Everything about The Tale Of Genji totally explained
is a classic work of
Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman
Murasaki Shikibu in the early eleventh century, around the peak of the
Heian Period. It is sometimes called the world's first
novel, the first modern novel, or the first novel to still be considered a classic. This issue is a matter of debate. See
Stature below.
The first partial translation of
Genji Monogatari into English was by
Suematsu Kencho. A free translation of all but one chapter was produced by
Arthur Waley.
Edward Seidensticker made the first complete translation into English, using a more literal method than Waley. The most recent English translation, by
Royall Tyler (2001), also tries to be faithful to the original text.
Diet member
Marutei Tsurunen has also made a translation in Finnish.
Introduction
The
Genji, as the work is commonly called by
aficionados, was written for the women of the aristocracy (the
yokibito) and has many elements found in a modern
novel: a central character and a very large number of major and minor characters, well-developed characterization of all the major players, a sequence of events happening over a period of time covering the central character's lifetime and beyond. The work doesn't make use of a
plot; instead, much as in real life, events just happen and characters evolve simply by growing older. One remarkable feature of the
Genji, and of Murasaki's skill, is its internal consistency, despite a
dramatis personae of some four hundred characters. For instance, all characters age in step and all the family and
feudal relationships are consistent among all chapters.
One complication for readers and translators of the
Genji is that almost none of the characters in the original text are given an explicit name. The characters are instead referred to by their function or role (for example Minister of the Left), an
honorific (for example His Excellency), or their relation to other characters (for example Heir Apparent), which may all change as the novel progresses. This lack of names stems from Heian-era court manners that would have made it unacceptably familiar and blunt to freely mention a character's name. Modern readers and translators have, to a greater or lesser extent, used various nicknames to keep track of the many characters. See
Characters for a listing.
Stature
The
Genji is an important fictional work of Japanese literature and numerous modern authors have cited it as inspiration. It is noted for its internal consistency, psychological depiction, and characterization. The novelist
Yasunari Kawabata said in his
Nobel Prize acceptance speech: "
The Tale of Genji in particular is the highest pinnacle of Japanese literature. Even down to our day there hasn't been a piece of fiction to compare with it."
The
Genji is also often referred to as "the first novel", though there's considerable debate over this — some of the debate involving whether
Genji can even be considered a "novel". Some consider the psychological insight, complexity, and unity of the work to qualify it for "novel" status while simultaneously disqualifying earlier works. Others see these arguments as subjective and unconvincing. Related claims, perhaps in an attempt to sidestep these debates, are that
Genji is the "first psychological novel", "the first novel still considered to be a classic", or other more qualified terms. It is, however, difficult to claim that it's the world's first novel without denying the claims of
Daphnis and Chloe and
Aethiopica in
Greek, which author
Longus and an unknown sophist respectively wrote, both around the third century, and in
Latin,
Petronius's
Satyricon in the first century and
Apuleius's
Golden Ass in the second, as well as
Kādambari in
Sanskrit which author
Bānabhatta wrote in the seventh century. (The debate exists in Japanese as well, with comparison between the terms
monogatari -- "tale" -- and
shosetsu -- "novel".)
The novel and other works by Lady Murasaki are standard staple in the curricula of Japanese school. The Bank of Japan issued the 2000
Yen banknote in her honour, featuring a scene from the novel based on the 12th century illustrated handscroll.
Authorship
The debate over how much of the
Genji was actually written by
Murasaki Shikibu has gone on for centuries, and is unlikely to ever be settled unless some major archival discovery is made. It is generally accepted that the tale was finished in its present form by 1021, when the author of the
Sarashina Nikki wrote a famous diary entry about her joy at acquiring a complete copy of the tale. She writes that there are over fifty chapters and mentions a character introduced near the end of the work, so if other authors besides Murasaki Shikibu did work on the tale, the work was done very near to the time of her writing.
Yosano Akiko, the first author to make a modern translation of the
Genji, believed that Murasaki Shikibu had only written Chapters One to Thirty-three, and that Chapters Thirty-five to Fifty-four were written by her daughter
Daini no Sanmi. Other scholars have doubted the authorship of Chapters Forty-two to Forty-four (particularly Forty-four, which contains rare examples of continuity mistakes).
