A Collection of Tales from Uji (Uji Shui Monogatari)

Compiler unknown · Early 13th century

Overview

A collection of 197 tales compiled in the early Kamakura period. The title is taken to mean "gleanings" of tales left out of the Tales of the Uji Counselor by Minamoto no Takakuni. Buddhist and secular tales stand side by side without classification, mixing the comic, the strange and the human. Written in soft prose mixing kana, it takes strong delight in the fun of the stories themselves.

Background

It came in an age when warrior government had been established and the nobility had begun to look back fondly on its former glory. Many tales are shared with Tales of Times Now Past, but the weight has shifted from moral lessons to laughter and human warmth. Older forms of stories later spread as folktales, such as "The Old Man Whose Lump Was Taken," "The Sparrow with the Broken Back" and "The Straw Millionaire," survive here.

Highlights

  1. The boy who pretended to sleepA temple boy on Mount Hiei feigns sleep while waiting for rice cakes, and misses his chance to be woken. A small vanity everyone will recognize.Read “How a Boy Pretended to Sleep While Rice Cakes Were Made” →
  2. The straw millionaireA single straw grasped on Kannon's word becomes oranges, cloth, a horse, and at last fields and a house.Read “How a Man in Retreat at Hasedera Received Kannon's Blessing” →
  3. The old man whose lump was takenAn old man who dances at the demons' feast has his lump removed; his neighbor who imitates him gets two. The pleasure of meeting a folktale in its original form.Read “How an Old Man's Lump Was Taken by Demons” →