『大鏡』の世界 : 「語り」の方法をめぐって

Ōkagami aka The Great Mirror (大鏡) is a Japanese historical tale written in the 12th century by an unknown author, who recorded a narration made by Ōyake no Yotsugi before a Buddhist memorial service in Unrin'in Temple. Previous studies have demonstrated that Unrin'in Temple is where the Fujiwara family show their honor and propitiate their enemies' departed souls. This study shows that the Unrin'in Temple narration predicts the future of the Fujiwara family. Compared with other monogatari (i.e., "mirrors"), this book has extra narrators to allow the readers to explore aspects of the story from different perspectives. Finally, by analyzing the story of Goichijo emperor, this study shows that monogatari can be considered as a kind of literature with the features of historical records and tales.