Sunday, March 1, 2009

Book Report Submitted by Christine de Asis

The Tale of Genji

Fiction

By Murasaki Shikibu

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lady Murasaki,(973-1014 CE) illustration by Tosa Mitsuoki (17th century)

Born: Circa 973, Kyoto

Died: Circa 1014
Kyoto Occupation: Heian court lady-in-waiting Genres novel, poetry Subjects Japanese court Customs Relative(s) :Fujiwara no Tametoki, father

Murasaki Shikibu is the best known writer to emerge from Japan's glorious Heian period Her novel, The Tale of Genji (Genji-monogatari) is considered to be one of the world's finest and earliest novels. Some argue that Murasaki is the world's first modern novelist.

Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973–c. 1014 or 1025), or Lady Murasaki as she is sometimes known in English, was a Japanese novelist, poet, and a maid of honor of the imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1008, one of the earliest novels in human history.

"Murasaki Shikibu" was not her real name, which is unknown. Some scholars have postulated that her given name might have been Takako (for Fujiwara Takako). Her diary states that she was nicknamed "Murasaki" ("purple wisteria blossom") at court, after a character in The Tale of Genji. "Shikibu" refers to her father's position in the Bureau of Ceremony (shikibu-shō).

Shikibu was born into the Fujiwara family, daughter of the governor of a province, who also was a well known scholar. Always very intelligent, as a child she learned more quickly than her brother, causing her father to lament, "If only you were a boy, how happy I should be!" He did, however, allow Shikibu to study with her brother, even letting her learn some Chinese classics, which was considered improper for females at the time.

Murasaki's mother died while she was a child, so Murasaki was raised, contrary to customs of the time, by her father Fujiwara no Tametoki, a scholar and officer of the imperial court. During Heian-era Japan, couples lived separately and children were raised by the mother and her family. Also contrary to customs of the time, her father gave her a male education. Men were taught kanji and classical Chinese literature as the requisite culture, while women were taught kana and poetry. Her father praised her intelligence and ability, but lamented that she was "born a woman". She was married in her early 20s and had one child, Daini no Sanmi, who was a poet in her own right.

At the royal court, she was the lady-in-waiting for Empress Shoshi/Akiko and may have been hired by Fujiwara Michinaga to serve the Empress.

Murasaki died either in 1014, when records show that her father suddenly returned to Kyoto from his governor's mansion, or between 1025 and 1031, when she would have been in her mid-50s, fairly old by Heian standards.

Three works are attributed to Murasaki, the most important being The Tale of Genji. The Murasaki Shikibu Diary and The Murasaki Shikibu Collection were arranged and published posthumously. The collection is a compilation of 128 poems written by Murasaki.

When she was in her early twenties, Lady Murasaki was married to a distant relative. Her only daughter was born in 999. After the death of her husband in 1001 A.D, knowing of her writing talent and her brilliant mind, the imperial family brought Lady Murasaki to court.

At court, Lady Murasaki began a diary she kept up for two years. While giving a vivid account of court life, it also gives us insights into what Lady Murasaki thought. For example, she didn't like the frivolous nature of court life. Once she described a picture competition there as a "moment in the history of our country when the whole energy of the nation seemed to be concentrated upon the search for the prettiest method of mounting paper scrolls!" She also went to great pains to hide her knowledge of Chinese, fearing the criticism of those who felt it to be unladylike to be happy reading this obscure language.

Shikibu may have begun The Tale of the Genji before she came to court. Yet much of it was written there, loosely based on her years as lady-in-waiting to the Empress Akiko. It is a very long novel about complications in the life of a fictitious prince called Genji. Like many of the court ladies, Shikibu was a master at observing the daily activities and attitudes of upper class society.

The tales of Prince Genji, known as "the Shining Prince," became popular from the moment of its release. It was meant to be read aloud, and the earliest Genji manuscript was lost. Luckily early 12th century Genji manuscript scrolls survived, and through the ages, the novel has been translated into many languages and been studied and discussed by many scholars.

Little is know about Lady Murasaki's later life. She may have retired from court to seek seclusion in a convent at about the age of fifty. Her writings suggest that at the end she sensed the violent changes that were coming to her rather decadent upper class life. In the distance, the sounds of provincial warriors rumbled - the samurai who in 1192 overthrew the power of the emperor and created a feudal military government headed by a shogun.

