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It is mentioned in the Genjt Monogatarzt and in the Makura Zoshi, works which belong to the end of the tenth or the beginning of the eleventh century, and was probably composed © some fifty or sixty years earlier. No exact date can be © assigned for its composition. ‘ The style of the Utsubo Monogatari is plain and- straightforward; but it has unfortunately suffered greatly at the hands of copyists and editors, and also from the . UTSUBO MONOGATARI 85 ravages of time, so that the text, as we now have it, is in a very unsatisfactory condition. The title of the first story, ‘“Toshikage,” is taken from the name of the hero. It is the best known of the series, and has been published separately, as if it were the entire work, Like the ZYaketori Monogatari, it belongs to the class of fiction best described as Mahrchen. The hero is a son of a member of the Fujiwara family by an Imperial Princess. In other words, he has in his veins the bluest blood in Japan. His parents purposely allow him to grow up without any teaching, but he nevertheless learns with astonishing quickness, and at seven years of age holds a correspondence in the Chinese written character with a stranger from Corea who is on a visit to Japan. The Mikado, hearing of his remarkable talent, holds an examination, at which Toshikage far sur- passes all his competitors. He subsequently receives an official appointment at the court, and later, at the age of sixteen, is made Ambassador to China. Two of the three ships in which the embassy sailed are lost during a storm, and Toshikage’s own vessel drives ashore in a strange country, everybody (apparently) being drowned but Toshikage himself. On landing, he puts up a prayer to the Buddhist goddess Kwannon. A black horse, ready saddled, makes his appearance, and carries him to a spot where there are three men under a sandal- tree seated on tiger-skins and playing on lutes (£o/o). The horse vanishes. Toshikage remains here until the following spring, when hearing in the west the sound as of men felling trees, he resolves to follow it. Taking a courteous leave of his three hosts, he sets out on his quest. Seas and rivers, mountains and valleys are crossed, - but it is not until the spring of the next year but one that 86 JAPANESE LITERATURE he arrives at his destination. Here in a valley he sees a company of Asura (demons of Indian myth) engaged in cutting up an immense kiri-tree (Paulownia Imperialis) which they had felled. These demons “had hair like upright sword-blades, their faces burned like flames of fire, their feet and hands resembled spades and mattocks, their eyes gleamed like chargers of burnished metal.” Toshikage is in danger of faring ill at their hands, when a boy comes down from the sky,.riding on a dragon, amid a storm of thunder and lightning and rain, bearing a golden tablet, with instructions to the Asura to Jet him go, and to give him part of the tree they had felled, so that he might make it into lutes. He makes thirty lutes and goes his way, the lutes being carried for him by a whirlwind, which arises opportunely. After other adventures of an equally wonderful kind, Toshikage returns to Japan and makes his report to the Mikado. He retires into private life, marries, and has one daughter. He and his wife die, leaving the daughter in great poverty. She lives in a secluded spot in the suburbs of Kidto, where she is one day visited by a youth who was accompanying his father to worship at the shrine of Kamo. On his return home the next morning, his father, enraged at him for giving his parents so great anxiety by his disappearance, forbids him in future to leave his sight for a moment. When, after some years, he is able to visit the place where his lady-love dwelt, the house had completely disappeared. Meanwhile Toshikage’s daughter gives birth to a child, who, like many of the heroes of Chinese and Japanese romance, is a prodigy of precocious talent and filial devotion. At the age of five he sustains his mother by the fish which he catches, and at a later time brings her UTSUBO MONOGATARI 87 fruit and roots from the mountains. Finding, however, that this obliges him to leave her too much alone, he seeks a place in the woods where he can lodge her, and finds a great hollow! tree, which he thought would serve his purpose. It is already the home of a family of bears. They are about to devour the intruder, when he remon- strates with them as follows :— “Stay a little and do not destroy my life, for I am a filial child, the support of my mother, who lives all alone in a ruined house, without parents, or brothers, or any one to attend upon her. As I could do nothing for her in the village where we live, I come to this mountain to get her fruit and roots. Having to climb up lofty peaks, and to descend into deep valleys, I leave home in the morning and return when it is dark. This is a source of great distress to us. I therefore thought of bringing her to this hollow tree, not knowing it to be the dwelling of such a king of the mountain... . If there is any part of me which is not useful for my mother’s support, I will sacrifice it to you. But without feet how could I go about ? Without hands how could I gather fruit or dig up roots for her? Without a mouth where would the breath of life find a passage? Without a breast where would my heart find a lodgment ?