> Another off-to-the-side (dare I say distaff?) observation- the Japanese
> have long had 'monogatori'- the 'women's' story
The word you are referring to is monogatari which is a compound word (as
many Japanese words are) that is made up of 'mono' or 'thing' and
'katari' or 'talk' (the k changes to a g in the compound.) This word is
commonly translated to the english 'tale' and there is no specific
connotation with women's stories. The confusion probably arises from the
fact that many famous Japanese 'monogatari,' such as 'Genji Monogatari,'
were written by women during the Heian period which began in the eighth
century AD. However, many modern titles also use the word monogatari to
simply mean tale as in A Tale of Two Cities. I don't have the means
right now to double check this but I'm 99% sure that the Japanese title
of Dickens' classic uses the word monogatari.
However, your point remains valid that women's stories were quite
popular in Japan long before the New World was even a twinkle in
Europe's eye.
Humbly yours from Tokyo,
Jeff
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