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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:masters_theses_2-1236 |
| Date | 17 July 2015 |
| Creators | Reeves, David |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Masters Theses |
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