The Tale of Genji

by Yoshitaka Amano, Rachel Nacth (Translator), Anri Itō (Translator)

Yoshitaka Amano has been praised around the world for his lush watercolors and evocative work dealing with myth and legend. In The Tale of Genji Mr. Amano brings his considerable talent to retelling one of the most famous of Japanese myths: written by Murasaki Shikibu shortly after 1000 AD and considered by most scholars to be the first novel ever written, The Tale of Genji is the story of the romantic adventures of Genji, the amazingly handsome prince and his many romantic conquests. Told through stunning paintings, Mr. Amano brings this classic story to life for a new generation.

As one of the most respected stories of all time, The Tale of Genji holds a worldwide place of honor among lovers of myth and legend.

Will appeal to the legions of Vampire Hunter D fans worldwide, as well as fans of his work on Sandman (written by New York Times-bestselling author Neil Gaiman) and Wolverine (with award-winning author Greg Rucka).

Genres: Classics, Art, Fiction, Japan, Graphic Novels, Japanese Literature, Poetry

80 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Yoshitaka Amano (Japanese: 天野 喜孝) is a celebrated Japanese visual artist, illustrator, and character designer known for his ethereal style and cross-genre influence in anime, video games, literature, and fine art. He began his career in 1967 at the age of 15 with Tatsunoko Production, where he contributed to iconic anime series such as Speed Racer, Gatchaman, and Tekkaman. In 1982, he became an independent artist, illustrating acclaimed fantasy novels including Vampire Hunter D and The Guin Saga, and later provided character and logo designs for the globally popular Final Fantasy video game franchise, which brought him international recognition.
Amano’s distinctive aesthetic combines intricate linework with vivid colors, drawing on Western comic books, Art Nouveau, Orientalist painters, and traditional Japanese ukiyo-e. He has published numerous art books and illustrated graphic novels, including The Sandman: The Dream Hunters with Neil Gaiman, which won the Bram Stoker Award.
In addition to his work in illustration and design, Amano has contributed to stage and film productions, created album art for musical artists, and exhibited paintings in galleries worldwide. In 2010, he founded Studio Devaloka to develop animated and multimedia projects, including the illustrated novel Deva Zan. With a career spanning over five decades, Amano remains one of Japan’s most influential and visionary contemporary artists.

Reviews

[Théo d'Or]

Genji me rappelle, une fois de plus, qu'on ne peut pas voir la forêt, à cause des arbres, et surtout, la difficulté ou la légèreté de séparer la beauté de la féminité. En fin de compte, la quête de Genji pour la beauté est une quête infinie, jamais entièrement satisfaite. De même, ma quête personnelle de la beauté en tant qu'amoureux de la beauté peut sembler insatiable, mais c'est cette soif d'esthétique qui m'incite à chercher toujours plus loin et à m'épanouir en tant que personne.

Lady Murasaki nous transporte au cœur du Japon médiéval, dans une époque Heian empreinte de mystères d'un monde profondément traditionnel. La représentation de la vie à la cour est généralement considérée comme précise, car Murasaki s'est fortement appuyée sur ses propres expériences et observations en tant que dame de cour à la cour impériale du Japon pendant la période Heian. Son vrai nom est inconnu, car les noms féminins n'avaient le droit à aucune trace écrite pendant l'ére Heian. Murasaki signifiant violet en Japonais, ce fut le surnom qui lui fut attribué à la cour. Shikibu - se traduit par " bureau de cérémonie ", indiquant le rang qu'occupait son père dans la société.

Genji est l'incarnation d'un donjuanisme de l'époque Heian, qui s'exprime à travers ses aventures amoureuses et les intrigues de la cour. Alors que le personnage de Don Juan est souvent présenté comme dégénéré ou moralement corrompu, Genji est plutôt un exemple de l'élite culturelle de l'époque Heian, profondément ancré dans les valeurs traditionnelles de sa culture. Cependant, ses luttes ne découlent pas d'une morale ou d'un sens de la vertu, mais plutôt du conflit entre ses désirs et les normes sociales qui l'entourent .
Genji est aussi vulnérable face aux aléas de la vie et à la fuite du temps, il réalise que la beauté est un don précieux qui s'évapore rapidement, comme une fleur qui fane . Et c'est dans cette subtile méditation sur la beauté et l'impermanence de la vie que se dessine la magnifique fresque du " Dit du Genji " . Il semble que le roman de Murasaki soit considéré comme le premier roman psychologique au Japon, et peut-être même au monde.

[Kelli Bacon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't just a tale of seduction. It is a tale of rape, obsession, lack of self-control, dominance, and immaturity.

[Abhinav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful water color! A definite collectible piece for art lovers.

[Steve R · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very long, really unique work of the life led by the upper-upper crust of aristocratic society in medieval Japan. Written by a woman in the early 11th century, it details the life and loves of Genji, a member of the royal family who is so astonishingly good-looking that he appears to shine. Married quite early on in the novel and at a fairly young age, he then commences on a series of romantic escapades: it would appear that life for men of this class revolved fairly exclusively upon the meeting of and conquest over the opposite sex. He does love his wife, but that doesn't preclude his becoming entranced by woman after woman after woman.

