In Japanese culture, the figure of the Buddhist acolyte, or chigo, has been a popular object of artistic depiction, both in image and in text. In fact, during the medieval period, and especially the twelfth to the thirteen centuries, the figure of the chigo inspired an entire sub-genre of literature, known as the chigo monogatari (or acolyte tales). These tales often depict romantic and sexual relationships between young acolytes and monks, and also valorize the acolyte as a potent spiritual being, somewhere between deity and human child. The goal of this project is to offer readings of these stories on their own terms, freeing their reception from normative scholarly interpretations that have so far narrowed their significance to how they serve as indexes to socio-historical "reality."

Durante a época clássica japonesa, eram produzidos vários textos de ficção em prosa direcionados às mulheres da nobreza. Estas obras eram chamadas monogatari e, inicialmente, eram consideradas parte de um gênero literário menor justamente por serem vistas como um mero passatempo para as damas ociosas. Os primeiros monogatari foram produzidos por homens, mas a obra mais emblemática do gênero, Narrativas de Genji, foi criada pela dama da corte Murasaki Shikibu e teve influência de textos anteriores do mesmo gênero, poesia, literatura clássica chinesa e mitologia japonesa. Já no século XII, com a produção dos rolos de pinturas Genji Monogatari Emaki iniciou-se uma longa tradição de recepção cultural da obra da autora, que continuaria nos séculos seguintes e, a partir dos anos 1970 foi herdada por um novo meio de expressão cultural, o shõjo mangá. Em 1979 começou a ser publicada a série Asaki Yumemishi de Waki Yamato, que é considerada uma das principais adaptações em quadrinhos da obra e influenciou muitas das versões que a sucederam. A obra recria, utilizando elementos estéticos e narrativos do gênero shõjo de mangá, a maior parte do enredo da obra original, algo que ocorre em poucas adaptações em quadrinhos das Narrativas de Genji. Outras versões analisadas neste trabalho são Genji Monogatari Sennen no Nazo, de Tõko Miyagi, que adapta uma light novel onde são recriados alguns episódios do texto base que se combinam a eventos originais, Genji Monogatari de Serina Miõ, que é dividida em episódios focados em algumas das damas presentes na obra original e Onna Hikaru Genji no Ikemen Nikki, que traz episódios curtos onde as personagens são recriadas com o gênero invertido. Para mostrar algumas das características da transposição do texto original para o shõjo mangá nos focamos na personagem Rokujõ no Miyasudokoro, verificando as diferenças e semelhanças do modo de representação da personagem em cada uma das versões e como a sua trajetória narrativa é retrabalhada para se adequar às convenções do shõjo mangá / Various fictional works in prose aimed at noblewomen have been created during Classical Japanese Era. These works are part of a literary genre called monogatari, which was, in the beginning, considered lower, a pastime for ladies. Most early monogatari were written by men, but the most emblematic of them, The Tale of Genji, is a creation of a court lady known as Murasaki Shikibu and was influenced by literary works in the same genre, poetry, classical Chinese literature and Japanese mythology. The Tale of Genji reception is a long tradition which began in the twelfth century, with the production of the picture scrolls Genji Monogatari Emaki. This tradition continued through centuries and, since the 1970s, was inherited by shõjo manga, a new medium of expression. In 1979 the series Asaki Yumemishi written by Waki Yamato started being published. It is considered one of the most important manga adaptations of the Tale of Genji and influenced several versions published after it. In this version, most of the plot of the original work is recreated using aesthetic and narrative elements of the shõjo manga genre, which occurs only in a few adaptations. This dissertation will also deal with other shõjo versions of the work, which are Genji Monogatari Sennen no Nazo, by Tõko Miyagi, an adaptation of a light novel that recreates some episodes of the original interspersed with new events; Genji Monogatari by Serina Miõ, an episodic series focused on some female characters and Onna Hikaru Genji no Ikemen Nikki, a series of short chapters where the characters are portrayed with reversed genders. Aiming to show some aspects of the transposition of the original text to shõjo manga, we will be focusing on the character Rokujõ no Miyasudokoro, verifying differences and similarities on her modes of representation in each version and how its narrative trajectory is reworked to fit the conventions of shõjo manga

