This thesis deals with popular paraphrases of classical Japanese literature in the Edo period (1600- 1868). It analyses creative rewritings of a famous Heian tale Genji monogatari by popular authors of the Edo period, primarily Nise Murasaki inaka Genji by Ryūtei Tanehiko (1783-1842), which is one of the most successful works of Japanese early modern literature. The aim of this thesis is, utilizing elements of narrative analysis, to identify and interpret creative strategies applied by Tanehiko and his predecessors (Kogame Masuhide, Miyako no Nishiki and Okumura Masanobu) in works based on Genji monogatari and to find out what the relation was between their works and their Heian model, and if and to what extent Tanehiko's work was a unique occurrence between popular paraphrases of classical Japanese literature.

博士(文化情報学) / Doctor of Culture and Information Science / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University

The dominant part of the research on the “Yûgao” (The Twilight Beauty) story of the Japanese eleventh-century classic the Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji) is philological and often excludes a general literary analysis. This story has also been related to Japanese and Chinese literary influences, thereby placing the text in its literary context. The present study is an attempt to relate it more to theories to which it has hitherto been unrelated and thereby formulate a descriptive stylistics in a decontextual perspective. This aim also includes a look at how the theories confronted with the “Yûgao” story may be affected. First I introduce the problematics of context versus decontext by means of a survey of metapoetical texts about the monogatari (tale, narrative) genre with special regard to the Genji Monogatari. Next I analyze the characters and the setting, primarily using a narratological method. This is followed by an analysis of the story’s themes and motives. Chapter 5 looks at compositional elements, while the starting-point for the succeeding chapter is the interpretation of the “Yûgao” story as more or less a fairytale, and thus not as advanced  a narrative as the latter part of the work. I shall, in contrast, argue that there are quite a few aspects of this story that do not fit into the model of the folktale. In Chapter 7 decontextualization as a concept turns from the story as such to address another concept, namely metaphor. Here the meaning of metaphor is expanded in order to include concepts that are not necessarily seen as such. Subsequently, I investigate the symbolic system surrounding the moonflower (yûgao) image. Lastly, the concept of decontext is taken a step further to survey how the genre of the Genji Monogatari has been transformed in the process of translation into the Tale of Genji. The main conclusion is that the “Yûgao” story combines tragic themes with comic motifs to build a symbolic narrative with characters hovering between roles.

The subject of this dissertation is funeral rites in the Murasaki Shikibu's novel, The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari). The analysis of the text seeks to explore the author's depiction of the end of life, the afterlife, communication with spirits or souls of dead and to summarize the notes and descriptions of the proceedings of funeral rituals including 'before burial' and memorial ceremonies. The purpose of this dissertation is to create an overview of funeral rituals and ideas of death described in the text of Genji Monogatari. The Tale of Genji is considered a document which reflects contemporary thinking and can therefore be relied on for a study of funeral and memorial rituals. The main method used to develop the topic is a detailed analysis of theoretical, practical and aesthetic aspects of death described in the Genji Monogatari novel. The ideas of the Heian Court about death and the afterlife were mainly affecting the cult of ancestors, Shinto, Taoism, Buddhism and Shamanism, which also participated in the creation of the funeral cult. Ideas of the afterlife were also very diverse. The world of the living and the world of the dead, in the concept of old Japanese, were not strictly divided and spirits had access to all spheres of life. Communication with spirits of the living and the souls...

科学研究費補助金 研究種目:基盤研究(C)(2) 課題番号:13610505 研究代表者:高橋 亨 研究期間:2001-2003年度