Torikaebaya Monogatari - Authorship

Authorship

It is unknown whether Torikaebaya Monogatari was written by a man or a woman, but it has been theorised that there were two versions of the tale, the first known as Torikaebaya or Kō Torikaebaya, thought to have been written by a man, and the latter, known as Ima Torikaebaya, written by a woman. Mumyōzōshi, written by a female author between 1200 and 1202, which critiques various Heian tales, says there are two versions of the tale. In her opinion, the Ima Torikaebaya is the far superior of the two works. The earlier version of the tale has "disagreeable" scenes, including a scene discussing the Chūnagon's menstruation, and a scene where the former Chūnagon gives birth while still partially dressed as a man, which scandalised the author of the Mumyōzōshi. Another scene not present in the later version is a scene where the male characters discuss monogatari on a "day of abstinence", which is considered similar to scenes from The Tale of Genji, but not as good by the author of the Mumyōzōshi, as it is an imitation. It is thought that the current version of the Torikaebaya is somewhere between the older and newer versions of the tale known by the author of Mumyōzōshi.

Meiji scholars thought that the tale was too degenerate to have possibly been written by a woman, but it has been pointed out that other tales "with a similar focus on the physical" are known to have been written by women. In the case of the earlier version of the tale, this may have been a case of a man imitating the writing conventions of female authors. Rosette F. Willig, who translated it into English, considers the version she used, Ima Torikaebaya, to have been written between 1100–70, and suggested that some elements of the tale may be autobiographical. There are over eighty extant manuscripts of Torikaebaya Monogatari.

The setting of Torikaebaya is at some "indefinite point" in the distant past of the Heian era — the Crown Princess's status adds to the "air of antiquity" in the work, as that particular issue of succession did not present itself from the eighth century to the seventeenth century. The tale takes place in Uji, Kyoto and Yoshino. Uji is a few hours walk to the south of Kyoto, but Yoshino is a full day's journey south of Kyoto. Saisho regularly travels between Kyoto and Uji in the first half of the story, but "knows nothing" of events in Yoshino.