is a literary subgenre of the ''

monogatari is a Literary genre, literary form in traditional Japanese literature – an extended prose narrative tale comparable to epic (genre), epic literature. ''Monogatari'' is closely tied to aspects of the oral tradition, and almost always relates ...

''. It is characterized by an emphasis on '' waka'' poetry, with prose sections interspersed. While most other ''monogatari'' of the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

and later contain ''waka'', the ''uta monogatari'' feature poetry as the core of successive narrative episodes, with the prose sections sometimes limited to a brief note about the composition of the poetry.Keene, Donald. ''A History of Japanese Literature: Volume 1''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. p. 451. .

History

One of the most influential and early examples of ''uta monogatari'' is the '' Tales of Ise''. An anonymous work sometimes attributed to

Ariwara no Narihira was a Japanese courtier and '' waka'' poet of the early Heian period. He was named one of both the Six Poetic Geniuses and the Thirty-Six Poetic Geniuses, and one of his poems was included in the '' Ogura Hyakunin Isshu'' collection. He ...

, it is a series of 125 largely unconnected prose narratives about "a man", many of said narratives beginning with the short sentence ''Mukashi otoko arikeri'' ("Long ago, there was a man"). These narratives are largely centered on poetry composed by the "man", usually identified as a fictionalized version of Narihira.Keene, Donald. ''A History of Japanese Literature: Volume 1''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. pp. 452–457. . The name ''uta monogatari'' was first applied to the subgenre during the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

Notable examples

* '' Heichū Monogatari'' * '' Tales of Ise'' * * '' Takamura Monogatari''

Notes

{{reflist Japanese poetry