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The Tale of Genji

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The Tale of Genji The Tale of Genji Murasaki Shikibu The Tale of Genji Table of Contents The Tale of Genji.......................................................................................................................................................1 Murasaki Shikibu...........................................................................................................................................1 {The Paulownia Court}................................................................................................................................23 2....................................................................................................................................................................24 3....................................................................................................................................................................24 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Shell of the Locust}........................................................................................................................................53 1...................................................................................................................................................................53 2...................................................................................................................................................................53 3...................................................................................................................................................................54 4...................................................................................................................................................................56 5...................................................................................................................................................................57 {Evening Faces}......................................................................................................................................................58 1...................................................................................................................................................................58 2...................................................................................................................................................................58 3...................................................................................................................................................................59 4...................................................................................................................................................................60 i The Tale of Genji Table of Contents The Tale of Genji 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  • Japanese Aesthetics and the Tale of Genji Liya Li Department of English SUNY/Rockland Community College [email protected] T
    Japanese Aesthetics and The Tale of Genji Liya Li Department of English SUNY/Rockland Community College [email protected] Table of Contents 1. Themes and Uses 2. Instructor’s Introduction 3. Student Readings 4. Discussion Questions 5. Sample Writing Assignments 6. Further Reading and Resources 1. Themes and Uses Using an excerpt from the chapter “The Sacred Tree,” this unit offers a guide to a close examination of Japanese aesthetics in The Tale of Genji (ca.1010). This two-session lesson plan can be used in World Literature courses or any course that teaches components of Zen Buddhism or Japanese aesthetics (e.g. Introduction to Buddhism, the History of Buddhism, Philosophy, Japanese History, Asian Literature, or World Religion). Specifically, the lesson plan aims at helping students develop a deeper appreciation for both the novel and important concepts of Japanese aesthetics. Over the centuries since its composition, Genji has been read through the lenses of some of the following terms, which are explored in this unit: • miyabi (“courtly elegance”; refers to the aristocracy’s privileging of a refined aesthetic sensibility and an indirectness of expression) • mono no aware (the “poignant beauty of things;” describes a cultivated sensitivity to the ineluctable transience of the world) • wabi-sabi (wabi can be translated as “rustic beauty” and sabi as “desolate beauty;” the qualities usually associated with wabi and sabi are austerity, imperfection, and a palpable sense of the passage of time. • yûgen (an emotion, a sentiment, or a mood so subtle and profoundly elegant that it is beyond what words can describe) For further explanation of these concepts, see the unit “Buddhism and Japanese Aesthetics” (forthcoming on the ExEAS website.) 2.
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  • Reading and Re-Envisioning the Tale of Genji Through the Ages
    Symbols of each chapters of The Tale of Genji Thematic Exhibition Ⅳ Dissemination of the Genji Tale from the Genji-kō Incense Game Reading and Re-envisioning The Tale of Genji attracted many readers, irrespective of gender, through "Genji-kō" is a name of the kumikō incense game which is tasting different the beauty of the text and its thorough depictions fragrances and guessing the name, developed in Edo period. Participants The Tale of Genji of every aspect of classical court culture, its skillful would taste 5 different fragrances and draw a horizontal line to connect the psychological portrayals of the characters, and same fragrance. Thus drawn, figures appear in 52 different shapes, matching through the Ages its diverse world view based on Japanese the number of chapters of The Tale of Genji except the first and the last ones, and Chinese literature, various arts, and and they are called "Genji-kō" design. The "Genji-kō" design often appears in Buddhism. Not only did it have a significant impact on various traditional craft works as well as design of Japanese confectionery later literary works, but its influence can also be seen in associated with the story of The Tale of Genji. Japanese performing arts, such as Noh theater, and cultural arts, such as incense ceremony (kōdō), and tea ceremony (sadō), as well as the arts and crafts that accompany them. 46 37 28 1 9 1 0 1 “The Tale of Genji,” written Shiigamoto Yokobue Nowaki Usugumo Sakaki Kiritsubo At the same time, as a narrative that features Art Museum & The Tokugawa 2020 / By Hōsa Library, City of Nagoya Nov.
