"The Tale of Nisuke," which deals with conditions in the Higo domain of Southern Japan around 1800 as experienced by the peasantry, forms the core of this thesis; it is here for the first time translated and studied in depth. Besides the translation of the text, I have set myself the task of establishing its value as illustrative source material for the student of Tokugawa society by identifying the background of its author and his intentions. In the absence of contemporary references to the "Tale" as well as other clues to assist me in my task, I have had to proceed by analyzing the "Tale" 's content and then to establish its position within the cultural context of Tokugawa society. The resulting socio-cultural portrait of Higo provides at the same time the clues to a correct understanding of the "Tale" as well as a comprehensive insight into rural life in a comparatively backward region of late Tokugawa Japan. The great variety of questions raised by the "Tale," a quality which makes this text so singularly suited as departure point of a cultural study, has forced me to concentrate more intensively on historical questions than would first seem warranted by the subject. All of my commentary must, however, be seen as of immediate importance to a full understanding of the "Tale". The first chapter contains a general introduction to the history of the Tokugawa period, with special reference to the developments in the village. The second chapter traces the political and economic history of the Higo domain in the 18th century to portray conditions which constitute the background to the "Tale". The third chapter contrasts peasant life in the economically advanced regions with conditions in the Higo domain and investigates the role played by the rural priesthood in the life of the peasantry. In the fourth chapter, an introduction to the tradition of critical writing in Tokugawa literature leads to a discussion of the "Tale," followed by my conclusions as to author and purpose of the "Tale". In Part Two, there then follows my annotated translation of the "Tale".

O presente trabalho propõe-se a uma análise dos mukashi banashi (contos antigos) da literatura japonesa sobre os casamentos entre seres diferentes, com enfoque nas imagens da esposa animal e da esposa celestial que surgem nestas narrativas. Apresentando uma estrutura que difere bastante daquela segundo a qual que se constroem os contos de magia ocidentais, pode-se dizer que parte dos mukashi banashi que integra esta subcategoria de contos reflete o modo de pensar característico do japonês da antiguidade. Através da análise das narrativas que integram o corpus desta pesquisa, será feita uma tentativa de se aplicar as teorias ocidentais aos contos em questão, em especial as de E. M. Meletínski que, num âmbito maior que o de seu predecessor, V. I. Propp, estendeu seus estudos sobre o conto de magia ao mito; a partir disso, deverá ser proposta uma classificação para os contos selecionados. Considerando-se a origem antiga destes mukashi banashi, pretende-se também realizar a análise da esfera de ação das protagonistas femininas, no intuito de se verificar as projeções míticas nos contos, que revelam a vida dos povos antigos, bem como a descoberta da matriz imagética desses contos japoneses e discussão da mensagem subjacente às narrativas. / This work intends to analyse the mukashi banashi (ancient tales) of the Japanese literature about the marriages between different beings, focusing the images of the animal wife and the celestial wife that appear in these narratives. Having a structure which differs from the structure of the western fairy tales, we can say that part of the mukashi banashi from this subcategory of tales reflects the way of thinking of the ancient Japanese people. Through the analysis of the narratives of this research corpus, we will try to apply some western theories about the fairy tale in these Japanese tales, specially the theories of E. M. Meletinsky who, in a wider point of view than his predecessor, V. I. Propp, expanded his studies about the fairy tale to the myth; we also intend to present a classification for the selected tales. Considering the ancient origin of these mukashi banashi, we intend to do an analysis of the action of the female protagonists, in order to verify the mythical projections in the tales, which reveals the life of ancient people, as well as to discover the main images of these mukashi banashi and discuss about the message which lies under these narratives.

