Otogizōshi

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Illustration from an Otogizōshi, ca.1725

The Otogizōshi ( Japanese. 御 伽 草 子 , literally: "entertainment book", "sociable books") are popular Japanese stories from the Muromachi period , which have been passed on anonymously and without reliable dating. They are mostly viewed as a transition from the older Monogatari to the Kanazōshi of the Edo period . This early genre of popular literature is characterized by its rich subject matter with a large number of motifs , which in particular come from the oral narrative tradition.

Overview

In a narrower sense, the term Otogizōshi denotes a collection of a total of 23 stories that were published in the Kyōho era (1716-1736) by the publisher Shibukawa Seiemon ( 渋 川 清 右衛門 ) in Osaka under the title "Otogibunko". In 1801 it was Ozaki Masayoshi who in his annotated bibliography "Gunsho ichiran" ( 群 書 一 覧 ) first used the term Otogizōshi for said collection. In 1891 this collection of story books was published by Shibukawa under the name Otogizōshi. In the introductory words, the publisher intended the edition exclusively for female readers, which unjustifiably brought the genre close to fairy tales and shallow entertainment.

In a broader sense, Otogizōshi refers to around 500 short stories, the creation of which extends from court literature of the Kamakura period to the early Edo period. The author and the exact date of origin are usually not known. Classification attempts based on formal criteria have wanted to see the Otogizōshi both as chūsei shōsetsu ( 中 世 小説 ), as a medieval novel-like narrative literature, and as a form of Setsuwa . Chigusa, on the other hand, argues etymologically and based on narrative tradition that these are sociable stories that have been recited or read out for the purpose of social gathering. This is also indicated by the root togi ( 伽 ) with the connotation society- last . Historically, this function was institutionalized in the Otogi shū ( 御 伽 衆 , companion of a daimyo ) in the Muromachi period . Although there is no solid evidence that the publisher who first used the term in the 18th century was familiar with this medieval practice, nor that this genre was previously referred to as otogizōshi, it is linked to that Oral storytelling tradition, which continued alongside the literary one, plausible in terms of literary history. In this regard, the Otogizōshi are close to the illustrated Nara ehon ( 奈良 絵 本 ).

Another etymological approach to explanation relates the word component togi to the term toki ( 解 き , enlighten, brighten ). Toki, in turn, is related to a stand of traveling priests who traveled the country in the late Heian period as etoki hōshi ( 絵 解 (き) 法師 , picture explainer ) to tell stories using picture scrolls. A prominent example are the nuns of Kumano ( 熊 野 比丘尼 , Kumano bikuni ). Storytellers like goze and zatō , blind nuns and monks, respectively, generally had a low social standing. Apart from the court and the nobility, illiteracy was the social standard. The role of the storyteller was all the more important, but it disappeared with the Muromachi period. But it is certainly thanks to the storytellers that the literature, which had been monopolized at court until then, turned into folk literature. The otogizōshi is an expression of this change in literary history.

Mark

Formally, Otogizōshi are characterized by a relatively small text length of an average of 20 to 40 pages. In terms of content, the eventfulness of the event is more important than the detailed description of places or psychological states. Text insets such as, "Everyone who hears this story" indicate that the presentation of the story was also its central purpose. At the same time, this is also a clear difference to the narrative form of the monogatari , which tells more holistically and in more detail and whose scope is therefore significantly larger. The fact that the main characters come from all social classes brings the Otogizōshi closer to the Setsuwa literature than to the Monogatari.

The representation of the events in the Otogizōshi is also organized dialogically. Events are exaggerated like a sensation in order to achieve a narrative climax with a dramatic effect. Stereotypes and repetitions of words make the story memorable and give it a rhythm. The alternation of five and seven moras, for example, is also used in yōkyoku ( 謡 曲 , Nō singing ).

to form

Ichiko Teiji has divided the forms of Otogizōshi into six main groups and 23 subgroups based on the social origin of the main character.