According to Royall Tyler's introduction to his English translation of the work, recent computer analysis has turned up "statistically significant" discrepancies of style between chapters 45–54 and the rest, and also among the early chapters.
Genji visits Kitayama, the northern rural hilly area of Kyoto, where he finds a beautiful ten-year-old girl. He is fascinated by this little girl ("
Murasaki"), and discovers that she's a niece of the Lady Fujitsubo. Finally he kidnaps her, brings her to his own palace and educates her to be his ideal lady; like the Lady Fujitsubo. During this time Genji also meets the Lady Fujitsubo secretly, and she bears his son. Everyone except the two lovers believes the father of the child is the Emperor. Later the boy becomes the
Crown Prince and Lady Fujitsubo becomes the Empress, but Genji and Lady Fujitsubo swear to keep their secret.
Genji and his wife Lady Aoi reconcile and she gives birth to a son, but she dies soon after. Genji is sorrowful, but finds consolation in Murasaki, whom he marries. Genji's father, the Emperor, dies; and his political enemies, the Minister of the Right and the new Emperor's mother ("Kokiden") take power in the court. Then another of Genji's secret love affairs is exposed: Genji and a concubine of his brother, the Emperor Suzaku, are discovered when they meet in secret. The Emperor confides his personal amusement at Genji's exploits with the woman ("Oborozukiyo"), but is duty-bound to punish his half-brother. Genji is thus exiled to the town of
Suma in rural
Harima province (now part of
Kobe in
Hyōgo Prefecture). There, a prosperous man from
Akashi in
Settsu province (known as the Akashi Novice) entertains Genji, and Genji has a love affair with Akashi's daughter. She gives birth to a daughter. Genji's sole daughter later becomes the Empress.
In the Capital, the Emperor is troubled by dreams of his late father, and something begins to affect his eyes. Meanwhile, his mother grows ill, which weakens her powerful sway over the throne. Thus the Emperor orders Genji pardoned, and he returns to Kyoto. His son by Lady Fujitsubo becomes the emperor and Genji finishes his imperial career. The new Emperor Reizei knows Genji is his real father, and raises Genji's rank to the highest possible.
However, when Genji turns 40 years old, his life begins to decline. His political status doesn't change, but his love and emotional life are slowly damaged. He marries another wife, the "Third Princess" (known as
Onna san no miya in the Seidensticker version, or
Nyōsan in Waley's). She bears the son of Genji's nephew later, ("Kaoru"). Genji's new marriage changes the relationship between him and Murasaki, who now wishes to become a nun.
Genji's beloved Murasaki dies. In the following chapter,
Maboroshi ("Illusion"), Genji contemplates how fleeting life is. Immediately after Maboroshi, there's a chapter entitled
Kumogakure ("Vanished into the Clouds") which is left blank, but implies the death of Genji.
The rest of the work is known as the "Uji Chapters". These chapters follow Niou and Kaoru, who are best friends. Niou is an imperial prince, the son of Genji's daughter, the current Empress now that Reizei has abdicated the throne, while Kaoru is known to the world as Genji's son but is in fact fathered by Genji's nephew. The chapters involve Kaoru and Niou's rivalry over several daughters of an imperial prince who lives in
Uji, a place some distance away from the capital. The tale ends abruptly, with Kaoru wondering if the lady he loves is being hidden away by Niou. Kaoru has sometimes been called the first
anti-hero in literature.
Completion
As mentioned in the previous section, the tale ends abruptly, in mid-sentence. Opinions have varied on whether the ending was the intended ending of the author.
Arthur Waley, who made the first English translation of the whole of
The Tale of Genji, believed that the work as we've it was finished.
Ivan Morris, author of
The World of the Shining Prince, believed that it wasn't complete, but that only a few pages or a chapter at most were "missing".
Edward Seidensticker, who made the second translation of the
Genji, believed that it wasn't finished, and that Murasaki Shikibu didn't have a planned story structure with an "ending" and would simply have gone on writing as long as she could.
