Tales from around the country - Tales from around the country

Japanese: 一休諸国ばなし - いっきゅうしょこくばなし

This is a kodan (traditional storytelling) with the Zen monk Ikkyu as the main character. It is in the form of a tale of Ikkyu's travels around the country, known since childhood for his wit and eccentric behavior. Among the kana-zoshi (traditional Japanese stories), there is the "Ikkyu Monogatari" (The Tale of Ikkyu), which was created in the early modern period, but there are also shorthand books from the Meiji period such as "Ikkyu Osho Shoku Shokoku Manyuki" (The Travels of Ikkyu Zenshi Shokoku Shokoku Kidan) and "Ikkyu Zenshi Shokoku Kidan" (Strange Tales of Ikkyu Zenshi Shokoku). In the kodan (traditional storytelling), Ikkyu travels around the country accompanied by Ninagawa Shinzaemon, who served as a magistrate in the Muromachi shogunate, and gives a strange final farewell to a deceased person and writes a letter of repentance containing a prayer on Mount Minobu. However, the scope of his travels is limited to the Tokai region and the surrounding areas of Kinai, and the story does not develop as much as in "Komonki". It is characterized by dialogues with high-ranking monks and quotations from kyoka (traditional Japanese poetry).

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

禅僧一休を主人公とする講談。幼時からとんちと奇行で知られた一休の回国譚という形式である。仮名草子には，近世初頭成立の《一休咄》があるが，明治期の速記本に《一休和尚諸国漫遊記》《一休禅師諸国奇談》の類がある。講談では室町幕府の奉行を務めた蜷川新左衛門を供に回国，奇妙な引導を渡したり身延山で念仏入りのわび証文を書いたりする。ただし漫遊の範囲は東海から畿内周辺程度で《黄門記》ほど話に成長はみられない。高僧との問答や狂歌の引用に特色がある。

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

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