Durante a época clássica japonesa, eram produzidos vários textos de ficção em prosa direcionados às mulheres da nobreza. Estas obras eram chamadas monogatari e, inicialmente, eram consideradas parte de um gênero literário menor justamente por serem vistas como um mero passatempo para as damas ociosas. Os primeiros monogatari foram produzidos por homens, mas a obra mais emblemática do gênero, Narrativas de Genji, foi criada pela dama da corte Murasaki Shikibu e teve influência de textos anteriores do mesmo gênero, poesia, literatura clássica chinesa e mitologia japonesa. Já no século XII, com a produção dos rolos de pinturas Genji Monogatari Emaki iniciou-se uma longa tradição de recepção cultural da obra da autora, que continuaria nos séculos seguintes e, a partir dos anos 1970 foi herdada por um novo meio de expressão cultural, o shõjo mangá. Em 1979 começou a ser publicada a série Asaki Yumemishi de Waki Yamato, que é considerada uma das principais adaptações em quadrinhos da obra e influenciou muitas das versões que a sucederam. A obra recria, utilizando elementos estéticos e narrativos do gênero shõjo de mangá, a maior parte do enredo da obra original, algo que ocorre em poucas adaptações em quadrinhos das Narrativas de Genji. Outras versões analisadas neste trabalho são Genji Monogatari Sennen no Nazo, de Tõko Miyagi, que adapta uma light novel onde são recriados alguns episódios do texto base que se combinam a eventos originais, Genji Monogatari de Serina Miõ, que é dividida em episódios focados em algumas das damas presentes na obra original e Onna Hikaru Genji no Ikemen Nikki, que traz episódios curtos onde as personagens são recriadas com o gênero invertido. Para mostrar algumas das características da transposição do texto original para o shõjo mangá nos focamos na personagem Rokujõ no Miyasudokoro, verificando as diferenças e semelhanças do modo de representação da personagem em cada uma das versões e como a sua trajetória narrativa é retrabalhada para se adequar às convenções do shõjo mangá / Various fictional works in prose aimed at noblewomen have been created during Classical Japanese Era. These works are part of a literary genre called monogatari, which was, in the beginning, considered lower, a pastime for ladies. Most early monogatari were written by men, but the most emblematic of them, The Tale of Genji, is a creation of a court lady known as Murasaki Shikibu and was influenced by literary works in the same genre, poetry, classical Chinese literature and Japanese mythology. The Tale of Genji reception is a long tradition which began in the twelfth century, with the production of the picture scrolls Genji Monogatari Emaki. This tradition continued through centuries and, since the 1970s, was inherited by shõjo manga, a new medium of expression. In 1979 the series Asaki Yumemishi written by Waki Yamato started being published. It is considered one of the most important manga adaptations of the Tale of Genji and influenced several versions published after it. In this version, most of the plot of the original work is recreated using aesthetic and narrative elements of the shõjo manga genre, which occurs only in a few adaptations. This dissertation will also deal with other shõjo versions of the work, which are Genji Monogatari Sennen no Nazo, by Tõko Miyagi, an adaptation of a light novel that recreates some episodes of the original interspersed with new events; Genji Monogatari by Serina Miõ, an episodic series focused on some female characters and Onna Hikaru Genji no Ikemen Nikki, a series of short chapters where the characters are portrayed with reversed genders. Aiming to show some aspects of the transposition of the original text to shõjo manga, we will be focusing on the character Rokujõ no Miyasudokoro, verifying differences and similarities on her modes of representation in each version and how its narrative trajectory is reworked to fit the conventions of shõjo manga

Many questions surround the anonymous medieval work known as Saigyo monogatari (translated here as “The Tale of Saigyo”, and for simplicity generally referred to as “the Tale”). When was it first created? By whom, and for what intended audience? By what process did it proliferate into the many variant texts that have come down to us? How many other variants may once have existed? What is the relationship between the existing variants, and which can be considered the earliest? Might this be the “original text”, or is it too a reworking of some now lost original text? ¶ In the last forty years, these questions have been taken up by a number of scholars, but to date there has been no full-length study that takes into account the wide range of variant texts and attempts in any systematic way to analyze them in a search for answers. The present study seeks to fill this gap. I compare 11 texts, consisting of representatives from all the main variant categories and including all the texts which are known to be, or which seem to me to be, early forms. Detailed textual comparison can be found in Appendix 1. ¶ Part I introduces the background to the Tale’s development, and the variant texts. In Part II, I translate the variant known as Bunmeibon. Many scholars have either claimed or simply assumed that Bunmeibon is a close version of the Tale’s original form. I take issue with this belief, and one of the aims of this study is to pursue the question of the relationship of the B text line (of which Bunmeibon is representative) with the A text line, which has generally been regarded as the secondary or “abridged” line, with the purpose of establishing that it is rather the A line that retains traces of the original text and of the impulses that led to the Tale’s original formation. ¶ The detailed comments which follow each section of the Bunmeibon translation are intended both to place it within the context of the other ten variants and draw out their possible relationships, and to examine other issues that the section raises in relation to the Tale as a whole. Most of these issues hinge on the question of how Saigyo is depicted. I trace the volatile shifts that occur between the two poles of Saigyo as poet and Saigyo as religious practitioner, how the Tale does and does not attempt to merge the two, and what forms this double Saigyo image takes as the Tale progresses, both inter- and intra-textually. ¶ This question is fundamentally linked with the above question of relationship between the text lines. The scholars who focus their study on Bunmeibon largely assume that the main focus of the Tale is religious in intent. I hope to show that the Tale’s fundamental form in all variants does not reflect this, that much of the religious material found in Bunmeibon and the other B texts is the result of interpolation and reworking, and that it is the early A texts’ more literary focus that contains the likely key to the original impulses behind the Tale’s formation. ¶ Part III draws together the results of my investigation, and situates the Tale within the wider context of the kyogen kigo debate.

