Return to the index of "Other Women's Voices."
Updated 12-22-06
Murasaki Shikibu
(973/8-aft.1014)
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"WHO WILL READ IT? WHO WILL LIVE FOREVER IN THIS WORLD?"
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The woman we call Murasaki Shikibu ("Murasaki" probably from the name of her heroine; "Shikibu" from a post once held by her father) came from a lesser branch of the powerful Fujiwara clan of Japan. Her father was for short periods a provincial governor, a position that could be sometimes lucrative but was always far away from the center of power in the Heian capital, Kyoto.
The first we know of Murasaki Shikibu is that she was with her father in the provinces in 996. In 998 she came back to the capital to marry Fujiwara Nobutaka; her husband was almost as old as her father and already had other wives. Murasaki had a daughter in 999; she was widowed in 1001. Until she entered court in 1005/6, she was at home, perhaps beginning Genji monogatari.
At court, she was an attendant to Empress Shoshi /Akiko (988-1074), who was at least ten years younger than Murasaki. Since she has no "court name," Murasaki seems not to have held an official court post, but rather was employed by Fujiwara Michinaga, the most powerful man in the country, to serve his empress daughter. Part of Murasaki Shikibu nikki covers the period 1008-1010.
In 1011, after the death of the emperor, Shoshi moved to a mansion outside the court; and Murasaki perhaps went with her. The last certain reference to Murasaki is in 1014.
Murasaki's works include Genji monogatari (Tale of Genji); Murasaki Shikibu nikki, a memoir; and Murasaki Shikibu shu, a collection of 128 poems. We don't know when any of these were begun or finished; we do know they work together to create the author's voice.
On this page you'll find:
Links to useful sites online.
Excerpts from translations in print:
Genji monogatari
Murasaki Shikibu shu
Murasaki Shikibu nikkiInformation about:
Secondary sources
Genji monogatari art
Online
1. Links to the individual chapters of Edward G. Seidensticker's 1976 translation of Genji monogatari (although without Seidensticker's valuable introduction or notes). At another site, you can do a word search of the translation, looking at the whole work or at individual books.
2. A link to The Diary of Murasaki Shikibu, a 1920 translation of Murasaki Shikibu nikki by Annie Shepley Omori and Kochi Doi (the translation is complete except for a few lines near the start and one list of courtiers) You can also link to Amy Lowell's introduction to Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan, of which Murasaki's is one; some of Lowell's facts have been made outdated by newer research, and the tone is occasionally patronizing, but her insights are worthwhile. The link to the appendix will give you a useful chronology of the period.
3. Other translations of parts of Genji and Murasaki's nikki:
(a) The opening lines of Genji, translated by Kenneth L. Richard. (Yang Kuei-fei was a woman accused of distracting an early Chinese emperor from his duties.)
(b) A brief biography with a link to two excerpts from the nikki and one excerpt from chapter 25 of Genji, translated by Arthur Waley (but, contrary to what is said in the introduction to the Genji passage, the speaker there is Genji).
(c) Two excerpts from the nikki: one on Murasaki's life away from the palace, and another, from a letter to a friend, on her devotion to Amitabha Buddha.
(d) From the nikki, Murasaki's description of Sei Shonagon, her fellow courtier, translated by Morris; it is followed by an essay by Jonathon Delacour on the two writers.
4. Murasaki's poems are at several sites:
(a) In a review by Doreen King of A String of Flowers, Untied---: Love Poems from the Tale of Genji, five poems, translated by Jane Reichhold with Hatsue Kawamura (for more from the book, see below, under "In print").
(b) Links to three poems from an imperial anthology completed in 1086, translated by Thomas McAuley; for each, the Japanese is also given in script and in romanization.
(c) In a collection of poetry by Japanese women, four poems (two of which are from Genji),translated by Kenneth Rexroth; Murasaki is the fourth poet given.
(d) Another Genji poem, "The evening sky itself," translated by Helen C. McCullough, with the original in script and romanization.