Literary context
Because it was written to entertain Japanese court of the eleventh century, the work presents many difficulties to modern readers. First and foremost Murasaki's language,
Heian Period court Japanese, was highly inflected and had very complex grammar. Another problem is that naming people was considered rude in Heian court society, so none of the characters are named within the work; instead, the narrator refers to men often by their rank or their station in life, and to women often by the color of their clothing, or by the words used at a meeting, or by the rank of a prominent male relative. This results in different appellations for the same character depending on the chapter.
Another aspect of the language is the importance of using
poetry in conversations. Modifying or rephrasing a classic poem according to the current situation was expected behavior in Heian court life, and often served to communicate thinly veiled allusions. The poems in the
Genji are often in the classic Japanese
tanka form. Many of the poems were well known to the intended audience, so usually only the first few lines are given and the reader is supposed to complete the thought herself, much like today we could say "when in Rome..." and leave the rest of the saying ("...do as the Romans do") unspoken.
As for most Heian literature, the
Genji was probably written mostly (or perhaps entirely) in
kana (Japanese phonetic script) and not in Chinese characters because it was written by a woman for a female audience. Writing in Chinese characters was at the time a masculine pursuit; women were generally discreet when writing in Chinese, confining themselves mostly to pure Japanese words.
Outside of vocabulary related to politics and Buddhism, the
Genji contains remarkably few Chinese loan words. This has the effect of giving the story a very even, smooth flow. However, it also introduces confusion: there are a number of words in the "pure" Japanese vocabulary which have many different meanings, and, for modern readers, context isn't always sufficient to determine which meaning was intended.
Murasaki was neither the first nor the last writer of the Heian period, nor was the
Genji the earliest example of a "
monogatari". Rather, the
Genji stands above other tales of the time in the same way that
Shakespeare's plays outshine other
Elizabethan drama.
Modern readership
Japanese
The complexities of the style mentioned in the previous section make it unreadable by the average Japanese person without dedicated study of the language of the tale.
Therefore translations into modern Japanese and other languages solve these problems by modernizing the language, unfortunately losing some of the meaning, and by giving names to the characters, usually the traditional names used by academics. This gives rise to anachronisms; for instance Genji's first wife is named Aoi because she's known as the lady of the Aoi chapter, in which she dies.
Both scholars and writers have tried translating it. The first translation into modern Japanese was made by the poet
Yosano Akiko. Other known translations were done by the novelists
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki and
Fumiko Enchi.
Because of the cultural difference, reading an annotated version of the
Genji is quite common, even among Japanese. There are several annotated versions by novelists, including
Seiko Tanabe,
Osamu Hashimoto and
Jakucho Setouchi. Many works including a manga series and television dramas are derived from
The Tale of Genji. There have been at least five
manga adaptations of the
Genji. A
manga version by
Waki Yamato,
Asakiyumemishi (
The Tale of Genji in English), is widely read among Japanese youth, and another version, by
Miyako Maki, won the
Shogakukan Manga Award in 1989.
Most Japanese high-school students will read a little bit of the
Genji (the original, not a translation) in their Japanese classes.
English translations
In 2008,
WorldCat identifies 88 editions of this book.
The five major translations into English are each slightly different -- mirroring the personal choices of the translator and the period in which the translation was made. Each version has its merits, its detractors and its advocates; and each is distinguished by the name of the translator. For example, the less widely circulated version translated by
Marutei Tsurunen would typically be referred to as "the Tsurnen
Genji."
The generally recognized "best" translations were created by
Kencho Suematsu,
Arthur Waley,
Edward Seidensticker,
Helen McCullough, and
Royall Tyler.
Major English translations in chronological order:
- "The Suematsu Genji" -- Suematsu's Genji was the first translation into English, but is considered of poor quality and isn't often read today. Significantly, only a few chapters were completed.
- Suematsu, Kencho. (1882). The Tale of Genji. London: Trubner.
"The Waley Genji" -- Waley's Genji is considered a great achievement for his time; but purists have pointed out many errors and some have criticized the overly-free manner in which changes were made to Murasaki's original text. However, when the Waley Genji was first published, it couldn't have been more eagerly received. For example, Time explained that "the reviewers' floundering tributes indicate something of its variegated appeal. In limpid prose The Tale combines curiously modern social satire with great charm of narrative. Translator Waley has done service to literature in salvaging to the Occident this masterpiece of the Orient."
