User:JamieEvanson/Dangibon

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Dangibon is a pre-modern Japanese literary genre composed of "comic sermons".

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Dangibon is referred to as "mock sermons." The sermons come from Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian principles and utilize humor to make otherwise serious lessons more relatable to the masses. The satirical sermons are known for including contemporary subjects of Edo culture as a source of ridicule.

'The origin and definition of dangibon is not specific but is traced back to the early 18th century. Popular sermons that were originally didactic had added elements of wit and comedy that made the lectures more approachable to the public audience. As it evolved in the 1750's, dangibon derived in part from katagimono or "character sketches" which was another popular genre of the time. The prominent work Daimyo Katagi or "Portrait of a Daimyo" by Matsudaira Sadanobu is partly named after the genre katagimono and is said to be composed of kibyoshi in the first half and dangibon in the second. Dangibon being the oldest. It is generally composed of 5 volumes (maki). Each volume had its own story which intertwined with the sermon. There are approximately seventy known sources of dangibon and as it developed in the mid 18th century, the humorous aspect began to dominate the didactic thus making way for the gesaku genre.'

'Hiraga Gennai (1728-1779) claims to be the founder of the dangibon genre with his works Rootless Grass (Nenashigusa, part I, five volumes, 1763; part II, five volumes, 1769) and The Dashing Life of Shidoken (Furyu Shidoken-den, five volumes, 1763), as well as the gesaku genre.'