Dragon in Classical and medieval Japanese Literature

Legends with the theme of a visit to the dragon palace rank among the most viable narratives across the history of Japanese literature. In this thesis, a small selection of such narratives is analyzed, drawing on sources ranging from the oldest extant works from the eight century to the medieval chronicle Taiheiki. The primary purpose of this study is to identify the similarities and differences between these narratives. After their narrative structures have been compared, the narratives are analyzed with respect to the categories of characters, magical objects, and setting. The thesis also dicusses the role of focalization and other narrative strategies used for depiction of the supernatural. The final section is concerned with a specific instance of this narrative, as found in the twelth-century antology of legends Kon'jaku monogatarishū, in which the character of the dragon king is interpreted as an incarnation of the bodhisattva Kannon. It is argued that this interpretation was made possible through the modification of the structure of the legend and the use of textual cues associating both dragon and Kannon. The methodological framework of this thesis is grounded in cognitive narratology, specifically as formulated by David Herman (2013)