, also known as , is an eleventh-century Japanese ''

monogatari is a Literary genre, literary form in traditional Japanese literature – an extended prose narrative tale comparable to epic (genre), epic literature. ''Monogatari'' is closely tied to aspects of the oral tradition, and almost always relates ...

'' that tells about a ''

chūnagon was a counselor of the second rank in the Imperial court of Japan. The role dates from the 7th century. The role was eliminated from the Imperial hierarchy in 701, but it was re-established in 705. This advisory position remained a part of the I ...

'' who discovers that his father has been reborn as a Chinese prince. He visits his reincarnated father in China and falls in love with the Hoyang Consort, consort of the Chinese Emperor and mother of his reborn father. The book originally comprised six chapters, but the first chapter has been lost. The tale was written by a female author who employed several exotic locations in the work. The author considers the love between a parent and a child to be "deeper, lasting and more tender" than romantic love between a man and a woman, which follows traditional virtues of

filial piety Filial piety is the virtue of exhibiting love and respect for one's parents, elders, and ancestors, particularly within the context of Confucian ethics, Confucian, Chinese Buddhism, Chinese Buddhist ethics, Buddhist, and Daoism, Daoist ethics. ...

Plot

''Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari'' is the tale of a ''

'' who lost his father when he was very young. His mother marries a widower with two daughters and he fell in love with the older daughter, Taishō no Kimi. The Chūnagon learns in a dream that his father has been reborn as the Third Prince of the Emperor of China, and he sets out on a three-year trip to meet his father. Taishō no Kimi conceives a child with him as he leaves for China and upsets her father's plans for a good match for her, becoming a Buddhist nun instead. The Chūnagon becomes the darling of the Chinese court, and falls in love with the mother of his father's rebirth, the half-Japanese Hoyang Consort. She bears him a son, whom he brings back to Japan to live with the Hoyang Consort's mother, the Yoshino Nun. After the Yoshino Nun passes away, Chūnagon takes her daughter, the Yoshino Princess, into his care, although a seer urges him to avoid marriage with her. Chūnagon dreams of the Hoyang Consort being very sick, and soon he is told by a spirit that she died and is now in the

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

heavenly realm called

Trāyastriṃśa The (Sanskrit; Pali ), (''Tushita''; ''Heaven of the Thirty-three''), is an important celestial realm of the devas in Buddhist cosmology. The word ' is an adjective formed from the numeral ', or "33" and can be translated in English as "bel ...

. The Yoshino Princess is kidnapped by the Crown Prince and impregnated by him. The Hoyang Consort appears to Chūnagon in a dream, and tells him that she has been reborn within the Yoshino Princess's unborn child. The Yoshino Princess is returned to Chūnagon.

Characters

*Hamamatsu Chūnagon – described as being hapless in love, like

Kaoru Genji Kaoru is a fictional character in ''The Tale of Genji'' (''Genji Monogatari''). He only appears as the lead for the novel's third act, called the 'Uji Jujo' (Uji Chapters). Kaoru has been called the first anti-hero in literature and is known fo ...

of ''

The Tale of Genji is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman, poet, and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu around the peak of the Heian period, in the early 11th century. It is one of history's first novels, the first by a woman to have wo ...

'', but slightly more successful. *Hoyang Consort or Tang Consort – the half-Japanese wife of the Emperor of China, mother to the Chūnagon's reincarnated father. *Taishō no Kimi – the Chūnagon's older stepsister and lover, she conceives a child with him as he leaves for China and upsets her father's plans for a good match for her. She becomes a nun. After Hamamatsu Chūnagon returns, they live together in a "chaste yet idyllic" relationship, described as a "reworking" of the relationship between Kaoru and Ōigimi. *Yoshino Nun – the Japanese mother of the Hoyang Consort. *Yoshino Princess – daughter of the Yoshino Nun, half-sister of the Hoyang Consort. *Wakagimi – son of the Chūnagon and the Hoyang Consort. *Crown Prince – the Chūnagon's rival.

