Monogatari

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Under Monogatari ( Jap. 物語 from mono o Kataru 物を語る , say something , too: Gesta , reports) is defined as a literary narrative, dedicated to the 10th century, in the. Heian emerged (794-1185) and the Kamakura period (1185–1333) developed until the end of the 15th century. It is characteristic of the Monogatari that, in contrast to the "diary literature" ( 日記 文学 , Nikki-Bungaku ) and the "miscell literature " ( Zuihitsu ), it is based on fiction, i. H. based on what you have not experienced yourself.

Overview

At the beginning of the 10th century, the monogatari is a collective term for novel-like, fictional stories. It denotes different forms such as legends, sagas, anecdotes and warrior epics. The monogatari of this time is maintained exclusively by the court nobility in Kyoto. Based on the topic, the following monogatari can be distinguished in a broader sense: "Denki-" ( 伝 奇 物語 , romantic stories), "Rekishi-" ( 歴 史 物語 , historical stories), "Gunki Monogatari" ( 軍 記 物語 , war histories ). In addition to the thematic aspects, one speaks of the following formally different Monogatari: "Uta Monogatari" ( 歌 物語 ), a mixture of poetry and legends told, "Giko Monogatari" ( 擬古 物語 , classicistic stories), commonly those Monogatari that come after the Genji Monogatari emerged, and most recently the "Tsukuri Monogatari" ( 作 り 物語 , fictional stories).

As a literary genre, the monogatari is formally difficult to distinguish from the “Japanese stories” ( Setsuwa ) with their popular, Buddhist-instructive character. The Setsuwa are therefore often regarded as a specific form of the Monogatari.

Important monogatari in chronological order

The Heian period

Illustration of the Taketori Monogatari

The first monogatari that has been preserved is “the story of the bamboo collector”, the Taketori monogatari , which was created around 900. It is written almost entirely in Japanese in a simple style. It tells the story of a tiny foundling who was found by an old bamboo collector, raised and grown into an extraordinarily beautiful woman who is courted by an army of suitors and court nobles. The lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu called the Taketori Monogatari in her Genji Monogatari as the "original form" or the "father" of the Monogatari.

At around the same time, at the beginning of the 10th century, the "Tales from Ise", the Ise Monogatari , were also written. Formally it is characterized by the peculiar and unique mixture of poetry and prose and has also been called "Uta Monogatari" (song or lyrical story). The 125 sections, which consist of one or more poems commented on by prose, tell in a loose juxtaposition of all kinds of love adventures of the gentleman and poet Ariwara no Narihira against the historical background of the rise of the Fujiwara family . The Ise Monogatari is highly valued by the Japanese to this day.

From the beginning of the 10th century, only a few monogatari have survived, despite the assumed large number. This also includes the “ Yamato Monogatari ” created around 950 , which is composed in a similar way to the Ise Monogatari, except that here there is not a single person at the center of all the stories, but each story has its own protagonist. Yamato refers to the province of Yamato , the home country of Japan, and is therefore also used as a synonym for Japan itself. It is therefore not surprising that the “Stories from the Yamato Province” as well as the “Japanese Stories” are mentioned.

At a time when the imperial court indulged in love affairs, when a nobleman gave himself up to many women and morality was not taken too seriously, the dark side of palace life also found its way into narrative literature. The unloved stepchild is thematically in the center of the hereafter named "Mamako Monogatari" ( 継 子 ), which came to us in " Ochikubo Monogatari " ( 落 窪 物語 ), the "story of the girl in the cellar hole" - a story that probably came to us in 968– 69 and depicts the wretched fate of a girl who has to live without a family in the mezzanine of an adjoining house in the palace and becomes a plaything of neglected whims and hard labor. From this, the girl, sorrowfully summing up:


To lose
my existence in this world is my desire.
But what never takes shape according to the wish,
That is the gloomy fate of our life.

These “stepchildren” stories are characterized by a stylized ensemble of people and standardized, always the same course of action. Another example is the “ Sumiyoshi Monogatari ” ( 住 吉 物語 ), which today is more likely to be located in the Kamakura period. The Tokyo National Museum has an edition that is classified as an important cultural asset .

The 1050 following Tsutsumi Chūnagon Monogatari ( 堤 中 納 言 言 ) got its name from Fujiwara no Tamesuke (877-933), to whom the work was wrongly ascribed. Tamesuke held the office of Vice-Minister (Chūnagon, in the Ritsuryō system) and was nicknamed "Tsutsumi" (dike) because he lived on one of the same.

