Luo Guanzhong - Rakanchu

A great Chinese novelist and playwright from the late Yuan to the early Ming dynasties. His given name was Hon, and his nickname was Guanzhong. He called himself Huhaisanren. He was from Taiyuan (Shanxi Province). He is said to have had an insolent personality. He became a guest of Zhang Shicheng at the end of the Yuan dynasty and participated in the anti-Yuan movement, and is also said to have written "Water Margin" with Shi Nai'an in Qiantang. He is said to have written dozens of full-length novels, and his most famous work is "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," based on "Records of the Three Kingdoms: Pinghua," but other works that remain to this day include "History of the Sui and Tang Dynasties," "Remaining History of the Five Dynasties of the Tang Dynasty," and "The Legend of Sansui Pingyao." He is known to have written three zaju plays, of which only "The Dragon and Tiger of the Stormy Clouds of Song Taizu" survives.

[Hidetaka Otsuka]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、元末明(みん)初にかけての大小説家、戯曲家。名を本(ほん)といい、貫中はその字(あざな)である。湖海散人と号した。太原（山西省）の人。性格は狷介(けんかい)とされる。元末張士誠(ちょうしせい)の幕客となって抗元運動に参加し、銭塘(せんとう)において施耐庵(したいあん)とともに『水滸伝(すいこでん)』をつくったともされる。数十種の長編小説を書いたといわれ、代表作は『三国志平話(へいわ)』に基づいた『三国志演義』だが、『隋(ずい)唐両朝史伝』『残唐五代史演義』『三遂平妖伝(さんすいへいようでん)』などがいまに残されている。戯曲としては3編の雑劇を著したことが知られるが、『宋(そう)太祖竜虎風雲会』のみが現存している。

［大塚秀高］

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