Tsutsumi Chūnagon Monogatari

Tsutsumi Chūnagon Monogatari (堤中納言物語, "Tales of the Riverside Middle Counselor") is a post late-Heian period Japanese collection of short stories.

Authorship

With the exception of one story, the authorship is unknown. It is likely each story was written by different authors at various times and later collected together into a single text.

Ōsaka Koenu Gonchūnagon is known to have been composed in 1055 by Lady Koshikibu. This is confirmed in volume 8 of Rokujō Saiin Utaawase (六条斎院歌合) which includes one of the poems from this story.

In addition, poems from Hanazakura Oru Shōshō, Hodohodo no Kesō, Kaiawase, and Haizumi are included in the 1271 Fūyō Wakashū indicating an upper bound for these stories.

Tradition states that Fujiwara no Tameuji (1222–1286) and Fujiwara no Tamesuke (1263–1328) created copies of the manuscripts also indicating completion of the text by the 13th century.

Contents

The meaning of the title is unknown. There are two main theories:

The text contains ten short stories:

The Princess Who Loved Insects was about a clever and beautiful princess who rather than beautifying herself and courting, would spend her time outdoors playing with bugs and caterpillars.[1]

There is also an incomplete fragment at the end. It is untitled, but variously known by its first few words as Fuyugomoru (冬ごもる).

Manuscripts

There are approximately 60 existing manuscripts, but the original no longer exists. Each manuscript has difficult to read passages and the text as a whole needs to be supplemented by comparison with other manuscripts.

Notes

  1. ↑ Blom, Amy (2003-04-01). "Story #4 - The Princess Who Loved Insects". Archived from the original on December 4, 2005. Retrieved 2008-11-06.

References

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