A Tale of Eleventh-Century Japan: Hamamatsu Chunagon Monogatari

by Sugawara no Takasue no musume, Thomas Rohlich

This book is a complete translation of Hamamatsu Chunagon Monogatari, one of the few extant works of monogatari literature of the Heian period.

Originally published in 1983.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Genres: Japanese Literature

264 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Tatiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these Heien monogatori. This more than the previous focuses a great deal on karma, reincarnation and as a result of the hero's sojourn in China, interesting commentary on the comparison of the two cultures.

Excepting The Tale of Heike, a sort of Japanese Iliad, I have read all the other 5 of the 24 extant available in English. My sleeves are wet with tears.

[Pipkia]

“Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari (浜松中納言物語), also known as Mitsu no Hamamatsu (御津の浜松), is an eleventh-century Japanese monogatari that tells about a chūnagon who discovers his father has been reborn as a Chinese prince. He visits his reincarnated father in China and falls in love with the Hoyang Consort, consort to the Chinese Emperor and mother to his reborn father. It is told in six chapters, but the first has been lost to antiquity.” Apparently by the Sarashina Diarist.
—https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamam...

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a delight having Rohlich’s translation of Hamamatsu Chūnagon Monogatari. I much enjoyed the first reading and thinking about how it might have been relished in the eleventh century.