The Image of the Monk Zōga in Medieval Sources: Heian Era. Ōe no Masafusa, Zoku honchō ojōden. 12. Zōga, Trans. by Anastasia A. Petrova Ōe no Masafusa, Zoku honchō ojōden. 12. Zōga, Trans. by Anastasia A. Petrova

Abstract

In the Heian era, a literary tradition of stories about the holy ascetic Zōga, a very popular hero of setsuwa tales, was being formed. The biographies of this monk are presented in several setsuwa collections of the 11th – 12th centuries, such as “Records of the miracles performed by the Lotus Sutra in the great country of Japan” (Hokke genki), “Records and Reflections” (Gōdanshō) and “Continua­tion of the legends of our country about the revival” (Zoku honchō ōjōden) by Ōe no Masafusa, “Collection of ancient stories” (Konjaku monogatari-shū), “The present mirror” (Imakagami). Each of these works presents its own, origi­nal image of Zōga; the details of the biography and rationale for the hero’s ac­tions differ quite significantly. It can be said that in the formation of the tradition of legends about Zōga, essentially three different concepts compete: the image of a holy hermit, whose main feature is the accumulation of merit through asceti­cism in solitude; the image of a madman and a man “not of this world”; the im­age of an eccentric and stern, but wise and knowledgeable teacher