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A full-length novel by Nagai Kafu. It was serialized in the magazine Bunmei from August 1916 (Taisho 5) to October 1917, and later published as a private edition limited to 50 copies (published by Jirikakan, dated December 1917, but actually published in January of the following year). It is a representative work from Kafu's middle period, and is a "Hanayagi Novel" set in the entertainment world of Shinbashi in the early Taisho period. Komayo, employed by the Obana family, is married to businessman Yoshioka, but falls in love with the popular actor Segawa Isshi, and Yoshioka retaliates by having Kikuchiyo removed from his family register, while his elder geisha sister, Rikkyo, tricks former geisha Kimiryu into stealing Isshi. It is a modern contest of money, sex, and pride, but the setting of the behind-the-times Obana husband and his old prostitute, and the old-school literary figure Nanso, puts these things into perspective. It includes erotic descriptions, but the depiction of annual events and customs that blend with the changing of the seasons gives it a different poetic flavor.

[Takemori Tenyu]

"The Complete Works of Kafu 6" (1962, Iwanami Shoten)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

永井荷風の長編小説。1916年（大正5）8月から17年10月雑誌『文明』に連載、のち私家版50部限定として刊行（十里香館刊、17年12月の日付、実際は翌年1月）。荷風中期の代表作で、大正初めの新橋花柳(かりゅう)界を舞台とする「花柳小説」。尾花家(おばなや)の抱え駒代(こまよ)は実業家吉岡を旦那(だんな)にしているが、人気役者瀬川一糸に夢中になり、吉岡はその報復に菊千代を落籍し、また姐(ねえ)さん芸者力次は芸者あがりの君竜をそそのかして一糸を奪わせる。当世的な金と色と意地の腕くらべであるが、時勢おくれの尾花家の亭主と老妓(ろうぎ)、旧派の文学者南巣(なんそう)らの設定は、それらを相対化している。エロティックな描写を含むが、季節の推移と融(と)け込んだ年中行事や風俗の描出に別趣の詩的な味わいがある。

［竹盛天雄］

『『荷風全集6』（1962・岩波書店）』

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