Toen Shōsetsu

Toen Shōsetsu contains one of the most detailed accounts of the Utsuro-bune legend, describing a round vessel that drifted ashore in Hitachi Province in 1803, carrying a young foreign woman with red hair who clutched an unknown box and could not communicate with the locals.^[4] The Besshu contains an account of a dispute between Bakin and Yamazaki Yoshinari (山崎美成) over soba-eating customs and dining culture, now considered a valuable source for the study of Edo-period food history.^[5] The Yoroku includes an account of the Eitai Bridge collapse of 1807, in which the bridge fell under the weight of a large crowd, and a passage describing individuals who might today be understood as having a gender identity differing from their birth sex.^[6] One entry in the main collection describes Tsuta (Yodotaki), a giant woman from Shinagawa.^[7]

Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei Henshūbu, ed. "Toen Shōsetsu." Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei, 2nd series, vol. 1. Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei Kankōkai, 1928, pp. 1–346. Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei Henshūbu, ed. "Toen Shōsetsu Gaishū." Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei, 2nd series, vol. 2. Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei Kankōkai, 1928, pp. 367–427. Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei Henshūbu, ed. "Toen Shōsetsu Besshu." Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei, 2nd series, vol. 2. Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei Kankōkai, 1928, pp. 429–547. Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei Henshūbu, ed. "Toen Shōsetsu Yoroku." Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei, 2nd series, vol. 3. Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei Kankōkai, 1928, pp. 1–69. Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei Henshūbu, ed. "Toen Shōsetsu Shūi." Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei, 2nd series, vol. 3. Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei Kankōkai, 1928, pp. 71–154. "Toenkai Shūsetsu." Kinko Bungei Onchi Sōsho, vol. 11, annotated by Naitō Chisō and Komiyama Yasusuke. Hakubunkan, 1911.