Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji: The Manga Edition

by Sean Michael Wilson, Inko Ai Takita (Illustrator)

Step into a story of life and love in Kyoto's 10th century royal court.

Tale of Genji tells the story of Prince Genji, the passionate heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne. Handsome, romantic, and talented in the art of seduction, Prince Genji skillfully navigates the court and all its intrigues--always in search of love and often finding it. His story is the oldest and most famous tale of romance in the annals of Japanese literature and, as a representation of passion and romance, remains beyond compare.

Lady Murasaki Shikibu wrote this story some 500 years before Shakespeare put pen to paper. It is acknowledged to be the world's very first novel, and English-speaking readers can now experience the story in manga style for the first time.

Superbly illustrated and retold, this visual take on Japan's most important classic offers an intimate look at the social mores and intrigues in the Heian-era court of medieval Japan, and Prince Genji's representation as the ideal male courtier.

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Japan, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Comics, Asian Literature

192 pages, Paperback

Published April 26, 2022

About the author

Sean Michael Wilson is a comic book writer from Scotland. He has had around 30 books published with a variety of US, UK and Japanese publishers, including: a comic book version of A Christmas Carol ('Best of 2008’, Sunday Times), AX:alternative manga ( 'Best ten books of 2010’, Publishers Weekly), Parecomic (with an introduction by Noam Chomsky, his first contribution to a book in graphic form). He is currently writing books for big Japanese publisher Kodansha, being the only British writer to do so. In fact, he is the only pro manga writer from Britain who lives in Japan. He is also the editor of the critically acclaimed collection 'AX:alternative manga' (Publishers Weekly's 'Best ten books of 2010' and nominated for a Harvey award).

Working with various Japanese artists he has written a unique line of Japanese history/martial arts/Samurai books, including The Book of Five Rings, Secrets of the Ninja, The 47 Ronin, and Cold Mountain (winner of China Comic and Animation Competition 2015 ‘Best Overseas Comic’ award). In 2016 his book 'The Faceless Ghost' was nominated for an Eisner Award. In 2017 he became the first British person to receive an International Manga Award from the Japanese Government. In 2019 his book 'The Many Not the Few' was launched by the Labour Party leader in an event in the Houses of Parliament. In 2020 he received the Scottish Samurai Award from an association promoting connections between Japan and Scotland.

He does comic books outside the normal superhero/fantasy brands, going into areas such as history, biography, drama, and social issues, often in collaboration with universities, charities and book publishers. He often gives lectures and talks about comics in schools and colleges, and writes articles for such places as The Japan Times, The London Economic and The Herald Scotland.

Reviews

[Rosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first ever English manga adaptation of Lady Murasaki's “Tale of Genji”, acknowledged as the world's oldest known novel.

The original book is supposed to be the oldest and most famous tale of romance in Japanese literature. The (alleged) author, Lady Murasaki Shikibu (pseudonym given to her at court; original name unknown) wrote this story around 1020 CE, some 500 years before Shakespeare.

The introductory note by author Sean Michael Wilson is very helpful in getting the right background for the novel. It reveals that there are many translated versions of the original, and this manga takes inspiration from multiple versions rather than sticking to a single translation. What is also of note is that all the translations are well beyond a thousand pages long, but this manga is just about 180 pages in length. Wilson’s intention is to present the key elements of the original that, though incomplete, will be coherent and interesting. The story arc in this manga limits itself to Genji’s life. The original contained about 795 poems, a few of which are translated and presented in this manga version.

As I haven’t read the original (or rather, any of the English translations), I have no idea how this manga version stands in comparison to the full-length story. But I guess you can look at it as an introductory version of the original. But if you like the traditional story format of a definite start-middle-end progression, this book isn’t for you.

Genji is the emperor’s son but not from the main wife, so his position in the royal court can never be strong. To compensate for the lack of power, he seems to be intent on pursuing love. The story is thus more like a series of episodes, with each episode containing a new love interest of Genji or the other Japanese males from the aristocratic families. The events move very quickly and the story spans multiple generations, though the essence stays the same: the men fall in love with the women and the women accept their fate.