(e) Finally, versions of a Murasaki poem included in an important 1200s anthology, Hyakunin Isshu:(1) In an essay by Hiroaki Sato on translating tanka and haiku, versions by four translators: Sato, Steven D. Carter, F.V. Dickins, and Richard Bowring.
(2) "Meeting on the path,"by Clay MacCauley (but "modernized"), with the original in script and romanization.
(3) "Was that really you?" by Tom Galt, with a modern illustration and a brief commentary;
(4) "I wandered forth this moonlight night," by William N. Porter, with a 1700s woodcut.
5. From Royall Tyler, the latest translator of Genji monogatari:
(a) The start of Royall Tyler's "Introduction" to his 2001 translation of Genji; "Next" at the upper right will take you to the 14 other sections of the introduction. You can also link to an pre-publication essay by Tyler, and you can download a PDF file of the book's Chapter 1. (For other excerpts from Tyler's translation, see below, under "In print.")
(b) A 2002 Tyler essay, "Marriage, Rank and Rape in The Tale of Genji."
(c) Finally, a transcription of a 2003 talk, "Translating The Tale of Genji," in which Tyler discusses and illustrates the decisions he made during the translation process.
6. Other views on Genji:
(a) Two essays on Genji by Kenneth L. Richard; both deal with Genji in the role of a mother: the first acts as a general introduction; the second is a more detailed analysis.
(b) A 2002 essay by Valerie Henitiuk, "Virgin Territory: Murasaki Shikibu's Oigimi Resists the Male," which discusses the reasons that Oigimi, one of the characters in the later part of Genji (chs.45-47), resists her would-be lover.
(c) Another essay that deals with a character in the later part of the novel is William Wetherall's "Ukifune's Gamble with Death in Murasaki Shikibu's Genji monogatari," a 2004 translation of a conference paper originally given in Japanese in 1978.
(d) Links to brief essays on Genji and on the Heian court; most are by Haruo Shirane (for information on other studies by Shirane, see below, under "Secondary sources").
(e) An interesting 1999 discussion among Genji scholars on the subject of Murasaki's authorship of the entire novel.
(f) Thoughts on Genji by poet and translator Kenneth Rexroth; note that when this essay was published in 1968, Arthur Waley's version of the work was the only one available in English. And from the same site, Rexroth's "The World of Genji," a review of Ivan I. Morris' 1964 The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan.
(g) At the bottom of the page, links to the eight chapters of a study of Genji, written in 1950 but revised in 2000, by Richard W. Amero; passages quoted are in Waley's translation.
7. A review by Branislav L. Slantchev of the 1996 edition of Richard Bowring's The Diary of Lady Murasaki, with quoted passages (for more excerpts from Bowring, see below, under "In print").
8. Help in reading Genji:
(a) Links to brief descriptions by Kazuko Takagi of the principal characters (the drop-down menu at the top of the page will take you to an overview of the novel).
(b) At another site, a complete list of characters, telling the chapters in which each appears, prepared by Tyler.
(c) A genealogical chart of the major characters, by Richard Bowring; for help reading the chart, link to "List of names."
(d) A list of the --- frequently different --- chapter titles used by Tyler, Seidensticker, Waley, and other translators.
(e) An illustrated page by John R. Wallace, "Comments on Individual Chapters, with Multimedia Links," which deals with 18 chapters from various part of the work, explaining unfamiliar references and leading you to other sources.
9. Genji has always been popular with Japanese artists. Genji monogatari emaki, the earliest extant illustrated handscroll, was prepared a little over 100 years after the novel was written, and is now incomplete. Here are some of the surviving illustrations (for information on a print version of the emaki, see below, under "Genji monogatari art"):
(a) From Chapter 18, noblemen listening to music at the home of Genji's daughter and her mother. Click on the picture for a passage from the chapter, translated by Seidensticker.
(b) Four scenes illustrating Chapters 38, 40, 49, and 45 (each can be enlarged).
