The Tale of the Middle Counselor of Hamamatsu - The Tale of the Middle Counselor of Hamamatsu

A story written in the late Heian period. There are five volumes remaining, but one or two volumes are missing at the beginning. The colophon of the Imperial Repository "Sarashina Nikki" written by Fujiwara Teika reads, "This is the diary of the daughter of Hitachi no Kami Sugawara no Takasue. (Omitted) Waking up in the middle of the night, Mitsu no Hamamatsu, regretting my own actions, Asakura, and other such scenes are said to have been written by the writer of this diary." Based on this and the frequent appearance of dreams and the commonality of a romantic spirit, it is highly likely that the author is the same as the author of "Sarashina Nikki." Based on quotations from "Utaawase Shui Hyakuban", "Mumyozoshi", and "Fuyoshu", as well as internal evidence from the extant section, the first scattered section is inferred to be the son of the late Minister of Ceremonies, Minamoto Chunagon, who dislikes his mother's new husband, the Left General, but develops a deep relationship with her daughter, Oikimi. However, unable to bear his longing for his late father, he is told in a dream that his late father has been reincarnated as the third prince of China, so he travels to China, but the Oikimi, who is left behind, becomes pregnant, shaves her head, and gives birth to a princess. The first extant volume begins here. The Chunagon, who traveled to China, meets the prince of China, but ends up in a secret relationship with the prince's mother, the Empress of Heyo Prefecture, whose father was Japanese. In the midst of his anguish, he returns to Japan with the boy born to the Empress. He then plans to continue his pure relationship with the nun, but while he is troubled by the fact that he has taken in the Princess of Yoshino, who is the Empress's half-sister, the Princess is kidnapped by the lecherous Shikibunomiya and becomes pregnant. However, he has a dream in which he is told that the child he conceived is the reincarnation of the Empress, and the protagonist, who desires the love of the Empress, is overcome with complex emotions. As mentioned above, the story has an unusual plot, with scenes spanning both Japan and China and repeated reincarnations through dreams. However, the characters are strongly influenced by Hikaru Genji, Fujitsubo, Murasaki no Ue, Kokiden no Nyōgo, Kaoru no Kimi, and Niomiya from The Tale of Genji, and the story is essentially an imitation of them. However, if we look at the uniqueness of the romantic spirit, we can see that it influenced Teika's Tale of Matsuura no Miya and Mishima Yukio's The Sea of ​​Fertility. There are no extant copies dating back to the early Edo period, and many parts of the text are unclear.

[Ikeda Toshio]

"A Study of Tales from the Heian Period, by Matsuo Satoshi (1968, Kasama Shoin)" ▽ "The Tale of Hamamatsu Chunagon, annotated by the same author (included in the Japanese Classical Literature Series 77, 1964, Iwanami Shoten)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

平安後期成立の物語。現存5巻であるが、首部に1、2巻の欠巻がある。藤原定家筆、御物本『更級(さらしな)日記』奥書に「常陸守(ひたちのかみ)菅原孝標(すがはらのたかすゑ)の娘の日記也(なり)。（中略）夜半(よは)の寝覚(ねざめ)、御津(みつ)の浜松、みづから悔(く)ゆる、朝倉などは、この日記の人の作られたるとぞ」と、『御津の浜松』（原題）の作者に関する伝承が記されているのと、夢の頻出や、その浪漫(ろうまん)的精神の共通性などより、『更級日記』の作者と同一である可能性がきわめて高い。冒頭散逸部を、『拾遺百番歌合(うたあわせ)』『無名草子(むみょうぞうし)』『風葉集』の引用記事や、現存部の内部徴証より推定すると、故式部卿宮男(しきぶのきょうのみやのむすこ)の源中納言(げんちゅうなごん)は、母が再婚した相手の左大将を疎むが、娘の大君(おおいきみ)とは深い仲となる。しかし亡父への慕情に耐えられないでいると、夢告に亡父が唐土の第三皇子に転生したとあり、渡唐するが、その後、残された大君は懐妊し、剃髪(ていはつ)して姫君を出産した。ここより現存巻一が始まり、渡唐した中納言は唐土の皇子に対面するが、その母であり、父を日本人にもつ河陽県の后(きさき)とひそかな間柄となり、悶々(もんもん)のうちに、唐后が生んだ男子を連れて帰国した。そして出家した大君と清らな仲を続けようと思うが、唐后の異母妹である吉野の姫君を引き取って苦悩するうち、姫君は好色な式部宮に誘拐(ゆうかい)され妊娠した。しかし身ごもった子が唐后の転生であるとの夢告に、唐后への愛を求める主人公は複雑な感慨に沈んだ。以上のように、場面が日本と中国とにまたがったり、夢告による転生を繰り返すなど新奇な筋立てではあるが、登場人物には『源氏物語』における光源氏、藤壺(ふじつぼ)、紫上(むらさきのうえ)、弘徽殿女御(こきでんのにょうご)、薫君(かおるのきみ)、匂宮(におうのみや)たちが強い影を落とし、本質的にはその模倣の域を出ない。しかし、その浪漫的精神の特異性に目を向ければ、これが定家の『松浦宮物語(まつらのみやものがたり)』や、三島由紀夫(ゆきお)の『豊饒(ほうじょう)の海』執筆のモチーフとなった影響力が注目される。江戸初期をさかのぼる伝本がなく、本文上不明の箇所が目だつ。

［池田利夫］

『松尾聡著『平安時代物語論考』（1968・笠間書院）』▽『同校注『浜松中納言物語』（『日本古典文学大系77』所収・1964・岩波書店）』

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