Women and relations to women are a central focus of Genji monogatari. Questions regarding women and their relationship to power need to be explored in order to provide understanding to the Genji. While there have been many feminist accounts of the Genji, most assume notions of patriarchy. This thesis will begin to historicize power and how women are inside its formations. Chapter one will discuss marriage politics and the regency system to show how women function in relation to these formations. Chapter two will historicize sexuality in the Genji. Chapter three will discuss perspective in the e-maki of Genji monogatari. Discussion in these three chapters will show that power relations in the Genji are more complex than notions of male domination over female. Resistance in the text is better understood as resistance against the social formations of mid-Heian court society than resistance against men in general.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California at Berkeley, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 428-445).

abstract: My study centers on the novel Katakiuchi Kidan Jiraiya Monogatari (1806-1807) by Kanwatei Onitake (1760-1818). Jiraiya Monogatari was the first literary reading book to be adapted for the kabuki stage. It was also the prototype on which Mizugaki Egao, Kawatake Mokuami, Makino Shouzou; and others based their bound picture books, kabuki, and films. The tale is composed of two revenge incidents, both of which have the same structural framework and are didactic in tone. In my study, I analyze the two revenge incidents by examining their narrative structures. Each incident has the same three-act structure: setup, confrontation, and resolution. The setup of each revenge incident introduces the main characters and their relationships and establishes the dramatic vehicle, which is an unexpected incident that sets the revenge in motion. The confrontation contains myriad non-linear inserts, plot twists, and reversals of fortune, all of which have the effect of a narrative delay. This prolongation of the outcome of a simple revenge plot allows readers the necessary space in which they can form their own judgments regarding good and evil and consider karmic cause and effect. The resolution, including the climax as well as the ending of the revenge, demonstrates the didactic notion of punishing evil and karmic effect. The two revenge incidents embody two rules, kanzen chouaku and inga, which together highlight the didacticism of Jiraiya monogatari. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. East Asian Languages and Civilizations 2012

The world of Japanese literature spans a vast number of genres and media, so much that while it makes sense that English speaking academia is unaware of many prolific and influential authors and works, it might be surprising that some of those same people and publications are not well studied in their original language. Even though this is common among many languages, older Japanese texts have the added challenge of a variant grammar structure and writing style that forces scholars to be aware of the differences in the classical variation of the language. To that end, the author named Aoki Rosui may not be a household name within many circles of Japanese literary study. Still, extensive study of the horror stories known as kaidan and hyaku monogatari as well as Edo period Japanese literature as a whole is incomplete without knowing of his life and his contribution entitled Otogi hyaku monogatari. By gaining a rudimentary knowledge of the man behind this collection of ghost tales, as well as the people who exerted a significant influence on him, his reasons and methods taken in writing his collection of stories can be explored. At the same time, the classification of certain types of media into conventions known as genres is a very ambiguous field. Working through a variety of genres, both specific to Japan and general, will reveal the sheer variety that the kaidan category allows the author to explore. Preceding the annotated translation of a selection of Otogi hyaku monogatari will be a brief introduction and analysis of each of the stories that have been selected, using various references as support for the types of mythological and historical icons contained within them. Finally, I will present how I went about translating the preface and five stories with a brief discussion on translation methods before presenting the English version of the Japanese text.

No description available.

Considerada ainda na antiguidade como a \"ancestral de todas as narrativas monogatari\", Taketori monogatari é a obra mais antiga de seu gênero. Escrita provavelmente entre os séculos IX e X, a narrativa conta a trajetória da personagem Kaguyahime, desde que foi encontrada pelo personagem que dá título à obra até a ocasião em que é levada de volta para o mundo de onde veio. Os acontecimentos que se desenrolam a partir da corte amorosa empreendida por cinco pretendentes que desejam se casar com ela ocupam considerável espaço na narrativa. Esse arco é considerado pelos estudiosos japoneses como exclusivo de Taketori monogatari, não constando em nenhum outro registro anterior da lenda. A partir desta hipótese e amparados pelo trabalho de Roland Barthes, propusemos uma reflexão sobre a construção do discurso pretensamente amoroso nessa parte em que se acredita vislumbrar o ineditismo da obra. / Regarded as \"the ancestor of all monogatari narratives\" since Classical Japan, Taketori monogatari is the most ancient piece of work in monogatari genre. Written probably between the 9th and 10th centuries, the narrative tells the story of Kaguyahime, from the moment she was found by the character whose name is in the title of the narrative until she is taken back to her homeland. The episodes starred by the five noble men who wish to marry her occupy the most of the narrative and are thought, by the Japanese scholars, to be exclusively Taketori monogatari author\'s creation. Considering the Japanese scholars\' view and supported by Roland Barthes\'s treatise on amorous discourse, we aimed to expose the way the discourse spoken by Kaguyahime and her suitors is built in those supposedly romantic episodes.