This dissertation uses the concept of myth as a critique to analyze five pieces of the kowaka-mai, a genre of recited narrative that flourished in fifteenth and sixteenth century Japan. While definitions of myth in previous scholarship have revealed the complexity of this universal yet culturally and historically specific concept, I suggest that structural and performative approaches to myth can be used to unlock the possible range of meanings in texts of medieval "vocal literature."

In Chapter 1, I explicate how traditional story-patterns that are found in the oldest collections of myth and in the foundation myths of temples and shrines during the medieval period, are the building blocks of what I term "medieval myth." In performance, reference is central to meaning as story-patterns facilitate communication between the performer and the audience. The kowaka-mai developed from the felicitous performances of shomonji (temple and shrine menials), suggesting that the contexts in which they performed served as frames for story-patterns recreating the lives of historical and legendary figures as myth.

Chapter 2 looks at how Fujiwara no Kamatari was reinterpreted as mythic hero in the pieces Iruka and Taishokan. By referencing traditional story-patterns, the kowaka-mai narrates Kamatari as a hero who restores both divine right (obo ) and the Buddhist law (buppo).

Chapter 3 reexamines the Yuriwaka legend framed as a question of methodology. The analysis here rejects both the Odyssey-origins and continental-origins interpretations of the transmission of this legend, and suggests that the significance of the Yuriwaka legend is its reference to traditional story-patterns and the Hachiman belief system. As an expression of the "Return Song," Yuriwaka subjugates foreign enemies and returns to restore cosmos to the world.

Chapter 4 looks at the piece Shida and its traditional reference, the "Wandering Noble" story-pattern. This story-pattern ties themes of loyalty and restoration of legitimate succession to the hero's symbolic death and rebirth.

Chapter 5 examines the retelling of the Minamoto no Manju legend in the language of medieval myth, and reinterprets "religious awakening" as the hero's rebirth.

Finally, the appendices contain original translations of the kowaka-mai texts analyzed in this dissertation.