Country Play - Inakashibai

…Brother of Katsuragawa Hoshu, a physician to the shogunate. As a Dutch scholar under Hiraga Gennai, he wrote many works, including Komo Zatsuwa (1787), Bankoku Shinwa (1789), and Ruiju Komo Goyaku (1798). As a comic writer, he wrote many light-hearted and witty works in yellow-covered books, such as Sofu (Sorekara) Koiki and Manzōtei Gesaku no Hajimari (The Beginning of Manzōtei Gesaku) (both 1784), and Chikusai Rōhō Yamabukiiro (1794). His first sharebon work, Shinmeidai (1781), was a humorous depiction of the vulgarity of country samurai who acted instinctively, and Sugoroku (1786) depicted the humor of the Seven Lucky Gods playing at Yoshiwara. In Inaka Shibai (1787), he criticized the excessive realism of sharebon at the time and advocated the restoration of humor, forming the foundation for later humorous books. His reading books include the Chinese version of Gekka Seidan (1798).

*Some of the terminology used in reference to "country plays" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…幕府医官桂川甫周の弟。平賀源内門下の蘭学者として《紅毛雑話》(1787)，《万国新話》(1789)，《類聚紅毛語訳》(1798)など多くの著述があるが，戯作者としては，黄表紙に知識人としての軽妙洒脱な作品が多く，《従夫（それから）以来記》《万象亭戯作濫觴（まんぞうていげさくのはじまり）》(以上1784)，《竹斎老宝山吹色》(1794)などがあり，また洒落本では初作《真女意題（しんめいだい）》(1781)で，本能のまま行動する田舎侍の野暮さかげんを描いて笑わせ，《福神粋語録（すごろく）》(1786)では七福神の吉原遊びの滑稽を描いたが，《田舎芝居》(1787)は当時の洒落本の行き過ぎた写実の弊をついて，笑いの回復を主張し，のちの滑稽本への礎石をなした。読本には《月下清談》(1798)の中国種のものがある。…

※「《田舎芝居》」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

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