This despite the fact that women of this social class were hardly ever even seen: if one called upon them, one would, if very lucky, be allowed to talk with them through a screen or a bamboo curtain. Thus, a common occurrence for Genji is, upon visiting a relative or an old nurse, he chances to catch a glimpse of the back of the head of a woman in the nearby house. This becomes the initial attachment which leads him to eventually find out about her and, eventually, to seduce her. Virtually all the women in the novel are morally pure - that is, initial advances are almost always firmly rejected, and it is only through dogged persistence that these barriers are overcome. Indeed, Genji on more than one occasion stoops to actual kidnapping and de facto rape of his quarries. Nonetheless, they all eventually seem to come to love him - to the point that he finds himself in his middle aged period, living with three or four different women- none of whom are his wife, who passed away giving birth to his son Yugiri. Each of these inhabits a separate wing of his estate.

Rather a masculine-dominated social matrix, eh? The pursuit of females seems to have been carried on largely in an epistolary manner, with poem/notes - almost always of two lines in length (haiku maybe, though this is never directly affirmed) , and almost always drawing some parallel between natural phenomena and one's inner emotions. The calligraphy with which one writes these notes is very significant, as is the quality, color and scent of the paper upon which they are written and with which they are perfumed. Often, the note is sent attached to a flowering branch of a tree - cherry or plum blossom, or with a flower - carnation, wisteria, hagi, chrysanthemum etc.

Once the woman has been won, a period of relaxation may set in for a while. This is when musical nights - playing on a flute, a koto or a lute, or reading and gaming (playing at guessing rhymes) with Chinese poetry may occur before the next romantic chase begins. One social gathering is called to 'view the wisteria'. Eventually, Genji does slow down, and his love in particular for Murasaki does dominate the last few years of his life, but the novelist by then has taken her fascination with the hunt on to Genji's son and a friend of his, Kashiwagi. The variant fates of Yugiri and Kashiwagi show how much the end result of this romance game was not a foregone conclusion, as both meet with frustration and one of them eventually gives up his life for his love.

Then, about 700+ pages into the 1100 pp of the novel, Genji dies. At this point, a marvelous new story begins, with Kaonu and Niou playing the male leads, and Oigimi, Nakanokimi and Urifune acting as the pursued women. Poignant and heart-felt are the lives of these five characters, as their story is told with masterful detail and attention to the real heartstrings they were playing upon. More than just a very well written romantic drama, this part of the novel in particular presents an all too believable picture of a society which allowed its most privileged individuals the possibility of truly developing their emotional, romantic natures. Totally unlike any other novel I've ever read - maybe The Romance of the Rose comes closest - it was well worth the time and effort. At times, the author talks directly to the reader as if she were actually narrating events which really occurred.

Possibly this is what made the novel so eminently readable: she truly cared about and understood the hopes, loves, frustrations, foibles and cares of her characters.

[Robert Sheppard · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE TALE OF GENJI BY LADY MURASAKI SHIKIBU, THE WORLD'S FIRST NOVEL & LEADER OF THE GLOBAL VERNACULAR REVOLUTION IN WORLD LITERATURE----FROM THE WORLD LITERATURE FORUM RECOMMENDED CLASSICS AND MASTERPIECES SERIES VIA GOODREADS—-ROBERT SHEPPARD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

"The Tale of Genji," the 11th Century classic tale of love and intrigue amoungst the high courtiers and noble ladies-in-waiting of the Japanese Heian Imperial Court holds a remarkable place in the history of World Literature as arguably the first novel in human history, the first psychological novel, the first novel by a woman--Lady Murasaki Shikibu, and one of the earliest exemplary works of the Global Vernacular Revolution.

Set in the Japanese Heian Imperial Court in Kyoto at the turn of the first millennium, this moving work centers on the life of Genji, born a lesser son of the Japanese Emperor, refined, handsome and full of romantic adventure, who for political reasons is relagated to the status of a commoner and takes up life on coming of age as a minor Imperial offical at court. While painting a vast panorama of Japanese high court society and its refined culture it follows Genji's intricate and convoluted loves and sexual affairs, changing political fortunes from exile to the highest offices in the land, and his growing spiritual maturity leading to realization of the transience, melancholy and illusory nature of much of human experience.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST NOVEL IN WORLD HISTORY?

Is "The Tale of Genji" the first novel in human history? As with most sweeping questions of this kind, the answer you get depends on how you ask the question, and how you define its critical term "novel." Certainly in terms of chronology, The Tale of Genji, finished in its present form by 1021 AD, far predates Western claimants to the title of the world's first novel, such as Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" of 1719, "The Princess of Cleves" (1678), by Mme de La Fayette, and Cervantes' "Don Quixote de la Mancha" (1605, 1615),considered by many critics to be the most important single progenitor of the modern novel. What then is a novel? The most likely definition you will get from the standard textbooks would be: "a sustained work of prose fiction a volume or more in length." Some would add substantive required elements such as sustained continuity of character and plot, organic wholeness and closeness to the experience and language of actual life---a work of imaginative fiction grounded in reality, others demurring. Yet implicit in this very inclusive definition focused on length is also the notion of what a novel is not, which may be controversial, such as its not being a short story, not an epic poem, not a collection of unrelated stories, not a history or pure biography and other contradistinguished genres. Accordingly, Boccaccio's "Decameron" and Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" are often excluded as a series of unrelated stories rather than an organically whole novel. Additionally, suradded to our theoretical diffiuculties may be the problem of a differing definition of the novel in different cultures and literary traditions, as well as the shifting evolution of the concept of the genre over time.

