2002 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Basic research into the cultural environment surrounding the reception and production of Heike monogalari in the 14th-15th centuries
| Project/Area Number |
13610511
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
国文学
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| Research Institution | Komazawa University (2002)
Kumamoto University (2001) |
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Principal Investigator |
SAKURAI Yoko Komazawa University, Faculty of Letters, professor, 文学部, 教授 (60211934)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2001 – 2002
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| Keywords | Heike monogatari / Reception and production / transcription activities / texual contamination |
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| Research Abstract |
Heike monogatari became widely known to Japanese people in the 14th and 15th centuries, with reception of the narrative occurring in different media. This was a period in which the narrative was transformed through its reception. In order to analyze Heike monogatari from the perspectives of reception and production, research was carried out in two areas
(1) The existing documents relating to Heike reception history in this period were re-examined and catagorized with the aim of investigating the function hitherto attributed to biwa reciters, and of reconsidering the respective roles of the Todoza guild and the biwa reciters of Heike
(2) One aspect of the reception of Heike monogatari is the copying of texts. A clearer understanding was obtained of the process of making manuscript copies in this period
In regard to point (l) , the existing documents were reconsidered, and the material evidence for reception history were catagorized, but as further examination remains to be done, the result
… More
s of the study have not yet been published
In regard to point (2), it was possible to demonstrate how the Enkyo-bon variant was contaminated by the Kakuichi-bon variant when the Enkyo-bon was copied in the Oei period. Among variants of Heike monogatari, the Enkyo-bon is considered to preserve the greatest number of archaic features. The existing manuscript is a re-transcription made in the Oei period (1419-20) of a text transcribed in the Enkyo period (1309-10). Traces were also found of textual changes that are likely to be the result of the copyist's conscious decisions and that are not based on the text of the Kakuichi-bon. Finally, it is also probable that other materials were introduced in the period after the Enkyo transcription and before the Oei copy was made.
Even in the case of the Enkyo-bon Heike monogatari (Oei copy) , a large amount of raw materials already existed in the form of variant texts. The Enkyo-bon is no different to other variants in this respect: like them, it is nothing more than a variant in the process of editing. The way that variant texts are-selected or contaminated shows that the operation of "copying" constituted one aspect of the operation of "reading" (in the broad sense) , and indicates that reception and production were becoming one. Whether considered from the viewpoint of reception or production, the transcription of Heike monogatari in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries show it to be an active period of change, as the case of the Enkyo-bon has the potential to prove
(2) is a question that remains within the restricted context of transcription of variants. However if the results of this investigation are combined with, those of (l) , it will then be possible to clarify for the first time how Heike monogatari evolved in tandem with the changing social and cultural environment of the Muromachi period. While the present research project does not go so far, it has shown the need for continued investigation, and indicated future topics of study. Less
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