The Fictional Worlds of Tōkaidōchū hizakurige and Ukiyoburo: the “Anti-World” and the “Idealistic World”

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of “inner space” in two prominent works of kokkeibon (“funny books”), a genre of gesaku , light popular fiction of Tokugawa period (1603-1867), Tōkaidōchū hizakurige by Jippensha Ikku and Ukiyoburo by Shikitei Sanba. The creation of the unique settings, namely, the Tōkaidō road and its post stations in Tōkaidōchū hizakurige and a public bath in Ukiyoburo is considered to be a special artistic method, which is not just a device to develop a light and funny atmosphere of the literary works mentioned, but also a mechanism uncovering deeper layers of psychologism and mindset of Tokugawa period’s townsfolk. There are two types of “inner worlds” found in the works of Ikku and Sanba: an “anti-world” (following M. Bakhtin’s term) of Tōkaidōchū hizakurige , where the spirit of grotesque, absurdity and situational comedy prevails, and an “idealistic world” of Ukiyoburo , in which humor and morality are found in the everyday situations and conversations of a public bath’s visitors. The main layers of this “anti-world” are distinguished, among them the opposition between provincials and edokko , the “situational comedy’s” space of Tokaido road, and the level of theatricality are analyzed closely. As for Ukiyoburo , the dimensions of the public bath, the city of Edo, and the floating world in whole are studied. It is also assumed that the tags of “anti-world” and “idealistic world” in terms of these literary works can correspond with the “men’s world” of masculinity, rude humor, situational comedy, and the “women’s world” of light humor, melancholy, and daily wisdom respectively.