The " Torikaebaya Monogatari " ( と り か へ ば や 物語 ) from the middle to the end of the 11th century tells of all sorts of inconveniences that arise for a father who has a son with a delicate, feminine nature and en contraire a boyish daughter Finally, the father feels compelled to bring up the girl in boys' clothes and the boy in girl's clothes according to their nature, which often elicits the exclamation: “Oh, can I just swap them” (Torikaebaya) and gives the story its name.

An edition of the Utsubo Monogatari from 1809

At the end of the 11th century and as a transition to the climax of the genre are the "Tales of the Tree Cave" ( Utsubo Monogatari 宇 津 保 物語 ) by the poet Minamoto no Shitagō . For the first time, each of the 20 sections is given its own heading, which will also prevail and be maintained in the subsequent monogatari.

At the turn of the century, on the way into the 12th century, the "diary literature" appeared next to the monogatari and with it the heyday of women's literature began, which crowned the genre of the monogatari with the Genji Monogatari of the lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu . The "Tale of Prince Genji" was created around 1004, in a phase of seclusion from palace life after the death of her husband. Unlike the Ise Monogatari a hundred years earlier, with its profane style and loose juxtaposition of independent narrative sections, this is the first major novel-like narrative. Experiences such as historical facts are carefully composed into a whole and fictionally reshaped. This monogatari is rightly considered to be the highlight of the narrative literature of Japan. Among the many epigones are the "Tales in Sleepless Night Hours " ( Nezame Monogatari , 夜 寝 覚 物語 ) and the "Tales of Vice Minister Beach Pine " ( Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari , 浜 松 中 納 言 物語 ) by Sugawara no Takasue no Musume zu call.

Turning point to the Kamakura period

The Eiga Monogatari

The Heian period ends with the sea ​​battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185 and the victory of the Minamoto over the Taira. The Fujiwara influence is broken and the court's heyday is beginning to fade. Bloody struggles for supremacy in the country determine political events. The narrative literature, which until then was thematically depicted in the description of courtly love affairs, begins to reflect the political upheavals. A new form of monogatari, the "historical narrative" ( Rekishi Monogatari 歴 史 物語 ), enriches literature.

Chronic historical works like the Kojiki had not been written for almost 200 years and at the same time the political circumstances aroused the desire for a coherent view of history. A new genre emerged, the " Zasshi " ( mixed history ), which in narrative form served the historical thirst for knowledge as well as the need for entertainment. The content of these Zasshi was based on national history, presented in the poetic style of the Monogatari.

One of the first works of this new genre is the "Tale of the Blooming Flowers", the Eiga Monogatari . The historical, i.e. H. courtly events from 887 to 1092, i.e. from the point in time when the historical imperial chronicles end, to the present at that time.

The more historiographical work “The Great Mirror” ( Ōkagami , 大 鏡 ), written at the end of the 12th century, was based on the emperor annals and ministerial biographies of the “Historical Memories” of Se-ma Ts'ien . The Ōkagami gives an overview of the 14 rulers from Montoku to Go-Ichijō along with a large number of ministerial biographies. The author used a trick here by inventing the two characters Ōyake no Yotsugi and Natsuyama Shigeki. The two, one 151 years old, the other 140, alternately tell each other the events of the past 176 years. In this work, a narrator also appears. As a supplement to the Ōkagami, the "water mirror" ( Mizukagami ) written by Fujiwara no Tadachika can be considered, which includes the imperial chronicles from Tennō Jimmu to Nimmyō in two volumes .

The Rekishi Monogatari are complemented by the “mirror of the present” ( Imakagami ), which covers the 150 years from Emperor Ichijō to Takakura .

Also significant are the “Stories of Now and Once” ( 今昔 物語 集 , Konjaku Monogatarishū ), also “ Uji Dainagon Monogatari ”, a collection of the most varied of stories presumably published by Minamoto no Takakuni . The individual sections include Japanese, Chinese and Indian stories as well as animal fables. All sections are identified by the phrase ima wa mukashi , i.e. H. "Once upon a time", introduced. kon jaku are the Chinese equivalents to ima and mukashi, which were eponymous here.

Kamakura time

With the rise of the feudal nobility and as a further development of the “historical narratives”, the “war histories ” ( Senki Monogatari , 戦 記 物語 ) and the “war epic ” ( Gunki Monogatari , 軍 記 物語 ) emerged at the beginning of the 13th century . Due to the addition of Chinese words, this form of the monogatari is linguistically very different from its predecessors. Thematically, they report on the courageous deeds of heroic warriors and thus also establish the warrior ethos, which still provides material for literary creations today.

