is a collection of
Japanese tales written around the beginning of the 13th century. The author is unknown, and it may have been revised several times.
The title references the ''
Uji Dainagon Monogatari'', a book which no longer exists. The
Dainagon
was a counselor of the first rank in the Imperial court of Japan. The role dates from the 7th century.
This advisory position remained a part of the Imperial court from the 8th century until the Meiji period in the 19th century.Nussbaum, "Dainag ...
of
Uji was
Minamoto no Takakuni.
The work is classified as
setsuwa literature. Following in the footsteps of ''
Konjaku Monogatarishū'', it is the representative setsuwa work of the
Kamakura period
The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...
.
Contents
The story is made up of 197 tales spanning 15 volumes. Of the 197, 80 of the stories also appear in the
''Konjaku Monogatarishū''.
The preface states that it contains tales from Japan, India, and China. However, few of them are original, with many stories containing common elements from earlier works such as ''Konjaku Monogatarishū''.
Contents include a number of characters ranging from nobles to commoners and tales ranging from everyday stories to the obscure and comical. Several of the stories were used as a basis for short stories by
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
, art name , was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period in Japan. He is regarded as the "father of the Japanese short story", and Japan's premier literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, is named after him. He took his own life at the age ...
including ''
Hell Screen''.
The tales collected in ''Uji Shūi Monogatari'' can be split into the following major categories:
*Buddhist tales
*Social tales
*Private tales
Some tales contain Buddhist didactic elements, but the overall work does not place a particularly strong emphasis on Buddhism, setting it apart from many other setsuwa collections.
Composition
It is unknown when ''Uji Shūi Monogatari'' was written. Many theories have been produced from literary and linguistic evidence. There is a great deal of variation, but they all generally point to the beginning of the 13th century.
Translations
*English
**
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uji Shui Monogatari
13th-century books
Early Middle Japanese texts
Monogatari
Setsuwa
Works of unknown authorship