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    THE TALE OF GENJI BY MURASAKI SHIKIBU TRANS. BY SUYEMATZ KENCHIO COMPILED AND EDITED BY RHONDA L. KELLEY Figure 1 Hiroshige Ukiyo-e, (1852), shows an interior court scene from The Tale of Genji. Murasaki Shikibu’s romantic novel, The Tale of Genji, provides a fascinating insight into the Japanese imperial court of the 10th and 11th centuries. As a noblewoman, Shikibu was ideally situated to write about court life and the loves and losses of the men and women in it. She lived and wrote at the height of Japan’s classical age and was, therefore, a witness to a flourishing of art and literature and to the rise of the samurai and the beginning of Japan’s feudal period. Shikibu’s original audience would have been other court ladies to whom she would have distributed each chapter as she finished it, and so while the novel definitely has a central and unifying plot, it also has an episodic or serial presentation. The novel consists of 54 chapters and covers the rise and fall of the eponymous hero and the adventures of his children. This novel, one of the first ever written, was well known in the west to those who were interested in Japanese culture and politics, but it was not widely available to English readers until over 800 years after it was written, when in 1882 a Japanese politician, The Viscount Suyematz Kenchio (Suematsu Kenchō), while studying law at Cambridge, translated the first 17 chapters of Genji into English. This anthology presents those first two chapters. Rhonda L.
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  • A COMPARISON of the MURASAKI SHIKIBU DIARY and the LETTER of ABUTSU Carolina Negri
    Rivista degli Studi Orientali 2017.qxp_Impaginato 26/02/18 08:37 Pagina 281 REFERENCE MANUALS FOR YOUNG LADIES-IN-WAITING: A COMPARISON OF THE MURASAKI SHIKIBU DIARY AND THE LETTER OF ABUTSU Carolina Negri The nature of the epistolary genre was revealed to me: a form of writing devoted to another person. Novels, poems, and so on, were texts into which others were free to enter, or not. Letters, on the other hand, did not exist without the other person, and their very mission, their signifcance, was the epiphany of the recipient. Amélie Nothomb, Une forme de vie The paper focuses on the comparison between two works written for women’s educa- tion in ancient Japan: The Murasaki Shikibu nikki (the Murasaki Shikibu Diary, early 11th century) and the Abutsu no fumi (the Letter of Abutsu, 1263). Like many literary docu- ments produced in the Heian (794-1185) and in the Kamakura (1185-1333) periods they describe the hard life in the service of aristocratic fgures and the difculty of managing relationships with other people. Both are intended to show women what positive ef- fects might arise from sharing certain examples of good conduct and at the same time, the inevitable negative consequences on those who rejected them. Keywords: Murasaki Shikibu nikki; Abutsu no fumi; ladies-in.waiting; letters; women’s education 1. “The epistolary part” of the Murasaki Shikibu Diary cholars are in agreement on the division of the contents of Murasaki Shikibu nikki (the Murasaki Shikibu Diary, early 11th century) into four dis- Stinct parts. The frst, in the style of a diary (or an ofcial record), presents events from autumn 1008 to the following New Year, focusing on the birth of the future heir to the throne, Prince Atsuhira (1008-1036).
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  • The Disaster of the Third Princess
    6. Two Post-Genji Tales on The Tale of Genji Two roughly late twelfth century works represent a transition in the reception of The Tale of Genji. The first, Genji shaku by Sesonji Koreyuki (d. 1175), begins the long line of scholarly commentaries that are still being written today.1 The second, Mumyōzōshi (ca. 1200, attributed to Shunzei’s Daughter), can perhaps be said to round off the preceding era, when Genji was simply a monogatari (tale) among others, enjoyed above all by women. In contrast with Koreyuki’s textual glosses, Mumyōzōshi gives passionate reader responses to characters and incidents in several monogatari, including Genji. The discovery of something like it from much earlier in the preceding two hundred years would be very welcome. Fortunately, some evidence of earlier reader reception survives after all, not in critical works, but in post-Genji tales themselves. Showing as they do demonstrable Genji influence, they presumably suggest at times, in one way or another, what the author made of Genji, or how she understood this or that part of it. This essay will discuss examples from Sagoromo monogatari (ca. 1070–80, by Rokujō no Saiin Senji, who served the Kamo Priestess Princess Baishi)2 and Hamamatsu Chūnagon monogatari (ca. 1060, attributed to the author of Sarashina nikki). Chief among them are the meaning of the chapter title “Yume no ukihashi”; the question of what happens to Ukifune between “Ukifune” and “Tenarai”; and the significance of Genji’s affair with Fujitsubo. Discussion of these topics, especially the second, will hark back at times to material presented in earlier essays, although this time with a different purpose.
