the fire truly did occur. Although there are many questions that remain unanswered to this day, one thing certain is that Hōryūji boasts an illustrious 14 centuries of continuous observance of tradition since established by Prince Shōtoku, the great statesman and founder of Buddhism in Japan.
Today, Hōryūji is composed of the Western Precinct (Saiin Garan), which is centered around the Five-Story Pagoda (Gojū-no-Tō) and the Main Hall (Kondō), and the Eastern Precinct (Tōin Garan), which is arranged around the Hall of Visions (Yumedono). Throughout the 187,000-square-meter grounds are irreplaceable cultural treasures, bequeathed across the centuries and continuing to preserve the essence of eras spanning the entire journey through Japanese history since the 7th century. In fact, Hōryūji contains over 2,300 important cultural and historical structures and articles, including nearly 190 that have been designated as National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties. In December of 1993, Hōryūji, as a unique storehouse of world Buddhist culture, became the first treasure of any kind in Japan to be selected by UNESCO as part of the World Heritage.

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" 'At times like this It feels awkward Many people feel dissatisfaction He thinks there is nothing to be done And life is without joy' ... his environment and the attitude of the people around him changed dramatically ..." (21:05)
Exploring Hyakunin Isshu Corridor of Knowledge vol.89

Surroundings and environment seems to play a huge role in poetry. The quote and analysis from the video give one perspective. It not only talks about who and what the people do but according to the video analysis it was because he (point of view in poem) cared about his people who he governed. Which is very similar to 111 and 115 in the Traditional Japanese Poetry pdf. Both poems have examples of nature and discus human emotions though them. Mostly about change and how it effects them.

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" 'The exhibition is really about how the tale of Genji was read and interpreted over the past 1000 years' " (0:42 - 3:00)
The Tale of Genji, Part Two | Ancient Art Links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXW4hHv8ozE&t=3s

The video is a quick summary of the exhibit on the Tale of Genji and many points through out the video are similar to those in Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan. In the first 40 seconds of the video it highlights the purpose of the exhibit. Which is how the tale was read and interpreted. The Diary is about how a girl read the volumes out of order as there where many of them. She very into the story and describes how her Aunt gave her a few of the volumes. "She gave me more than 50 volumes ..." later on it states that she would read all day and night.  While the diary is more direct in explaining this the exhibit relies more on the art screens, paintings, and card game.
Another point that the video brings up is the idea of marriage though out the story. The exhibit has an item that the princess out be carried and goes on to explain the symbolism of the crest/ significance of it. The Diary also discusses finding marriage and the girl fancies a romanic like that of Lady Yugao.

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The Tale of Genji, Part Two | Ancient Art Links

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"break through rather than at a gallop, by now it was dark. The regats escort did not know kiyosmoris grandson, or perhaps pretended not to." Tale of Heike

"The biwa used in heikyoku (called the heikebiwa) probably developed from that played in gagaku, court ensemble music of continental Asian origin." Heikyoku

Though out the story it repeats time and events like this one mentioned seems to be be about power in a way. A musical performance had a very similar concept. The story was told in about 200 so called episodes and it was told orally. The singers where sometimes accompanied by Biwa. The singers would also draw out individual syllables and the melodic lines would be zigzagged and have a hard edge feel. The music was also used as ceremonial / narrative performance.
Shortly after the events of the quote in the written form the paragraph again has the repetition structure where it seems like a poem and the intensity of a song / theatrical.

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"That dating makes these hand scrolls even more valuable as examples of work predating the Nagusamigusa (1652), a mixture of pictures and commentary long regarded as the earliest pictorial representation of Essays in Idleness"
https://www.suntory.com/sma/exhibition/2014_3/display.html

As the Essays of Idleness grew in readership many artists began to illustrate the passages.   The illustrations vary depending how the artist interpertited the passage. The character would often be siting with a book and have trees somewhere in the landscape however the details differ. This is very similar to what many people do today with fanart. The influences of other works also has an affect on this the source uses the example of the illustrates used in the Tale of Genji to highlight the themes used in paintings are from classical literature.

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June 11 to July 21 2014

Section 1
Kenko and Essays in Idleness

Kenko, who was born in about 1283, was the son of Urabe Kaneaki, a Shinto priest of modest rank. In his early twenties, Kenko served the Emperor Go-Nijo (1285-1308) as a chamberlain, but by the time he turned thirty, he had already retired into religion. It is said that he lived past his seventieth birthday, but the historical record is meager and little is reliably known about him. During his lifetime, Kenko was known as a poet whose master was Nijo Tameyo(1250-1338). No contemporary record exists, however, of Kenko as the author of Essays in Idleness (Tsurezuregusa), and no trace existed, for a considerable time, of appreciation for that work. It is still not clear when and how Essays in Idleness was composed.

Over a century after Kenko completed Essays in Idleness in the closing years of the Kamakura period (probably around 1333), the work began to gain a sympathetic reception among the poets and linked-verse masters of the Muromachi period (1336-1573). In the Edo period (1600-1868), with the shogunate's encouragement of scholarship and the development of printing technologies, the essays swiftly captured a wide readership.
This section of the exhibition addresses the character of Kenko and traces the history of the reception of Essays in Idleness to its elevation to its current status as a masterpiece of Japanese classical literature.