Certainly by any definition of a novel the Tale of Genji should qualify. It is a sustained prose narrative of 54 Chapters with continuity of psychology and charater of the figures depicted over a lifetime, rooted in the lived experience of individuals in society over a generation, and has been treated as a novel in the literary traditions of Japanese Literature and in World Literature. The more perplexing dimension of the question of what is the first novel lies in the inclusion or exclusion of its earlier competitors for the title within the genre of the novel. Some would say Homer's Odyssey should be regarded as the first novel, others excluding it by virtue of its verse and status as an epic. Others would counter that the genre of the novel contains "novels in verse" such as Byron's "Don Juan" and Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" or recent attempts such as Vikram Seth's "The Golden Gate," and that "epic" and "novel" are not mutually exclusive categories, citing Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" or Tolstoy's "War and Peace" as "epic novels." Other quite legitimate contenders to unseat "The Tale of Genji" from the title to the world's first novel in my opinion would include the classic narratives of Western Literature such as Petronius's "Satyricon" (1st cent. A.D.) a vivid portrait of life in Nero's Rome satirizing its corruption, and "The Metamorphoses" or "Golden Ass" (2d cent. A.D.) of Lucius Apuleius describing the fantastic adventures of a young man who is transformed into an ass, as well as "Daphnis and Chloë" (3d cent. A.D.), attributed to Longus,a love story about a goatherd and a shepherdess. So you may take your pick, but nonetheless the "Tale of Genji" is increasingly regarded as the conventional consensus answer to the question of what is the first novel in World Literature, alongside "Don Quixote," regarded as the first modern Western novel.

THE TALE OF GENJI AND THE GLOBAL VERNACULAR REVOLUTION

Another important dimension of the place of "The Tale of Genji" in World Literature, worthy of note before looking into its content and story, is its place as a leading work of "The Global Vernacular Revolution." For a millennia or more, from late antiquity until around 1200 AD, almost all the world's literature was composed in Elite or Classical Languages, far removed from the speech of ordinary people. Literacy itself was the privilege of a small educated elite, usually of royal courts, church and temple circles, lawyers and government administrators or a few professional scholars. Their goal was most often to preserve and elaborate long-established literary traditions rather than express and reflect the life and language of the people. Thus, until the 1500's most serious books in the West were written in Latin, or possibly Classical Greek for an international elite audience, and very few in English, French, Spanish or German. Classical Chinese (Wen Yan Wen), incomprehensible to the common contemporary Chinese speaker, was the medium of officials and scholars not only in China but also in countries such as Japan and Korea, part of the Chinese cultural sphere of influence. In India Sanskrit, incomprehensible to Indian dialect speakers, was used as the vehicle for literature from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Hindu Vedas, mantras, Buddhist sutras, and the plays of Kalidasa. In the Muslim world, classical Arabic of the Koran was often memorized without any understanding of of the words mouthed, and Hebrew was lost as a living and preserved as one of the "dead languages."

This situation began to change between 1000 AD and 1300 AD as a "Vernacular Revolution" took place across much of the world following the urge to draw literature closer to the life and language of living people, largely reflectingg the global rise of cities and the middle-classes. "The Tale of Genji" was one of the forerunners in this global revolution. In Heian Japan the educated elite, mostly men of the aristocracy or professions, wrote poetry, read literature, and conducted affairs of state not in the Japanese vernacular but in Classical Chinese, just as their contemporaries in Europe in the church, universities and public adinistration were using Latin instead of their local tongues. In this regard it is no accident that Murasaki Shikibu the author of Genji was a woman. The Genji was written by a woman and read mostly by courtly noble women who for the most part were excluded from the Classical Chinese education of the Japanese men, just as very few women in the West could study Latin or Greek, being excluded from grammar schools and universities. For this reason they turned to the spoken vernacular of the people rather than the elite classical languages.

In fact, at the time in Japan and in China the vernacular novels were not regarded as "literature" at all, but rather as "pulp or junk fiction" which no educated person should dirty his hands on, either in the writing or the reading. The prominence of women writers even in the West in the rise of the novel, such as Jane Austen, Aphra Behn, de Lafayette and others reflected also the fact that serious scholars, men, would be utilizing the elite Latin and Greek and would consider it demeaning to focus on the vernacular local language. Students would hide novels from their schoolmasters just as they might hide pornography, it being seductive and entertaining but unworthy of a respectable gentleman. The rise of vernacular writing across the world also reflected the rise of the educated middle classes, who were literate in their vernacular spoken languages but uneducated in the elite classical languages, and the translations of the Bible into the vernacular languages, the English of the King James Version or the German of Luther's Bible, reflected an oncoming middle-cass social revolution in the making that would ultimately lead to the Puritan, American, French and Russian Revolutions that would topple the aristocratic ancien regime and clear the way for universal education, literacy and democracy, within widely disparate timeframes across the world's civilizations. This also later reflected the "Gutenberg Revolution" of the printed word noted by Marshall McLuhan.

In Europe the Renaissance and Reformation followed this tidal wave of popular consciousness. Dante was one of the first leaders of the revolution, defending his composition of "The Divine Comedy" not in Latin as might have been expected, but rather in the local Italian dialect, claiming he wished to reach the people of all classes, men and women, rich and poor. The shift was also associated with the rise of Nationalism,and sometimes had the negative effect of making literature less international. The Provencal poets, Troubadours, Minnisingers, bards and balladeers followed suit. In India, prose writing shared by the merchant classes saw Classical Sanskrit give way to prose works in Tamil and Telugu. Persian Ghazals rose amoungst the Arabic nations.

