Satomi and Eight Dogs ( 南 総 里 見 八 犬 伝 Nanso: Satomi Hakkenden , The Legend of the Eight Dogs of the Satomi Clan) is a Japanese historical fiction novel in the Yomihon genre written by Kyokutei Bakin at the beginning of the 19th century. Consists of 106 books. It was published for 28 years from 1814 to 1842. Illustrations for the novel were drawn by famous Japanese artists Yanagawa Shigenobu , Kaisai Yisen , Utagawa Sadahide and others. The abbreviated name of the novel is “The Tradition of the Eight Dogs of Satomi” ( Japanese 里 見 八 犬 伝 Satomi Hakken-Dan ) or “The Story of Eight Dogs” ( Japanese. 八 犬 伝 Hakken-Dan ) .
Quick Details
Poman describes how, in 1441, the samurai commander Satomi Yoshizane loses the battle in eastern Japan . He returns to his native province of Ava and decides to continue his family there . The army of Andzai Kagezura, whose forces exceed the strength of Satomi, attacks the native lands of the commander, and the samurai swears in despair to a dog named Yatsufusa that he will get his own daughter Satomi if he bites his throat, which he did. As a reward, the commander is forced to give his beloved daughter Fuse as a wife to the dog. However, now Yoshizane refuses her promise, but the daughter of Satomi, true to the word of honor, decided to insist on fulfilling the promise and goes with Yatsufusa to the mountains, where she spends the first wedding night with him. Satomi, learning about his daughter’s pregnancy, enrages a samurai in order to kill Yatsufusa and return Fuse to his home. However, she protects the dog and dies with it. At this moment, eight pearls with hieroglyphics appearing from the womb of her, indicating the foundations of Confucian virtue.
Soon, eight warriors were born in different parts of the province - dogs who were the children of Lady Fuse - Inuzuka Seno, Inukawa Sosuke, Inuyama Dosetsu, Inukai Gempati, Inuta Kobungo, Inue Shimbei, Inusaka Keno and Inumura Daikaku. After going through difficult trials, they get together and become vassals of the Satomi clan. Meanwhile, the Shogun advisers Ogigayatsu Sadamas and Yamauchi Akisada gather a huge army to destroy Satomi. With the help of charms, dog warriors defeat the attackers and win. Then the advisers sign the world with Satomi, and the dog warriors receive eight noble maidens that they marry as a reward. In old age, the legendary eight becomes hermits and settles in the Toyama Cave.
The title of the novel is written in mixed hieroglyphics: old Japanese and classical Chinese . The work is designed to keep the reader in constant tension. The main idea of the novel is the Confucian postulate of the victory of good over evil and the Buddhist doctrine of karma . Despite criticism of the novel in the late 19th century, it remains a popular work in Japan for more than a hundred years. . A large number of literary parodies, films , animes and television shows are devoted to him.
Literature
- Kyokutei Bakin (1819) Shino and Hamaji. In Keene, Donald (Ed.) ([1955] 1960) Anthology of Japanese Literature: from the earliest era to the mid-nineteenth century , pp. 423-428. New York, NY: Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-5058-6
- Kyokutei Bakin (1819) "Fusehime at Toyama Cave," "Fusehime's Decision," "Shino in Otsuka Village," "Hamaji and Shino." Translated by Chris Drake in Haruo Shirane (Ed.) (2002) Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology 1600-1900 , pp. 885-909. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-10991-1