In“Otogi Zoshi”, Izumishikibu is described as a prostitute. Domyo was abandoned by her at an early age. He grew up and became a fine monk, but he committed adultery with his mother. Shikibu noticed that they had committed incest, and she became a ...
In“Otogi Zoshi”, Izumishikibu is described as a prostitute. Domyo was abandoned by her at an early age. He grew up and became a fine monk, but he committed adultery with his mother. Shikibu noticed that they had committed incest, and she became a nun. In the story, the image of Shikibu was different from her general character. Her romance was fictionalized. This kind of fiction was already used in medieval tales. Both of them were famous poets. Shikibu was a free-spirited woman, and Domyo was a monk who was famous for reading sutras clearly. This is why they were described as a romantic couple in stories.
why did the main characters commit mother-child adultery? It can be said that the Muromachi period, during which this work was written, reflected the possibility that all moral and value pursuit in the world was not normal due to the war. Such plots seem crude and simple, but they seem to contain the author’s detailed intentions. Men are the existence of desire, and it is a man who pursues it. This plot draws the most fundamental desire of maternal and child adultery into the story and leads the main character to Buddhism. This is thought to be because Buddhism is most effective in preaching the last commandment after letting readers savor and enjoy human desires. It can be said that the was good at calculating the taste of stories between the aristocrats and ordinary people who were readers of the day.