『拾遺御伽婢子』作者をめぐる一考察

Shūi-otogi-bōko Volume 5 Part 2 “Gishi-chūshi (Retainer’s death of loyalty)” more or less coincides, in recorded content, with material thought to have originated in the Natsume family. On the other hand, among the military records thought to have circulated at the time, there is no sign of a detailed record of the death in battle of Natsume-Yoshinobu.<br> Volume 1 Part 5 “Matsugo ni zaigō wo arawasu sō (Priest who exposed his sin at his end)” identifies temples and centers on content criticizing avaricious acts by priests. A descendant of Natsume-Yoshinobu’s third son, Nobutsugu, during the Genroku Era, was feudal lord of the area around Senkō-ji Temple, which features as stage in Volume 1 Part 5. Also, it can be assumed that Nobutsugu’s family residence was near to present-day Ishiwara in Sumida Ward, and that is not contradicted by the location given for the author in the preface.<br> From those points, I concluded that the probability is high that Genroku-Era hatamoto, Natsume-Yoshiakira, is the author, “Ryūshidō”. Through a method of slipping military stories into tales of the mysterious, it is likely attempting to celebrate the military feats of the ancestors. This work can be described as testimony for the involvement of hatamoto-level warriors in ukiyo-zōshi creation during the Genroku Era.