Murasaki is considered one of the greatest writers of Japanese literature. Statues in her honour have been erected throughout Japan, her works are a staple part of the education curriculum in Japan. The 2000 yen note was issued in commemoration to her and her greatest epic work, The Tale of Genji.

A fictionalized biography of Murasaki called The Tale of Murasaki: A Novel was written by Liza Dalby. Another fictionalized biography of Murasaki Shikibu is an Italian novel by Gabriella Magrini: Mille Autunni, vita di Murasaki Dama di Corte, Edizione Frassinelli 1985; translated into French under the title La dame de Kyoto, Editions Belfond, 1987, ISBN 2 7144 1973 9. A fictitious descendant of Lady Murasaki is a major character in the Thomas Harris novel and subsequent horror film Hannibal Rising.

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Lady Akashi

Daughter of a provincial governor turned priest, Genji woos her during his exile. She is daunted by his elevated position and refinement, but eventually succumbs and becomes one of Genji's secondary wives. Her daughter is adopted by Murasaki and eventually becomes empress.

Akikonomu

Akikonomu is the daughter of Prince Zembo and the Lady of Rokujo. She serves as high priestess of the Ise shrine and later, with Genji's backing, becomes the Reizei Emperor's (Genji's son) wife. She eventually becomes Empress. Genji inappropriately tries to seduce her.

Lady Aoi

Genji's first principal wife, married to him when he is 12 and she is four years older. Not surprisingly, she finds him childish, and their relations remain uncomfortable until her death. She is the only daughter of the Minister of the Left at the opening of the novel, and their marriage is meant to cement her father's close relations with the imperial family. Like her brother, Genji's friend To no Chujo, she is his child by his principal wife, Princess Omiya. She is the mother of Yugiri. Her death is attributed to the jealous spirit of the Lady of Rokujo

Prince Genji

The handsome and popular son of the emperor of Japan. This courtly romance of medieval Japan is primarily concerned with Genji’s amours.

The emperor of Japan

Genji’s father.

Lady Kokiden

The emperor’s consort. She is also Genji's wicked stepmother, the jealous and power-hungry principal wife and empress of his father. Under the reign of their son, the Susaku Emperor, she and her father, a Minister of the Right, are very powerful. A sister seems to be married to Prince Hotaru. A younger sister, Oborozukiyo, is married to the Susaku emperor.

Lady Kiritsubo

Genji's mother, a favorite wife of his Emperor father, but persecuted by her rivals at court, who resented the favors granted someone of relatively undistinguished birth. She dies when he is very young.

Princess Asagao

Daughter of Prince Momozono, who was a brother of Genji's father. She is thus his first cousin. He pursues her from time to time, but without success.

Eighth Prince.

A half-brother of Genji, son of the same Emperor by another secondary wife. He is the father of Oigimi, Nakanokimi, and (by a secondary wife) the unfortunate Ukifune. He is less interested in his daughters than in the pursuit of salvation, and eventually abandons them to become a monk, trusting that Kaoru) will take care of them.

Lady of the Evening Faces

Mistress of To no Chujo, by whom she has a daughter, Tamakazura. After his coldness makes her flee, she is briefly the mistress of Genji, till slain by the jealous spirit of the Lady of Rokujo. Her name comes from the white flowers on the eaves of the building she is living in when Genji comes across her.

Fujitsubo

A secondary but favorite wife of Genji's father, though she is only five years older than Genji himself. She is the brother of Prince Hyobu, and thus the aunt of Murasaki. She is the mother of the Reizei emperor, who is actually Genji's child rather than his father's.

Prince HIGEKURO

His father was a Minister of the Right. His principal wife is a daughter of Prince Hyobu. His sister Shokyoden becomes the principal wife and empress of the Suzaku emperor, so he is an uncle of the emperor reigning at the novel's end. Makibashira is their daughter. He marries Genji's ward Tamakazura.