There are quite a lot of characters even in this condensed version. If you go with the flow, things might be a little easier for you. There is a family chart and a character list, but these were inconvenient to access in the digital version.

Genji would certainly be called a womaniser in today’s world rather than being considered “the ideal Japanese male”. It is tough to keep track of his lady loves for he seems to be shuffling his affection from one woman to another within every few pages. It is very difficult to keep our 21st century mindset aside and accept this story for the time period it was written in. It is not just Genji’s numerous conquests, but the way the women have no will of their own and are forced to accept Genji’s advances as if they were a gift seems so forced and pitiful. Only one of the Genji’s conquests, Lady Murasaki, seems to have a strong will and independent mind. Then again, her character begins as a child under Genji’s guardianship and later grows up to marry him. Some of his romantic targets are as young as 13. So many incidents should have counted as rape. This definitely isn’t a story that has stood the test of time.

The illustrations by Inko Ai Takita are captivating. Her skill is visible in every panel. The only reason I wish this were not a manga is that I could have then seen those beautiful sketches in colour.

Basically, if you want a glimpse of 10th century Japan and the social traditions and lifestyle of the royal court in that era, this would be a good book to try. But Genji's representation as the ideal male courtier certainly stunned me and I fail to see why he was someone to aspire to be like.

3 stars, all for the illustrations and the valiant attempt to bring this epic to modern readers. No star for the original story because it truly wasn’t to my liking.

My thanks to Tuttle Publishing and Edelweiss+ for the DRC of “Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji: The Manga Edition”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.



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[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Literature's original fuckboy gets to bring his bed-hopping and human-trafficking lifestyle to the graphic novel format.

I bought the original book for a college course back in the 1980s, but I never read it through, just flipping through it for the parts I needed for class. It seemed dull. This adaptation cements that impression.

But I don't think I was aware what a creep Genji is, kidnapping and adopting young girls and grooming them to become sexual partners on top of his general infidelity. This is a boring day-to-day soap opera of way too many characters crushing on and sexually harassing or raping others.

The art is okay, but sometimes it was hard to distinguish between the many too-similar characters. Too often I'd think, which mopey, horny guy in a robes and a hat is this one again?

[Li Ya 🪷]

Na ten moment nie jestem w stanie dać oceny tej książce, bo nie mam pojęcia jakie mam odczucia wobec niej.

To jest trochę tak, jak ze streszczeniami lektur. Przyznam się, że w liceum i gimnazjum często nie czytałam lektur (przepraszam, ale większość z nich jest po prostu koszmarna) i sięgałam po streszczenia. I właśnie mangowa wersja „Opowieści o Genjim” to takie bardzo krótkie streszczenie lektury. Szczerze mówiąc, chyba tak trzeba tę książkę traktować - bez oceniania całego dzieła jedynie przez pryzmat mangi.

Szczerze? Manga zachęciła mnie do sięgnięcia po oryginał, ale biorąc pod uwagę ile wątków jest w tej książce i jak długa jest jej pierwotna wersja, nie wiem czy kiedykolwiek podołam przeczytaniu jej.

[współpraca barterowa]

[sheribubble · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this alongside my boyfriend and normally we'd fly through a manga but this took forever to read. It was unnecessarily complex (and yet maybe too simplified) and the story was just not up my alley. I knew nothing going into this and was keen to read a cute ancient Japanese romance and instead it was more like Lolita and somehow even more morally messy. There were aspects that were interesting but overall wasn't very enjoyable.

[Valérie Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'avais lu des extraits du roman Le Dit du Genji. Mais j'étais curieuse d'explorer une adaptation en manga, réunissant et résumant de plus longs moments de cette oeuvre écrite il y a 1000 ans par une dame de la cour.

D'abord, le style d'écriture est probablement basé sur le texte du roman (je n'ai pas lu la version anglaise du roman) car les phrases sont remarquables. On y sent l'élégance et la poésie de l'autrice, sa sensibilité aussi. Il y a eu un immense travail pour résumer des chapitres complexes, avec plusieurs personnages. Mais on arrive à suivre le récit et les aventures des différentes personnes rencontrées, qu'on suit à plusieurs stades de leur vie. Je salue cet excellent travail.

