Paper short abstract:

By way of an analysis of Matsura no miya monogatari (The Tale of Matsura, end 12th c.), this paper aims at demonstrating how intertextual and narrative techniques are used in order to inscribe the past into the present in a literary text of medieval Japan.

Paper long abstract:

Within Japanese literary history, the medieval period is probably the epoch that deals most intensively with questions of time. This concern reflects aesthetic worldviews and Buddhist concepts of temporality as well as the political and social environment at the time that was characterized by the gradual disempowerment of court aristocracy, spurring a sense of deterioration and nostalgia.

Literature provides different techniques to encode such temporal sensations. One of the most effective rhetorical device to inscribe temporality into a text are intertextual allusions. References to texts from the past allow to superimpose different temporal levels as well as to pay reference to literary ancestors or the past as such. Apart from poetry, allusions are notably pronounced in court tales, so-called giko monogatari (stories that imitate the classical style), as well as in medieval female diaries, in hermit travel diaries and Noh plays. In medieval court narratives, extensive allusions to earlier texts such as classical tales and poems are often used in order to express nostalgia for the court culture of the Heian period. Among court tales, Matsura no miya monogatari (The Tale of Matsura, end 12th c.) is a notably interesting research object, as it is the only piece taking place in the Nara period. In terms of content and style, it is modelled after the Heian-period narrative Utsuho monogatari (Tale of the Hollow Tree, late 10th c.), and it exemplifies an application of its author Fujiwara no Teika's poetic ideal yōen (ethereal beauty) to a narrative text. The work thus exhibits fascinating temporal complexities by way of a combination of ancient temporal setting, classic diction and contemporary emotionality. The work therefore allows probing how temporal expressions of ancient, classical, and medieval Japan are aesthetically combined. By way of an analysis of Matsura no miya monogatari I will demonstrate how intertextual and narrative techniques are used in order to inscribe the past into the present.