Prince Hotaru

A younger brother of Genji. His first principal wife is a sister of his stepmother Kokiden. He later marries the daughter of Prince Higekuro. He is a suitor for Genji's ward Tamakazura. Genji gives him a glimpse of Tamakazura's beauty by releasing fireflies in her room at night, and this gives him the name used for him in the novel, which means "firefly."

Prince Hyobu

Son of a former emperor and brother of Fujitsubo. Genji's love Murasaki is his child by a concubine. A daughter of his principal wife becomes the principal wife of Prince Higekuro.

Prince Hyobukyo

Name of Prince Hyobu in the Waley translation and secondary sources following it. This longer form is a title (Minister of War) held by that prince and also by Prince Hotaru.

Jiju

A maid who ghosts the letters of the lady of the Suetsumuhana chapter.

Kaoru

A son of Genji's second principal wife, the Third Princess, he learns as an adult that his true father is not Genji but Kashiwagi. His rivalries with his cousin Prince Niou are the main topic of the last quarter of the novel.

Kashiwagi

A son of To no Chujo. His principal wife is the Second Princess (aka Princess Ochiba), a daughter of the Suzaku Emperor. He is a suitor for Genji's ward Tamakazura. He seduces Genji's second principal wife, the Third Princess and is the true father of Genji's son Kaoro. He dies young.

Kii

The governor of Kii hosts Genji and his entourage in chapter. His father is a governor of Iyo, and he is attracted to his pretty young stepmother, Utsusemi, with whom Genji spends the night. Genji sleeps with the sister (Nokiba no Ogi) of the governor of Kii by mistake, when her stepmother gives him the slip.

Kobai

The eldest son of To No Chujo. After the death of his first wife, he has an affair with Makibashira, the widow of Prince Hotaru, and then takes her as his second principal wife. He tries to get Prince Niou for his daughter.

Koremitsu

The son of Genji's old nurse, he is a faithful retainer of Genji and employed on confidential missions. He becomes a provincial governor. One of his daughters becomes a maid of honor in the Fujiwara household, where she is seduced by Genji's son Yugiri, by whom she eventually has six children.

Lady kUMOINOKARI

A daughter of To No Chujo, she becomes the principal (and for many years the only) wife of Genji's son Yugiri.

Makibashira

The daughter of Prince Higekuro and his principal wife. She is married to Prince Hotaru, by whom she had a daughter. When widowed, she married Kobai, a son of To no Chujo. She and Kobai have a son.

Minister of the Left

The chief minister in charge of administrative departments, a post which dates back to the Taika Reforms of 702 A.D. When the position of Minister of the Center (or chancellor) was vacant, as it often was, the holder of this post is the prime minister, though actual power was sometimes elsewhere. In the Heian period, such posts were monopolized by the Fujiwara clan. The friendly rivalry between Genji and To No Chujo reflects some real tensions between the Fujiwaras and the imperial family. The first of several occupants of this position during the novel is the father of To No Chujo and Princess Aoi. As the latter's father, he is Genji's father-in-law. Both are children of his principal wife, Princess Omiya.

Minister of the Right

The deputy to the Minister of the Left. At the beginning of the novel, the position is held by the father of Kokiden and Oborozukiyo.

Murasaki

Lady Murasaki first enters the novel as a 10 year old child. She is the daughter of Prince Hyobu, but Genji carries her off because she reminds him of Hyobu's sister Fujitsubo, whom he loves. At 14, she becomes one of Genji's secondary wives and his favorite. Her name is from a plant which produces a lavender dye. Her prominence in the novel probably accounts for its author being known as Murasaki Shibiku.

Prince Niou

Son of the novel's last emperor and his empress, Genji's daughter by the Lady Akashi, he is the likely heir to his father. His rivalry with his cousin Kaoru recalls that of Genji with To No Chujo, but the tone is darker, and their mutual love of Ukifune ends up badly for all concerned.

Oborozukiyo

A younger sister of Kokiden, she seems to be a concubine of her nephew, the Susaku Emperor, but has an affair with Genji, which earns him exile.

Oigimi

The elder of two daughters of the Eighth Prince by his principal wife and a half sister of Ukifune. Kaoru pursues her, but she dies without having surrendered to him.

Omiya

Genji's aunt and mother-in-law. A sister of Genji's father, married to a Minister of the Left. Mother of Genji's best friend, To no Chujo, and his wife, Aoi.

