In reference to the Banchō: the stories outlined in the present volume date from the period of the puppet shows and strolling reciters, men who cast these tales into their present lines, thus reducing popular tradition to the form in which it could be used by the kōdanshi or lecturers on history, or by those diving into the old tales and scandals connected with the yashiki of Edo town. In the present volume main reliance for the detail has been placed on the following kōdan:—
"The Banchō Nana-fushigi" of Matsubayashi Hakuen.
"The Banchō Sarayashiki" of Momogawa Jōen.
"The Banchō Sarayashiki" of Byōhaku Hakuchi, in the "Kwaidan-shū" published by the Hakubunkwan.
"The Banchō Sarayashiki" of Hōgyūsha Tōko.
"Yui Shōsetsu" of Kōganei Koshū.
These references could be extended. The story of the Sarayashiki figures in most of the collections of wonder tales. The Gidayu of the "Banshū Sarayashiki" by Tamenaga Tarōbei and Asada Itchō finds no application. It deals with Himeji in Harima. As for the stories from an esoteric point of view, as illustrations of the period they have a value—to be continued in those more historical, and which deal with the lives and deeds of men of greater note and influence in this early Tokugawa court. The present volume instances the second class of wonder tales referred to in the preface to the Yotsuya Kwaidan.
Ōmarudani,
14th November, 1916.