English literature really begins with the rise of the vernacular with the Renaissance and Reformation. Sir Thomas More wrote his famous Utopia in Latin, and it had to be translated by another into his native English, but by the time of Milton, though he was a court Latin scholar and diplomatic Latin correspondent, he composed his great works of poetry such as "Paradise Lost" in his spoken tongue. From Shakespeare on, with his "Little Latin" the primary medium of English Literature would be written English, and after the play, the vernacular novel would soon rise to the throne of prominence within English Literature.

In China, seat of the Classical Chinese tradition which even in Japan marginalized the Genji, the transformation to a "Literature of the People" would only come on the fall of the Emperor in the 1911 Revolution of Sun Yat Sen followed by the "May 4th Movement" of 1919 in which Lu Xun and Hu Shi first began to write in spoken Chinese, abandoning the scholarly and classical "Wen Yan Wen" of the literary elite for the language of the people. In all cases the Global Vernacular Revoltion and its attendant revolution in public consciousness would prove to be social nitro-glycerin, ultimately bringing in it wake not only a literary revoution but a policical revolution spreading from the middle-classes to the working classes and reshaping, for better or for worse, the face of the Modern world.

THE TALE OF GENJI: THE STORY

Genji, the principal hero of the novel, was the second son of Emperor Kiritsubo and a low-ranking but beloved concubine, Lady Kiritsubo. Genji's mother dies when he is three years old, but the Emperor, deeply in love, cannot forget her. Emperor Kiritsubo then hears of a woman, Lady Fujitsubo, formerly a princess of the preceding emperor, who is the living image of his deceased beloved, and arranges for her to become one of his wives. Genji loves her first as a stepmother, but later as he grows to be a man, falls in love with her sexually as a woman. Hopelessly in love with each other, they continue their clandestine forbidden affair. Genji thus finds himself frustrated in his forbidden love for Lady Fujitsubo and on bad terms with his wife Aoi no Ue. He then engages in a series of unfulfilling love affairs, escapades and adventures with other women. In most cases, his advances are rebuffed, his lover dies suddenly during the affair, or he finds his lover to become dull and tiresome as his feelings change. In one case, he sees a beautiful young woman through an open window, enters her room without permission, and proceeds to seduce her. Recognizing him as a man of unchallengeable power, she makes no resistance.

In his restlessness Genji visits Kitayama, the northern rural hilly suburban area of the capital Kyoto, where he finds a beautiful ten-year-old girl. He is uncannily fascinated by this youthful girl, Murasaki, and discovers that she is a niece of his clandestine lover Lady Fujitsubo. Yielding to an irresistable impulse he kidnaps her, brings her to his own palace and undertakes a passion-driven project to raise and educate her to be his ideal lady; that is, to be an idealized rejuvenated image of the Lady Fujitsubo and his deceased mother. During this time Genji also meets Lady Fujitsubo secretly, and continues to make love to her until she bears his son, Reizei. Everyone except the two lovers believes the father of the child is the Emperor Kiritsubo. 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 dies soon after. Genji is sorrowful, but finds consolation in Murasaki, whom he then marries, consummating his Pygmalion-like project of creating his sexually ideal woman and mate. Genji's father, the Emperor Kiritsubo, dies. He is succeeded by his son Suzaku, whose mother Kokiden, together with Kiritsubo and Genji's political enemies including the Minister of the Right takes power in the court. Then another of Genji's secret love affairs is exposed: Genji and a favorite concubine of the new Emperor Suzaku, Genji's brother, are discovered in flagrante delicto when they meet in secret. The Emperor Suzaku confides his personal amusement at Genji's exploits with the woman, but to maintain face and discipline at court he is duty-bound to punish his half-brother. Genji is thus exiled, Ovid-like to the faraway town of Suma in rural Harima province. There, a prosperous man known as the Akashi Novice entertains Genji, and Genji has a love affair with Akashi's daughter. She gives birth to Genji's only daughter, who will later become the Empress.

In the Capital, the Emperor Suzaku is troubled by dreams of his late father, Kiritsubo, and something begins to affect his eyes. Meanwhile, his mother, Kokiden, grows ill, which weakens her powerful sway over the throne. Thus in a fit of remorse the Emperor orders Genji pardoned, and he returns to Kyoto. His son by Lady Fujitsubo, Reizei, 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 and he falls into melancholy and drift. His political status does not change, but his love and emotional life slowly deteriorate. He marries another wife, the Third Princess. Genji's nephew, Kashiwagi, later forces himself on the Third Princess and she bears Kaoru who, in a similar situation to that of Reizei, is legally known as the son of Genji. Genji's new marriage changes his relationship with Murasaki, who becomes a Buddhist nun, or bikuni.

Genji's beloved Murasaki finally dies. In the following chapter, entitled Maboroshi or Illusion, Genji contemplates how fleeting life is, transient, empty and illusory. Immediately after Maboroshi, there is a chapter entitled Kumogakure or "Vanished into the Clouds") which is left blank, but implies the death of Genji. The narrative then continues a short time further after Genji's death, detailing the rivalry of Kaoru, Genji's legal son and his best friend Niou, the royal prince who is the son of Genji's daughter the Emperess, as they compete to attract beautiful court women. The book ends, like the Satyricon in the middle of an unfinished sentence, with Kouru pondering if Niou has tricked him to steal a lover from him. Kouru is often seen as the first Anti-hero in World Literature.