Lady Reikeiden

A one-time minor wife of Genji's father, fallen on hard times. Genji is interested himself in her younger sister, the lady of the orange blossoms

Emperor Reizei

Son of Fujitsubo. He abdicates early, partly as a result of discovering that he is the child of Genji rather than of Genji's father. His principal wife and empress is Akikonomu.

Lady RokujO

Widow of the crown prince Prince Zembo and a longtime mistress of Genji. Eight years older than Genji Her jealousy is so strong that her wandering spirit kills the lady of the evening faces and Aoi and attacks others. Mother of Akikonomu.

Shokyoden

Sister of Prince Higekuro, principal wife of the Susaku Emperor, and mother of the emperor reigning at the end of the novel.

Shonagan

The nurse of Murasaki.

Emperor Suzaku

Genji's brother, the son of their father and his principal wife, Kokiden. He succeeds his father and is succeeded by the Reizei Emperor, who is succeeded in turn by the Suzaku emperor's son (by the sister of Prince Higekuro), , who is reigning at the end of the novel. His daughter the Third Princess (by Genji no Miya) becomes Genji's second principal wife. Another daughter (by Lady Ichijo) is the principal wife of To no Chujo's son, Kashiwagi. m Another wife is his maternal aunt, Oborozukiyo, who deceives him with Genji.

Tamakazura

The daughter of To no Chujo and a mistress, the lady of the evening faces. Genji keeps her existence secret from her father and brings her to his own home, but she rebuffs him. He finally marries her to Prince Higekuro. Her unsuccessful suitors include To no Chujo's son, Kashiwagi and Genji's younger brother, Prince Hotaru.

Third Princess

A daughter of the Suzaku Emperor who becomes Genji's second principal wife after the death of Princess Aoi. This distresses Murasaki till she realizes that the girl is too childish, at 13, to interest the mature Genji that much. She is, however, the mother of his son Kaoru, who is actually the fruit of an illicit affair with Kashiwagi. She becomes a nun after the birth.

To no Chujo

Genji's best friend and frequent rival. Eldest son of a Minister of the Left and Princess Omiya. Genji makes his acquaintance because he visits the house to see his principal wife, To No Chujo's sister Aoi. He is the father of Kashiwagi, Kobai, Kumoinakari, and (by the lady of the evening faces) Tamakazura. His principal wife is a daughter of the Minister of the Right. He succeeds his father as head of the all-powerful Fujiwara clan and is succeeded in turn by his son Kobai.

Ukifune

An unrecognized daughter of the Eighth Prince and the tragic heroine of the last part of the book. Her status is lower than her birth might suggest because her mother later married a mere provincial governor, the Governor of Hitachi. Kaoru thinks this would make it impossible for him to take her openly as a secondary wife rather than a mistress. Involved with both Kaoru and Prince Niou.

Yugiri

Son of Genji and Aoi. He eventually becomes an important minister of state. His principal wife is Lady Kumoinokari, the daughter of To no Chujo, who initially opposes the match. This is a love match, but he eventually becomes obsessed with the Second Princess, the widow of Kashiwagi, and makes her a secondary wife.

Prince Zembo

Son of an emperor, brother of Genji's father and Princess Omiya. Married to the Lady of Rokujo. Father of Akikonomu. A one time crown prince, he is evidently dead before the novel begins.

PLOT OF THE STORY

Introduction

“Though the body moves, the soul may stay behind.”

Murasaki Shikibu's epic-length novel, The Tale of Genji, probes the psychological, romantic and political workings of mid-Heian Japan. The novel earned Murasaki Shikibu notoriety even in the early 11th century, some six hundred years before the printing press made it available to the masses. Court society, which served as the subject of the novel, sought out chapters. Ladies-in-waiting and courtiers even pilfered unrevised copies, according to legend. Some thousand years later, Murasaki Shikibu and her novel continue to delight an enthusiastic audience. Stamps, scrolls, comic books, museums, shower gel, movies, parades, puppet plays, CD-ROMS: Murasaki Shikibu and her creation Genji have achieved National Treasure status in Japan and admiration all over the world.