Structure
The novel is traditionally divided in three parts, the first two dealing with the life of Genji, and the last dealing with the early years of two of Genji's prominent descendants, Niou and Kaoru. There are also several short transitional chapters which are usually grouped separately and whose authorship is sometimes questioned.
Genji's rise and fall
- Youth, chapters 1–33: Love, romance, and exile
- Success and setbacks, chapters 34–41: A taste of power and the death of his beloved wife
The transition (chapters 42–44): Very short episodes following Genji's death
Uji, chapters 45–54: Genji's official and secret descendants, Niou and Kaoru
The last and therefore 54th chapter "The Floating Bridge of Dreams" is argued sometimes a separate part from the Uji part by the modern scholars. It seems to continue the story from the previous chapters, but has an unusually abstract chapter title. It is the only chapter whose title has no clear reference within the text, but this may be because the chapter is unfinished. (This question is more difficult because we don't know exactly when the chapters acquired their titles.)
List of chapters
The English translations here are taken from the Royall Tyler translation. It isn't known for certain when the chapters acquired their titles. Early mentions of the Tale refer to chapter numbers, or contain alternate titles for some of the chapters. This may suggest that the titles were added later. The titles are largely derived from poetry that's quoted within the text, or allusions to various characters.
桐壺 Kiritsubo ("Paulownia Pavilion")
帚木 Hahakigi ("Broom Tree")
空蝉 Utsusemi ("Cicada Shell")
夕顔 Yūgao ("Twilight Beauty")
若紫 Wakamurasaki or Waka Murasaki ("Young Murasaki")
末摘花 Suetsumuhana ("Safflower")
紅葉賀 Momiji no Ga ("Beneath the Autumn Leaves")
花宴 Hana no En ("Under the Cherry Blossoms")
葵 Aoi ("Heart-to-Heart")
榊 Sakaki ("Green Branch")
花散里 Hana Chiru Sato ("Falling Flowers")
須磨 Suma ("Suma"; a place name)
明石 Akashi ("Akashi"; another place name)
澪標 Miotsukushi ("Pilgrimage to Sumiyoshi")
蓬生 Yomogiu ("Waste of Weeds")
関屋 Sekiya ("At The Pass")
絵合 E Awase ("Picture Contest")
松風 Matsukaze ("Wind in the Pines")
薄雲 Usugumo ("Wisps of Cloud")
朝顔 Asagao ("Bluebell")
乙女 Otome ("Maidens")
玉鬘 Tamakazura ("Tendril Wreath")
初音 Hatsune ("Warbler's First Song")
胡蝶 Kochō ("Butterflies")
螢 Hotaru ("Fireflies")
常夏 Tokonatsu ("Pink")
篝火 Kagaribi ("Cressets")
野分 Nowaki ("Typhoon")
行幸 Miyuki ("Imperial Progress")
藤袴 Fujibakama ("Thoroughwort Flowers")
真木柱 Makibashira ("Handsome Pillar")
梅が枝 Umegae ("Plum Tree Branch")
藤のうら葉 Fuji no Uraha ("New Wisteria Leaves")
若菜上 Wakana: Jo ("Spring Shoots I")
若菜下 Wakana: Ge ("Spring Shoots II")
柏木 Kashiwagi ("Oak Tree")
横笛 Yokobue ("Flute")
鈴虫 Suzumushi ("Bell Cricket")
夕霧 Yūgiri ("Evening Mist")
御法 Minori ("Law")
幻 Maboroshi ("Seer")
匂宮 Niō no Miya ("Perfumed Prince")
紅梅 Kōbai ("Red Plum Blossoms")
竹河 Takekawa ("Bamboo River")
橋姫 Hashihime ("Maiden of the Bridge")
椎が本 Shīgamoto ("Beneath the Oak")
総角 Agemaki ("Trefoil Knots")
早蕨 Sawarabi ("Bracken Shoots")
宿り木 Yadorigi ("Ivy")
東屋 Azumaya ("Eastern Cottage")
浮舟 Ukifune ("A Drifting Boat")
蜻蛉 Kagerō ("Mayfly")
手習 Te'narai ("Writing Practice")
夢の浮橋 Yume no Ukihashi ("Floating Bridge of Dreams")
There is one additional chapter between 41 and 42 in some manuscripts called 雲隠 (Kumogakure) which means "Vanished into the Clouds" — the chapter is a title only, and is probably intended to evoke Genji's death. Some scholars have posited the existence of a chapter between 1 and 2 which is now lost, which would have introduced some characters that (as it stands now) appear very abruptly.
