Wasōbyōe, or Strange Tales of Foreign Lands, also known as The Japanese Gulliver, is a 1774 narrative work by the pseudonymous author Yukokushi. It is a utopian fiction that has been compared to Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. The book was presented in an English version by Basil Hall Chamberlain in 1879.[1]
| Author | Yukokushi |
|---|---|
| Translator | Basil Hall Chamberlain |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Genre | Utopian fiction |
Publication date | 1774 |
Published in English | 1879 |
The name Wasōbyōe (also the name of the story's protagonist) is derived from that of Zhuang Zhou, wasō meaning Japan and byōe being a Japanese form of Zhuang Zhou's family name. The story promotes Taoist concepts over their Confucian equivalents, and Chamberlain suggested that its parable-like structure was intended to replicate the style of the Zhuangzi.[2]
In the tale, the titular Wasōbyōe sets out by boat from his native Nagasaki on a business trip, but is blown off course by a typhoon. He is shipwrecked in the Land of Perennial Youth, where he lives for 200 years, and he subsequently visits a number of other fictitious countries, including the Land of Idlers, the Land of Shams, the Land of Ancient Customes, the Land of Paradox and the Land of Giants.[2][3][4]
Wasōbyōe was popular in its day, and spawned at least two sequels, Wasōbyōe kohen (1779) by Sawai Iro and Wasōbyōe zokuhen (1854) by Kokunen Kocho Sanjin. In 1797 Santō Kyōden wrote a play based on the work, Wasobyoe gojitsu hanashi, and Takizawa Bakin modelled his book Musobyōe kocho monagatori on Yukokushi's tale.[2] An erotic parody, Ikai kikei Oshobobo, appeared in 1776.[5]
References edit
- ^ Yuzo Ota (6 December 2012). Basil Hall Chamberlain: Portrait of a Japanologist. Routledge. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-136-63867-1.
- ^ a b c Ho, Koon-Hi. "Japanese in Search of Happiness: A Survey of the Utopian Tradition in Japan" (PDF). Oriens Extremus. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
- ^ David W. Plath (1971). Aware of Utopia. University of Illinois Press. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-0-252-00168-0.
- ^ Dan jiang ping lun. Graduate School of Western Languages and Literature, Tamkang University. 1985. p. 21.
- ^ Kabanoff, Alexander M. "Parody Genre in Edo Period Literature" (PDF). International Research Centre for Japanese Studies.
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