Spring color plum blossoms - Spring color plum blossoms

This is a human interest book written by Tamenaga Shunsui. It consists of 4 stories and 12 volumes. The first and second stories were published in 1832 (Tenpo 3), and the third and fourth stories in 1833. It is illustrated by Yanagawa Shigenobu and Shigeyama. The main character is Natsume Tanjiro, the adopted son of Karakotoya, a brothel in Koigakubo, Kamakura, and is a social novel depicting a complicated love triangle between his fiancée Onaga (Ochou), Tanjiro's lover Yonehachi, a geisha from Futagawa (Fukagawa), and Adakichi, a geisha who is Yonehachi's subordinate. Each of them is devoted to Tanjiro out of their pride and sense of duty. The passion and passion of three women who are conscious of their rivals is depicted in a style that would later be called Tamenaga style, focusing on dialogue and piling up descriptions of each scene without placing importance on composition, set against the accurate backdrop of the nature and customs of Edo's downtown. The work blends the fantastical elements of yomihon and kusazoshi with the realistic elements of sharebon and kokkeibon, making it a realistic novel of customs that is linked to the literature of the Kenyusha school of the Meiji period. It is Shunsui's representative work of ninjyobon, and was so well received by readers that in later generations Tanjiro became synonymous with playboy. With this work Shunsui is called "the originator of the Toto ninjyo-hon" (3 volumes and preface), and his sequels include "Spring Colors Tatsumi Garden" (1833-35), "Spring Colors Megumi no Hana" (1836), "Spring Colors English Counter-Depression" (1838), and "Spring Colors Ume Mibune" (1841), completing the "Umeji Hombi" series in a total of 20 volumes and 60 volumes.

[Goya Jinbo]

"Nakamura Yukihiko's annotated "Japanese Classical Literature Series 64: Haruiro Umeji Hombi" (1962, Iwanami Shoten)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

為永春水(ためながしゅんすい)作の人情本。4編12冊。初・2編は1832年（天保3）、3・4編は33年刊。柳川重信(やながわしげのぶ)・重山画。鎌倉恋ヶ窪(こいがくぼ)の遊女屋唐琴屋(からことや)の養子夏目丹次郎(たんじろう)を主人公に、その許嫁(いいなずけ)のお長(ちょう)（お蝶）、丹次郎の恋人で婦多川(ふたがわ)（深川）の芸者米八(よねはち)、米八の傍輩(ほうばい)芸者仇吉(あだきち)の3人が、それぞれ意気地(いきじ)と義理を貫いて丹次郎に尽くすという、複雑な三角関係の恋愛を描いた風俗小説である。競争者を意識して燃え上がる3人の女性の意気地と恋情が、的確な江戸下町の自然、風俗を背景に、会話を主として、場面場面の描写を積み重ねて構成を重視しない、のちに為永流と称される作風で描き尽くされている。読本(よみほん)、草双紙(くさぞうし)の伝奇的要素と、洒落本(しゃれぼん)、滑稽本(こっけいぼん)の写実的要素が渾然(こんぜん)と融合し、明治の硯友社(けんゆうしゃ)文学につながる写実的風俗小説たりえている。春水人情本の代表作であり、後世色男の代名詞を丹次郎と称するほど読者に歓迎された、人情本の代表作でもある。本書によって春水は「東都人情本の元祖」（3編序）を称し、続編に『春色辰巳園(たつみのその)』（1833～35）、『春色恵之花(めぐみのはな)』（1836）、『春色英対暖語(えいたいだんご)』（1838）、『春色梅美婦禰(うめみぶね)』（1841）があり、全20編60冊として、「梅児誉美」シリーズは完成している。

［神保五彌］

『中村幸彦校注『日本古典文学大系64　春色梅児誉美』（1962・岩波書店）』

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