The Tale of Genji: A Visual Journey Through the World’s First Novel

All images courtesy of the author. It’s 8pm on a Sunday night in Tokyo and, as usual, I clear my schedule to catch the latest episode of the historical drama Dear Radiance (Hikaru Kimie). The show is set in the lush universe of Japan’s 11th century and follows the life of Mahiro, while turning a close eye to the political machinations of the Heian aristocracy that surrounds her. In a recent episode, star-crossed lovers Mahiro and Saburo finally came clean with their secrets, namely that Saburo is not a commoner and that his violent brother murdered Mahiro’s mother. But the greater drama for the me is that Mahiro is actually Murasaki Shikibu, the great Japanese writer of the novel The Tale of Genji , written circa 1000 AD. Murasaki Shikibu meshed with my reading psyche early in my life and remains in my brain, influencing me. I had a white father who grew up in America and a Japanese mother, and very early learned the trick of relating to characters emotionally even if they didn’t look like me, which they almost never did. Jo March, the classic bookish girl’s first love, was spirited and honest and I told myself I could be too. When I was fourteen, my mother took me to Uji, near Kyoto and told me about The Tale of Genji . As we drank our matcha tea, my mother calmly informed me Genji was the world’s first novel and written by a woman. Ever after, when I ran into a stereotypical image of an Asian woman in western culture, Shikibu appeared in my imagination like some apotropaic force, warding off evil voices in my head. A weighty book comprised of 54 chapters and almost 800 poems, The Tale of Genji features the amorous pursuits of Prince Genji and his paramours, most of whom are women. The novel’s impact on Japanese culture has been profound and long-lasting; the well-known, and male, twentieth century writers, Mishima and Kawabata, often cited The Tale of Genji as inspiration. My own comprehension of Genji has been gradual, because the novel requires […]

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