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

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

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

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

Denki-monogatari

Stories dealing with fantastical events.

• Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter)
• Utsubo Monogatari (The Tale of the Hollow Tree)
• Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai

Uta-monogatari

Main article: Uta monogatari

Stories drawn from poetry.

• Heichū Monogatari (Tales of Heichū)
• Ise Monogatari (Tales of Ise)
• Yamato Monogatari (Tales of Yamato)

Tsukuri-monogatari

Aristocratic court romances.

• Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji)
• Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari
• Ochikubo Monogatari (The Tale of Ochikubo)
• Sagoromo Monogatari
• Torikaebaya Monogatari
• Tsutsumi Chūnagon Monogatari
• Yoru no Nezame (Wakeful Nights)

Rekishi-monogatari

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

Main article: Gunki monogatari

Military chronicles and stories about war.

• Gikeiki (The Tale of Yoshitsune)
• Heiji Monogatari (The Tale of Heiji)
• Heike Monogatari (The Tale of the Heike)
• Hōgen Monogatari (The Tale of Hōgen)
• Soga Monogatari (The Tale of the Soga Brothers)
• Taiheiki (Chronicle of Great Peace)

Setsuwa-monogatari

Anecdotal tales.

• Konjaku Monogatarishū (Tales of Times Now Past)
• Uji Shūi Monogatari (A Collection of Tales from Uji)

Giko-monogatari

Pseudo-classical imitations of earlier tales.

• Matsura no Miya Monogatari
• Sumiyoshi Monogatari

Influence

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

• Fūyō Wakashū, a 13th-century collection of poetry from various monogatari sources, many of which are no longer extant
• Konjaku Monogatarishū, a collection of Heian period Buddhist folklore
• Mumyōzōshi, a 13th-century literary critique on monogatari, many of which are no longer extant