earticle

영어

This paper is to consider character formation of Kenreimon'in, which symbolizes the rise and fall of the clan Heike, bringing focus on the stories of the Hell of the Beasts. The story of the Hell of the Beasts in HeikeMonogatari shows indecent expression in the versions of Engyo-bon or Genpei-Josuiki while the one in the version of Nagato-bon is changed to the story of Dragon palace. The differences in the stories of the Hell of the Beasts in the texts reveal each text's characteristics and its novel's logic, and the character aspects of Kenreimon'in in each text are changed to various appearances in accordance with each author's conception. In this paper, I investigate the reason why the indecent stories about Kenreimon'in has been conveyed and how they are related to the structure of the novel. What caused the story of the Hell of the Beasts was due to a rumor of a relationship between Kenreimon'in and Kosilagawa'in, her father-in-law shown in the documents and writings of those days. However, the investigation into them shows that there is no proof that the rumor is true. The story about her incest with her brother in the version of Genpei-Josuiki is just the author's revision. However, regardless of its truthfulness, anecdotes on Kenreimon'in in HeikeMonogatari in the version of Engyo-bon strongly suggested her scandal with Kosilagawa'in, and even Genpei-Josuiki included an anecdote exposing her incest. It can be said that the conception in the work like HeikeMonogatari in which real history is important lies hidden behind its fictional parts. Although HeikeMonogatari has been researched on the center of its historical facts, it can be recognized that the fact that character aspects of Kenreimon'in of HeikeMonogatari are changed and developed to a fallen empress, a dishonored saintess, and an incarnation of one Bodhisattva who entered the Buddhist paradise shows HeikeMonogatari's achievement as literary work.