It is thought that "The Tale of Genji" was composed in a serialized fashion, with each chapter being hand-copied, circulated and re-copied after its completion within a small aristocratic court circle as a form of upper-class entertainment. The disparate chapters would then be collected into a whole at a later time. Thus it would have been similar to many of the Western novels such as those of Dickens and Dumas which were published in installments in newspapers and circulars such as Dickens' "Household Words" before being collected into a finished book for for final publication, although Genji would have been circulated bit in hand-copies chapter by chapter in elite circles. Thereafter it became one of the central and beloved classics of Japanese Literature over the centuries. Its archaid Kyoto court language was unreadable to the larger public even a hundred years after its composition and was only translated into modern Japanese in the 19th century, being read with extensive annotations.

The Tale of Genji influenced the composition of my own recent novel Spiritus Mundi, in the emphasis on the voices of women in the text. Murasaki Shikibu, the Genji author also wrote an extensive Diary which has been preserved. In Spiritus Mundi, two of the principal characters, Eva Strong and Japanese artist-clairevoyante Yoriko Oe write in their own voices in their diary-like Blog Journals which appear in alternate chapters of the novel, giving vivid life to the inner world of women. Their Blogs reflect also their melancholy, sometimes illusory and disappointing sexual affairs, just as in the Tale of Genji. Like the Tale of Genji, its protagonists are followed through a wide range of experiences, social and sexual, sometimes in triumph, sometimes in defeat and despair, sometimes in a shared spiritual melancholy at the transience and illusory character of much of human experience. Spiritus Mundi also contains a comprehensive series of dialogues by the characters in the novel on the nature and canon of World Literature, including the place of The Tale of Genji in that canon. Spiritus Mundi shares common themes with The Tale of Genji in the linkage of sexuality and spirituality and the possibility of spiritual transcendence,and Book I of Spiritus Mundi, like the Satyricon ends in an unfinished mid-sentence.


For a fuller discussion of the concept of World Literature you are invited to look into the extended discussion in the new book Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard, one of the principal themes of which is the emergence and evolution of World Literature:


For Discussions on World Literature and Literary Criticism in Spiritus Mundi: http://worldliteratureandliterarycrit...





Robert Sheppard


Editor-in-Chief
World Literature Forum
Author, Spiritus Mundi Novel
Author’s Blog: http://robertalexandersheppard.wordpr...
Spiritus Mundi on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
Spiritus Mundi on Amazon, Book I: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CIGJFGO
Spiritus Mundi, Book II: The Romance http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CGM8BZG


Copyright Robert Sheppard 2013 All Rights Reserved

[Sparrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, I'm reminded of how much I love Amano's art more than the story itself, but "The Tale of Genji" WAS pretty interesting - I liked seeing Genji's relationship with different women. I think this rendition is slightly, I dunno, disjointed? Because there are several small chapters concerning women that Genji has been with, but they don't seem to make a coherent story or plot - maybe that's why there's so much debate about whether this is the world's first novel. I probably wouldn't believe that to be true. But perhaps Amano's rendition of the story is less about words and novel and more about the pictures...

[Edward Rathke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read about half of the Tale of Genji as a novel a few years ago before getting distracted and just kind of quitting.

But I really love this. The art, of course, is brilliant, but I loved how they pulled the poetry from the novel and wove it into the book.

It's really fantastic. Full of love and longing. And the art!

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such divine sensuality. You know how it feels to slide into a pool of warm, dark cream? That's how this book made me feel.

[Sébastien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dans son interprétation du Tale of Genji, Yoshitaka Amano transpose l’un des sommets de la littérature classique japonaise dans un univers visuel d’une somptuosité presque irréelle. Les planches se déploient comme des soieries : dominées par de vastes aplats de couleur — or, indigo, carmin, jade — qui substituent à la perspective occidentale un espace pictural à la fois décoratif et contemplatif. Ces aplats, d’une densité presque minérale, ne visent pas la profondeur mais la vibration : ils instaurent un flottement du regard, une lenteur propre au récit de Murasaki Shikibu.

Amano joue de la stylisation et du vide avec la même virtuosité. Les silhouettes effilées, diaphanes, semblent flotter entre l’être et le décor, comme si la ligne, toujours incertaine, hésitait entre calligraphie et contour. La composition privilégie la suggestion à la description ; les figures s’effacent souvent dans la texture chromatique, absorbées par la lumière même qui les révèle. On y retrouve la sensualité raffinée des rouleaux peints de l’époque Heian, mais transfigurée par le langage singulier d’Amano — ce mélange d’Art nouveau, de surréalisme oriental et de stylisation moderne qui fait de chaque image un rêve suspendu.

Le résultat est moins une illustration qu’une transmutation : le roman fondateur devient matière visuelle, presque musicale, où la couleur, la ligne et le vide rejouent les thèmes du désir, de la mélancolie et de l’impermanence. Chez Amano, Le Dit du Genji n’est pas simplement relu ; il est réinventé comme un poème pictural sur la beauté fragile du monde.

--

In his interpretation of The Tale of Genji, Yoshitaka Amano transforms one of the pinnacles of classical Japanese literature into a visual universe of almost otherworldly opulence. Each plate unfolds like a silk tapestry, dominated by broad fields of color — gold, indigo, crimson, jade — that replace Western perspective with a pictorial space both decorative and meditative. These color planes, dense and mineral, seek not depth but vibration: they create a gentle suspension of the gaze, a slowness akin to the rhythm of Murasaki Shikibu’s narrative.

