ABSTRACT Yano Ryūkei’s novel Hōchi’s Strange Rumors: Tales of the Floating Castle (hōchi ibun: ukishiro monogatari) was published in 1890 and remained popular until 1945. Japanese and western scholarship often refer to it as the first Japanese novel with hard science fiction characteristics and, sometimes, as a novel expressing the doctrine of territorial expansion to the south (nanshinron). However, the novel is only mentioned in passing, perhaps because it does not belong with those science fiction works that have challenged scientific paradigms in an original way and perhaps also because it is problematic from today’s postcolonial perspective. And yet, this nearly forgotten novel is a landmark of cultural history. This article uses literary, political, and sociocultural contextualization in a close reading of Tales of the Floating Castle to explore the origins of Japanese science fiction, its relationship with western and local literature, and its early stages of development. Through this inquiry into how a member of Meiji elite wrote about his world, we get an intimate glimpse into early modern intellectual salons in Japan and on the complex process of Japan’s modernization, while also learning about the inherently political nature of science fiction.

中文翻译：

---

宝知的奇闻：浮城物语：日本早期硬科幻小说的批判性阅读

摘要 Yano Ryūkei 的小说 Hōchi's Strange Rumors: Tales of the Floating Castle (hōchi ibun: ukishiro monogatari) 于 1890 年出版，一直流行到 1945 年。日本和西方学术界经常将其称为第一部具有硬科幻特色的日本小说，有时，作为表达向南扩张（nanshinron）的理论的小说。然而，这部小说只是顺便提及，也许是因为它不属于那些以原创方式挑战科学范式的科幻作品，也许也是因为它在今天的后殖民视角下是有问题的。然而，这部几乎被遗忘的小说是文化史上的里程碑。本文使用文学、政治、细读《浮城物语》，探索日本科幻小说的起源、与西方和地方文学的关系以及早期发展阶段。通过对明治精英成员如何写他的世界的调查，我们可以深入了解日本早期的现代知识沙龙和日本现代化的复杂过程，同时也了解科幻小说的内在政治性质。