Otogi-zōshi
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

are a group of about 350 Japanese prose narratives written primarily in the
Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...
(1392–1573). These illustrated short stories, which remain unattributed, together form one of the representative literary genres of the Japanese medieval era.


Overview

is a general term for narrative literature written between the
Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...
(approximately 1336–1573) and the beginning of the
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 ...
(1603–1867). The term originates with a mid-Edo collection of 23 stories, titled or . It later came to denote other works of the same genre and period. Modern scholarship sometimes distinguishes between "true" , covering only the 23 works included in the aforementioned collection, and other works that it instead terms or .


List

The 23 tales covered by the narrow definition are: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Under the broad definition, there are around 500 surviving examples of . Most are around 30–40 pages in length, and are of uncertain date. Their authors are also largely unknown, but whereas Heian and
Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...
were almost all composed by members of the aristocracy, these works were composed by not just aristocrats but also Buddhist monks, hermits, educated members of the
warrior class A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...
. Some of the later may have been written by members of the emerging urban merchant class. Similarly, the works' intended readership was probably broader than the of earlier eras. They therefore have a wide variety of contents and draw material from various literary works of the past. Based on their contents, scholars have divided them into six genres: # # # # # #


are tales of the aristocracy. They mark a continuation of the earlier literature, and are noted for the influence of '' The Tale of Genji''. Many of them are rewritten or abridged versions of earlier works. Among the romantic works in this sub-genre are and , and most end sadly with the characters cutting themselves off from society ().


Categories

''Otogi-zōshi'' have been broken down into multiple categories: tales of the
aristocracy Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At t ...
, which are derived from earlier works such as '' The Tale of Genji''; religious tales; tales of warriors, often based on ''
The Tale of the Heike is an epic poetry, epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Heike () refers to the Taira (), ''hei'' being ...
'', the ''
Taiheiki The (Chronicle of Great Peace) is a Japanese historical epic (see ''gunki monogatari'') written in the late 14th century and covers the period from 1319 to 1367. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Taiheiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', pp. 923 ...
'', '' The Tale of the Soga'' and the ''
Gikeiki The , "The Chronicle of Yoshitsune", is a Japanese gunki monogatari ("war-tale") that focuses on the legends of Minamoto no Yoshitsune and his followers. Thought to have been written during the Nanboku-chō period, it has provided inspiration to ...
'' (The Tale of Yoshitsune); tales of foreign countries, based on the ''
Konjaku Monogatarishū , also known as the , is a Japanese collection of over one thousand tales written during the late Heian period (794–1185). The entire collection was originally contained in 31 volumes, of which 28 remain today. The volumes cover various tales fr ...
''. The most well-known of the tales, however, are retellings of familiar
legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...
s and
folktale A folktale or folk tale is a folklore genre that typically consists of a story passed down from generation to generation orally. Folktale may also refer to: Categories of stories * Folkloric tale from oral tradition * Fable (written form of the a ...
s, such as ''
Issun-bōshi is the subject of a fairy tale from Japan. This story can be found in the old Japanese illustrated book '' Otogizōshi''. Similar central figures and themes are known elsewhere in the world, as in the tradition of Tom Thumb in English folklore. ...
'', the story of a one-inch-tall boy who overcomes countless obstacles to achieve success in the capital.


Origins of the term ''otogi-zōshi''

The term ''otogi'' literally means " companion", with the full name of the genre translating to "companion tale". This designation, however, did not come into use until 1725, when a publisher in
Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
released a set of 23 illustrated booklets titled '' Shūgen otogibunko'' (Fortuitous Companion Library). As other publishers produced their own versions of ''Shūgen otogibunko'', they began referring to the set of tales as ''otogi-zōshi''. Gradually the term came to describe any work from the Muromachi or early Edo period that exhibited the same general style as the tales in ''Shūgen otogibunko''.


