Nise Murasaki inaka Genji (偐紫田舎源氏), translated variously asThe Rustic Genji,False Murasaki and a Country Genji, orA Fraudulent Murasaki's Bumpkin Genji, is a late-Edo periodJapanese literaryparody of theTale of Genji byMurasaki Shikibu.[1][2][3] The work, by Ryūtei Tanehiko (柳亭種彦) (1783–1842) with illustrations byUtagawa Kunisada, was published in awoodblock edition between 1829 and 1842 by Senkakudō.[3]
The parody shifts the time-frame from theHeian period to theMuromachi period,[4] and replaces insertedwaka poetry withhaiku.[4]
It was the best-selling example of the genre known asgōkan (合巻), a popular literary form that merged image with text.[3] The plot centres on the outlandish adventures of Ashikaga Mitsuuji, second son ofAshikaga Yoshimasa, while seeking to recover a stolen sword, mirror, and poem, upon which the security of the realm depend.[3] The preface to the first chapter introduces the character Ōfuji, whose nickname is Murasaki Shikibu.[3] In the preface to the tenth chapter, Tanehiko describes his own literary project:[1]
When I first began to writeThe Rustic Genji an aged friend said to me: "You should try to the best of your ability to preserve the language of the original and not alter the story. It will probably then be of some use to young people who haven't readThe Tale of Genji." But a young friend said, "You should vary the plot. Weave in effects fromKabuki and thepuppet theatre. Surely there can't be anyone who hasn't readGenji."
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