Ensuite, les dessins ne sont pas chargés de détails, mais il y a suffisamment de soin pour saisir la complexité des kimonos, les transparences des rideaux, les fleurs des saisons, les expressions des visages.

Mais ma surprise réside dans l'histoire! J'avais déjà une idée du synopsis, je connaissais aussi le monde aristocratique et les manoeuvres politiques de l'ère Heian (après avoir lu Sei Shônagon et Izumi Shikibu), mais la façon très frontale que les hommes ont de forcer les femmes à leur "céder" (ça inclut le prince Genji, mais à peu près tous les hommes agissent ainsi quand il s'agit de "séduire") n'est plus tout à fait la méthode favorisée aujourd'hui... On n'est pas tout à fait dans le consentement, à plusieurs occasions...

Et ce qui est fascinant est la sensibilité de l'autrice à ce sujet, même à son époque très lointaine "où c'était normal d'agir ainsi". Certaines phrases sont des critiques directes de la société de l'époque:

Par exemple: la petite Murasaki est pratiquement enlevée par Genji, adoptée par lui, puis devient sa 2e épouse. Quand la belle Tamazakura rejoint la maisonnée du prince Genji, sa femme Murasaki lui dit: "Tamazakura is very young and seems to have complete confidence in you. But I once have personal experience of what your 'fatherly interest' can lead to. I was once in a similar position to her and unless I am mistaken you were not very successful at resisting improper behavior towards me!"

Ou encore, cet homme (que je ne vous nommerai pas) argumente avec sa femme car il en courtise une autre et elle l'a découvert. Il lui sort l'argument-choc: "A woman who stands first among rivals is more distinguished than one who stands alone. And it's a fact of nature that the affection of a husband is far more likely to be strong if he is allowed a certain amount of variety."

Elle lui répond, loin d'être une idiote: "Ha! I notice how these facts of nature benefit the husband much more than the wife."

Bref, c'est un récit qui raconte les moeurs d'une époque, mais aussi la critique tout en élégance. Ça m'a encore plus donner envie de lire l'oeuvre en entier. Je m'y lancerai, c'est sûr!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The interesting thing about reading an abridged, condensed version of a 1ooo+ page novel is that it's easier to notice the flaws. It's not that hard to see Genji as the progenitor of today's "Nice Guys," although that's not entirely fair to the character; it's simply harder to get into his head and understand the thought processes going on in this format. But the heart of the story is intact and the art is really beautiful, just the right amount of stylized. There are a couple of typos, but otherwise I'd easily recommend this as an introduction to Lady Murasaki's novel.

[˚⊱ Avi ⊰˚ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very pretty art and seems to do well at condensing a very long tale into under 200 pages. I will say the contents is are a product of the time and are a BIG ICK by today's standards. There is so much child grooming in here, it's rather uncomfortable.. Nothing explicit, but still..

Again very pretty art, but I can't give this a very high rating because of the content.

1.5 stars

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

This is a nice introduction to a thousand year old story - one that doesn't follow a traditional narrative and has a huge cast of characters spanning several lifetimes. In order to take such a huge story and bring it down to something accessible and enjoyable, the adaptors and artists chose to focus on just Genji's life and indeed the manga ends with his death though there is so much more in the original story. Many characters were removed to keep the focus on Genji's life and I applaud the effort and result here to make this an enjoyable read. The illustration work is superb.

Story: Genji is the son of the emperor but only from a minor concubine. He knows he can never inherit so instead spends his life pursuing his heart. He meets many women over the years, some young, some old, most wealthy, some married, some single. There are only a few true loves over the years and the women in his life know they will always have to share him (much to their heartbreak).

Tale of Genji is the story of a man and his many conquests. Genji is considered extremely handsome and encounters no problems seducing the many women over the years. That is the pretty much the extent of the 'plot' here - a good looking prince and his many women. But it is a nice eye into ancient Japanese court life.