_ In this body there is no part which is not of service except the lobes of my ears and the tip of my nose. These I offer to the king of the mountain.” This discourse moves the bears to tears, and they at once give up the hollow tree to him and seek a home elsewhere. The mother and son live here for many years, being supplied with food by a number of monkeys. They are 4 “Hollow” is in Japanese #fsubo, whence the name of the whole work, 88 JAPANESE LITERATURE ultimately discovered by the father, who comes here on a hunting expedition. He builds them a fine mansion in Kidto, in which they all live happily ever after. The Hamamatsu Chiunagon Monogatari is a story of a Japanese noble who goes to China and has an amour with the Empress. He brings back to Japan with him a child who was the fruit of their union. The author is unknown. It belongs to the second half of the tenth century. : The story called Ochtkubo Monogatar? also belongs to the second half of the tenth century. Mabuchi would assign it to the period from 967 to 96g. Its author is said to be one Minamoto no Shitagaii, a small official and famous scholar, who flourished in the reigns of the Mikados Murakami, Reizei, and Yenyu. The name Ochikubo means “underground cavity.” The heroine, a young lady of noble birth, is confined in a room underground by her step-mother. She has a very miserable time, until by the help of a female servant she makes the acquaint- ance of a young nobleman, who assists her to escape. Of course they are married and live happily ever after. A work named Sumzyosht Monogatari is mentioned in the Makura Zosht. Critics, however, are agreed that the book now known by that name is a forgery of a later date. It is also a story of a wicked step-mother (a favourite character of far-eastern fiction), and of the events which led in due course to her condign punish- ment. The author of the Yamato Monogatari is really un- known, though it has been ascribed by some to Shige- haru, a son of Narihira, the hero of the /se Monogatari, and by others to the Mikado Kwazan. It is an imitation of the /se Monogatari, but is much inferior to its model, YAMATO MONOGATARI 89 and the style is wanting in clearness and conciseness. It is a collection of stories adorned with Tanka after the manner of the earlier work. There is, however, no con- necting link between them. The following is one of the best known of the series :— “A long time ago there dwelt a maid in the province of Tsu. She was wooed by two lovers, one of whom, Mubara by name, lived in the same province; the other, called Chinu, belonged to the province of Jdzumi. “Now these youths were of like age, and were also alike in face, form, and stature. The maid thought of accepting the one who loved her best, but here, too, no difference could be found between them. When night fell they both came together, and when they made her presents, the presents of both were alike. Neither of them could be said to surpass the other, so that the maiden was sore distressed in mind. If their devotion had been of vulgar sort she would have refused them both. But as for days and months the one and the other presented themselves at her door, and showed their love in all manner of ways, their attentions made her utterly wretched. Both persisted in coming with their like gifts of all kinds, notwithstanding that they were not accepted. Her parents said to her, ‘It is a pity that month after month and year after year should pass in this unseemly manner. It is wearisome to listen to the laments of these men, and all to no purpose. If you married one, the other’s love would cease.’ The girl replied, ‘I think so too, but I am sorely perplexed by the sameness of the men’s love. What am I to do?’ Now in those days people lived in tents on the bank of the river Ikuta. Accordingly the parents sent for the two lovers and said to them, ‘Our child is sorely perplexed by the equality 90 JAPANESE LITERATURE of the love shown by you two gentlemen. But we intend to-day, in one way or another, to come to adecision. One of you is a stranger from a distant place; the other, a dweller here, has taken trouble beyond measure. The conduct of both of you has our warm sympathy.’ Both heard this with respectful joy. ‘Now, what we pro- posed to say to you,’ continued the parents, ‘was this; aim your arrows at one of the water-fowl floating on this river.