《Kaiawase》 - Kaiawase

...Kana Monogatari. It is a collection of short stories, totaling no more than 80 pages of 400-character manuscript paper, consisting of 10 short stories - "The Shosho Picking Cherry Blossoms," "By This Means," "The Princess Loves Insects," "Moderate Love," "The Gon Chunagon Who Doesn't Cross Osaka," "Shell Matching," "The Shosho Staying in an Unexpected Place," "The Empress Hanada," "Haizumi," and "Miscellaneous Things" - and a fragment of about 240 characters that seems to be the beginning of the story, beginning with "In the Scenery of the Winter Sky." Many of the stories are centered on the love between men and women of the dynastic aristocracy, but "The Princess Who Loved Insects" caricatures the life of a princess who respects the principles of rejecting artificial objects and respecting nature, and loves caterpillars, the origin of butterflies, and the confusion of those around her, while "Shell Matching" depicts an act of selfless human love in which a nobleman sneaks in with lustful thoughts, but sets aside his lustful thoughts and secretly gives beautiful shells to the other daughter and her daughters, who lament their isolation and helplessness as they await a shell match with the daughter of his legal wife, and is delighted to see the help of Kannon and the daughters who rejoice in their company. Although the subject matter is unusual, it is set in the same dynastic aristocratic world.

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "kaiawase" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…仮名物語。《花桜折る少将》《このついで》《虫めづる姫君》《ほどほどの懸想（けそう）》《逢坂越えぬ権中納言》《貝合せ》《思はぬ方に泊りする少将》《はなだの女御》《はいずみ》《よしなしごと》の10編の短編と，〈冬ごもる空のけしきに〉に始まる，物語の発端とおぼしき約240字の断章とから成る，総量400字詰め原稿用紙でせいぜい80枚の短編物語集である。多くは王朝貴族男女の恋を主材としたものであるが，《虫めづる姫君》は人工排斥･自然尊重の理を尊び，蝶の根源たる毛虫を愛する姫君の生態と周囲の困惑とを戯画的に描き，《貝合せ》は好色の心で忍び入った貴公子が，本妻腹の姫君との貝合せを控えて孤立無援を嘆く異腹の姫とその女童たちのために，好色の心を捨ててひそかに立派な貝を贈り，観音の助けと随喜する女童たちをかいま見て喜ぶという無償の人間愛を描くなど，同じ王朝貴族世界のことながら題材が珍しい。…

※「《貝合せ》」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。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報