Uta monogatari

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

Notable examples

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

Notes

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Japanese poetry