''Nise Monogatari'' (仁勢物語, occasionally 似勢物語) is a Japanese ''
kana-zōshi'' written in the early
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
by an unknown author.
Genre
''Nise Monogatari'' is a work of the ''kana-zōshi'' genre.
It was written as a parody of the famous
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...
romantic
poem tale the ''
Ise Monogatari
is a Japanese ''uta monogatari'', or collection of ''waka (poetry), waka'' poems and associated narratives, dating from the Heian period. The current version collects 125 sections, with each combining poems and prose, giving a total of 209 poems i ...
'', specifically the ''
rufubon'' (popular) text containing 125 short episodes.
Authorship and date
The author of ''Nise Monogatari'' is unknown. The late-Edo period author speculated that it was the early Edo ''
waka
Waka may refer to:
Culture and language
* Waka (canoe), a Polynesian word for canoe; especially, canoes of the Māori of New Zealand
** Waka ama, a Polynesian outrigger canoe
** Waka hourua, a Polynesian ocean-going canoe
** Waka taua, a Māori w ...
'' poet and
Noh
is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...
playwright , but modern scholars reject this theory.
It was written around 1639 (
Kan'ei 16), and first printed around the end of the Kan'ei
era
An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth.
Comp ...
in 1644. The illustrations included in the first printed edition are based on the Kan'ei 6 (1629) edition of the ''Ise Monogatari''.
Content
Unlike other parodies of classical works, such as ''
Inu Makura'' (犬枕) and ''
Inu Tsurezure'' (犬徒然), ''Nise Monogatari'' is a beat-for-beat parody of the content of ''Ise'', with the setting changed from the sophisticated courtly world of the Heian aristocracy to the vulgar society of early modern Japan.
This work stands out from the other parodies specifically of ''Ise'' that appeared later (such as ''
Okashi Otoko''
かし男 ''
Kōshoku Ise Monogatari''
色伊勢物語 ''
Shinjitsu Ise Monogatari''
実伊勢物語and ''
Nise Monogatari Tsūho-shō''
勢物語通補抄 in terms of the consistency of its humour.
It is centered around puns and humour, with the plot itself unremarkable and apparently not having been a concern for the author.
Given the stern reverence afforded the classics in the early Edo period, this work is of interest for the commoner's sensibility it applies to a particularly important literary classic.
Textual tradition
The first edition was published around 1644 in two volumes, and saw several reprints in addition to new editions of the work being produced.}
The work was also copied in manuscript form, such as the copy in one volume, which provides useful historical data on the era in which manuscripts were still being copied by hand in Japan.
References
Works cited
*
{{Refend
Ise Monogatari
Edo-period works
1630s books