The story really has no structure and out of the hundreds of poems throughout the original, several are included here, which is a nice touch. I appreciated that since the poems are not just pretty decorations but instead are there to also tell the story.

The illustration work is beautiful - a very stunning mix of Japanese and Western styles that is smooth and elegant. Because there is so much Western influence, this is a book that will appeal to all audiences and not just manga aficionados. The work is clean, the panels neither busy nor sparse but all nicely laid out and look to be historically accurate. The perfect artist was chosen to illustrate this beloved story.

In all, I enjoyed the read. There are indeed a lot of characters and since it spans Genji's life, it can be hard to keep track of them and then their children and their children's children. But at its heart it is a set of love stories - Genji's and other characters he meets in his life. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this way of getting to know the Japanese classic, Tale of Genji. Illustrator Inko Ai Takita does a magnificent job with the flowing floral detail robes, hair, and costumes of the imperial Japanese court. The soft nature of the setting and sensitively-drawn faces align with the romantic mood cultivated by the snippets of poems that dot the text.

Not that modern readers would consider most Heian-era seduction romantic. In fact, Genji manages to seduce two teens that he hand-selected to raise (one for over a decade) because he was their mother / aunt’s lover 🫠 The Cast of Characters and Genealogical Charts sections are crucial, since Genji sleeps with six women in the first chapter alone and most of court have familial ties. Let’s hope the back cover’s assertion that « the charming Genji has come to represent the ideal Japanese male figure » is not too literal. 😅

So there you have it. Author Murasaki Shikubu in 1021 was apparently the original Lady Whistledown, with the nature of the scandals she covered ranging from poetic smackdowns to Game of Thrones-grade sexual violence. I can see why this Tale has remained popular throughout the generations!

Three stars for this edition because some of the written captions contained egregious typos. Since this book was produced by an English publishing house and the adaptation authored by an English speaker, presence of that level of error seem a bit unprofessionally careless.

[Nick Topakas · Rating 2 out of 5]

A TOUGH read.

This manga is based off what is claimed to be one of the first literary novels - and the themes are extremely dated.

Based on this depiction, Genji is a womanising, child abducting, pedophile who is made to be a saint who can do no wrong… who occasionally does wrong - while I acknowledge people died around 30-35 during the Heian period in Japan, and perhaps 13 was considered almost middle aged to some of the time, it still doesn’t sit right reading about Genji adopting young girls - sometimes without parental consent (kidnapping), only to eventually lay with them - all whilst married.
Again, different times, different culture, but tough.

The story can be difficult to keep track of but thankfully there is a glossary of characters (which I probably flicked to about 100 times).

To top it off, this version of the book had about 15 errors in the text that made me question if this version had been properly edited prior to publishing or not.

The saving grace is that the art is quite beautiful, not good enough to always be able to distinguish who is who at all times or who is talking at all times, but for the most part it is very good considering the simple style and the need to represent about 100 characters throughout.

Read only if you must, otherwise, spend your time enjoying a different work - I wish I had.

[Gillian Brownlee]

“Murasaki felt sadness on behalf of all women. How difficult their position is! To lock away their feelings and allow men to decide things for them.”

I'm not going to rate this one.

I tried reading an abridged translation first, and I couldn't get into it. The writing was hard to follow and the characters were hard to keep track of. So when I saw my library had a graphic novel version, I checked that out instead.

I wanted to like this so much. It's considered the first novel, and I remember learning about it from the "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego" game that I played as a kid. Unfortunately, it just didn't hit for me. Genji was intensely unlikable, drifting from conquest to conquest, some consensual, some not. He was either not in control of his actions, or simply didn't care about the consequences. The women were all interchangeable, distinguishable only by their ages in certain (uncomfy) cases.

The reason I'm not rating this is because:
a) This book was heavily abridged, so I'm assuming that I must be missing some context from the original text.
b) I have read very little Japanese literature, and know very little about Japan during that time period so, again, I felt like I was probably missing something.

The art was pretty at least...

