Takamura Monogatari

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Takamura Monogatari (篁物語, Takamura Monogatari^?) is a late Heian period Japanese short story. The author is unknown. The text is also known as Takamura Nikki (篁日記, Takamura Nikki^?), Ono no Takamura Shū (小野篁集, Ono no Takamura Shū^?), and Ono no Takamura Ki (小野篁記, Ono no Takamura Ki^?).

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The text is composed of two short stories. The protagonist is based Ono no Takamura.

The first story draws its inspiration from poem #829 of the Kokin Wakashū^[1][2]:

Composed upon the death of my sister:

May my tears that I weep fall as rain

should the river rise

my sister may return to me.

While Ono no Takamura teaches the Chinese classics to his half-sister, the two fall in love and the sister gets pregnant. When their mother discovers what is going on, she separates them. The sister closes herself up in a room and dies, only to reunite with Takamura as a ghost.

The second story is based on entry #186 in Honchō Monzui. In the passage, Takamura asks the Minister of the Right for permission to marry his daughter.^[3]

In the short story, Takamura seeks to marry the daughter of the Minister of the Right. He is initially rejected by her elder and middle sisters, but eventually marries her. He is haunted by the ghost of his dead sister and the jealousy of his wife, but is eventually raises in fortune to become Sangi (参議, Sangi^?), Director of Palace Affairs. He then takes care of the elder and middle sisters who had fallen into misfortune.

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[edit] References

• Endō, Yoshimoto; Matsuo Satoshi (1964). Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 77: Katamura Monogatari, Heichū Monogatari, Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari (in Japanese). Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 4-00-060077-X. 
• Kojima, Noriyuki; Arai Eizō (1989). Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 5: Kokin Wakashū (in Japanese). Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 4-00-240005-0. 
• Kubota, Jun (2007). Iwanami Nihon Koten Bungaku Jiten (in Japanese). Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 978-4-00-080310-6. 
• Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten Henshū Iinkai (1986). Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten (in Japanese). Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 4-00-080067-1. 
• Ōsone, Shōsuke; Kinpara Tadashi, Gotō Akio (1992). Shin Koten Bungaku Taikei: Honchō Monzui. Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 4-00-240027-1. 
• Saeki, Umetomo (1958). Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 8: Kokin Wakashū (in Japanese). Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 4-00-060008-7.