O presente trabalho propõe-se a entender a conceituação, bem como as principais características, do mukashi-banashi japonês, gênero que no ocidente corresponde aos contos folclóricos, por meio da análise dos elementos que o constituem. Examinamos fatores históricos de origem e apogeu dos estudos de mukashi-banashi no Japão e também pesquisas do gênero no Brasil. Nosso objetivo foi realizar um levantamento da conceituação do mukashi-banashi, sobretudo com base nos trabalhos de pesquisadores japoneses, e, a partir disso, compreender de modo global a definição do gênero. Nossa análise das narrativas selecionadas como corpus foi realizada tendo em vista as características sistematizadas principalmente por Kôji Inada (2010), como keishikiku, progressão da narrativa e caracterização de personagens, entre outras / This study aims to understand the conceptualization, as well as the main characteristics, of the Japanese mukashi-banashi, a genre which in the West corresponds to the folktales, by analyzing the elements that constitute it. Through the historical factors analysis, it was examined the origin and the apogee of the mukashi-banashis studies in Japan and researches of this genre in Brazil. Our goal was to survey the conceptualization of mukashi-banashi mainly based on the work of Japanese researchers and, from that, to understand holistically the genres definition. Our analysis of the narratives selected as corpus was done in view of the characteristics systematized mainly by Kôji Inada (2010), such as keishikiku, narratives progression, and characters characterization, among others

O presente trabalho propõe-se a uma análise dos mukashi banashi (contos antigos) da literatura japonesa sobre os casamentos entre seres diferentes, com enfoque nas imagens da esposa animal e da esposa celestial que surgem nestas narrativas. Apresentando uma estrutura que difere bastante daquela segundo a qual que se constroem os contos de magia ocidentais, pode-se dizer que parte dos mukashi banashi que integra esta subcategoria de contos reflete o modo de pensar característico do japonês da antiguidade. Através da análise das narrativas que integram o corpus desta pesquisa, será feita uma tentativa de se aplicar as teorias ocidentais aos contos em questão, em especial as de E. M. Meletínski que, num âmbito maior que o de seu predecessor, V. I. Propp, estendeu seus estudos sobre o conto de magia ao mito; a partir disso, deverá ser proposta uma classificação para os contos selecionados. Considerando-se a origem antiga destes mukashi banashi, pretende-se também realizar a análise da esfera de ação das protagonistas femininas, no intuito de se verificar as projeções míticas nos contos, que revelam a vida dos povos antigos, bem como a descoberta da matriz imagética desses contos japoneses e discussão da mensagem subjacente às narrativas. / This work intends to analyse the mukashi banashi (ancient tales) of the Japanese literature about the marriages between different beings, focusing the images of the animal wife and the celestial wife that appear in these narratives. Having a structure which differs from the structure of the western fairy tales, we can say that part of the mukashi banashi from this subcategory of tales reflects the way of thinking of the ancient Japanese people. Through the analysis of the narratives of this research corpus, we will try to apply some western theories about the fairy tale in these Japanese tales, specially the theories of E. M. Meletinsky who, in a wider point of view than his predecessor, V. I. Propp, expanded his studies about the fairy tale to the myth; we also intend to present a classification for the selected tales. Considering the ancient origin of these mukashi banashi, we intend to do an analysis of the action of the female protagonists, in order to verify the mythical projections in the tales, which reveals the life of ancient people, as well as to discover the main images of these mukashi banashi and discuss about the message which lies under these narratives.

O presente trabalho propõe-se a entender a conceituação, bem como as principais características, do mukashi-banashi japonês, gênero que no ocidente corresponde aos contos folclóricos, por meio da análise dos elementos que o constituem. Examinamos fatores históricos de origem e apogeu dos estudos de mukashi-banashi no Japão e também pesquisas do gênero no Brasil. Nosso objetivo foi realizar um levantamento da conceituação do mukashi-banashi, sobretudo com base nos trabalhos de pesquisadores japoneses, e, a partir disso, compreender de modo global a definição do gênero. Nossa análise das narrativas selecionadas como corpus foi realizada tendo em vista as características sistematizadas principalmente por Kôji Inada (2010), como keishikiku, progressão da narrativa e caracterização de personagens, entre outras / This study aims to understand the conceptualization, as well as the main characteristics, of the Japanese mukashi-banashi, a genre which in the West corresponds to the folktales, by analyzing the elements that constitute it. Through the historical factors analysis, it was examined the origin and the apogee of the mukashi-banashis studies in Japan and researches of this genre in Brazil. Our goal was to survey the conceptualization of mukashi-banashi mainly based on the work of Japanese researchers and, from that, to understand holistically the genres definition. Our analysis of the narratives selected as corpus was done in view of the characteristics systematized mainly by Kôji Inada (2010), such as keishikiku, narratives progression, and characters characterization, among others