The tale spreads across four generations, splashed with poetry and romance and heightened awareness to the fleeting quality of life. Murasaki Shikibu's tale of love, sex, and politics explores a complex web of human and spiritual relationships. This focus on characters and their emotional experience, as compared to plot, makes the novel easily accessible to the modern reader. It explains, in part, why many scholars consider Genji to be the world's first great novel.

Readers through the ages have especially admired Murasaki Shikibu's depiction of the Heian court society's deep aesthetic sense. Beauty—in flesh, flowers, sunsets, musical notes—moved and influenced the society. The title character, Genji, flourishes in this atmosphere. He is a master of speech, poetry, music, manners, dress.

Many Japanese scholars cite as an influence Chinese poet Po-Ch-I's classic narrative poem, The Song of Unending Sorrow. Murasaki Shikibu writes in her diary of reading the poet's work to the empress. She also refers to it several times in The Tale of Genji. Importantly, the novel also marked Japan's liberation from Chinese influence. According to Richard Bowring in Landmarks of World Literature: The Tale of Genji, "Japan had just emerged from a time of substantial Chinese influ-ence and was going through one of its periodic stages of readjustment, during which alien concepts were successfully naturalized. The Genji is thus the product of a native culture finding a truly sophisticated form of self-expression in prose for the first time."

The Tale of Genji has had a pervasive influence on later Japanese and world-wide art. It has inspired Noh theater, waka poetry, scroll paintings, pop music and dances. It has had an especially profound influence on Japanese literature. Court fiction for hundreds of years after openly modeled itself after Genji. Present-day writers, including Kawabata Yasunari in his 1968 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, still cite The Tale of Genji as a great influence.

**

Genji, the hero of the Tale, is the son of the emperor and his favourite concubine, Kiritsubo. A Korean sage predicts a brilliant future for Genji but his mother suffers the jealousy of rivals at court, becomes ill and dies. The distraught emperor becomes obsessed with the tragic story of Yang Kwei-fei, but eventually finds another concubine, Fujitsubo, who reminds him of his former love.

Since Genji lacks backing at court, the emperor makes him a commoner, assigning him membership of the non-royal Genji clan. The eldest son of the emperor and Lady Kokiden is made crown prince.

Genji becomes an uncommonly handsome and gifted young man, admired by all but feared by Lady Kokiden and her family. The first part of the Tale follows his amorous exploits with a variety of ladies in and around Heian-kyo, his friendship with To no Chujo and arranged marriage to To no Chujo's sister Aoi, the birth of his son and his budding relationship with the young Murasaki.

Meanwhile, the old emperor dies and is succeeded by Lady Kokiden's son. Genji's amorous intrigues cause a scandal at court and he is forced to leave the capital and live in Suma for several years. During this second part of the Tale, Genji meets the ex-Governor of Harima and his daughter The Akashi Lady.

Genji returns to the capital and the emperor abdicates in favour of Fujitsubo's (and secretly Genji's) son. Genji's position at court is restored and the Akashi Lady has a baby girl. Genji then goes on a pilgrimage to the Sumiyoshi Shrine to give thanks to the deity for protecting him during the storm at Suma. After his return to the capital he settles down with Murasaki and several other ladies at his Rokujo Mansion. During this long section of the Tale, Genji's influence at court increases steadily and he is preoccupied with the advancement of his children and grandchildren at court. Genji is persuaded to marry the Third Princess, who gives birth to a son and soon after becomes a Buddhist nun.

In the last 10 chapters, the action shifts to the wild mountain area of Uji and the adventures of Genji's "son" and grandson, Kaoru and Niou, who are friends and rivals in love. The complex plot centres on the daughters of Genji's religious half-brother, the Eighth Prince, and the impetuous Ukifune.

Settings

Written just after the year 1000 A.D, The Tale of Genji was immensely popular among the author's contemporaries in Heian Period in Japan.

Conflict

The problems began for Genji with his mother's death. Because he wasn't old enough to comprehend her death, she remains a mystery to him. This creates an Oedipus complex of sorts within him that stays until late in life. He lusts after Fujitsubo because he hears she looks similar to his mother. Because he cannot have Fujitsubo, he raises Murasaki because of her resemblance to Fujitsubo. Upon first seeing Murasaki Genji began to long for “the pleasure of having her with him day and night, to make up for the absence of the lady he loved.” This complex causes much suffering for Genji and all of those involved, most noticeably by Genjis fear of living without Murasaki.