Amano plays with stylization and emptiness with equal virtuosity. The elongated, translucent figures seem to drift between being and background, as if each line, always trembling, hesitated between calligraphy and contour. His compositions favor suggestion over depiction; the characters often dissolve into the chromatic texture, absorbed by the very light that reveals them. One senses the refined sensuality of Heian scroll painting, yet transfigured by Amano’s unmistakable idiom — a synthesis of Art Nouveau, Eastern surrealism, and modern stylization that turns every image into a suspended dream.

The result is less illustration than transmutation: the founding novel becomes visual matter, almost musical, where color, line, and emptiness replay the themes of desire, melancholy, and impermanence. In Amano’s hands, The Tale of Genji is not merely revisited but reimagined as a pictorial poem on the fragile beauty of existence.

[a ☕︎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

amano’s heian sketchbook. he illustrates various characters who appear throughout the tale of genji, mostly focusing on the prince’s lovers, with each painting accompanied by a select tanka (bit curious where the translations for these were sourced). i do generally like amano’s work, but this is the first time i’ve perused one of his artbooks and it’s a little underwhelming. that said, his style matches the content quite well and he does ‘woman suffocating in twelve-layers and drowning in the abyss of love’ beautifully. he chose mostly traditional colors and ended up with primaries: turmeric yellow, crimson red, dark blue.

my favorite of the set:

[Forsythia · Rating 4 out of 5]

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The art in this one is lovely btw

I first heard of this story when I was searching info about overwatch characters and found that Genji the character was inspired by the classic tale of Genji. Genji from overwatch was a playboy before the accident which deprived him of his limbs.

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a lover of The Tale of Genji and Yoshitaka Amano being my favorite artist, this is a match made in heaven. This isn't a full retelling of the tale (the Genji is over 1,000 pages long), but a collection of stunning paintings accompanied by poetic stanzas from key points in the tale.

Of course, being familiar with the Genji makes it easier to appreciate this art book as a whole, but it isn't required to enjoy the beautiful artwork or even the elegant, evocative quotes. For each point in the story that is illustrated, there is a small paragraph explaining the context so that the viewer understands what is being conveyed through the painting.

As usual, Amano's work is ethereal, sensual, and achingly gorgeous. The images are a blending of traditional ukiyo-e and Amano's unique style. You have the flowing, inky black hair and colorful, patterned sleeves of the junihitoe robes typical of Heian era art. Then you have the half-closed eyes and floating postures that are a hallmark of Amano's. The background of almost all of the paintings is stark black, truly giving the impression that the characters are occupying a "floating world".

I'm curious about the poems that accompany the illustrations. I have the Seidensticker translation of The Tale of Genji, and I don't recognize these quotes. I know that the book is extremely long, but I feel like I would remember such striking phrases. It's possible they're taken from the Tyler translation, which I don't have, or even one of the lesser known translators. It's even possible that these poems were made up for this specific art book. Whatever the case, I would love the edition of the Genji translated in this style, because these stanzas are beautiful and full of longing. If they're made up, they do a great job of emulating the waka poetry that was used at the time.

"To bid farewell at dawn will surely elicit a tear, though never have I seen such a lonely autumn sky as this morning I witnessed."

"The sailing moon that disappears into the heavens knows naught of the mountain's heart. Lured from my abode by this moon, it seems that I too am disappearing into the heavens."

"You need but to think of me wholeheartedly and you will never be lost, not even when the sky is bereft of the moon's light."

"Just as these eaves are wet with morning dew, so too are my sleeves wet with longing for you."

This art book is enjoyable for those who have and haven't read the famous novel, and it makes a great addition to anyone's collection of Yoshitaka Amano art books. For more illustrated works by Amano that involve a narrative, I recommend Fairies and Mateki: The Magic Flute.

[Silas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough one. I really love Amano's work that I have seen ever since first encountering it in Final Fantasy III(or VI). His work in a graphic novel with Neil Gaiman was excellent, and I was looking forward to something like that here. This was not quite what I had expected. Rather than telling the story with images integrated into the telling, this is more of a companion to the Tale of Genji, itself, and doesn't make a great deal of sense without having read that book or reading these concurrently. The images themselves are just as lush and textural as Amano's works usually are, but while I hoped for a Tale of Genji introduction, so I would know the overall story before reading the work itself, instead I got a few illustrations for a story I didn't know, and from the details I am given, I feel less inclined to read the story than I was before. If you loved the Tale of Genji and would like to see Amano's illustrations of some events from that story, this might be great, but if you are more of a fan of Amano, I would recommend a book of his prints, instead.

[Yuvaraj kothandaraman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considered the world's first novel, this 11th-century Japanese masterpiece offers an unparalleled look into Heian court life. It follows the life and loves of "Shining Genji," a remarkably handsome emperor's son, and later the lives of his descendants.

The Shining Prince's Early Life & Loves
❀ Genji is born to the Emperor and his favorite concubine, "Kiritsubo," who dies young from bullying by rival ladies. The Emperor is heartbroken. Because Genji has no strong backing, he is removed from the line of succession and given the surname "Genji" (Minamoto). He grows up incredibly handsome and talented.

