Nansō Satomi Hakkenden

Nansō Satomi Hakkenden, commonly known as Hakkenden, is a long serialized yomihon novel by the Edo-period writer Kyokutei Bakin (Takizawa Bakin, 1767–1848). Written over twenty-eight years from 1814 onward, it runs to nine series, fifty-three volumes, and more than one hundred eighty chapters, and is regarded as the longest classical novel in Japanese literary history. Set in the late Muromachi period, the story begins with the warrior Satomi Yoshizane, who breaks out of the Battle of Yūki and establishes a domain in Awa. When an invading neighbor presses his castle to the brink of falling, his beloved dog Yatsufusa brings back the enemy general's head and raises the siege; true to his word, Yoshizane promises his daughter Princess Fuse to the dog. Fuse conceives from the dog's breath, and to prove her chastity she cuts open her own belly; the white breath from her womb scatters in eight directions and unites with a rosary bearing eight sacred beads inscribed with benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, loyalty, fidelity, filial piety, and fraternal duty. Thus are born across the Kantō provinces eight Dog Warriors, each bearing the character for dog in his surname and a peony-shaped birthmark. Amid such perils as the true and false Murasame swords, the duel at Hōryūkaku, the vendetta at Tairyūrō, the demon cat of Kōshinzan, and Shinbei's taming of a tiger, the eight warriors gather one by one and finally return to the Satomi house. They repel the allied armies of the Ōgigayatsu-Uesugi and others by land and sea, become castle lords guarding the Satomi clan, and in old age retire to Mount Toyama. With reward of good and punishment of evil as its backbone, the book blends samurai romance, supernatural fantasy, and historical chronicle, drawing heavily on the techniques and allusions of Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms; it is a fruit of Sino-Japanese cultural exchange. Li Shuguo's translation is currently the only complete Chinese version; published by Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House in 2017 in seven hardcover volumes, each volume includes color ukiyo-e illustrations on Hakkenden themes.