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Paper short abstract

The Tales of Ise are usually read through the ideal of miyabi. Taking the ambiguous expression "ichihayaki miyabi" in the first anecdote as a starting point, this paper examines several episodes to explore the work through the lens of laughter and irony.

Paper long abstract

A major masterpiece of Japanese literature, the Tales of Ise rank among the most widely read, commented upon, and reinterpreted works in the history of Japanese literary culture. Despite the abundance of scholarship devoted to them, the question of laughter and comedy remains surprisingly underexplored. Over the centuries, the Tales of Ise have most often been associated with the image of an elegant and refined world, populated by characters idealized both aesthetically and morally. This interpretation is closely linked to a broader reading of Heian-period narratives as reflections of a golden age of the imperial court, dominated by ideals of beauty, harmony, and distinction. The frequent use of the aesthetic concept of miyabi to characterize the work has undoubtedly reinforced this idealized vision, relegating elements of excess or incongruity, potential sources of laughter, to the background.

A closer reading of the Tales of Ise, however, calls for a reassessment of this interpretation. Many characters and situations depart from the model of ideal elegance traditionally associated with the work. Moreover, the term miyabi itself appears only once in the entire text, precisely in Anecdote 1, and never in isolation. Instead, it is combined with the qualifier ichihayaki in the expression "ichihayaki miyabi". Long understood as a form of praise emphasizing the hero’s spontaneous refinement, this expression has been reexamined by Yamamoto Tokurō through its usage in contemporary texts. His analysis shows that ichihayaki frequently carries pejorative connotations, referring to impulsiveness, excess, or socially inappropriate behavior. From this perspective, ichihayaki miyabi may be interpreted not as praise, but as an ambiguous, possibly mocking, formulation on the part of the narrator toward his hero.

Taking the ambiguous expression ichihayaki miyabi in the first anecdote as a point of departure, this paper approaches the work through the lens of laughter and extends the analysis to other episodes in order to examine the comic and ironic dimensions of the text.