A Utopian Desire in “Muou-no-rigyo”: Kôgi, a Monk Intolerant of Anything “Fresh”

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Other Title
  • 「夢応の鯉魚」の遊戯
  • 「夢応の鯉魚」の遊戯--「鮮(あざらけ)」を厭う興義
  • ムオウ ノ リギョ ノ ユウギ アザラケ オ イトウ コウギ
  • —「鮮（あざらけ）」を厭う興義—

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Abstract

<p>“Muou-no-rigyo” is a unique fantastic tale although the author Ueda-Akinari turned to various sourcebooks in writing it. Its uniqueness can be attributed to the monk Kôgi, an ideal type of character who paradoxically exists everywhere yet nowhere. Kôgi's intolerance of anything “fresh” seems to be anti-Buddhist, but it is actually not so because it comes from his truly religious wish to maintain a pure condition by avoiding fresh food that was then thought to be harmful. Thus one can find a utopian desire in “Muou-no-rigyo,” a pictorial crystallization of an impossible dream.</p>

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