Later authors have composed additional chapters, most often either between 41 and 42, or after the end.
Manuscripts
The oldest existing manuscript of the Genji dates back to the Kamakura period (1185–1333). Its transcription was supervised by Fujiwara Teika and was the basis for later manuscripts in the Muromachi period. However, the only known copy is incomplete. Only four chapters of the original 54 have survived the intervening years.
On March 10th, 2008 it was announced that a late Kamakura period manuscript was found in Kyōto. It is the sixth chapter "Suetsumuhana" and is 65 pages in length. Most remaining manuscripts are based on copies of the Teika manuscript which introduced revisions in the original. This newly discovered manuscript belongs to a different linage and wasn't influenced by Teika. Professor Yamamoto Tokurō who examined the manuscript said, "This is a precious discovery as Kamakura manuscripts are so rare." Professor Katō Yōsuke said, "This is an important discovery as it asserts that non-Teika manuscripts were being read during the Kamakura period."
Illustrated scroll
A famous twelfth century scroll, the Genji Monogatari Emaki, contains illustrated scenes from the Genji together with handwritten sōgana text. This scroll is the earliest extant example of a Japanese "picture scroll": collected illustrations and calligraphy of a single work. The original scroll is believed to have comprised 10-20 rolls and covered all 54 chapters. The extant pieces include only 19 illustrations and 65 pages of text, plus nine pages of fragments. This is estimated at roughly 15% of the envisioned original. The Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya has three of the scrolls handed down in the Owari branch of the Tokugawa clan and one scroll held by the Hachisuka family is now in the Gotoh Museum in Tokyo. The scrolls are designated National Treasures of Japan. The scrolls are so sensitive to light and air, that they're never shown in public and sealed away. An oversize English photoreproduction and translation was printed in limited edition by Kodansha International (Tale of Genji Scroll, ISBN 0-87011-131-0).
Other notable versions are by Tosa Mitsuoki, who lived from 1617 to 1691. His paintings are closely based on Heian style from the existing scrolls from the 12th century and are fully complete. The tale was also a popular theme in Ukiyo-e prints from the Edo period.
Film adaptations
The Tale of Genji has been translated into cinematic form several times. In 1951 by director Kozaburo Yoshimura, in 1966 by director Kon Ichikawa, and in 1987 by director Gisaburo Sugii. The latter is an animated film. The last isn't a complete version, and basically covers the first 12 chapters, while adding in some psychological motivation that isn't made explicit in the novel. In 2001 Tonko Horikawa made an adaptation with an all-female cast. In the movie, Sennen no Koi - Hikaru Genji Monogatari ("Genji, A 1000-Year Love"), Murasaki tells the Genji story to a girl as a lesson on men's behavior. The 1955 Kenji Mizoguchi film Yokihi (or Princess Yang Kwei-fei) can be seen as a sort of prequel to Genji.
Operatic adaptations
The Tale of Genji has also been adapted into an opera by Miki Minoru, composed during 1999 and first performed the following year at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, with original libretto by Colin Graham (in English), later translated into Japanese by the composer.
Characters
Part I
many characters also appear in Part II, but rarely in Part III.
Hikaru Genji-- The protagonist of Parts 1 and 2. He is the child of the emperor and a low ranked concubine named Kiritsubo who died in her youth. He is an ideal courtier both in politics and in elegance. Genji uses his good looks to get himself out of a lot of sticky situations.
Emperor Kiritsubo-- The father of Genji, Emperor Suzaku and Hachinomiya (lit. The Eighth Prince). Legally he's also the father of Emperor Reizei whose actual father is Genji. After the death of Kiritsubo, he finds a noble lady whose features resemble his deceased wife and he makes her his empress. See also Empress Fujitsubo.