kuge mono ( 公家 物 ) - courtly stories
Thematically, these stories focus on the love affairs of young aristocrats following the courtly literature of the Kamakura period. Examples are the Wakakusa Monogatari ( 若 草 物語 ) and the Shinobine Monogatari ( 忍 音 物語 ). In terms of content, the works of this group mostly relate eclectically to descriptions of the courtly life of previous works, with the love theme being heightened to the point of frivolous. The so-called mamagomono ( stepmother stories ) also belong to this category. The best-known example is the Hachikazuki ( 鉢 か づ き , The woman who carries the bowl ).
shūkyo mono ( 宗教 物 ) - religious fabrics
The main character in this group of works is usually a monk. Although these stories also revolve around religious enlightenment, the so-called chigo monogatari ( 児 物語 , novice stories ) also belong in this category. Chigo referred to boys between the ages of 12 and 18 who came from the environment of the imperial family or the high court nobility and who temporarily lived in a temple. They wore colorful kimono with long-sleeved furisode , long hair and sometimes blackened their teeth ( ohaguro ), making them difficult to distinguish from women. Stories of this kind, like the Aki no yonaga monogatari ( 秋 の 夜 長 物語 , stories of long autumn nights ) tell of the sexual excesses of these chigo. The more serious stories of this group, the honjimono ( 本地 物 ), on the other hand, tell of the age of the gods and coexistence with humans (example: 熊 野 の 本地 , Kumano no honji ). Another group of stories are the tonsei mono ( 遁世 物 , renunciation of the world ) and sange mono ( 懺悔 文 ), which come from exegetical literature and tell in the form of the confession of sins of the reasons for flight from the world into monastic life.
buke mono ( 武 家 物 ) - warrior tales
Benkei fights against Minamoto no Yoshitsune
The buke mono mainly comprise heroic sagas in which the glorious heroic deeds of the samurai and fighters are reported, often with reference to or allusion to the Heike Monogatari and the Gunki Monogatari of the Namboku period, which was marked by the chaos of war . For example, the Benkei Monogatari ( 弁 慶 物語 ), which tells of the loyalty of the warrior monk Musashibō Benkei , was very popular .
shomin mono ( 庶民 物 ) - folk
Thematically a novelty compared to the three previous categories, the shomin mono concentrate on the ascent and career of people from the common people. In addition to stories like the Bunsei sōshi ( 文 正 草 子 ), this includes the stories of Urashima Tarō ( 浦 島bekannten ), which are still known and loved today, and the story of the bigwig Thumble ( 一寸 法師 , isshun bōshi ). In some stories, the word auspicious is used so often that these stories are also called congratulatory books ( 祝 儀 物 , shūgi mono ).
ikoku / ikyō mono ( 異国 ・ 異 郷 物 ) - overseas
The stories, which take place abroad, take up material from Chinese and Indian cultures. Examples of otogizōshi that take up Chinese narrative material are the Genjōraku Monogatari ( 還 城 楽 物語 ) and the Hōmyō Dōji ( 法 妙 童子 , story of the boy Hōmyō ) for the Indian tradition.
irui mono ( 異類 物 ) - the other world
In the last group of Otogizōshi, there are mainly fable tales that focus either on animals or anthropomorphized objects from nature. This includes, for example, the story of the fight against the twelve animal species of the heavenly branches ( 十二 類 合 戦 物語 , Jūnirui kassen monogatari ). This main group also includes a large number of ghost stories. The tsukumogami Monogatari ( 付 喪 神 絵 詞 ) tells of old household items that had been thrown away, returned animated and mistreated their former owners as goblins. This story goes back to the superstition that objects that reach an age of 100 years can be animated to haunt the human world as tsukumogami .

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ An exception is the Tempitsu wakō rakuchi fuku kai emman hitsuketsu no monogatari ( 天 畢 和合 楽 地 福 皆? 満 畢 結 の 物語 ), written by Ishii Yasunaga , which tells the story of a badger family. (Example after Chigusa, 1974, p. 27)
  2. ↑ The list follows Chigusa, pp. 34–35, the translation of the main categories comes from Jesse, p. 22, the incomplete list of the subgroups is from Shibata, Kyoto University.
  3. ^ German transfer of the title to Florence, p. 357
  4. ↑ Florence, translated: Monogatari in a long autumnal night , p. 361

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bernd Jesse: The prehistory of the gods of Kumano . ( Limited preview in Google Book Search - Page 21 offers a listing of all 23 stories.).
  2. ↑ Steven Chigusa: "Hachikazuki", a Companion . 1974, p. 6 ( PDF [accessed November 30, 2012]).
  3. ^ A b Steven Chigusa: "Hachikazuki", a Companion . 1974, p. 7–8 ( PDF [accessed November 30, 2012]).
  4. ↑ Steven Chigusa: "Hachikazuki", a Companion . 1974, p. 15-16 ( PDF [accessed November 30, 2012]).
  5. ↑ Karl Florenz : History of the Japanese literature . 1906, p. 355 ( online ).
  6. ↑ Steven Chigusa: "Hachikazuki", a Companion . 1974, p. 23 ( PDF [accessed November 30, 2012]).
  7. ↑ 御 伽 草 子 . In: Britannica Japan Co. Ltd. (Ed.): ブ リ タ ニ カ 国際 大 百科 事 典 小 項目 電子 辞典 書 版 . 2011.
  8. ↑ Bernd Jesse: The prehistory of the gods of Kumano . S. 23 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  9. ↑ Shibata Yoshinara: 京都 大学 所 蔵 お 伽 草 子目録 （解題 付 (Kyōto Daigaku Otogizōshi Mokuroku (Kaidaitsuki)). (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 1, 2012 ; Retrieved November 30, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / edb.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp
  10. ↑ 文 正 草 子 . In: デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus at kotobank.jp. Retrieved November 30, 2012 (Japanese).
  11. ↑ Bernd Jesse: The prehistory of the gods of Kumano . S. 25 ( limited preview in Google Book search).