❀ Genji marries Lady Aoi, the daughter of the Minister of the Left, but their relationship is cold. He seeks love elsewhere, most scandalously with Lady Fujitsubo, his father's new empress who looks exactly like his dead mother. In a shocking betrayal, Genji sleeps with Fujitsubo and she bears a son (the future Emperor Reizei) whom everyone believes is the old Emperor's child. This secret guilt haunts Genji throughout his life.

❀ While visiting a healer in the mountains, Genji spies a beautiful young girl named Murasaki. She is the niece of Fujitsubo and looks just like her. He decides to "adopt" her and raise her to be his perfect ideal wife. He takes her to his Nijo mansion despite her grandmother's protests. Murasaki becomes the great love of his life, though technically a secondary wife/concubine initially.

Tragedy and Exile
❀ Genji has an affair with Lady Rokujo, a proud and sophisticated widow of a former Crown Prince. Genji's interest in her cools, leading to her intense jealousy and humiliation, especially after a public quarrel with Genji's wife Aoi over carriage parking spaces at a festival. Rokujo's jealous "living spirit" unknowingly leaves her body during sleep and torments Genji's wife Aoi and his mistress Yugao (the "Evening Face") to death. Aoi dies just after giving birth to Genji's son, Yugiri. Genji is horrified to recognize Rokujo's voice in the spirit possessing Aoi, yet he also pities her because he understands that her spirit's wanderings are involuntary and caused by her overwhelming love and the shame of his neglect.

❀ After his father dies, Genji's political enemies (the Kokiden faction) take power. He is caught in a scandalous affair with a young concubine of the new Emperor and chooses voluntary exile to Suma to avoid worse punishment. In exile, he meets the Akashi Lady, who bears him a daughter (the future Empress). He eventually returns to the capital in triumph when the political tides turn.

Glory and Decline
❀ Genji reaches the height of power. He builds the magnificent Rokujo mansion, housing his different ladies in four quarters representing the four seasons. Murasaki occupies the spring quarter and is his favorite. However, he is forced to marry the "Third Princess" (Onna San no Miya) by his half-brother, the retired Emperor Suzaku. Murasaki is deeply hurt by this but remains silent. Karma strikes Genji: the Third Princess betrays him with Kashiwagi (son of his friend To no Chujo), just as Genji betrayed his own father. She bears a son, Kaoru. Genji discovers the affair but keeps it secret, acknowledging Kaoru as his own son to hide the scandal, mirroring his own past sin.

�� Murasaki falls ill and dies, leaving Genji devastated. He realizes the emptiness of his life ("The Clouded Moon"). He distributes his property, burns his letters, and prepares for death. The chapter "Maboroshi" (Illusion) ends his story, and the following chapter "Kumogakure" (Vanished into the Clouds) is blank, signifying his death.

The Uji Chapters: Kaoru and Niou
❀ The story shifts to the next generation. Kaoru (officially Genji's son, actually Kashiwagi's) is serious and obsessed with religion. His friend Prince Niou (Genji's grandson) is a dashing playboy. They both pursue the daughters of an Eighth Prince living in Uji. Kaoru loves Oigimi, who refuses him and dies starving herself. He then fixates on her sister Nakanokimi, but Niou seduces and marries her.

❀ The final tragedy centers on Ukifune, a half-sister of the Uji princesses. Both Kaoru and Niou pursue her. Kaoru seeks her as a substitute for Oigimi, while Niou pursues her passionately. Torn between the two men and feeling trapped, Ukifune attempts suicide by throwing herself into the Uji River. She survives but is found by nuns and takes religious vows. When Kaoru finds her again, she refuses to see him or acknowledge his messages, ending the novel on a note of absolute rejection and impermanence.

Strengths of This Classic
❀ The characters' internal thoughts, jealousies, and griefs are incredibly realistic and modern-feeling. Murasaki's silent suffering is heartbreaking.

❀ The descriptions of kimonos, incense, nature, poems, and festivals paint a vivid picture of the refined Heian world.

❀ It deeply explores mono no aware (the pathos of things) and karma. Genji's sins revisit him in the next generation perfectly.

Weaknesses
❀ Genji is often selfish, grooming a child (Murasaki) and forcing himself on women. Modern readers may find him hard to like.

❀ The story just stops with Ukifune's rejection; there is no neat conclusion.

Who Should Read This
❀ Lovers of Japanese history, classic literature, and epic family sagas.

[Anastasia Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese writer and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court in the Heian period. In Heian Japan, the educated elite, mostly men of the aristocracy or professions, wrote poetry, read literature, and conducted affairs of state not in the Japanese vernacular but Classical Chinese. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, regarded as the first novel in World Literature, written in Japanese between 1000 and 1012. It is believed that the nickname “Murasaki” is based on the heroine Murasaki in The Tale of Genji. In her teenage years, Murasaki accompanied her father on one of his appointments in the provinces, where for the first time, she saw a life outside the Heian capital of Kyoto. “Regardless of her academic brilliance, her father wanted a son, because, in Heian society, Chinese learning was valuable only for men.”

Murasaki lived and wrote in the early 1000s when the women's role was to only marry and bear children. There was an unfair division between male and female genders in society. Unlike women, men were allowed to have multiple marriage partners. Marriages were seen as political and economic arrangements, as the continuation of the family line was the main purpose for the marriage. The inequality of gender roles made many female authors voice their opinions in the form of literature. “Heian women used the status they had as female authors to voice how women suffered from their dependence on their husbands, lovers, and patrons.” As a writer and a lady-in-waiting, Murasaki had the financial support to produce a piece of literature that commanded the attention of society in the capital. This is remarkable because, in the time of male dominance and female submission, she was able to capture the hierarchy of scale within social groups in Heian Japan by portraying the roles of women and men accordingly. Consequently, Murasaki introduced the culture of the aristocracy to the world, whose indispensable accomplishments were the skill in poetry, music, and courtship.