[Aleksandra U. · Rating 2 out of 5]

J’ai acheté le manga dans le magasin du Musée Guimet à Paris comme souvenir de l’expo « À la cour du Prince Genji 1000 ans d’imaginaire japonais ». Je m’attendais à beaucoup d’émotions vu les mots sur la première de couverture « Pouvoir, amours, trahisons à la cour de l’empereur du Japon » mais honnêtement - j’ai rien compris à ce manga 😅 Un mec est en train de se taper toutes les filles de la cour, avec l’âge il en choisit des plus jeunes et même qui viennent de sa propre famille. Trop de noms qu’il est impossible de mémoriser, à la fin je voulais juste terminer ce manga parce que de toute façon je confondais tous les personnages. Une chose était sure: que le Genji allait avoir une jeune fille comme maîtresse et sa femme allait souffrir à cause de ça. 2 étoiles seulement pour les beaux dessins.

[Librarian Jessie (BibliophileRoses) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The manga rendition of Tale of Genji is nothing short of gorgeously illustrated. It’s artwork is beyond extravagant to the eyes. However, the fast pace of the story left for lots to be forgotten.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a very good English manga image of Tale of Genji. It must have been so difficult to decide how to focus the story into a graphic presentation if less than 200 pages. It was well done.

[Irene · Rating 1 out of 5]

C’est une adaptation en manga de la plus fameuse œuvre japonaise. Mais on ne comprend pas grand chose. L’histoire se résume au Genji que séduit toutes les femmes qu’il croise. Décevant

[Henneke Wateringen · Rating 4 out of 5]

All those names pffff but it gives an idea of the book.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

3 stars for a good adaptation with nice art and abbreviation that makes the story easier to follow, but deducting one star for the horrendous protagonist (a product of his time, but he is a giant YIKES by modern stadards).
I got halfway through the full Genji novel years ago and couldn't finish (it is quite dense and flowery!), so figured I'd try this condensed manga version to see if my initial impressions were the same - I remember being confused about how Genji was written as if we're supposed to like him (he's handsome! he's well-spoken! he's good at poetry! he's THE IDEAL MAN!) even though his actions show a real garbage-fire of a human being (you're already womanizing your way through the entire court, your best bud tells you his heartbreaking story of losing the woman he loves and not being able to find her again; you find her; do you tell him? Nah, start an affair with her!).
Yeah, Genji is still an awful person: not only sleeping with pretty much every woman he encounters, but then after they die (often of sadness, like fictional Victorian women), he then 'falls in love' (translation: starts sleeping with) the daughters of his lovers (often against their wishes, but they're too shy or intimidated to scream or fight back), because oh darling you look so much like your mother who I miss so much (BARF), in one case even *kidnapping his lover's very small daughter* to raise her to become his lover (BARF).
I don't know whether there's some Austen-esque understated satire at play here that gets lost in translation, or Murasaki was making a point about how miserable a woman's powerless position in life was during her time, or maybe this was all accepted ideal-man behaviour at the time (but why would a female author admire a man who mistreats so many women so much???) that clashes hard with modern concepts like consent and sexually predatory behaviour; some background historical reading is in order to really understand this in its full context. I suppose the story does give some idea of what life was like in the highly formal world of the Heian court (though the manga version cuts out all the details of incense-contests and poetry-contests in favor of covering Genji's convoluted womanizing and a few family/friend relationships).

[Sandra || Tabibito no hon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Najważniejsze: NIE CZYTAJCIE TU WPROWADZENIA. Nie ma tam nic istotnego w odbiorze, za to są zacne spoilery do powieści, więc po co to sobie robić?

"Opowieść o Genjim" to mangowa adaptacja powieści o tym samym tytule. Co ciekawe, nie jest to adaptacja japońska.

Sama historia początkowo jest niesamowicie płytka i zaczęłam się obawiać jak to się ma w istocie do powieści, ale wierzę, że w oryginale nie skaczemy z kwiatka na kwiatek w takim tempie. Na szczęście, po 3 rozdziale troszkę zwalniamy w romansach (ale wciąż są) i mój odbiór był lepszy.

