is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese novel written by Shikitei Sanba

Shikitei Sanba

, better known by his pen name , was a Japanese comic writer of the Edo period....

 between 1809 and 1813. It belongs to the kokkeibon

Kokkeibon

The was a genre and type of early modern Japanese novel. It came into being late in the Edo period during the 19th century. As a genre, it depicted the comical behavior occurring in daily life of the commoners....

 genre, of which it is one of the masterpieces.

Contents

Ukiyoburo depicts the humor of daily life and culture through the conversations of customers at the public bath

Sento

is a type of Japanese communal bath house where customers pay for entrance. Traditionally these bath houses have been quite utilitarian, with one large room separating the sexes by a tall barrier, and on both sides, usually a minimum of lined up faucets and a single large bath for the already...

. It contains illustrations from Utagawa Kuninao and Kitao Shigemasa

Kitao Shigemasa

was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist from Edo. He was one of the leading printmakers of his day, but his works have been slightly obscure. He is noted for paintings of geisha. He was taught by Shigenaga and has been referred to as "a chameleon" who adopted to changing styles. He was less active after the...

 (credited as Kitagawa Yoshimaru).

Shikitei notes that his inspiration to base the story at a public bath was due to Santō Kyōden's

Santo Kyoden

was a Japanese poet, writer and artist in the Edo period. His real name was , and he was also known popularly as . He is the brother of Santō Kyōzan.- Life :...

  (1802) and a rakugo

Rakugo

is a Japanese verbal entertainment. The lone sits on the stage, called the . Using only a paper fan and a small cloth as props, and without standing up from the seiza sitting position, the rakugo artist depicts a long and complicated comical story...

 performance by Sanshōtei Karaku.

The text is composed of four parts contained within nine volumes:

• Part 1: "Men's Bath", published in 1809
• Part 2: "Women's Bath", published in 1810
• Part 3: "Omissions from the Women's Bath", published in 1812
• Part 4: "Men's Bath Continued", published in 1813

There were advertisements for parts 5, 6, and 7, but they were never written.

Linguistics

Shikitei was particularly careful in noting a number of linguistic characteristics.

In part two, a woman speaking the Kansai dialect and a woman speaking the Tōkyō dialect

Tokyo dialect

refers to the Japanese dialect spoken in modern Tokyo. The dialect in modern Tokyo is often considered to equate standard Japanese, though in fact the Tokyo dialect differs from standard Japanese in a number of areas.- Overview :...

 talk. The Kansai woman notes that Tōkyō speakers de-labialize

Labialisation

Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.The most common...

 [kwa] to [ka]. In addition, Tōkyō speakers have a tendency to confuse ç and ɕ.

In addition, Shikitei creates an orthography which he calls "white voicing" to distinguish medial ɡ from ŋ. He also uses the Handakuten

Dakuten

, colloquially ten-ten , is a diacritic sign most often used in the Japanese kana syllabaries to indicate that the consonant of a syllable should be pronounced voiced. Handakuten , colloquially maru , is a diacritic used with the kana for syllables starting with h to indicate that they should...

 mark with the s-character to express [tsa, tse, tso].

External links

• Scans of manuscript, Waseda University
  Waseda University
  , abbreviated as , is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan and Asia. Its main campuses are located in the northern part of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the institution was renamed "Waseda University" in 1902. It is known for its liberal climate...
  
  Library