| Summary: | 碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 日本語文學系碩士班 === 107 === The setting of the body fragrance as a male character is extremely rare in Japanese classical literature.
This paper discussed the provenance, meaning, and function of body fragrance of a male character. Focusing on body fragrance of Kaoru who can be regarded as the protagonist of the third part of《The Tale of Genji》, this thesis discussed the provenance of the male body fragrance, the meaning of body fragrance on character modeling, and the effect of body fragrance with the others in the relationship.
Firstly, I used modern subject knowledge to analyze the mechanism of the body fragrance and the olfactory mechanism. I tried to explore the body fragrance as a character setting, and if it is reasonable that people’s behaviour would be affected by their body fragrance.
Next, I explored that the body fragrance of Kaoru is a symbol of "virtue" and "Karma". Based on Gandarva recorded in the《Wei Mo Jing Yi Shu》and other aspects, the "search for incense" of Kaoru is to find out his own birth secret. According to recent research of the body fragrance of Kaoru , the body fragrance of Kaoru is not only a representation of "virtue" that has been pointed out in previous research but also is an "karma". It is revealed that there is a conflict between "virtue" and "karma" in the body fragrance of Kaoru.
Lastly, I compared the 《Tale of Genji》 and 《Dream of Red Mansions》. Two men and two women with fragrance in the body to pursue heterosexual people at the same time. By comparing the similarity and differences of relationship, I found that those who can smell the body incense got the priority of choosing their partner. And at last, Ukifune was able to choose Kaoru and Nioimiya because she could sniff the body fragrance.
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