is a Japanese novel written by Shikitei Sanba between 1809 and 1813. It belongs to the kokkeibon genre, of which it is one of the masterpieces.
Contents
Ukiyoburo (Ukiyo Bath) depicts the humor of daily life and culture through the conversations of customers at the public bath. It contains illustrations from Utagawa Kuninao and Kitao Shigemasa (credited as Kitagawa Yoshimaru).
Shikitei notes that his inspiration to base the story at a public bath was due to Santō Kyōden's (1802) and a rakugo performance by Sanshōtei Karaku.
The text is composed of four parts contained within nine volumes: Part 1: "Men's Bath", published in 1809 Part 2: "Women's Bath", published in 1810 Part 3: "Omissions from the Women's Bath", published in 1812 Part 4: "Men's Bath Continued", published in 1813 There were advertisements for parts 5, 6, and 7, but they were never written.
Linguistics
Shikitei was particularly careful in noting a number of linguistic characteristics.
In part two, a woman speaking the Kansai dialect and a woman speaking the Tokyo dialect talk. The Kansai woman notes that Tōkyō speakers de-labialize to .Nakata 1972: 253 In addition, Tōkyō speakers have a tendency to confuse and .Nakata 1972: 256)
In addition, Shikitei creates an orthography which he calls "white voicing" to distinguish medial from .Nakata (1972:242) He also uses the Handakuten mark with the s-character to express [tsa, tse, tso].Nakata (1972: 243)
Notes
References
External links Scans of manuscript, Waseda University Library