Aki no Yo no Naga Monogatari

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Aki no Yo no Naga Monogatari (秋夜長物語) is a Japanese otogi-zōshi from the Nanbokuchō period.

Genre, authorship and date[edit]

Aki no Yo no Naga Monogatari is a work of the otogi-zōshi genre.[1]

The work's author is unknown.[1] A 1716 printed edition attributes the work to the fourteenth-century monk and Confucianist Gen'e-hōin [ja], but this is dubious.[1] Its writing style resembles that of the famous war chronicle Taiheiki,[1] and an old manuscript of the work, the Eiwa-bon dating to 1377, is written on the reverse of a copy of the Taiheiki.[1] Ryūshin Matsumoto [ja], in his article on Aki no Yo no Naga Monogatari for the 1983 Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten, speculated that on this basis the attribution to Gen'e may not be without merit.[1]

Based on the existence of the Eiwa-bon, the work must date to the Nanbokuchō period at the latest.[1]

Plot[edit]

The Enryaku-ji monk Keikai (桂海) visits Mii-dera and falls in love with Umewaka (梅若), the son of the Hanazono Minister of the Left (花園左大臣), but Umewaka is carried off by a tengu.[2] The monks of Mii-dera, searching for the boy, fight with Enryaku-ji and burn the temple building.[2] Umewaka returns safely, but learning what has happened he commits suicide.[2] Keikai mourns for Umewaka and turns for comfort to the revered Tendai monk Sensei-shōnin (瞻西上人).[2]

Textual tradition[edit]

The work is in one volume.[1] There are a great many extant manuscripts,[3] and these are divided into five groups based on their significant textual variations.[4]

The first group includes the above-discussed Eiwa-bon,[3] an Eiwa 3 (1377) manuscript held by the late Isao Kōjō (高乗勲)[4] and others.[4]

The second group includes the Bunroku 5 manuscript in the holdings of the Dai-Tōkyū Kinen Bunko (大東急記念文庫)[4] and others.[4]

The third group includes the Muromachi-period illustrated text in the holdings of the Eisei Bunko (永青文庫)[4] and others.[4]

The fourth group includes the Tenbun 9 manuscript in the holdings of the Keio University library,[4] the manuscript copied at the end of the Muromachi period in the holdings of the Tenri Central Library,[4] and the katakana ko katsuji-bon [ja] (early printed edition).[4]

The fifth group includes the hiragana ko katsuji 11-column printed edition,[4] the 12-column edition of the same,[4] the Kan'ei 19 printed edition,[4] and the printed edition with illustrations dating from roughly the Man'ei or Kanbun eras (1658–1673).[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Matsumoto 1983, p. 26.
  2. ^ a b c d Akiya 1994.
  3. ^ a b Matsumoto 1983, pp. 26–27.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Matsumoto 1983, p. 27.

Works cited[edit]

  • Akiya, Osamu (1994). "Aki no Yo no Naga Monogatari". Encyclopedia Nipponica (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2017-11-16.
  • Matsumoto, Ryūshin (1983). "Aki no Yo no Naga Monogatari". Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典 (in Japanese). Vol. 1. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. pp. 26–27. OCLC 11917421.
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