Online Museum of History Hyogo History Station

The Cleveland Museum of Art version is a work that reveals the highly-skilled techniques of the artist, demonstrated by bright colors and firm, precise lines. As mentioned above, however, there are not many copies of this manuscript, and they are all thought to have been produced in the latter part of the Edo period.

The calligrapher of the Cleveland Museum of Art version that serves as the model is unknown, and the artists in the Edo Period who copied this manuscript are not artists by profession or status.
The artist of the version at the National Library of France is Jikoji Sanenaka. Jikoji was a courtier, and based on the similarity of the painting style, he is also thought to be the artist of Monkan Ajari Emaki (latter part of Edo Period) at the Waseda University Library (*09).

Among the other Cleveland Museum of Art versions, there are some that are inscribed with “Fukutomi Gahon Myoshin-ji Kaifuku (-ji) –in Hizo Kotobagaki Shinkan is drawn by certain someone…,” such as in the Tohoku University Library version, which is a copy drawn in the Edo Period, and a manuscript in a private collection (signed in 1821) (*10). Although the inscription is signed by the Emperor, the illustrations were drawn by certain nobleman, leaving the artist gracefully unknown.

The Cleveland Museum of Art version implies that it was not necessary to pass down the identity of the authoritative artists by oral tradition.

In addition, the first part is not attached to this version. It is assumed that the Cleveland Museum of Art had made the second part independent on its own, or lost the first part a long time ago, resulting in an incomplete version (*11).
Even so, the designs of the second volumes of the versions at the Osaka Ohtani University and National Library of France, etc. are copies of the Cleveland Museum of Art version, and as the first volume of these versions is supplemented by copies of the Shunpo-in version, they are made up of two volumes.

Although the number of replications is very few, it is evident that they are treasured.

This Cleveland Museum of Art version is thought to have formerly belonged to the collections of Reizei Tamechika (1823 to 1864) and Masuda Takashi (1848 to 1938) (*12). Before that, this version was thought to have been kept in great care in Kaifuku (-ji) –in, which is the sub-temple of Myoshin-ji, based on the inscription on the Tohoku University Library and private collection versions.

The inscription on the version held in a private collection further states, Bunsei Yonen Kanotomi Jugappi Nonoyama Yuizan Ihon Shakuran Kyogo / Aiga (Kao). Considering that Nonoyama Yuizan is probably an error for Nonoyama Kozan, this would mean that the second volume (whereabouts unknown) that accompanies the National Diet Library version, which is a Shunpo-in version, was borrowed and the inscription collated.

In the latter part of the Edo Period, although the sub-temples of Shunpo-in and Kaifuku-in were different, it appears as though two types of Fukutomi Zoshi—the Shunpo-in version and the Cleveland Museum of Art version—existed at Myoshin-ji.

Then, because the Cleveland Museum of Art version had different characteristics from the Shunpo-in version, and was not drawn by the same artist as the original manuscript, it became treasured.

The one-volume scroll that was derived from the two-volume version was proven to have diverged from the Cleveland Museum of Art version of the scroll. When looking at the published images in detail, all of the existing one-volume manuscripts are drawn in a design that is characteristic of the Cleveland Museum of Art version, and it is confirmed that the order of the paragraphs in this version all match.

The main manuscripts of the one-volume version that exist are as follows.

Among the one-volume scrolls, the oldest ones in existence with complete legends are the Jofuku-ji scroll and the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art Version B scroll. Upon comparatively reviewing the images, both are thought to have been produced after the second half of the 16th century (latter part of the Muromachi Period), which is more recent than the Shunpo-in and Cleveland Museum of Art versions. At the very least, the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art scroll is oriented as having been created sometime at the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century (latter part of the Muromachi Period).

Utaichi・Tameichi（A version）

The legend in the one-volume scroll of Fukutomi Zoshi was newly created in line with the second party of the antecedent two-volume Fukutomi Zoshi scroll. The contents diverge from the two-volume version, resulting in a unique world being formed.
For example, in the two-volume version, most of the supporting characters do not have names.
In the one-volume version, however, supporting characters are given names such as Myosai, Ogo, Wake no Kiyomaro, Utaichi, Tameichi, and Chamberlain, giving them personality.

The main characters were originally given elaborate names and identities in the two-volume version. The successful old man was named Takamuko no Hidetake, and he was an artisan whose occupation was an incense burner. The unsuccessful old man was named “Fukutomi,” and he lived at Shichijo and was a priest there. Because of his occupation, he is nicknamed Fukutomi no Tone (Priest of Fukutomi), or Futone for short. His wife was named Futone ga Me (wife of Tomi Priest), and she is commonly known as Tone ga Me.
In the one-volume scroll, on the other hand, “Fukutomi” is the name of the successful old man, and the old man who fails is named “Bokusho no Tota.” The wife of the unsuccessful old man is named Oniuba, or Uba (semi-derogatory?!). Because these names were easy to understand, their character formation is emphasized.

In such a way, in the one-volume scrolls, character formation of both the supporting characters and main characters is exaggerated, as they are made into commoners that have become generalized through their age and gender, ultimately stirring up comedy in this story.

