Koshikibu (two-volume otogi-zōshi)

Koshikibu (小式部) is a Japanese otogi-zōshi in two volumes, probably composed at the end of the Muromachi period. To distinguish it from a slightly earlier work, it is conventionally known as Koshikibu (beppon) (小式部（別本）) in Japanese. It is one of a number of medieval setsuwa-type works whose protagonist is the Heian-era waka poet Koshikibu no Naishi. It survives in a single copy held by Toyo University.

Date and genre

Koshikibu was probably composed at the end of the Muromachi period.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}}

It is a work of the otogi-zōshi genre.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}} It is also classified as a kajin-densetsu-mono (歌人伝説物), a work that recounts a legend about a waka poet,{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}} and a katoku-setsuwa (歌徳説話), a tale about the virtues of waka poetry.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}}

Koshikibu follows in a long line of medieval setsuwa tales that had treated Koshikibu no Naishi ever since the {{illm|Hōbutsushū|ja|宝物集}} in the twelfth century.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}} The Mumyōzōshi had praised her as foremost among the talented women of the Heian court.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}} This work attributes 16 waka (mostly songs from the oral tradition of uncertain origin) to her.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}}

The work lacks some of the absurd and fantastic elements that characterize medieval otogi-zōshi,{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}} and more closely draws upon conventional setsuwa literature and the headnotes seen in imperial anthologies of waka poetry.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}} It also includes wholly original content, such as Koshikibu being a gift from the god of Sumiyoshi (住吉明神).{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}}

Title

There is another work, slightly earlier and existing in one volume as opposed to two, of the same title. {{illm|Masahiko Hayashi|ja|林雅彦}}'s 1983 article on the present work for the Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten refers to that work as Koshikibu and this one as Koshikibu (beppon) to distinguish them.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}}

Plot

Long ago, in the time of Emperor Ichijō, there was a beautiful court lady called Koshikibu no Naishi.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}} Her father was Tachibana no Michisada, and her mother was Izumi Shikibu, who had prayed to the gods and buddhas to bless her with a child.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}} After the death of her father, she and her mother went with Fujiwara no Yasumasa to Tango Province.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}} One day, on hearing her mother hum a nostalgic song, she rewrote the song and deeply impressed her mother.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}}

Around the time of her sixteenth year she went to serve at court.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}} While there, she took part in an uta-awase contest at the palace, and when her poetic skill was ridiculed by the middle counselor Fujiwara no Sadayori, she responded by composing her famous poem Ōe-yama ikuno no michi no tookereba mada fumi mo mizu ama no hashidate.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}} This poem caught the attention of the Horikawa Minister of the Right, {{illm|Fujiwara no Yorimune|ja|藤原頼宗}}.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}}Later, at Rokujō no Zensai-in's uta-awase she again earned herself more prestige as a poet.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}}

When Koshikibu composed a waka and presented it as an offering to pray for Fujiwara no Norimichi, who had fallen ill, Norimichi was miraculously cured, and the two developed a strong relationship.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}} She herself then fell victim to an epidemic, but when she composed the poem Ika ni sen yuku beki kata mo omooezu oya ni kikidatsu michi o shiraneba, she recovered through divine intervention.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}}

Textual tradition

According to Masahiko Hayashi's 1983 article, the only known surviving copy is the Nara e-hon in the holdings of Toyo University.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}} It is in two volumes.{{sfnm|1a1=Hayashi|1y=1983|1p=606}}