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  • 22 - Japanese poetic thought, from earliest times to the thirteenth century

  • from Part III - The medieval period (1185–1600)
  • Edited by Haruo Shirane, Columbia University, New York, Tomi Suzuki, Columbia University, New York, David Lurie, Columbia University, New York
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature
    Published online:
    05 January 2016
    Print publication:
    17 December 2015, pp 218-229

  • Summary

    In modern parlance, the term monogatari refers to long prose narratives told in the equivalent of the third person, and produced among the nobility from the early tenth century until some time in the Kamakura period. This chapter traces the emergence of this genre up until the appearance of The Tale of Genji in the early eleventh century, which marks its pinnacle. It also discusses the Taketori monogatari or The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, Ise monogatari, and Tsukuri-monogatari. In addition to these tales Heian Japan was aware of the short fiction that circulated in Tang China. In the Tang dynasty, many stories and poems circulated about the meetings of the emperors Mu and Wu with the Queen Mother of the West. In these texts, the emperors approach the queen mother to be taught the secrets of Taoist alchemy and to obtain an elixir of immortality, though they ultimately fail or are refused.