History of ''otogi-zōshi'' scholarship

''Otogi-zōshi'' came to the attention of modern
literary historian The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment, enlightenment, or instruction to the reader/listener/observer, as well as the development of the literary techniques ...
s in the late nineteenth century. For the most part, scholars have been critical of this genre, dismissing it for its perceived faults when compared to the aristocratic literature of the Heian and Kamakura periods. As a result, standardized
Japanese school ''Zaigai kyōiku shisetsu'' ( 在外教育施設 "Overseas educational institution"), or in English, Japanese international school or overseas Japanese school, may refer to one of three types of institutions officially classified by the Ministry ...
textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...
s often omit any reference to ''otogi-zōshi'' from their discussions of
medieval Japanese literature Japan's medieval period (the Kamakura period, Kamakura, Nanbokuchō period, Nanbokuchō and Muromachi period, Muromachi periods, and sometimes the Azuchi–Momoyama period) was a transitional period for the nation's literature. Kyoto ceased being ...
. Recent studies, however, have contradicted this critical stance, highlighting the vitality and inherent appeal of this underappreciated genre. The term "chusei shosetsu" (medieval novels), coined by eminent scholar Ichiko Teiji, attempts to situate the tales within a narrative continuum.


List of ''otogi-zōshi''

* '' Aisome-gawa'' * '' Aki no Yo no Naga Monogatari'' * ''
Komachi Sōshi ''Komachi Sōshi'' (小町草紙) is a Japanese ''otogi-zōshi'' in one or two volumes, composed during the Muromachi period. Date, genre and sources ''Komachi Sōshi'' was composed during the Muromachi period. It is a work of the ''otogi-zōsh ...
'' * '' Koshikibu'' (I) * '' Koshikibu'' (II) * ''
Urashima Tarō (otogi-zōshi) is a Japanese ''otogi-zōshi'' in one volume. Date, genre and title ''Urashima Tarō'' was composed during the Muromachi period. It is a work of the ''otogi-zōshi'' genre. Most of the surviving manuscripts of the work give its title as simply ...
'' * '' Utatane no Sōshi''


References


Works cited

*


Further reading

*Araki, James. "Otogizōshi and Nara-Ehon: A Field of Study in Flux", ''
Monumenta Nipponica ''Monumenta Nipponica'' is a semi-annual academic journal of Japanese studies. Published by Sophia University (Tokyo), it is one of the oldest English-language academic journals in the field of Asian studies, being founded in 1938. Although the jou ...
'', Vol. 36: 1-20. *Kavanagh, Frederick G. "An Errant Priest. Sasayaki Tale". ''Monumenta Nipponica'', Vol. 51: 219-244. *Mulhern, Chieko Irie. "Otogizōshi. Short Stories of the Muromachi Period", ''Monumenta Nipponica'', Vol. 29: 181-198. *『室町時代物語大成』.
Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines su ...
. *奥野健男. 『お伽草紙』. 新潮文庫.  *Skord, Virginia. "Tales of Tears and Laughter: Short Fiction of Medieval Japan", University of Hawaii Press, 1991. *Skord, Virginia. "Monogusa Tarō: From Rags to Riches and Beyond", ''Monumenta Nipponica'', Vol. 44, 171-198. *Waters, Virginia Skord. "Sex, Lies and the Illustrated Scroll: The Dojoji Engi Emaki", ''Monumenta Nipponica'', Vol. 52,59-84.


External links


"''Sekai no Dejitaru Nara Ehon Detabesu''" at Keiō University
Meiji Gakuin University is a Christian university in Tokyo and Yokohama that was established in 1863. The Reverend Dr. James Curtis Hepburn was one of its founders and served as the first president. The novelist and poet Shimazaki Toson graduated from this colleg ...

Online Colored Illustrations edition of the ''Otogizōshi''
at
Kyoto University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = National university, Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 1000000000 (number), billion USD) , faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff) , administrative_staff ...
Rare Materials Digital Archive (RMDA) {{DEFAULTSORT:Otogi-zoushi Japanese folklore Late Middle Japanese texts