Home > Catalogue > Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale > 57 | 2021 > Time and Glory in the Ise monogatari
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Time and Glory in the Ise monogatari

Considerations on the Political Implications of the Songs of the ‘Old Man’

Francesca Fraccaro    Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italia    

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abstract

Centred as they are on historical figures and public events, the six chapters (76, 77, 79, 81, 83, 97) that refer to Narihira as an “old man” (okina) have long been the object of scholarly debate as important keys to the understanding of the Ise monogatari. This article explores their political overtones, showing how, through the symbolic use of seasonal motifs, the old man’s poems obliquely signal – and covertly denounce as an illegitimate assumption of power – specific stages of Fujiwara no Yoshifusa’s political ascent, vis-à-vis the consequent decline of other clans (the Ariwaras) and royal personages (Prince Koretaka).

Published
June 30, 2021
Accepted
March 26, 2021
Submitted
Feb. 2, 2021
Language
IT

Keywords: Last day of springPolitical powerBai JuyiAmbiguityOkinaPolitical dissentWisteriaFujiwara no YoshifusaFlowerTime

Copyright: © 2021 Francesca Fraccaro. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.