Ukiyoburo

is a Japanese novel written by Shikitei Sanba between 1809 and 1813. It belongs to the kokkeibon genre, of which it is one of the masterpieces.

Contents

"Ukiyoburo" depicts the humor of daily life and culture through the conversations of customers at the public bath. It contains illustrations from Utagawa Kuninao and Kitao Shigemasa (credited as Kitagawa Yoshimaru).

Shikitei notes that his inspiration to base the story at a public bath was due to Santō Kyōden's Nihongo|"Kengu Irigomi Sentō Shinwa"|賢愚湊銭湯新話| (1802) and a rakugo performance by Sanshōtei Karaku.

The text is composed of four parts contained within nine volumes:
*Part 1: "Men's Bath", published in 1809
*Part 2: "Women's Bath", published in 1810
*Part 3: "Omissions from the Women's Bath", published in 1812
*Part 4: "Men's Bath Continued", published in 1813There were advertisements for parts 5, 6, and 7, but they were never written.

Linguistics

Shikitei was particularly careful in noting a number of linguistic characteristics.

In part two, a woman speaking the Kansai dialect and a woman speaking the Tōkyō dialect talk. The Kansai woman notes that Tōkyō speakers de-labialize /kwa/ to /ka/. [Nakata 1972: 253)] In addition, Tōkyō speakers have a tendency to confuse
[Voiceless palatal fricative| [ç] and [Voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative| [ɕ] . [Nakata 1972: 256)]

In addition, Shikitei creates an orthography which he calls "white voicing" to distinguish medial IPA| [Voiced velar plosive| [g] from IPA| [Velar nasal| [ŋ] . [Nakata (1972:242)] He also uses the Handakuten mark with the s-character to express [tsa, tse, tso] . [Nakata (1972: 243)]

External links

* [http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/he13/he13_03474/ Scans] of manuscript, Waseda University Library

Notes

References

* cite book
last = Jinbō
first = Kazuya
title = Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei: Ukiyoburo, Kejōsui Genmaku no Soto, Daisen Sekai Gakuya Sagashi
publisher = Iwanami Shoten
date = 1989
language = Japanese
id = ISBN 4-00-240086-7
* cite book
last = Kubota
first = Jun
title = Iwanami Nihon Koten Bungaku Jiten
publisher = Iwanami Shoten
date = 2007
language = Japanese
id = ISBN 978-4-00-080310-6
* cite book
last = Nakamura
first = Michio
title = Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei: Ukiyoburo
publisher = Iwanami Shoten
date = 1957
language = Japanese
id = ISBN 4-00-060063-X
* cite book
last = Nakata
first = Norio
authorlink =
title = Kōza Kokugoshi: Dai 2 kan: On'inshi, Mojishi
publisher = Taishūkan Shoten
date = 1972
language = Japanese
* cite book
last = Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten Henshū Iinkai
title = Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten
publisher = Iwanami Shoten
date = 1986
language = Japanese
id = ISBN 4-00-080067-1