Grafiki są całkiem ładne, kreska mi się podobała. Pierwsze strony wystarczająco wprowadzały w temat, problemy się rozpoczęły, gdy tytułowy książę dorósł, a ja po 2 rozdziałach (50+ stron) zaczęłam mieć problem z policzeniem postaci, z którymi się spoufalał bądź tego chciał. Myślałam, że ta powieść będzie romantyczna, a w tej mandze widzę rozpustę. Niejeden raz robiłam wielkie oczy. Późniejsze rozdziały również zawierają przelotne romanse Genjiego, ale było tu sporo elementów dworskich, co było super.

Klasyczna cegiełka upchnięta na ok. 170 stronach mangi, więc jest to raczej swego rodzaju zarys powieści. Pierwsze 50 stron to było ogromne rozczarowanie, ale później było lepiej i ostatecznie szczerze zainteresowała mnie historia i nie mogłam się oderwać 🫣

Na plus: wszystkie wzmianki dworskie, intrygi, pogmatwane relacje, ogólnie elementy historyczne. To całkowicie mój klimat i podobało mi się!

Na minus: częsta dominacja płytkich i niepoprawnych miłostek Genjiego. Ogromna liczba bohaterów, gubiłam się.

Początek był beznadziejny, ale później mi się szczerze podobało 👀 Mnóstwo wątków. I to trochę taka telenowela, od której nie da się oderwać!

Ode mnie 7/10 ⭐

Troszkę zawyżam, bo nie uwzględniam słabego początku, ale uważam, że serio warto, a średnia może odstraszyć! Więc daję znać, że nie ma dramatu.

We współpracy barterowej z wydawcą

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

1) Nie wiem, jak mam ten twór ocenić bez znajomości oryginału, bo jest pięknie zilustrowana, ale jeśli czytam we wstępie, że to bazuje na pierwszej powieści (powieści PSYCHOLOGICZNEJ!!!), to liczyłabym na więcej zniuansowania charakterów postaci. Zawsze myślałam, że to takie wspaniałe stulecie, ale w okresie Heian, a tu nie ma nawet zbytnio intryg, jest tylko Genji ganiający za pusią i to w najbardziej obrzydliwy, uprzedmiotawiający sposób i for some reason zawsze potrafi z siebie zrobić ofiarę

2) Ale no, trzeba też wziąć pod uwagę, że jest to manga i jakieś uproszczenie było konieczne. Zawarto tu tylko cztery pierwsze księgi, więc można to traktować jako PEWIEN podgląd całej historii dla ludzi, którzy niekoniecznie chcą angażować się w ponad 1000 stron powieści

3) nie wiem, czy angielskie wydanie jest w tym samym formacie ale who the fuck myśli sobie „a poczytam jakąś mangę” i siada z whole ass podręcznikiem, strasznie to niewygodne do czytania

[Luna's Little Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Edelweiss for this review copy.

Visually I enjoyed this book a lot. Inko Ai Takita illustrations are lovely and fit this story well. There don’t tend to be too many panels in a page and even though there are details in the backgrounds they don’t feel like they are crowding into the story or overtaking characters. They fit well with the clean line character design.

As for the story, I’m not sure how best to rate this. Having not read the original I don’t know who well this translation to manga compares. Given the number of characters I did get lost and on occasion I felt an event within the story was too short for what it was trying to cover.

[S.Q. Eries · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Summary
The Tale of Genji is considered by some to be the world’s first novel. If you are a casual reader curious about its content, this manga adaption is a good starting place. While the drawings, backgrounds, and poetic exchanges lend the story an elegance befitting the Japanese Imperial court, keep in mind that the focus is Prince Genji’s womanizing escapades, which are more befitting of an alley cat.

The Review
In Heian-era Japan, the Emperor’s favorite consort bears him a son of such beauty and grace that he is called the “Shining Prince.” However, powerful rivals collude to prevent his consideration for the Chrysanthemum throne. But even without that political standing, the handsome prince charms his way into the hearts (and beds) of dozens of court ladies.

