Wikipedia

Monogatari

For the light novel series, see Monogatari (series).

Monogatari (Japanese: 物語; [monoɡaꜜtaɾi]) is a literary form in traditional Japanese literature – an extended prose narrative tale comparable to epic literature. Monogatari is closely tied to aspects of the oral tradition, and almost always relates a fictional or fictionalized story, even when retelling a historical event. Many of the great works of Japanese fiction, such as the Genji Monogatari and the Heike Monogatari, are in the monogatari form.

Murasaki Shikibu, author of Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji)

History

edit

The form was prominent around the 9th to 15th centuries, reaching a peak between the 10th and 13th centuries.[1] Monogatari was the court literature during the Heian era and also persisted in the form of archaic fiction until the sixteenth century.[1] The Fūyō Wakashū (1271) indicates that at least 198 monogatari existed by the 13th century. Today, only 24 exist.[2]

Form and characteristics

edit

Scholars describe monogatari as long prose narratives, typically in a third-person mode, produced among the aristocracy from the early tenth century into the Kamakura period.[3] They developed with the rise of court-based vernacular literature written in kana (wabun), a shift closely associated with women at court; many celebrated monogatari were authored by women such as Murasaki Shikibu.[4] Vernacular historical monogatari such as Eiga Monogatari and Ōkagami also adopt kana and present dynastic history through distinctive narrative frames and voices.[5]

Monogatari prose is commonly interwoven with waka; in the uta-monogatari subgenre the poems themselves structure successive episodes.[6] The centrality of poetry is evident in The Tale of Genji, which embeds 795 waka within its narrative.[7]

From the late Heian into the medieval period, some monogatari—especially the gunki monogatari—developed in tandem with performative traditions. The Heike Monogatari circulated in multiple textual lines and was chanted by itinerant blind lute priests (biwa hōshi) to the accompaniment of the biwa (heikyoku).[8][9] The most influential performance version, the Kakuichi-bon, was dictated by Akashi Kakuichi in 1371 and long served as a standard for recitation and scholarship.[10] The Heike recitation art (Heike-biwa) flourished in the Muromachi period and, though now rare, continues to be documented and reconstructed by performers and researchers.[11]

Genres

edit

The genre is subdivided into multiple categories depending on their contents:

Denki-monogatari

edit

Stories dealing with fantastical events.

Uta-monogatari

edit
Main article: Uta monogatari

Stories drawn from poetry.

Tsukuri-monogatari

edit

Aristocratic court romances.

Rekishi-monogatari

edit
Main article: Rekishi monogatari

Historical tales that emerged during the late Heian period, flourishing until the medieval age.[12] These narratives were commonly written in kanbun (hybrid form of Chinese) or wabun (Japanese).[12] Two of the most notable of this monogatari included the Eiga Monogatari and Ōkagami, which both narrated the story of Michinaga, the renowned Fujiwara regent.[12]

Gunki-monogatari

edit
Main article: Gunki monogatari

Military chronicles and stories about war.

Setsuwa-monogatari

edit

Anecdotal tales.

Giko-monogatari

edit

Pseudo-classical imitations of earlier tales.

Influence

edit

When European and other foreign literature later became known to Japan, the word monogatari began to be used in Japanese titles of foreign works of a similar nature. For example, A Tale of Two Cities is known as Nito Monogatari (二都物語), One Thousand and One Nights as Sen'ichiya Monogatari (千一夜物語) and more recently The Lord of the Rings as Yubiwa Monogatari (指輪物語) and To Kill a Mockingbird as Arabama Monogatari (アラバマ物語).

See also

edit

Citations

edit
  1. ^ a b Pettersson, Anders (2006). "Introduction: Concepts of Literature and Transcultural Literary History". In Pettersson, Anders (ed.). Literary History: Towards a Global Perspective. Vol. 1: Notions of Literature Across Times and Cultures. Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter. p. 13. ISBN 9783110189322. OCLC 1030572651.
  2. ^ A Tale of Eleventh-Century Japan: Hamamatsu Chunagon Monogatari. Translated by Rohlich, Thomas H. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 2014 [1983]. p. 4 (Introduction). ISBN 9781400856688. OCLC 884013397.
  3. ^ Mostow, Joshua S. (2016). "Early Heian court tales". In Shirane, Haruo; Suzuki, Tomi; Lurie, David (eds.). The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 121–128. doi:10.1017/CHO9781139245869.012. ISBN 978-1-139-24586-9. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  4. ^ Shirane, Haruo; Suzuki, Tomi; Lurie, David, eds. (2016). "Introduction: court culture, women, and the rise of vernacular literature". The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 95–101. doi:10.1017/CHO9781139245869.009. ISBN 978-1-139-24586-9. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  5. ^ Shirane, Haruo; Suzuki, Tomi; Lurie, David, eds. (2016). "Vernacular histories: Eiga monogatari, Ōkagami, Gukanshō". The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 193–205. doi:10.1017/CHO9781139245869.021. ISBN 978-1-139-24586-9. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  6. ^ Keene, Donald (1999). Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 451–457. ISBN 9780231114417.
  7. ^ McCormick, Melissa (2018). The Tale of Genji. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. ix. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  8. ^ Oyler, Elizabeth (2016). "The rise of medieval warrior tales: Hōgen monogatari and Heiji monogatari". In Shirane, Haruo; Suzuki, Tomi; Lurie, David (eds.). The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 287–294. doi:10.1017/CHO9781139245869.031. ISBN 978-1-139-24586-9. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  9. ^ Tokita, Alison (2003). "The Reception of the Heike Monogatari as Performed Narrative: The Atsumori Episode in Heikyoku, Zatō Biwa and Satsuma Biwa". Japanese Studies. 23 (1): 59–85. doi:10.1080/10371390305354. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  10. ^ Watson, Michael. "The Tale of the Heike – section titles in English and Japanese". Meiji Gakuin University. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  11. ^ "The First Recording of Heike". Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. January 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  12. ^ a b c Perez, Louis G. (2013). Japan at War: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 464. ISBN 9781598847413.

References

edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Monogatari&oldid=1308928230"