Koshikibu (two-volume otogi-zōshi)

Koshikibu (小式部) is a Japanese otogi-zōshi in two volumes, probably composed at the end of the Muromachi period. To distinguish it from a slightly earlier work, it is conventionally known as Koshikibu (beppon) (小式部（別本）) in Japanese. It is one of a number of medieval setsuwa-type works whose protagonist is the Heian-era waka poet Koshikibu no Naishi. It survives in a single copy held by Toyo University.

Date and genre

Koshikibu was probably composed at the end of the Muromachi period.^[1]

It is a work of the otogi-zōshi genre.^[1] It is also classified as a kajin-densetsu-mono (歌人伝説物), a work that recounts a legend about a waka poet,^[1] and a katoku-setsuwa (歌徳説話), a tale about the virtues of waka poetry.^[1]

Koshikibu follows in a long line of medieval setsuwa tales that had treated Koshikibu no Naishi ever since the Hōbutsushū [ja] in the twelfth century.^[1] The Mumyōzōshi had praised her as foremost among the talented women of the Heian court.^[1] This work attributes 16 waka (mostly songs from the oral tradition of uncertain origin) to her.^[1]

The work lacks some of the absurd and fantastic elements that characterize medieval otogi-zōshi,^[1] and more closely draws upon conventional setsuwa literature and the headnotes seen in imperial anthologies of waka poetry.^[1] It also includes wholly original content, such as Koshikibu being a gift from the god of Sumiyoshi (住吉明神).^[1]

Title

There is another work, slightly earlier and existing in one volume as opposed to two, of the same title. Masahiko Hayashi [ja]'s 1983 article on the present work for the Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten refers to that work as Koshikibu and this one as Koshikibu (beppon) to distinguish them.^[1]

Plot

Long ago, in the time of Emperor Ichijō, there was a beautiful court lady called Koshikibu no Naishi.^[1] Her father was Tachibana no Michisada, and her mother was Izumi Shikibu, who had prayed to the gods and buddhas to bless her with a child.^[1] After the death of her father, she and her mother went with Fujiwara no Yasumasa to Tango Province.^[1] One day, on hearing her mother hum a nostalgic song, she rewrote the song and deeply impressed her mother.^[1]

Around the time of her sixteenth year she went to serve at court.^[1] While there, she took part in an uta-awase contest at the palace, and when her poetic skill was ridiculed by the middle counselor Fujiwara no Sadayori, she responded by composing her famous poem Ōe-yama ikuno no michi no tookereba mada fumi mo mizu ama no hashidate.^[1] This poem caught the attention of the Horikawa Minister of the Right, Fujiwara no Yorimune [ja].^[1]Later, at Rokujō no Zensai-in's uta-awase she again earned herself more prestige as a poet.^[1]

When Koshikibu composed a waka and presented it as an offering to pray for Fujiwara no Norimichi, who had fallen ill, Norimichi was miraculously cured, and the two developed a strong relationship.^[1] She herself then fell victim to an epidemic, but when she composed the poem Ika ni sen yuku beki kata mo omooezu oya ni kikidatsu michi o shiraneba, she recovered through divine intervention.^[1]

Textual tradition

According to Masahiko Hayashi's 1983 article, the only known surviving copy is the Nara e-hon in the holdings of Toyo University.^[1] It is in two volumes.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w Hayashi 1983, p. 606.

Works cited

Hayashi, Masahiko (1983). "Koshikibu (beppon)". Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典 (in Japanese). Vol. 2. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. p. 606. OCLC 11917421.

[FOOTNOTEHayashi1983606-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w Hayashi 1983, p. 606.

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