Empress Fujitsubo-- Empress Fujitsubo is empress to Emperor Kiritsubo, and mother-in-law to Genji. She was a royal princess from birth, as the fourth daughter of the "previous emperor" who occupied the thrown prior to Emperor Kiritsubo. In his childhood Genji admired her and felt affection towards her. In adulthood, Genji falls in love with her and she bears him a son who would later take the throne as Emperor Reizei. Fujitsubo dies soon after Genji returns from his exile in Harima province. Genji's two wives, Lady Murasaki and Onna San-no-miya are her nieces.
Lady Aoi--She is Genji's first principle wife. Their marriage wasn't a happy one, although the two reconcile at one point. She falls ill during her pregnancy and dies soon after she gives birth to Yugiri, her only child.
To no Chujo / Naidaijin / Chishi-no-Otodo --Genji's friend and brother-in-law. He is the elder brother of Lady Aoi (see the above) and a good competitive rival both in private life and later in public. He is referred to only by his position and has no particular nickname unlike the other characters. To No Chujo likes to spy on Genji to find out what Genji is up to. Later in his life he gains the rank of Naidaijin, and competes with Genji to make their daughters empresses.
Lady Rokujo-- A lady is jealous over the many philandorous acts Genji partakes in. She is widowed by Genji's uncle, a deceased crown prince and younger brother of Emperor Kiritsubo. She is especially infuritated by Lady Aoi andthis causes her to move out of the palace. She practices magic of sorts and at one point transports her soul into Lady Aoi's body and tries to seduce Genji through her. She comes to repent her acts and ends her relationship with Genji. And left Kyoto, accompanying her daughter who was appointed the priestess of Ise Shrine. She later bothered another Genji's wife, then Lady Murasaki, as a ghost.
Lady Murasaki --Genji's second but actually de-facto wife. She is pretty younger than Genji. She was a niece of Empress Fujitsubo and their resemblance attracted Genji. When Genji visited a nunnery, he found a child that resembled a woman of the court. He became so enthralled with the idea of raising a child to become a woman of his own, and finally kidnapped her after the death of her grandmother who had raised her. Since her raising wasn't fully competitive, Genji didn't formally marry her, while she was treated as if she were the primary wife of Genji by himself and the others. Later she realized her vulnerability in position when Genji formally married Onna san-no-miya. And she then horribly realized she was just an alternative of the woman who she hadn't known, that is, Empress Fujitsubo. The instability of life and love beats her seriously, and she wanted to be a nun but Genji gives no permission. In the age of 37, she gets illness and has deceased, one year earlier than Genji.
Lady Akashi --Born as a middle ranked noble, love affair with Genji wasn't her own intent but her father was persistent to get them involved into relationship. She gives a birth to a girl who is the only daughter of Genji. She brings up her daughter (called Little Lady Akashi, later Empress Akashi) until she become four old age, but then Genji brings the little girl to Lady Murasaki for adoption. Lady Akashi is saddened but gradually accepts the situation. Later she meets her daughter again, now a court lady of the crown prince, and received many honors as the mother in birth of her. She then receives a letter from his father about his fortune-telling dream. He writes the dream gave him a prediction that his granddaughter from Lady Akashi would become the empress, and he made all his efforts to realize it.
Tamakazura -- a daughter of To No Chujo and a lady called Yugao who was later a concubine of Genji too. Tamakazura is adopted by Genji eventually, while she wants to meet his real father who doesn't know she's still alive. Genji makes a salon of her worshipers and have a slight joy to see commotions young men cause for getting her love. Her brother, sons of To No Chujo, are involved, not knowing their actual relations. Genji himself flirts her and have fun to see her reactions. Later, To No Chujo and she meet again in the courtesy of Genji. Genji has an idea who to marry with her, but she's raped by a middle-aged courtier and become his wife.
Part II
Kashiwagi--is To No Chujo's eldest son and best friend to Yugiri. He has an affair with Genji's youngest wife, the Third Princess, which results in the birth of Kaoru.
Quotations
Sources
The Tale of Genji Summary
Character section was used.
