Abstract
Kanoko Okamoto's Fifty-Three Stages on the Tokaido portrays people traveling on the old Tokaido road, as the title implies. Yuko Tsushima's Zushio is modelled on the legends of "Sansho the Bailiff," popularized through the "Sansho the Bailiff" medieval ballads. Among the themes portrayed in the texts is the history and culture of the Tohoku region, depicted in the form of a journey through the area, particularly Tsugaru. Just as Kanoko embellishes her text with a wealth of citations from works of classical literature, Tsushima uses classical literature and legends as both a foundation and a driving force. This paper identifies common techniques between the two, focusing on utamakura descriptive epithets. This paper also examines the different levels of citation technique used in Fifty-Three Stages on the Tokaido published during the wartime structure and Zushio, written in the 1980's . Further, this paper comparatively examines the differences in travel locations and family values in order to highlight the changes in awareness that occurred within a period of approximately half a century.From the texts' relationship with classical literature and the focus on utamakura descriptive epithets, the author was able to provide specific examples of the creation of a history of modern literature from an historical analysis perspective.
