著者

馬 如慧

出版者

人間文化研究機構 国文学研究資料館

雑誌

第43回 国際日本文学研究集会会議録 = PROCEEDINGS OF THE 43rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON JAPANESE LITERATURE (ISSN:03877280)

巻号頁・発行日

no.43, pp.17-32, 2020-03-26

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When we talk about the word “azayaka” in modern Japan, we always take it as a word describing flowers or clothes which are colorful and brilliant. On the other hand, we also use “azayaka” to describe skills or techniques which are remarkable. Nevertheless, usually, we don’t use this word to describe someone’s personality. In Japanese premodern literatures, we could also find the word “azayaka” being used very limitedly, only to describe clothes or utensils which were extremely gorgeous, until The Tale of Genji came into the world. The usages of “azayaka” changed a lot in the wake of this tale, mainly reflected in being used to describe someone’s nature and the emergence of the verb “azayagu”. In The Tale of Genji, the word “azayaka” is used 37 times (including “azayagu”) , in which we can find it used on 20 occasions to describe various characters, 16 of which refer not only to their appearances but also their personalities. And what’s more, when it comes to describing characters’ personalities in the tale, “azayaka” was always used to describe male characters, especially Tō no Chūjō, Yūgiri, and Higekuro. On the other hand, Tō no Chūjō, Yūgiri, and Higekuro were also described as “wowoshi” (masculine), and in that case, we can find “azayaka” being used very close to “wowoshi” for 4 times. Therefore, maybe we can assume that “azayaka” was used as a word representing masculinity. However, when it comes to the Uji chapters, “azayaka” started to be used to describe female characters, but it was only limited to Yūgiri’s daughter Rokunokimi, and Higekuro’s daughter Ōigimi, from which we can see the similarity of father and daughter in the story. Yet, in monogatari tales after The Tale of Genji, “azayaka” was more likely to be used when describing female characters. The meaning of the word “azayaka” has changed a lot since The Tale of Genji, which apparently had a bearing on the character modeling, but nothing of that has been researched yet. In this presentation, I would like to explore the relationship between the changing meanings of “azayaka” and the character modeling in The Tale of Genji, and the influence of this on the tales after The Tale of Genji.