Section 2
Painting Essays in Idlenes

With the publication of print editions of Essays in Idleness and commentaries on the text in the Edo period, the book swiftly captured a wide readership. As the essays gained popularity, artists started to create illustrations. One result was the rise of the Tsurezure-e.

That term refers to paintings and drawings inspired by the Tsurezuregusa essays and parallels the terms Genji-e, depictions of the Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari), and Ise-e, depictions of the Tales of Ise (Ise Monogatari).
The annotated Nagusamigusa is an example of Tsurezure-e worthy of special mention.With its 157 illustrations, the Nagusamigusa became an influential source of motifs and designs for other Tsurezure-e.
Many Tsurezure-e have, however, no discernible connection with the Nagusamigusa.Appreciation of classical literature flourished in the early Edo period in the context of a trend for reviving classical culture in which the Emperor Go-Mizunoo (1596-1680) played a central role. With a rapid increase in demand for paintings with themes taken from classical literature, large numbers of Tsurezure-e were produced in this period.

Responding to that growing demand, several schools of painting, including the Kano, Tosa, and Sumiyoshi schools, turned to creating their own Tsurezure-e. As a result, there is no discernible correlation in style or motif between their works; artists freely chose which episodes to depict. They also worked in a variety of formats, from handscrolls and folding screens to albums of paintings and illustrated books in response to demand. This section introduces the many faces of Tsurezure-e.

Nara-Ehon (Nara picture book) of Essays in Idleness (Tsurezuregusa)
Volume one out of five（section）
Edo Period (17th Century)
Fumi Bunko (Fumi Library)

Section 3
Reading Essays in Idleness

The Suntory Museum recently acquired the twenty volumes of Tsurezuregusa handscrolls by Kaiho Yusetsu for its collection. For Tsurezure-e, artists usually painted several scenes, having selected popular episodes from the Essays in Idleness or episodes that readily lent themselves to depiction. The Kaiho Yusetsu Tsurezuregusa handscrolls are particularly valuable because they illustrate the book in its entirety, and both the text and the pictures are complete.
Many commentaries have attempted to devise methods of reading Essays in Idleness by dividing the book into short passages. The set of 244 episodes into which it is now conventionally divided is the work of Kitamura Kigin, poet, actor and classical scholar. He produced the 244-episode division of the Tsurezuregusa Mondansho, which was published in 1667.

Since the subdivision of the Tsurezuregusa handscrolls by Kaiho Yusetsu nearly matches that in the Tsurezuregusa Mondansho, scholars have long assumed that these scrolls date from after 1667. It has since been confirmed, however, that the division of episodes in scrolls correlates with not only in the 1645 edition of Essays in Idleness but also in the one published in the the Kan'ei era (1624-45). Thus, it is possible that the handscrolls were created probably before 1667. That dating makes these hand scrolls even more valuable as examples of work predating the Nagusamigusa (1652), a mixture of pictures and commentary long regarded as the earliest pictorial representation of Essays in Idleness.
This section marks the first public display of the newly acquired handscrolls and offers a must-see experience of famous scenes from Essays in Idleness.

Section 4
The Works of Kaiho Yusetsu and the Tsurezuregusa Handscrolls

Kaiho Yusetsu (1598-1677), who painted the twenty-volume Tsurezuregusa hand scrolls, was the son of Kaiho Yusho (1533-1615), a leading Momoyama-period painter. Yusetsu, who was only eighteen when his father died, went through a period of hardship when he earned a living as a commercial artist operating an eya, a shop that produced and sold a variety of painted goods to order, because the Kaiho School his father had founded still lacked the broad-based support necessary for stability as a school of painters.

Then Kasuga-no-Tsubone (1579-1643), who had served as wet nurse to Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third shogun, recommended Yusetsu to the shogun to repay the kindness his father, Yusho, had shown her, and Yusetsu found himself in the position of a salaried artist in the service of Iemitsu.

Yusetsu made use of his experience of producing diverse works to order at the eya to develop a wide repertoire including paintings of famous places (meisho-e), paintings of the origin or history of temples or shrines (engi-e), Buddhist paintings, and large paintings to decorate walls, screens or sliding doors (kinpeki shoheiga), which were created using strong mineral pigments applied over gold backgrounds. This section introduces Yusetsu's oeuvre through a wide range of examples of styles and themes, exploring the nature of the artist who created the twenty volumes of the Tsurezuregusa handscrolls.

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Essays in Idleness: Enjoying Classical Literature Through Art | Works from the exhibition | Exhibitions | Suntory Museum of Art

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Works from the exhibition: Essays in Idleness (Tsurezuregusa), written by Yoshida Kenko; in the latter half of the Kamakura period, is regarded, with The Pillow Book (Makura no soshi) and An Account of My Hut (Hojoki), as one of the three great collections of essays in Japanese literature.