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  • The Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Tale of Genji and a Dream of Red Mansions
    Volume 5, No. 2-3 24 The Cross-cultural Comparison of The Tale of Genji and A Dream of Red Mansions Mengmeng ZHOU Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China; Email: [email protected] Abstract: The Tale of Genji, and A Dream of Red Mansions are the classic work of oriental literature. The protagonists Murasaki-no-ue and Daiyu, as the representatives of eastern ideal female images, reflect the similarities and differences between Japanese culture and Chinese culture. It is worthwhile to elaborate and analyze from cross-cultural perspective in four aspects: a) the background of composition; b）the psychological character; c) the cultural aesthetic orientation; and d）value orientation. Key Words: Murasaki-no-ue; Daiyu; cross-cultural study 1. THE BACKGROUND OF COMPOSITION The Tale of Genji, is considered to be finished in its present form between about 1000 and 1008 in Heian-era of Japan. The exact time of final copy is still on doubt. The author Murasaki Shikibu was born in a family of minor nobility and a member the northern branch of the Fujiwara clan. It is argued that her given name might have been Fujiwara Takako. She had been a maid of honor in imperial court. As a custom in imperial court, the maid of honor was given an honorific title by her father or her brother‘s position. ―Shikibu‖ refers to her elder brother‘s position in the Bureau of Ceremony (shikibu-shō).―Murasaki‖ is her nickname, which is called by the readers, after the character Murasaki-no-ue in The Tale of Genji.
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  • Il Genji Monogatari 源氏物語
    IL GENJI MONOGATARI 源氏物語 1008, Murasaki Shikibu 紫式部 STRUTTURA DELL’OPERA Perdita del manoscritto originale, ma circolazione di sezioni dell’opera sin dagli anni di composizione Versione definitiva del testo: Fujiwara no Teika, tardo dodicesimo secolo (codice Aobyōshi ): 54 capitoli, che includono prosa e 795 waka (opera più lunga della storia della narrativa giapponese) • Capitoli 1-41: avventure amorose di Hikaru Genji 光 源氏 (Genji lo splendente) (1-33: giovinezza) • Capitoli 42-54: “eredi” di Genji, Kaoru Chūjō 薫中將 e Niou no miya 匂の宮 (con 3 capitoli di transizione) Non è certo se questi fossero la divisione/ordine originari (n.b.: pratica del “rizoma”) ALTRE PROBLEMATICHE FILOLOGICHE Problema del titolo: • compare come Genji no Monogatari nel Murasaki Shikibu Nikki • testi più tardi riportano anche le varianti Hikaru Genji Monogatari e Murasaki no Monogatari . Esistono varianti anche dei titoli dei capitoli: • Quelli “standard” sono ricavati da elementi chiave del capitolo stesso • È probabile che inizialmente fossero privi di titolo o indicati con un numero STILE Uso e nuova codifica del wabun Base: lingua colloquiale dell’aristocrazia di Heian, trasformata in lingua letteraria e poetica Vocabolario ristretto Commistione con la poesia • Uso di citazioni poetiche in prosa (attraverso parafrasi o allusioni: pratica dello hikiuta 引歌) Modello per la lingua letteraria di tutta la produzione narrativa successiva. Altri elementi stilistici che caratterizzano l’opera (e fanno da modello per la narrativa successiva) Ricchezza di
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    Cipango - French Journal of Japanese Studies English Selection 3 | 2014 On The Tale of Genji: Narrative, Poetics, Historical Context From the Kagerō no nikki to the Genji monogatari Du Kagerō no nikki au Genji monogatari Jacqueline Pigeot Electronic version URL: https://journals.openedition.org/cjs/687 DOI: 10.4000/cjs.687 ISSN: 2268-1744 Publisher INALCO Electronic reference Jacqueline Pigeot, “From the Kagerō no nikki to the Genji monogatari”, Cipango - French Journal of Japanese Studies [Online], 3 | 2014, Online since 12 October 2015, connection on 08 July 2021. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/cjs/687 ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/cjs.687 This text was automatically generated on 8 July 2021. Cipango - French Journal of Japanese Studies is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. From the Kagerō no nikki to the Genji monogatari 1 From the Kagerō no nikki to the Genji monogatari Du Kagerō no nikki au Genji monogatari Jacqueline Pigeot EDITOR'S NOTE Original release : Jacqueline PIGEOT, « Du Kagerō no nikki au Genji monogatari », Cipango, Hors-série, 2008, 69-87. Jacqueline PIGEOT, « Du Kagerō no nikki au Genji monogatari », Cipango [En ligne], Hors- série | 2008, mis en ligne le 24 février 2012. URL : http://cipango.revues.org/592 ; DOI : 10.4000/cipango.592 1 The scholarly community now concurs that the Genji monogatari is indebted to the Kagerō no nikki 蜻蛉日記 (The Kagerō Diary), the first extant work in Japanese prose written by a woman.1 2 The Kagerō author, known only as “the mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna” 藤原道綱母, and Murasaki Shikibu are separated by a generation or two: the former was born in 936 and the latter around 970.
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