Tales of Times Now Past (Konjaku Monogatarishu)
Overview
Thirty-one books (three lost) holding over a thousand tales: Japan's largest collection of setsuwa. It is divided into India, China and Japan, and the Japan part further into Buddhist and secular tales. Every tale begins "Now it is long ago" and ends "So it has been told and handed down." Besides Buddhist miracles, it portrays all kinds of people: thieves, warriors, demons, foxes, the wit of ordinary folk.
Background
It is thought to have been compiled in the early twelfth century, the age of rule by retired emperors. In the capital the power of the regents was wavering, and in the provinces warriors were gaining strength. Order was poor, and Rashomon, the main gate of Heian-kyo, had fallen into ruin. The compiler is unknown, but there is a clear intent to arrange a vast number of tales as a history of Buddhism in the three lands. Long forgotten, it was rediscovered in modern times by Akutagawa Ryunosuke and others.
Highlights
- The old woman at RashomonOn the ruined gate, an old woman pulls the hair from a corpse; a thief strips her clothes and runs. The source of Akutagawa's "Rashomon."Read “The Thief Who Climbed to the Upper Story of Rashomon and Saw the Dead” →
- Yam gruelA fifth-rank man who murmured, "I'd like to eat my fill of yam gruel," is carried off to Tsuruga. The comedy and terror of a wish come true.Read “How General Toshihito, When Young, Took a Fifth-Rank Man from the Capital to Tsuruga” →
- DojojiA woman in love with a young monk becomes a great serpent and burns him to death inside a bell. The source of the Dojoji plays of Noh and Kabuki.Read “How a Monk of Dojoji in Kii Copied the Lotus Sutra and Saved Serpents” →
- Mount ObasuteA man who, at his wife's urging, abandoned on the mountain the aunt who raised him, changes his mind looking at the moon. "My heart cannot be consoled, seeing the moon shine on Obasute at Sarashina."Read “Mount Obasute in Shinano” →