Comedy is characteristic of the one-volume version, in which the legends are full of dirty jokes. A variety of words is used to describe the buttocks and crotch, such as idokoro, momojiri, fuguri, and oido. Direct references are used for farts (onara) and urine (shi (shi shi)) (similar books also refer to feces as “daiben”).

The one-volume scroll is also characterized by the abundant use of onomatopoeia. Kuruguru, nurunuru, hauhau, hitahita, neruneru, meramera, biyobiyo, shinchiyo, kirikiri, kototo (kotokoto), noronoro, yaseyase, shikajika, hishihishi, gabu, etc. are often used.

Such dirty jokes and onomatopoeia were probably not used in public by adult males. Many of these were the secret language of court ladies and words used by babies, and it has also been pointed out by Japanese linguists that other examples of use of these words are not seen until the beginning of the 17th century (*15).

In other words, in the one-volume version, it is thought that a person (maybe even a woman?) who was employed near an upper-class samurai family at the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century created the prose for this ‘monogatari’ story, based on the legends in the scrolls.
This overlaps with the period during which the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art’s Version B scroll was produced.

In the mid-15th century, the class of people who enjoyed the ancestral two-volume Fukutomi Zoshi were those in power and who were at the cultural center. Starting at the end of the 16th century, however, the class who enjoyed the one-volume version changed to women.

A version 6th paragraph

The one-volume version of Fukutomi Zoshi was polished into a descriptive narrative making frequent use of baby talk and the secret language of court ladies, instead of moving the story forward through only soliloquys.。
The differences in the legends of the two versions are thought to have arisen due to there being a two-volume scroll in which there are no explanations of the picture scroll (Cleveland Museum of Art’s Fukutomi Zoshi Second Volume), and a one-volume version being created based on this (*16).

In actuality, the Idemitsu Museum of Arts version, which is the oldest one among the one-volume scrolls, contains short legends resembling summaries, written on separate sheets inserted in between pictorial scenes, rather than being inserted as prose within the drawings. The name of the appearing character Fukutomi no Oribe is not even mentioned.
After a temporary in-between season in which there was a lack of legends, the legends of one-volume scrolls shifted toward a direction in which the story can be appreciated by reading it, more so than by looking at the drawings. The readers of the story were also anticipated as being children and women of the samurai class...

Looking at it this way, rather than developing the prose so that it would be tinged with somewhat of a theater-like nuance, or so that it would explain the illustrations, it is instead accepted as a characteristic of the story. The prose is trying to be persuasive to beginners.

B version 12th paragraph

For example, in the second scene, the description of Bokusho no Tota’s life of poverty is very lengthy.
In the legend, it is indicated that the character kept covered from the cold wind, and this has been pointed out as being similar to a renga linked poem that was popular around the 16th century, which goes, keeping covered from the cold wind, the humble girl crouched by the fence (*17). This hints at part of literary art that is befitting for the readers of the story to be familiar with.
In the one-volume scroll, the bird that was the animal messenger of the gods (god of labor) in the two-volume version is the messenger of Kumano Gongen (tenth scene), and the bowl, which contains remarkable medicine in the two-volume version, consists of water (eleventh scene), suggesting that even detailed motifs are modified (*18).

In addition, by using the terms zejo datsumono for a partition through which young girls peek (eighth scene), iko for a clothes-horse used to tread on hipbones (ninth scene), kinuta no ban for a rock used for Bokusho no Tota to place both hands on to express respect (eleventh scene), etc., pictorial motifs that were not mentioned in the legends of the two-volume version are explained using the names of the objects in the one-volume version (although they are interspersed with unique interpretations).

A version 11th paragraph

Furthermore, what is interesting when thinking about the formation of the one-volume version is that in the final scene, Oniuba is depicted biting into Fukutomi no Oribe.
Her eyes were turned upwards, her mouth was opened broadly, as wide as her ears, and breathing as if in a rage, her body transformed into that of a snake (thirteenth scene)

The expression “snake body” does not simply mean a snake as a living thing, but also takes on the meaning of the form of Kiyohime, who pursues her lover Anchin in Dojo-ji Engi and becomes a serpent, or the form of Zenmyo, who chases her lover Gisho and becomes a dragon in Kegonshu Soshi Eden.

The formation of the original Dojo-ji Engi can be traced back to the initial part of the Muromachi Period, and became well-received to a certain extent from the period in which Important Cultural Property Dojo-ji Engi (Dojo-ji Collection) that was signed by Ashikaga Yoshiaki was produced.

The form of the snake, which escalated from serious love in these folk tales, represents in Fukutomi Zoshi an exchange in the capital of Kyoto, where there is no water, between an old man and elderly woman who do not even have any love between them. The gap between this parody and the original tales on which it is based invites laughter.

The one-volume version of Fukutomi Zoshi uses many baby words and court-lady language, and its prose was developed so that it can be easily accepted by readers. At the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century, when the one-volume version was established, there is no doubt that these picture scrolls brought good entertainment to the children and women of the samurai class, who were familiar with renga linked poems and shaji engi (picture scrolls of temples and shrines) such as Dojo-ji Engi.