O presente trabalho propõe uma análise centrada em sete narrativas de cunho secular da seção japonesa contidas na coletânea de narrativas setsuwa denominada Konjaku Monogatarishû do século XIII. As narrativas serão traduzidas para o vernáculo e analisadas pelo viés do corpo grotesco em suas mais diferentes manifestações, assim como explicitado por Bakhtin (2013) e pelo viés do estranhamento tal qual formulado por Wolfgang Kayser (1986). Devido ao fato de as narrativas setsuwa possuírem padrões contrastantes da estética literária e temas vigentes na era Heian, identificou-se a importância do estudo das mesmas pelo viés do grotesco como uma leitura de rompimento com o ideal estético literário, pautando-se pela descrição explícita dos fatos, personagens e ações cotidianas. / The present work aims to analyses seven Japanese secular setsuwa tales included on Konjaku Monogatarishû compilation. The narratives will be translated to nowadays language and analyzed by many points fo view, as studied by grotesque body and others manifestations on Mikhail Bakhtin (2013) theory and by the theory of strangeness by Kayser (1986). Due to the fact that setsuwa tales has different patterns of literary aesthetics and themes in Heian period, the importance of this study by the grotesque as a rupture on literary aesthetics was identified also, because of the approximated description of the facts, figures and the daily actions.

O presente trabalho propõe uma análise centrada em sete narrativas de cunho secular da seção japonesa contidas na coletânea de narrativas setsuwa denominada Konjaku Monogatarishû do século XIII. As narrativas serão traduzidas para o vernáculo e analisadas pelo viés do corpo grotesco em suas mais diferentes manifestações, assim como explicitado por Bakhtin (2013) e pelo viés do estranhamento tal qual formulado por Wolfgang Kayser (1986). Devido ao fato de as narrativas setsuwa possuírem padrões contrastantes da estética literária e temas vigentes na era Heian, identificou-se a importância do estudo das mesmas pelo viés do grotesco como uma leitura de rompimento com o ideal estético literário, pautando-se pela descrição explícita dos fatos, personagens e ações cotidianas. / The present work aims to analyses seven Japanese secular setsuwa tales included on Konjaku Monogatarishû compilation. The narratives will be translated to nowadays language and analyzed by many points fo view, as studied by grotesque body and others manifestations on Mikhail Bakhtin (2013) theory and by the theory of strangeness by Kayser (1986). Due to the fact that setsuwa tales has different patterns of literary aesthetics and themes in Heian period, the importance of this study by the grotesque as a rupture on literary aesthetics was identified also, because of the approximated description of the facts, figures and the daily actions.

Before taking up the study of the Nihon Ryoiki itself it seemed necessary to explore the meaning of the expression "setsuwa bungaku". Japanese scholars have given this expression different meanings and varying delimitations. "Setsuwa" is a general term which means "a Tale" and which implies an oral tradition. In the "History of Japanese litterature" edited by Hisanatsu Sen'ichi are articles which treat the folktale and folktale literature seperately without establishing a clear relationship between the two concepts. In fact, the term "setsuwa bungaku" usually designates a type of folk litterature which consists of didactic buddhistic tales. Many collections of such tales were compiled , often by buddhist monks, during the Heian and Kamakura periods. The first of these was the Nihon Ryoiki, in the early 9th century. In Hisaratsu's "History of Japanese litterature " it is not discussed under the heading of setsuwa bungaku. However, the Ryoiki is certainly one of the most important of setsuwa collections and it cannot be isolated from the mainstream of setsuwa litterature which flourished in late Heian and in Kamakura, and of which the Konjaku Monogatari is always considered the prototype. The author of the Ryoiki, the monk Kyokai,lived through a period of intense political, social and religious turmoil. Kyokai's observations of the social distress and of his own miserable life resulted in a strong sense of mission, the result of which was the Nihon Ryoiki. The study of Kyokai's own account in his prefaces and of the contents of the Ryoiki leads one to believe that the book was achieved, and probably wholly written,during the years Konin (810-824). The Ryoiki is made up of one hundred and sixteen tales. The author presents them as genuine Japanese folktales, but it can be shown that many of them have Indian or Chinese origins. These tales can be divided into three types: the non buddhist stories, which are few in number; the moralistic stories which are not clearly of buddhist inspiration; the buddhist tales, by far the most numerous. These are tales of reward and punishment either in this world or in the world of the Dead. The tales of the Ryoiki are quite enlightening on certain aspects of Japanese society during the Nara period. In his preface, Kyokai mentions having read two Chinese collections of Buddhist tales, the Myohoki and the Hannyakenki. A comparison of some of these with corresponding tales from the Ryoiki reveals how, while remaining fairly close to his models, Kyokai subtly and methodically gave them an entirely different flavour. Following this analysis, a survey of setsuwa litterature up to the end of the Kamakura period attempts to show how much all of the subsequent collections of buddhist tales were indebted to the Nihon Ryoiki and how they reflect the fluctuations of buddhist thought in Japan. The second part of the dissertation consists of the translation of nine tales from the Ryoiki. Appendix One gives the translations of threetales from the Myohoki and their counterparts in the Ryoiki. In appendix Two, a few translations are intended to suggest the variety of style and of treatment in the buddhist tales of later setsuwashu. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

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Arakida Reijo has been described as the most prolific female writer in Japanese premodern history, with her literary output encompassing a huge number of texts in a variety of genres. However, her works remain for the most part untranslated from the original classical Japanese, and she is almost a nonentity in modern literary academia. Given the widespread lack of female education in the Tokugawa period combined with the era’s general image of male societal domination, an argument might be made for Reijo’s inclusion in modern scholarship due to her status as an educated woman alone. However, Reijo’s masterful handling of complicated plots, both interesting as entertainment and rewarding for further academic study, merits a place for her in the Japanese canon even apart from her rarity as an educated female author from the Tokugawa period. As will be examined in this paper, Reijo’s treatment of supernatural women in her 1778 collection of fantastic tales Ayashi no yogatari, or “Tales of the Uncanny,” stands as an interesting departure from the often misogynistic themes in premodern Japanese supernatural tales. Reijo’s treatment of supernatural women becomes all the more interesting when compared against traditional and contemporary literature, as rather than attempting a complete reversal of ideas and motifs of her day, Reijo instead affects more subtle but important changes. While the women in her stories still often lack agency and interiority, and furthermore still play the role of the “monster,” subject to supernatural metamorphoses, Reijo’s tales often lack both the ultimate judgement of these characters and the subsequent didactic atmosphere present in so many similar tales. An analysis of Reijo’s tales in comparison with traditional and contemporary literature reveals the uniqueness of her approach and its import in the Japanese literary tradition.