is a collection of Japanese tales written around the beginning of the 13th century. The author is unknown, and it may have been revised several times.

The title means "gleanings from Uji Dainagon Monogatari

Uji Dainagon Monogatari

was a collection of stories said to have been written by Minamoto no Takakuni in the late Heian period. These stories heavily influenced Japanese literature, and later turned up in such works as the Konjaku Monogatarishū and the Uji Shūi Monogatari....

", a book which no longer exists. The Dainagon

Dainagon

was a counselor of the first rank in the Imperial court of Japan. The role dates from the 7th century.This advisory position remained a part of the Imperial court from the 8th century until the Meiji period in the 19th century....

 of Uji was Minamoto no Takakuni.

The work is classified as setsuwa

Setsuwa

is a Japanese literary genre. It consists of myths, legends, folktales, and anecdotes.Setsuwa are based foremost on oral tradition. The stories are told to each other and later committed to text...

 literature. Following in the footsteps of Konjaku Monogatarishū

Konjaku Monogatarishu

is a Japanese collection of over one thousand tales written during the late Heian period . The entire collection was originally contained in 31 volumes, of which only 28 remain today...

, it is the representative setsuwa work of the Kamakura period

Kamakura period

The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....

.

Contents

The story is made up of 197 tales spanning 15 volumes.

The preface states that it contains tales from Japan, India, and China. However, few of them are original with many stories containing common elements from earlier works such as Konjaku Monogatarishū

Konjaku Monogatarishu

is a Japanese collection of over one thousand tales written during the late Heian period . The entire collection was originally contained in 31 volumes, of which only 28 remain today...

.

Contents include a number of characters ranging from nobles to commoners and tales ranging from everyday stories to the obscure and comical. Several of the stories were used as a basis for short stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Ryunosuke Akutagawa

was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period in Japan. He is regarded as the "Father of the Japanese short story". He committed suicide at age of 35 through an overdose of barbital.-Early life:...

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The tales collected in Uji Shūi Monogatari can be split into the following major categories:

• Buddhist tales
• Social tales
• Private tales

Buddhist elements are particularly strong.

Composition

It is unknown when Uji Shūi Monogatari was written. Many theories have been produced from literary and linguistic evidence. There is a great deal of variation, but they all generally point to the beginning of the 13th century.