Nise Monogatari


Nise Monogatari is a Japanese kana-zōshi written in the early Edo period by an unknown author.

Genre

Nise Monogatari is a work of the kana-zōshi genre.
It was written as a parody of the famous Heian period romantic poem tale the Ise Monogatari, specifically the rufubon text containing 125 short episodes.

Authorship and date

The author of Nise Monogatari is unknown. The late-Edo period author speculated that it was the early Edo waka poet and Noh playwright, but modern scholars reject this theory.
It was written around 1639, and first printed around the end of the Kan'ei era in 1644. The illustrations included in the first printed edition are based on the Kan'ei 6 edition of the Ise Monogatari.

Content

Unlike other parodies of classical works, such as Inu Makura and Inu Tsurezure, Nise Monogatari is a beat-for-beat parody of the content of Ise, with the setting changed from the sophisticated courtly world of the Heian aristocracy to the vulgar society of early modern Japan.
This work stands out from the other parodies specifically of Ise that appeared later in terms of the consistency of its humour.
It is centered around puns and humour, with the plot itself unremarkable and apparently not having been a concern for the author.
Given the stern reverence afforded the classics in the early Edo period, this work is of interest for the commoner's sensibility it applies to a particularly important literary classic.

Textual tradition

The first edition was published around 1644 in two volumes, and saw several reprints in addition to new editions of the work being produced.

Works cited