SOURCE: Araki, James T. “A Critical Approach to the Ugetsu monogatari.” Monumenta Nipponica 22, nos. 1-2 (1967): 49-64.

In the following essay, Araki offers an overview of criticism of Akinari's tales and an analysis of the structural techniques the author employed in Tales of Moonlight and Rain.

1 a Survey of Critical Approaches

Ueda Akinari aspired to distinction as a poet and classical scholar. His reputation in Japanese literary history today, however, rests almost exclusively on his genius as a writer of short stories—particularly of the Ugetsu monogatari (Tales of the Misty Moon), a collection of nine short mysterious tales which he completed probably in 1768. Those in the West who have read the Ugetsu monogatari in translation¹ may have felt that some of the tales are curiously composed, and may have questioned their excellence. Apparent even in translation is a diversity among the nine tales in their structural characteristics and...