Authorship

Authorship of the tale has been traditionally ascribed to Sugawara no Takasue no musume, the author of ''

Sarashina Nikki The is a memoir written by the daughter of Sugawara no Takasue, a lady-in-waiting of Heian-period Japan. Her work stands out for its descriptions of her travels and pilgrimages and is unique in the literature of the period, as well as one of the ...

''. The tale was probably finished from the 1060s to the 1070s, and no copies of the first chapter exist.

Reception

The ''

Mumyōzōshi is an early 13th-century Japanese text. One volume in length, it is the oldest existing Japanese text on prose literary criticism.Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten (1986:1798-1799) The author is unknown, but the leading candidate proposed is Shunzei ...

'', written by a female author between 1200 and 1202, which critiques various Heian tales, criticises the tale for the too-soon rebirth of the Hoyang Consort into the human world, when a person born into a heavenly realm is meant to remain there for a long time. Unlike ''The Tale of Genji'' and '' Sagoromo Monogatari'', ''Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari'' does not pay much attention to the seasons or "the atmosphere of the time of day". Shūichi Katō describes the plot as "totally divorced from reality", due to its use of dreams. Dreams are a staple plot device in Heian tales, and they are an especially important part of the plot in ''Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari''. The author's use of dreams "suggests considerable sophistication of narrative technique" to Harries. Katō criticises the characterisation, saying that the events are so unusual that the characters "become puppets", buffeted around by the author. In one example, Katō found it "difficult to the point of impossibility" to guess the emotions of the Hamamatsu Chunagon on meeting his reborn father. Videen also criticises the characterisation – ''Hamamatsu Chunagon Monogatari'' takes place over six years, not a lifetime, as in ''Genji'', but even so she considers the character of the Hamamatsu Chunagon to be "much the same" at the close of the tale as at the beginning, and the female characters to be "flat". The relationships in ''Hamamatsu'' have parallels in ''Genji'' - the love triangle between the Chunagon, the Yoshino Princess and the Crown Prince is like that between Kaoru, Ukifune and Prince Niou. Also, for the Chunagon, the Yoshino Princess is a replacement love for the Hoyang Consort, her close relative. This is similar to Genji's relationship with Murasaki, after his relationship with her aunt Fujitsubo. The Hoyang Consort's uneasy relationship with other consorts of the Chinese Emperor is considered similar to the relationship between the

Kiritsubo Consort is a fictional character in ''The Tale of Genji'' (''Genji Monogatari is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman, poet, and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu around the peak of the Heian period, in the early 11th cent ...

, Genji's mother, and the other consorts of the Emperor. Several monogatari motifs are present in the tale. The author of the Mumyozoshi considers these familiar motifs as satisfying, although later generations would consider these derivative. Although the tale is considered less accomplished than ''The Tale of Genji'', it illuminates the way Japanese literature developed after ''The Tale of Genji''.

Translations

Thomas H. Rohlich translated the tale as ''A Tale of Eleventh Century Japan: Hamamatsu Chunagon Monogatari'' in 1983, including a summary of the missing first chapter. Rabinovich praises his introduction as "informative and scholarly", but criticises it for suggesting but not discussing the topic of "the intrinsic value of the work". Videen regrets that the many ''

tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. Etymology Originally, in the time of the influential poetry anthology (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to disti ...

'' (short poems) in the work were not discussed more fully in the introduction.

Adaptations

The dream and rebirth themes of ''Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari'' inspired

Yukio Mishima Kimitake Hiraoka ( , ''Hiraoka Kimitake''; 14 January 192525 November 1970), known by his pen name Yukio Mishima ( , ''Mishima Yukio''), was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Ultranationalism (Japan), ultranationalis ...

's ''

Spring Snow is a novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy. It was published serially in ''Shinchō'' from 1965 to 1967, and then in book form in 1969. Mishima did extensive research, including visits to Enshō-ji in Nara, to ...

'', and a former teacher of his had recently released an edition of ''Hamamatsu'' as Mishima began work on ''Spring Snow''. The tale was also adapted for the stage by the

Takarazuka Revue The is a Japanese all-female musical theatre troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyōgo, Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway theatre, Broadway-style productions of musicals and stories adapted from films, nov ...

in 2005, under the name .

Plot

Characters

Authorship

Reception

Translations

Adaptations

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading