Otogi-zōshi


are a group of about 350 Japanese prose narratives written primarily in the Muromachi period. These illustrated short stories, which remain unattributed, together form one of the representative literary genres of the Japanese medieval era.

Overview

is a general term for narrative literature written between the Muromachi period and the beginning of the Edo period. The term originates with a mid-Edo collection of 23 stories, titled or. It later came to denote other works of the same genre and period. Modern scholarship sometimes distinguishes between "true", covering only the 23 works included in the aforementioned collection, and other works that it instead terms or.

List

The 23 tales covered by the narrow definition are:
Under the broad definition, there are around 500 surviving examples of. Most are around 30–40 pages in length, and are of uncertain date. Their authors are also largely unknown, but whereas Heian and Kamakura were almost all composed by members of the aristocracy, these works were composed by not just aristocrats but also Buddhist monks, hermits, educated members of the warrior class. Some of the later may have been written by members of the emerging urban merchant class. Similarly, the works' intended readership was probably broader than the of earlier eras. They therefore have a wide variety of contents and draw material from various literary works of the past. Based on their contents, scholars have divided them into six genres:
are tales of the aristocracy. They mark a continuation of the earlier literature, and are noted for the influence of The Tale of Genji. Many of them are rewritten or abridged versions of earlier works. Among the romantic works in this sub-genre are and, and most end sadly with the characters cutting themselves off from society.

Categories

have been broken down into multiple categories: tales of the aristocracy, which are derived from earlier works such as The Tale of Genji; religious tales; tales of warriors, often based on The Tale of the Heike, the, The Tale of the Soga and the ; tales of foreign countries, based on the. The most well-known of the tales, however, are retellings of familiar legends and folktales, such as, the story of a one-inch-tall boy who overcomes countless obstacles to achieve success in the capital.

Origins of the term

The term literally means 'companion', with the full name of the genre translating to 'companion tale'. This designation, however, did not come into use until 1725, when a publisher in Osaka released a set of 23 illustrated booklets titled . As other publishers produced their own versions of, they began referring to the set of tales as. Gradually the term came to describe any work from the Muromachi or early Edo period that exhibited the same general style as the tales in.

History of scholarship

came to the attention of modern literary historians in the late 19th century. For the most part, scholars have been critical of this genre, dismissing it for its perceived faults when compared to the aristocratic literature of the Heian and Kamakura periods. As a result, standardized Japanese school textbooks often omit any reference to from their discussions of medieval Japanese literature. Recent studies, however, have contradicted this critical stance, highlighting the vitality and inherent appeal of this underappreciated genre. The term, coined by eminent scholar Ichiko Teiji, attempts to situate the tales within a narrative continuum.

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