Re-Examining The Allusion and Theme of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's Nidai

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Other Title
  • 芥川龍之介「尼堤」の典拠と主題に関する再考
  • アクタガワ　リュウノスケ　ニダイ　ノ　テンキョ　ト　シュダイ　ニ　カンスル　サイコウ
  • 芥川龍之介「尼提」の典拠と主題に関する再考
  • アクタガワ リュウノスケ 「 ニテイ 」 ノ テンキョ ト シュダイ ニ カンスル サイコウ

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Abstract

Articles

As Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's last historical novel related to Konjaku Monogatari shū, Nidai describes the story of Sakyamuni and Nidai. Through this study, it is found that the direct allusion of this novel is Nidai in The Collection of Buddhist Biographies compiled by Daijyo Tokiwa other than the Buddhist literature. It is found that compared to its allusion, the content of this work is slightly different on the whole except for some modifications he made to make the story more reasonable. For example, the Buddhist doctrine in the allusion has been deleted so that it is more like a modern novel. Furthermore, in the end was a dialogue between Nidai and Sudatta added to enrich the plot of the story. Through the analysis of its ending as well as the mental activity of the characters Nidai and Sudatta, it can be concluded that the theme of the novel Nidai is to criticize the ugliness concealed in human nature.

Journal

  • 間谷論集

    間谷論集 17 138-115, 2023-03-31

    The Center for Japanese Language and Culture, Osaka University

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