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is a Japanese epic novel in 106 volumes by Kyokutei Bakin. The volumes were written and published over a period of nearly thirty years (1814 to 1842). Bakin had gone blind before finishing the tale, and he dictated the final parts to his daughter-in-law Michi. The title has been translated as ''The Eight Dog Chronicles'', ''Tale of Eight Dogs'', or ''Biographies of Eight Dogs''. ==Plot and influences== Set in the tumultuous Sengoku period (350 years before Bakin lived), ''Hakkenden'' is the story of eight samurai half-brothers—all of them descended from a dog and bearing the word "dog" in their surnames—and their adventures, with themes of loyalty and family honor, as well as Confucianism, bushido and Buddhist philosophy. One of the direct inspiration sources of the novel is the 14th-17th-century Chinese epic novel ''Water Margin'' by Shi Nai'an. Japanese translations date back to at least 1757, when the first volume of an early ''Suikoden'' (''Water Margin'' rendered in Japanese) was printed.〔Shirane and Brandon, ''Early Modern Japanese Literature'', (p564 ).〕 The story of a princess marrying a dog who brings her father the head of his enemy seems to be a reference to the Chinese myth of Panhu. An earlier serial novel by Bakin, ''Chinsetsu Yumiharizuki'' (椿説弓張月) (Strange Tales of the Crescent Moon) had been illustrated by the famous ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai, but the two did not work well together. For ''Hakkenden'', Hokusai's son-in-law, Yanagawa Shigenobu was employed as illustrator instead. A complete reprinting in ten volumes is available in the original Japanese, as well as various modern Japanese translations, most of them abridged. Only a few chapters are available translated into English, ch. 25 by Donald Keene and chs. 12, 13, and 19 by Chris Drake. A full translation is currently in progress. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nansō Satomi Hakkenden」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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