"The Tale of Princess Sakura"

...The story begins when Nobune, the wife of Washio Yoshiharu of Tanba Province, brutally murders her favorite concubine, Gyokuto, and the grudge of Gyokuto haunts Nobune in various ways, and then her daughter, Sakurahime, is also loved by Seigen, who was born from Gyokuto's corpse and grew up to become a monk at Kiyomizu Temple, and continues to haunt her as a lustful ghost.The story is a complex and tangled web of characters, including the two Sakurahime and tales of necrophilia, including the sisters Suzumushi and Matsumushi, who are inspired by this, the vengeful thief Gamamaru, and the loyal retainer Mida Jiro, all of whom are involved.The story creates a beautiful and bizarre world of bewitching beauty and mystery, including the two Sakurahime and tales of necrophilia. It was directly inspired by Kanzen Sakurahime-den (Oe Bunpo, 1765), but also drew on Chikamatsu Monzaemon's Itsushin Nigabyakudou (1698), the legend of the dark blue demon that attacked Empress Somedono, and the legend of Sakurahime, the daughter of Ichinomori Choja, who died in difficult childbirth, making it a monumental work that established the basic pattern of Edo fantasy novels. His rival Kyokutei Bakin also highly praised this work.

*Some of the terminology used in "Kanzen Sakurahimeden" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…丹波国鷲尾義治の正妻野分の方が，寵妾玉琴を惨殺したことに端を発し，玉琴の怨念がさまざまな形で野分の方にたたり，その娘桜姫にも，玉琴の死体から生まれ成長して清水寺僧となった清玄が恋慕し，愛欲の死霊となってまつわりつづけるという物語を主筋とし，これに発心する鈴虫･松虫姉妹，復讐する怪盗蝦蟇丸（がままる），忠臣弥陀二郎などがからむといった錯綜した複雑な趣向で，二人桜姫や屍姦譚をふくんだ妖美で怪奇な世界がつくられている。《勧善桜姫伝》(大江文坡著，1765)を直接の粉本とするが，他に近松門左衛門の《一心二河白道（いつしんにがびやくどう）》(1698)や，染殿后を襲った紺青鬼（こんせいき）伝説，市森長者の娘桜姫難産死の伝説などを構想上に生かし，江戸伝奇小説の基本的パターンを作った記念碑的な作品である。ライバルの曲亭馬琴もこの作を高く評価した。…

※「《勧善桜姫伝》」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