Companion Tales (Otogizoshi)

Unknown · Muromachi period (printed in the mid-Edo period)

Overview

Short tales written from the Muromachi period to the early Edo period are broadly called otogizoshi. Several hundred are known; in the narrow sense the term means the twenty-three published by Shibukawa Seiemon of Osaka in the mid-Edo period. Their heroes vary: nobles, warriors, monks, commoners and non-humans (animals and monsters). Their subjects range widely too: love, rising in the world, slaying monsters, and honji-mono telling the former lives of gods and buddhas. They were enjoyed as picture scrolls and picture books, together with illustrations.

Background

It was an age when, after the Onin War, the culture of the capital spread to the provinces and commoners too became readers and listeners of tales. Reflecting a world where the low overthrew the high, stories of humble people rising through wit or luck were popular. Temple and shrine origin legends, oral narratives and folk tales were the material, reaching many people through words and pictures. Many modern picture books and folk tale collections have their originals here.

Highlights

  1. Urashima TaroThe turtle he saved appears as a woman and becomes Taro's wife. Opening the jeweled box, Taro becomes a crane and is worshiped as a god with the turtle. An ending different from the story known today.Read “Urashima Taro” →
  2. Shuten DojiMinamoto no Raiko and his four guardians, disguised as mountain ascetics, enter Mount Oe, get the demon chief drunk on poisoned sake and kill him.Read “Shuten Doji” →
  3. Issun-boshiA tiny child granted by the god of Sumiyoshi wins a princess and rises in the world through wit and daring. In the original he is quite a cunning hero.Read “Issun-boshi” →
  4. Lazy TaroA sluggard who does nothing but lie around rises in the world by composing witty poems in the capital. A story packed with commoners' dreams.Read “Lazy Taro” →