Although nothing is known about the author and is believed to have originated in the first half of the 13th century, the "Hōgen-" ( 保 元 物語 ) and " Heiji Monogatari " ( 平 治 物語 ) are considered the oldest works of this genre. This is followed by the " Heike Monogatari " and in the middle of the century the "Gempei Seisui-ki". The " Hōgen Monogatari " reports on the Hōgen rebellion in 1156. The "Heiji Monogatari" continues the description of the fall of the Minamoto and Taira families with the presentation of the unrest of the year Heiji 1159.

The "Heike Monogatari" and the " Gempei Seisui-ki " ( 源 平 盛衰 記 ) actually describe the rise and fall of the Hei and Gen families, which results in a close material connection between the two works. It begins with the rise of the Taira under Kiyomori no Taira , leads to the glory of the idealized knight Yoshitsune and ends with his unexpected fall by Yoritomo . Typical of this form of monogatari is the subject of the impermanence of everything earthly. The style of these war epics is largely straightforward, the structure is tight and chronological. Thematically bloody battles alternate with sentimental gloom about death and transience.

With the fifth great work of the war epics, the "History of the Great Peace" ( Taiheiki , 太平 記 ), which was written at the end of the 14th century, one is already in the Muromachi period . In 41 books it describes the period from 1318 to 1367, the fight of the Go-Daigo Tennō against the Kamakura shogunate and the split in the north and south courtyards . Also interspersed are descriptions of a trip and famous places ( 道 行文 , Michiyukibun or travel signage style ), which became very popular in later times and in various literary genres.

The Soga Brothers practicing fencing, illustration by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

One of the most popular and well-known incidents in Japan is the Soga Monogatari ( 曽 我 物語 ) - the blood revenge of the two Soga brothers Jurō and Gorō against Kudō Suketsune, their father's murderer.

Overall, it is very difficult to date the courtly narratives of that time in particular . Since these stories imitate those of the Heian period ( giko monogatari ) and usually deal with the imperial court and the nobility, they offer little reference to political or historical events that would allow a chronological assignment. A rough date results from two works, the time of which is known. It is the Mumyō zōshi ( 無名 草 子 , for example: story without a name ), originated around 1200, in which a group of women discuss different monogatari. It is also known that the Fūyō wakashū ( 風葉 和 歌集 ), a collection of waka that was originally part of a story, was created between 1200 and 1270. If a monogatari is listed in one of the two works mentioned, it can be assumed that it was made before 1200 or before 1270. More can usually not be said about the time of origin.

Fujiwara no Sadaie tells in his only surviving prose work Matsura-no-Miya Monogatari ( 松浦 宮 物語 ) the story of Ben no Shōshō, who already made a name for himself as a brilliant poet in his youth. He is chosen to accompany a delegation to China, falls miserably in love with Princess Hua-yang, attacks an invading force and returns to Japan, where his mother awaits him in the Matsura Temple. In contrast to the war epics, the unfinished Monogatari, which was probably created between 1189 and 1201, primarily tells of the unfulfilled love between Ben no Shōshō and the Chinese princess, who at the end reveals herself as a heavenly ambassador. On the other hand, in Ariake no Wakare ( 有 明 け の etwa , for example: Farewell at dawn ) you will also find elements of popular literature. Similar to the Taketori Monogatari, it begins with the supplication of a childless couple that the goddess Kannon may give them a son and heir. The request is granted, but instead of a son, a daughter is born to the couple. In the absence of an heir, they raise and dress their daughter like a boy who is called to court as udaijin. Carelessly, the father also mentions a daughter who, however, is very shy. When the emperor wishes to see the daughter, the story, similar to the Torikaebaya Monogatari , develops into a story about the entanglements that result from the gender swap. What is unusual is that with the supposed boy's ability to make himself invisible, an unreal element is introduced. In this way it is possible for Udaijin to explore the love life at court unnoticed. Ultimately, Udaijin dies an alleged death and returns to the court as the said shy daughter of the couple, to live there as a princess from then on. The second part of the story deals in detail with the debauchery and love adventures of Sadaijin, who emerged from one of the love affairs observed by Udaijin at court.

