ABSTRACT
Born in the merchant city of Osaka in 1734, Ueda Akinari, the author of Ugetsu monogatari, was a creative figure of unique talent in eighteenth-century Japan. He died in 1809, in Kyoto-at that time the capital of the nation. Dissolving the family business, which he inherited, he became a physician and practised this profession until a young girl in his care died and he decided to give up medicine. He studied and wrote haiku and waka poetry, and he took part in the revival of Japanese scholarship and literature in the late eighteenth century. Although he was closely familiar with Chinese classics, as well as vernacular prose, he remained critical of all manner of pedantry. His preface to the tales dates from 1768, but the book was not published until 1776, jointly in Kyoto and Osaka, and he probably completed his final version around this time.
