Narabi no maki (並びの巻)
Narabi no maki (parallel chapters) is a name for a chapter which is parallel to another chapter in a work consisting of several volumes, or the chapters themselves called as such. It is simply called 'narabi' (parallel), too. The representative Heian literature, "The Tale of Genji," contains such chapters as well as "Utsuho monogatari" (The Tale of the Hollow Tree), "Hamamatsu Chunagon Monogatari" (The Tale of Hamamatsu Chunagon [vice-councilor of state]), and so on.
The Tale of Genji
The following 18 chapters are considered Narabi no maki among the 54 chapters of The Tale of Genji.
The chapters of Utsusemi (The Cicada Shell) (The Tale of Genji) and Yugao (Evening Face) (The Tale of Genji) are narabi no maki for Hahakigi (The Broom Tree) (The Tale of Genji). Suetsumuhana (The Safflower) (The Tale of Genji) is narabi no maki for Wakamurasaki (Young Murasaki). Yomogiu (A Waste of Weeds) and Sekiya (The Gatehouse) (The Tale of Genji) are narabi no maki for Miotsukushi (Channel Buoys) (The Tale of Genji). Narabi no maki for Tamakazura (The Jeweled Chaplet) (The Tale of Genji) are Hatsune (The First Warbler) (The Tale of Genji), Kocho (Butterflies) (The Tale of Genji), Hotaru (The Fireflies) (The Tale of Genji), Tokonatsu (The Pink), Kagaribi (The Cressets), Nowaki (The Typhoon) (The Tale of Genji), Miyuki (The Imperial Progress) (The Tale of Genji), Fujibakama (Thoroughwort Flowers), Makibashira (The Cypress Pillar). Wakana (Spring Shoots) (The Tale of Genji), volume 2 is narabi no maki for the first volume of Wakana (The Tale of Genji). Suzumushi (The Bell Cricket) is narabi no maki of Yokobue (The Flute) (The Tale of Genji). Kobai (The Rose Plum) (The Tale of Genji) is narabi no maki of Takekawa (Bamboo River). It is said that among Kumogakure Rokujo (Hidden in the Clouds Six Chapters), which are the supplementary works of The Tale of Genji, the chapters of Sumori, Sakurabito (Cherry Tree Person), Nori no shi (Buddhist Monk), Hibariko, and Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges) are narabi no maki.
The origin of narabi no maki in The Tale of Genji
It is not clear why chapters called 'narabi no maki' existed, and FUJIWARA no Teika also commented that he was not sure why there were narabi no maki. Since olden times, there have been several views about it.
The view in light of completion of the work: the additional story which was written by the same author or another author to the completed tale was called narabi (the opinion advocated by Soshun TAKEDA and others). The view in light of design of the work: apart from the main plot, a subplot (something like apocryphal stories or special episodes) was called narabi no maki. The view in light of time base: not a sequel to the previous chapter, but a chapter which had the same setting of time as the previous chapter was called narabi. The chapters whose contents could be classified into the same group for some reasons were called narabi no maki. The opinion that there were chapters which were sequel to the previous chapter (vertical narabi) or had the same time setting as the previous chapter (horizontal narabi) (the opinion advocated by Kikan IKEDA and others).
The opinion that when one chapter was divided into several chapters, the divided chapters were called narabi no maki for the original chapter (advocated by Naohiko TERAMOTO and others).
Originally 54 chapters of The Tale of Genji was counted 37 chapters, compared to 37 Buddhist images, so there is a view that the chapters whose contents could be classified into the same group for some reasons came to be called 'narabi.'
(This opinion was advocated by Kiyoko MARUYAMA and others)
The view that several chapters released together, or expected to be read as a series by the author were called narabi no maki (advocated by Takuya TAMAGAMI).