I attempted to read an English translation of The Tale of Genji when I was in college. I got through the initial pages about Genji’s birth, his mother’s early demise, and Genji’s obsession with his father’s young consort Fujitsubo, but after that, I became so confused about what was happening, I gave up on reading it. One difficulty was what this adaption’s introduction explains as the lack of a modern style plot structure; events simply happen, and there may be no resolution. Another difficulty was the characters and their names. Not only is the cast huge and interconnected in a way that requires a massive relationship chart, people are referenced by name or rank title, which can be confusing without knowledge of Imperial court hierarchy.

As such, having this manga version of the story would’ve been helpful to my college-age self. This adaption does not cover Murasaki’s work in its entirety as it concludes with Genji’s death, and the original continues beyond that. However, the manga provides clarity in terms of whom exactly Genji was interacting with and what her status and connections were.

So if you’re wanting to get a taste of a classic Japanese literary work, this manga is a good place to start. If you’re out for casual reading, maybe not so much. As mentioned above, the story structure is quite different from modern works. The book begins with Genji’s birth, ends with his death, and the content in between mostly chronicles his escapades with various women. If I had to characterize it, I’d call it a historical harem. The Japanese Imperial court setting, Genji’s charm, and the poetic language give it a romantic aura, but when it comes down to simple actions, Genji’s simply determined to sleep with whoever’s caught his eye.

For all his words of love, he generally has multiple sexual partners at any given time. Sex is often consensual, but not always. Twice, he adopts a beautiful girl into his household. One child winds up his wife. The other he nearly forces himself on, despite assurances to his wife that he sees the girl strictly as a daughter. When he is exiled for seducing the daughter of a political rival, he fathers a daughter with a local girl, and when allowed to return to the capital, he forces that lover to give up the child so his wife can raise her instead.

By modern standards, his behavior is appalling, if not illegal. Even by Heian-era standards, Genji’s behavior got him into trouble privately and publicly.

In terms of illustrations, the artist uses a realistic character design. Because nearly the entire cast has similar hairstyles and outfits, is difficult to tell characters apart, the women especially because there are so many of them. The only females who are distinctive are the ones who are homely and crude. Backgrounds reflect the imagery of the poetry exchanged by characters.

Speaking of poetry, Japanese aristocratic culture involved using poetic phrases rather than stating thoughts outright. As such, Murasaki’s original work was full of poetry, and this adaption includes several of those poems and poetic interchanges. Some have been translated to rhyme in English, but the word arrangement is often forced for those poems. I should also note that I caught several misspelled words, and the text is full of punctuation errors throughout.

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[bookish_magpie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading and annotating this abridged version of the Tale of Genji. I decided to prepare myself for reading the entire, unabridged, unadapted translations of the Tale of Genji that I do have by reading this first, just so I can get an overall idea of the story and what happens. I really loved reading this, and here are the things that I tabbed:
- poetry
- being alone/in private with someone (especially "kaimami," or the covert observation of women by men through a screen, peephole, etc)
- narration (ie narration that I felt was significant)
- courtship/romance/sex (even if imbalanced in power and/or improper)
- social hierarchy (men versus women, high status versus low status, social norms, etc)
- cultural/religious factors (especially Buddhist influences and impermanence)
- death, grief, sadness, parting
- other

Some of the other things I picked up on while reading were:
- the external expression of emotion through the language of nature similes/metaphors
- illness as an external expression of inner turmoil
- nature as a litmus test for human emotion and action, ie disasters happen if people act outside of the norm
- the inequality between men and women, and how Shikibu was fully aware of this
- how institionally ingrained inequality between men and women is (an example of this is the architecture, ie the screens that hide women from the view of men).

I'm super excited to read the Tale of Genji! I have the Royall Tyler translation and the Waley translation. Does anyone have any recommendations for which one I should read first?

[Denille Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure what I was expecting, but a romanticized version of a guy who has so many sexual escapades is... for lack of better word... disturbing. Murasaki, in fact, is a young girl when Genji first meets her and that in itself was a red flag to me as much as "grooming" sounds these days.

