Konjaku Monogatarishū

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Konjaku Monogatarishū

The Konjaku Monogatarishū ( Japanese 今昔 物語 集 , "collection of stories from now and then", often in the somewhat shorter form: Konjaku Monogatari ) is an anthology that includes more than 1000 Japanese Setsuwa from the late Heian period . Originally the collection consisted of 31 maki (scrolls), but now the rolls 8, 18 and 21 are missing, so that only 28 maki are preserved in the original. The collection includes stories from India, China and Japan. The author and the exact time of origin are unknown. The title of the anthology comes from the fact that every story begins with the phrase 「今 ハ 昔」 ( Ima wa mukashi , in German corresponds to the typical introduction to a fairy tale: Once upon a time). The Sino-Japanese reading gives: kon jaku .

overview

Although the author is unknown, various assumptions have been made about possible publishers of the Konjaku Monogatari. Looking at the Uji Dainagon Monogatari as an expanded edition of the Konjaku Monogatari, Minamoto no Takakuni ( 源 隆 国 , 1004-1077) could have been the editor. If one considers the clergy as a third power in addition to the warrior class and the Tennō, then a monk also comes into question as publisher; for example the monk Toba Sōjō ( 鳥羽 僧 正 , 1053–1140), also known under the name Kakuyū ( 覚 猷 ).

If one takes content-related aspects of the Konjaku Monogatari as a basis and compares them with historical events such as the Hōgen Rebellion (1156), the Heiji Rebellion (1159/60) and the Gempei War (1180-85), the conclusion is obvious, that the collection was created in the first half of the 12th century, probably after 1120.

The oldest surviving manuscript is the Sazuka edition ( 鈴鹿 家 旧 蔵 本 , Sazuka kyū-zōhon ), which was declared a national treasure in 1996 and is owned by the University of Kyoto .

content

The Konjaku Monogatari can be divided into three sections based on the topography. The first section, which includes the first five maki, is called tenjiku ( 天竺 ) because it contains the tales of India. The following five maki form the second section, Shintan ( 震旦 ), in which the stories from China are gathered. The remaining roles of the anthology, the Honchō section ( 本 朝 ) is about Japan. Each of the three parts has moralizing aspects in the Buddhist sense. Due to the sentence construction, which is referential in its way, one assumes that the Konjaku Monogatari is not a genuine new creation, but a copy and eclectic repetition of already existing works of that time. The sections of the Konjaku Monogatari copy - often in simplified characters - parts of the Nihon Ryōiki and are reminiscent of the Sanbōekotoba ( 三宝 絵 詞 ) or Honchō hokke genki ( 本 朝 法 華 験 記 ).

The style of the Sazuka edition is largely simple. The use of Kanji-Kana-majiribun limits the rhetorical means, but creates a flow of language that comes very close to that of the spoken language. In the original manuscript, katakana mixed with kanji are used for this .

The Konjaku Monogatari had a great influence on the Setsuwa literature, especially the Uji Shūi Monogatari from the 13th century. In particular, works by writers of the Taishō period have references and influences to Konjaku Monogatari, such as Akutagawa Ryūnosuke's work Rashōmon and Hana .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b 今昔 物語 集 . In: デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus at kotobank.jp. Retrieved October 22, 2012 (Japanese).
  2. ↑ a b c 今昔 物語 集 デ ジ タ ル 大 辞 泉 (Dejitaru daijisen). Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2012, accessed October 22, 2012
  3. ^ Translation ( memento of September 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), with the copied text passages in the "parallels" of the individual legends

literature

  • 今昔 物語 集 . Kyoto University Library, 2003,accessed June 13, 2012(digitized version of the Konjaku Monogatari).

German translations

  • Ingrid Schuster (ex.), Horst Hammitzsch (ed.): Tales of ancient Japan: From the Konjaku-Monogatari . Reclam, Stuttgart 1966. 71 (partial edition)
  • Satoshi Tsukakoshi, Jōichi Nagano, Max Niehans (practice): Konjaku: Old Japanese stories from the people of the Heian period . [Assumption. Author:] Takakuni Minamoto, Niehans, Zurich 1958
  • Hans Eckardt: The Kokonchomonshū of Tachibana Narisue as a source of music history . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1956, Sert .: Göttingen Asian research, 16 [parts of chap. 6]