These pages feature my translation of the last ten chapters of Eiga monogatari (A Tale of Flowering Fortunes), previously only available through my unpublished dissertation (Buried Mothers: Exhuming Memories of Heian Families through Eiga monogatari, Yale University, 2005). Here, I have made modifications and corrections to this previous version. Readers are encouraged to read my discussion of the sequel (and Eiga monogatari as a whole) in my book, Flowering Tales (Harvard Asia Center, 2020).
The translation is based on the Shinpen Nihon koten bungaku zenshū, volumes 31–33 (Tokyo: Shōgakukan, 1997). Edited by Yamanaka Yutaka, Akiyama Ken, Ikeda Naotaka, and Fukunaga Susumu, this edition is based on the oldest surviving Umezawa manuscript (13th century), previously in the collection of the Sanjōnishi family. Many of my notes are based on the indispensable scholarship provided in these volumes. I have also consulted Matsumura Hiroji’s Eiga monogatari zenchūshaku, 8 vols (Tokyo: Kadokawa shoten, 1969). A fuller bibliography is available in Flowering Tales.
Book 31: The Flowering-Viewing Excursion of the Nobles
Book 33: The Grieving Attendant
Book 34: The Star that Awaits the Night
Book 36: The Root-Matching Contest
Book 38: The Pines’ Long Branches
Book 39: Like a Cloth Unfurled: The Nunobiki Waterfall