CHINO Yuko
The journal of the Association for Narrative Studies, (14) 166-179, Mar, 2014 Peer-reviewed
In The Tale of Genji, the court ladies referred to as "Jijuu" and "Ukon" each have a fixed character model. Although each of the "Jijuu"s are distinct individuals, they all tend to be a young, indiscreet daughter of a wet nurse, who sometimes act against her master. As for "Ukon"s, they tend to be a faithful daughter of a wet nurse, or a proportionate attendant lady. The "Jijuu"s and "Ukon"s who appear in the tales of Ukifune also inherit the same character model, though in the "Kagero" chapter, it turns out that they had a different setting. From this point of view, we may seek a way to measure the distance between the Tale of Ukifune and the main part of The Tale of Genji by utilizing "Jijuu"s and "Ukon"s as an indicator.