See also

literature

  • Nelly Naumann , Wolfram Naumann: The magic bowl. Tales of the life of Japanese women, monks, masters and servants . 1st edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv), Munich 1990, ISBN 3-423-11296-4 (with excerpts from the Taketori Monogatari, Ise Monogatari, Yamato Monogatari, Konjaku Monogatari, Taiheiki).
  • Karl Florence : History of Japanese Literature . CF Amelangs Verlag, Leipzig 1909 (with excerpts from almost all of the monogatari mentioned here).
  • Donald Keene : A Neglected Chapter. Courtly Fiction of the Kamakura Period . In: Sophia University (ed.): Monumenta Nipponica . tape 44 , no. 1. , 1989, p. 1–30 (English, uci.edu [PDF; accessed December 13, 2012]).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ The number 20 brings to mind the classification scheme of the imperial anthologies.
  2. ↑ The name Murasaki, as well as that of her congenial contemporary Sei Shōnagon, are not real family names. Rather, it is a nominal name (yobina) that was given when entering the palace, or a pseudonym.
  3. ↑ This also went hand in hand with the loss of importance of diary and women's literature.
  4. ↑ The German name follows Florence (p. 234 there). Jürgen Berndt gives the title “Tale of splendor and splendor” (p. 221).
  5. ↑ Since the Eiga Monogatari tells the story of successive governments, it is sometimes also referred to as “Yotsugi Monogatari” ( narration of the order of the generations , 世 継 物語 ). However, other monogatari that emerged later also bear this surname.
  6. ↑ The Ōkagami, the Mizukagami and the Masukagami ( very clear mirror , 増 鏡 ), which originated in the Muromachi period , are grouped under the term “The Three Mirrors” ( San-Kagami ); if one adds the Ima-Kagami, one speaks of the " four mirrors ".
  7. ↑ The title Ariake no wakare goes back to a poem by Mibu no Tadamine from Kokin-wakashū and Hyakunin Isshu .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Paul Adler, Michael Revon: Japanese Literature. History and selection from the beginning to the most recent . Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt 1926, p. 145 .
  2. ^ Jürgen Berndt: BI-Lexikon, East Asian literatures . Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig, Leipzig 1987, ISBN 3-323-00128-1 , p. 220-221 .
  3. ^ Jürgen Berndt: BI-Lexikon, East Asian literatures . Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig, Leipzig 1987, ISBN 3-323-00128-1 , p. 221 .
  4. ↑ Karl Florenz : History of the Japanese literature . CF Amelangs Verlag, Leipzig 1909, p. 161 .
  5. ↑ 大 和 物語 . In: デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus at kotobank.jp. Retrieved June 13, 2012 (Japanese).
  6. ↑ Karl Florenz: History of the Japanese literature . CF Amelangs Verlag, Leipzig 1909, p. 173 .
  7. ↑ Karl Florenz: History of the Japanese literature . CF Amelangs Verlag, Leipzig 1909, p. 177 .
  8. ^ Paul Adler, Michael Revon: Japanese Literature. History and selection from the beginning to the most recent . Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt 1926, p. 146 (Here also: “Stepmother's stories” with a happy ending).
  9. ↑ 住 吉 物語 絵 巻 . National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, accessed June 13, 2012 .
  10. ↑ う つ ほ も の が た り - 平安 時代 中期 . Kyoto University Library, 2002, accessed June 13, 2012 (Florence names Minamoto no Shitago as a possible author, whereas Kyoto University Library states that the poet is unknown).
  11. ↑ Shūichi Katō : A History of Japanese Literature . Kodansha, Tokyo 1981, ISBN 4-7700-0973-9 , pp. 188 ("Second, there was its purely fictitious aspect as a romantic novel peopled by embellished and idealized characters.").
  12. ↑ 浜 松 中 納 言 物語 . In: デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus at kotobank.jp. Retrieved June 14, 2012 (Japanese).
  13. ↑ Karl Florenz: History of the Japanese literature . CF Amelangs Verlag, Leipzig 1909, p. 232 .
  14. ↑ Karl Florenz: History of the Japanese literature . CF Amelangs Verlag, Leipzig 1909, p. 238 .
  15. ↑ 太平 記 日 野 俊 基 の 道 行文 . 上方 舞 友 の 会 , 2007, accessed June 13, 2012 .
  16. ↑ 曽 我 物語 . In: デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus at kotobank.jp. Retrieved June 14, 2012 (Japanese).
  17. ↑ Donald Keene : A Neglected Chapter. Courtly Fiction of the Kamakura Period . In: Monumenta Nipponica . tape 44 , no. 1. , 1989, p. 2 .
  18. ↑ Donald Keene: A Neglected Chapter. Courtly Fiction of the Kamakura Period . In: Monumenta Nipponica . tape 44 , no. 1. , 1989, p. 1 .
  19. ↑ Donald Keene: A Neglected Chapter. Courtly Fiction of the Kamakura Period . In: Monumenta Nipponica . tape 44 , no. 1. , 1989, p. 12 .