I suppose the manga and the art is what redeems this edition because I was looking more at the art than anything else, because the story was horribly dull. The pattern of the story goes in circles - pretty much Genji is enamored by every single pretty girl he meets that he starts relationships with them, only to have his young wife Murasaki depressed because he barely does pay attention to her after saving this and that young girl or damsel in distress. I guess that these old stories come with the idea of having multiple wives and/or concubines in traditional Chinese/Japanese/Korean culture, but looking at it from a modern perspective, I do realize how much of this would be tabboo in today's current society and norms. Genji would most primarily be considered as a fuckboy for lack of better word.

[Stephanie Bange · Rating 4 out of 5]

This adaptation of the 10th century classic title attributed to Lady Murasaki - considered the world's oldest novel - is filled with customs and culture that were part of 10th century Japan, focusing on one person - Genji.

Wilson has consulted several versions of the Tale of Genji to arrive somewhere in the middle of them. It is a tale of love and lovemaking, however presented here tastefully - not graphically. Born into an artistocratic life of privilege and luxury, Genji is educated and cultured - more interested in loving women than having the power of the Chrysanthemum throne, his birthright. Several poems from the original tale are sprinkled throughout the text quite effectively.

Inko Ai Takita's B&W manga artwork is stunning. It has all of the shapes and adornments often found in old Japanese artwork.

This is best used as an introduction to the much longer The Tale of Genji and consider it a work of its time.

Recommended for adults.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 'Waley Genji' offers a unique and immersive experience of Lady Murasaki's classic 'The Tale of Genji.' Having first encountered this edition in the early 1970s during my time at Ohio State University, its charm has remained undiminished over the years. Arthur Waley's translation captures the essence and poetry of the original text, making it accessible to English readers while preserving the cultural nuances of Heian-era Japan. This rendition beautifully navigates the complexities of court life, love, and political intrigue, making it as engaging today as it was when I first read it over fifty years ago. Despite newer translations emerging over the years, the 'Waley Genji' holds a special place, serving as a testament to both Lady Murasaki's storytelling prowess and Waley's skillful translation.

[Laine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because I'm thinking of assigning it to my class while we're studying different versions of screens illustrating these tales. The introduction and explanations at the beginning are necessary to understand how the stories are laid out and how to follow the characters.

As a story itself it's very frustrating because you quickly lose track of how the women are related to the Genji character and the court. If you're not familiar with Japanese court life the political intrigue surrounding Genji's exploits may be lost. The cover unfortunately makes it look like a romance manga, which it most definitely is not.

There's no overt displays of violence and sexual encounters.

[Christina · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was quite hard to follow and even included a typo. To cut down a 1300-pg text into a relatively short manga is quite a task, and too much is omitted for the flow to make sense. It was stilted, with all the sudden and compounding affairs, relationships, kidnappings, rumors, and more -- which are already complicated in the original story -- colliding into one another in a way that doesn't move the story forward. The illustrations are nice, but the adaptation is lacking.

It's also concerning that on the back, they name Genji as representing "the ideal Japanese male figure," considering how he kidnaps a young girl because he likes how she looks then takes her as one of his many lovers... she views him as a father figure, and he swoops in to kiss her... there's too much emphasis on outer appearance, at least in this adaptation. It's not a great classroom option for many reasons.

[Bianca Scharff · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seemed like a cute romance manga of an upper class man in olden times but it kind of felt like he was just in love with everybody. There were also a lot of moments where I felt like the lines were mistranslated or I had skipped something because I wasn't sure what was going on or why someone's daughter was being taken to be raised by a woman he liked more. Felt kind of lost and a little put off here and there but again not sure if I missed something or misunderstood. It was ok.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mind you, I have never read the actual text because I could never get into it, so I’m judging solely the manga. I understand this is a *very* condensed version of the book, but this adaptation made the story easy to follow. I appreciate the character list, and the illustrations were great. A few typos, however.

I will say though, the Shining Prince is a creeper. 🤮

[M.J. Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pretty impressive version that manages to keep close to the original, but works well as a manga book in itself. The artwork is by a Japanese artist and looks wonderful. I detect a kind of swirling visual imagery running though it all. But don’t expect lots of touching romance - Genji was a bit of a bad boy, to say the least! But that is also true to the original.