Japanese Works : Ugetsu monogatari

Japanese Works

<p style='text-align: justify;'><i>Ugetsu monogatari</i> (雨月物語) is a collection of short stories by Ueda Akinari 上田秋成, first published in 1776. This undated woodblock-printed edition includes ten double-page llustrations. Among them is a <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(71);return false;'>snake disguised as a woman</a>. The collection is well-known for its supernatural elements, and it has been translated into English multiple times as <i>Tales of Moonlight and Rain</i> and as <i>Tales of a Rain'd Moon</i>. A film version of <i>Ugetsu monogatari</i>, directed by Mizoguchi Kenji, came out in 1953.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Cambridge's copy was aquired with the collection of William George Aston (1841-1911) in 1911, but it had previously belonged to Ernest Mason Satow (1843-1929), whose ex libris stamp appears <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(2);return false;'>at the beginning of the first volume.</a> This copy may be compared to two digitized copies in Waseda University Library (<a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/html/he13/he13_04376/index.html'>He 13-04376</a> and <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/html/he13/he13_01754/index.html'>He 13-01754</a>) among other digital copies available.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The third volume ends with several pages of <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(93);return false;'>advertisements</a> for this and other books. The author's name appears in an <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(96);return false;'>advertisement for this book</a>. The illustrator's name is not given, but the illustrations have elsewhere been attributed to Katsura Bisen 桂眉仙. </p>