Yusenkutsu - Yusenkutsu

A novel from the early Tang Dynasty in China. One volume. The author, Zhang Suo (year of birth and death unknown), was a popular poet in the late 7th century and early 8th century, and his pen name was Wencheng. He was appointed as the governor of Xiangle County in Ningzhou, the head of the Honglu Temple, and the chief of the Simen's staff. The story goes that the author, on an envoy to the Heyuan (military) upstream of the Yellow River, gets lost in a cave of immortals, where he is entertained overnight by two war widows, the immortal Cui Shijujo and his brother's wife Wang Wusao, and then reluctantly leaves the next morning. The style is elegant and fluent, and 84 poems, mainly about the exchange of gifts, are inserted between the poems, in which the author talks about the tricks of love. The conversations also contain a mixture of colloquialism of the time. This book was lost in China early on, but was introduced to Japan in the Nara period, and its influence can be seen in the Man'yoshu, a poem sent by Otomo no Yakamochi to Sakanoue no Oiratsume during the Tenpyo period (729-749). It is also quoted in Yamanoue no Okura's Chin'ajiai no Bun (A Letter of Pity in a Sick Man) written in 733. It is also quoted in Wakan Roeishu, Shinsen Roeishu, Kara Monogatari, and Treasure Collection, and influenced humorous and witty books of the Edo period.

[Tomoya Uchiyama]

"Yumeiroku: Yusenkutsu" translated by Naoaki Maeno et al. (Heibonsha, Toyo Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、初唐の小説。一巻。作者張鷟(ちょうさく)（生没年不詳）は7世紀末、8世紀初めの流行詩人で、字(あざな)は文成。寧州(ねいしゅう)襄楽県尉(じょうらくけんい)、鴻臚寺丞(こうろじじょう)、司門員外郎(しもんいんがいろう)などに任ぜられた人。物語は、作者が黄河上流の河源（軍）に使者となって行ったとき、神仙の岩窟(がんくつ)に迷い込み、仙女崔十娘(さいじゅうじょう)と兄嫁王五嫂(おうごそう)の二人の戦争未亡人に一夜の歓待を受け、翌朝名残(なごり)を惜しんで別れるという筋。文体は華麗な駢文(べんぶん)で、その間に84首の贈答を主とする詩を挿入し、恋の手管(てくだ)を語らせる。また会話には当時の口語が混じっている。本書は中国では早く散逸したが、日本には奈良時代に伝来し、『万葉集』に、天平(てんぴょう)年間（729～749）大伴家持(おおとものやかもち)が坂上大嬢(さかのうえのおおいらつめ)に贈った歌のなかにその影響があり、天平5年（733）の山上憶良(やまのうえのおくら)『沈痾自哀文(ちんあじあいのぶん)』などにも引用される。その他『和漢朗詠集』『新撰(しんせん)朗詠集』『唐物語』『宝物集』などに引用され、江戸時代の滑稽(こっけい)本、洒落(しゃれ)本にも影響を与えた。

［内山知也］

『前野直彬他訳『幽明録・遊仙窟』（平凡社・東洋文庫）』

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