The Tale of Genji
Genji, the protagonist of the story was the second son of Emperor Kiritsubo and a lower-ranking but beloved, Lady Kiritsubo. Genji’s mother dies when he is three years old and the Emperor takes a new bride, Lady Fujitsubo, formerly a princess of the preceding emperor who is the living image of his deceased beloved. Genji is then brought up under the protection of the Emperor and grows to love Fujitsubo. He celebrates his coming of age, is given the name of Genji, and gets married to Lady Aoi, a daughter of the House of the Sadijin...

I enjoyed the dynamics of love throughout the story with its extensive depictions of courtship and passion. “The deeper longing to find a common language through which to connect with another person” is apparent in the lives of Emperor and his son Genji. Genji finds himself attached to Fujitsubo, “In his heart, he was obsessed with the matchless beauty of Fujitsubo Consort, who seemed to be exactly the kind of woman he wanted to take as his wife.” On the other hand, Fujitsubo brought comfort to the Emperor’s heart and his attention from his late beloved shifted towards Fujitsubo.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was 'The Tale of Genji' condensed down into (possibly) the most interesting and infamous bits of the story: his interactions with his "lovers" and the consequences thereafter. The dude got around, that's for sure.

The pictures were lovely, a real credit to the unpressive story. I shan't be reading the original because quite frankly I enjoyed the poetry aspect in this more than the story itself. It was sometimes sweet and endearing:

Say, can the wave that rolls to land,
Return to ocean's heaving breast,
Nor greet the weed upon the strand,
With one wild kiss, all softly pressed.

And sometimes witty and humorous:

"The flower that bloomed in evening's dew,
Was the bright guide that led to you."

She looked at him askance, replying:—

"The dew that on the Yûgao lay,
Was a false guide and led astray."

And that's all I really have to say.

[Abish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Art in book _ those are like puzzle to solve some images feels(almost every image had faces and traditional dresses) like are from some art galleries yet all of them are quite some pieces to give a shot. Contemporary & Story Telling

These are excerpts from the original translated version.

Most of the images seems to be sexually appealing and talking of affairs and his state (Genji) he is terrible with decisions quite think this story is against monogamy not like other love stories.
Reading through those pages feels like flipping out with curiosity is it ? Physchological Thriller or can't get something out of it


I don't know how someone can be reading the longer version to same

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

After recently enjoying ancient Japanese illustrations depicting "The Tale of Genji" at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, I ran across this graphic novel on Hoopla.

I was hoping it included the text of the classic epic, written by an imperial lady attendant of the Heian period, circa 1000 A.D., but alas, the text consists only of quotes from and brief synopses of the stories of 13 of Genji's lovers, from which we gather that the dude was addicted to seducing women, even grooming a ten-year old, and then abandoning them. But he's haunted by their memory! (Well, only the cute ones.) Feh. It's utter cringe. Suffice it to say I won't read the full text.

Artwork is pretty, though.

[Kate]

I mistakenly thought this was going to be more of a graphic novelization of The Tale of Genji, but it's more of an artistic portrayal of the different women in Genji's story in the form of paintings.

The book "reads" more like an art book, or the subtext to a painting at a museum. I loved the artwork, but I was looking for more story so I won't be rating. In fact, reading this as an ebook felt like a mistake because I don't feel like I was fully able to appreciate the gorgeous watercolors that make up this book.

[Cathy Michaels Greunke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much of the prose describes love and longing, but a couple of instances saying a woman resisted at first would suggest rape instead and there is one definitively named rape by a character that is not Genji. With a recollection to another instance of Genji’s past actions, that narration at least acknowledges consent.

I read this to see Amano’s artwork and that’s what I got. The art has many beautiful colors between flowing lines.

[Alicia Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't say I enjoyed this book a lot and was glad when I'd finished it. I read it on recommendation from my Japanese teacher, and I'm glad I did read it, as it was interesting and I enjoyed learning about Japanese culture of the time and the author. However, I found the plot tedious and at times annoying.

[Niall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This text is more of a series of beautiful illustrations with summaries than a graphic novel retelling of the story. In that respect it is a wild success because these are gorgeous images and terse summaries with short quotes to accompany them. However, that also leaves the narrative up to the reader to reconstruct.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art is gorgeous. I love Amano's work. The illustrations are wistful and beautiful, and while poetry isn't really my thing the little bits of poetry that accompany the art are just as lovely. After reading through it, it makes me want to read more of the original work.

[honeybean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully illustrated book. This is all about a man and his many lovers, and I enjoyed how they were all weaved together throughout his lifetime (although I really think the illustrations for each woman made this epic for me)

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this one very hard to read. My husband is into Japanese culture and I thought I would read this. I just couldn't get into it as much as I wanted to. However, I am glad that I did read it.

[Nomad nimrod · Rating 3 out of 5]

Art is simply beautiful.

[Angela Gibson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Art was breathtaking.

Narrative was okay, subject material was disappointing.

[Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yoshitaka Amano. 'nuff said

[Ci · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wish this book was read even just to see the stunning watercolour art!

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautiful art, creepy story