Genji without a doubt neglects Aoi, his first wife. The neglect was largely caused by promiscuous behavior that Genji had in his youth. The sudden devotion of Genji to Aoi around the time of Yugiris birth was a sudden correction of this sin. To no Chujo, Aois brother and Genji’s best friend, was confused by the sudden act of devotion as he had never seen it before. However try as he might, the sudden correction of his ways was ultimately not enough to save Aoi from The Rokujō Havens spirit. Her spirit kills Aoi because of this bitter jealousy of her own relationship with Genji.

THEMES

Murasaki Shikibu's epic-length novel, The Tale of Genji, probes the psychological, romantic and political workings of mid-Heian Japan. The tale spreads across four generations, splashed with poetry and romance and heightened awareness to the fleeting quality of life.

Style

The Tale of Genji does not meet many of the classical requirements of an epic. Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature defines epic as, "Long narrative poem in an elevated style that celebrates heroic achievement and treats themes of historical, national, religious or legendary significance." It goes on to report, "The main aspects of epic convention are the centrality of a hero—sometimes semi divine—of military, national, or religious importance; an extensive, perhaps even cosmic, geographical setting; heroic battle; extended and often exotic journeying; and the involvement of supernatural beings, such as gods, angels, or demons, in the action."

The Tale of Genji is written in prose, not verse. The hero and the setting are completely mortal, more realistic than cosmic. It is a time of peace and tranquility.

Critique and Reaction

Image a white-faced, black-toothed woman. Painted eyebrows crest either side of her forehead. Her hair falls down to the floor. She hides behind a screen, just the ornate sleeves of her robe in plain view. On the other side, a carefully-scented man. At home waits his wife, and his other wife, a couple of concubines, a pseudo-adopted daughter who someday will be his lover. But for now—as he sends off a love haiku via messenger—his passion swells for this woman whose koto he heard as he sat under the cherry blossoms.

Almost exactly 1,000 years ago, a young woman in a small town in Japan began to write this story of an imagined prince who had just about everything—brains, looks, charm, artistic talent and the love of well- born ladies. He was Genji, "the shining one", so dear to his father, the emperor, that the latter reduced his rank to that of a commoner, to spare him the malice at court.

The Japanese national classic, Murasaki Shikibu's Genji monogatari, is chiefly valued for its exquisitely drawn psychological character portrayals and detailed realistic descriptions of tenth century Heian court life. Yet the work also contains highly dramatic parts and animated scenes of spirit possession. One of the most memorable scenes occurs in a minor part in which Higekuro's wife dumps ashes on her husband's head. She is violently enraged by the prospect of being ousted from her position as principal wife by a new mistress, and she is possessed.

In the lengthy and complex Japanese novel, The Tale of Genji, Buddhist priests attend court ceremonies, women disappointed in love become nuns, jealous spirits possess the bodies of Genji's wives and mistresses, and folk superstitions work their way into the most dramatic of adventures. These varied and apparently conflicting religious elements pose some questions about the dominant religious attitudes in the story. Are the various practices exclusive, and are they ever at odds with each other? How do knowledge of religious rites and understanding of the associated beliefs illuminate both the plots in the novel and the themes that dominate it?

Reflecting upon the entirety of Genjis life and comparing the amount of devotion to Buddhist Morals with the stability of his life, the pattern is clear. If we compare his son Yugiri the opposite is true. Yugiri lived a straight and stable life until middle age. At middle age Yugiri strays from the Eightfold Path and his life falls apart. His wife effectively leaves him, his love interest wants nothing to do with him, and he is the laughing stock of the city. Genji’s life proves that it is never too late to change ones ways and reap the benefit.

BOOK REPORT IN ENGLISH IV

“The Tale of Genji”

A fiction by Murasaki Shikibu

Submitted By:

Christine Ombania de Asis

IV-Madame Marie Curie

Submitted To:

Mrs Ellen Mae Badillo-Laurente

Faculty, English Department

Makati Science High School

January __, 2009

SY: 2008-2009

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