(c) A detail of the illustration for Chapter 38 given just above: a nobleman playing a flute.
(d) At the left, a scene from Chapter 36, Genji holding an infant, the son of one of his wives and another man. To the right, three other scenes involving women. Also given are comments by K.M. Linduff on "reading" the scrolls.
(e) From Chapter 50, a woman reading a story to a group of other women. At least one scholar (Akiyama Terukazu, 1968) has attributed this and some of the other earliest illustrations to a woman artist.
10. Later illustrations of Genji :
(a) First, an essay describing the history of Genji art, with links leading to illustrations from various periods.
(b) Links to illustrations from each of the 54 chapters, some from Genji monogatari emaki (above, #9), some from other early manuscripts.
(c) The 1554 work of a woman artist, Keifukuin Gyokuei, six miniature scrolls (given in 30 segments on three pages) done in black and white.
(d) From 1550-1650, five scenes from the first chapters, done by members of the Tosa family, given here with brief commentary by Jonathan Delacour.
(e) From 1650, 227 woodcuts by Harumasa Yamamoto. For this first chapter, there are five illustrations, each accompanied by a relevant summary by Mari Nagase. At the bottom, click onto any of the other 53 chapters (or go to "Contents," where you can choose a chapter by its English title).
(f) A 1600s folding screen showing a football game in Chapter 34.
(g) From a c.1750 handscroll, illustrations from the first 16 chapters.
(h) Sixteen wookblock prints by Utagawa Kunisado, c.1844.
(i) The first of three woodcut triptychs by Ichiyusai Hiroshige, 1853; you can link to the next from the arrow at the bottom. At the first triptych, click on "essay" for a description of the scene.
11. Murasaki Shikibu nikki has not received the extent of artistic treatment that Genji has, but here is a full page (and a detail) of a 1200s handscroll; both can be enlarged.
12. For historical background, a detailed essay by Gregory Smits, "The Heian Period Aristocrats," with links to other relevant infomation; several passages from Genji and the nikki are given. (Much of the essay is based on Morris' 1964 study, The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan; for information on that book, see below, under "Secondary sources.")
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[Royall Tyler's 2001 two-volume translation of Genji monogatari has several helps for the general reader. At the start of each chapter we are given information on each of the characters mentioned and on the relation of the chapter to earlier ones. The introduction to Volume 1 (available online) is detailed; the end of Volume 2 gives supplementary information, most valuably a chronology of the novel's action. The notes are thorough, as is the bibliography of earlier English-language studies. One odd omission: the table of contents does not indicate the page numbers of individual chapters. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The tale of Genji / Murasaki Shikibu; translated by Royall
Tyler. New York: Viking, 2001. (2 v. (xxix, 1174 p.): ill.)
LC#: PL788.4.G4 E3 2001; ISBN: 0670030201 (set)
Includes bibliographical references (v. 2, p. [1173]-1174)
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"Come, let us make our story one like no other."
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[This passage is often used to show the author's view of fiction. The problem is that here, as elsewhere, when Genji was pursuing a woman, he would say almost anything she wants to hear. Tamakasura was the daughter of Genji's friend, but Genji presented her to the world as his own. You can see Arthur Waley's translation of part of Genji's speech online:]
The long rains were worse this year than most, and to get through the endless wet the ladies amused themselves day and night with illustrated tales.... This sort of thing particularly intrigued the young lady in the west wing [22-year-old Tamakasura], who therefore gave herself all day long to copying and reading....
Finding her enthralled by works like these..., Genji exclaimed, "Oh, no, this will never do! Women are obviously born to be duped without a word of protest. There is hardly a word of truth in all this, as you know perfectly well, but there you are caught up in fables, taking them seriously and writing away...."
He laughed but then went on, "Without stories like these about the old days, though, how would we pass the time when there is nothing else to do? Besides, among these lies there certainly are some plausible touching scenes, convincingly told; and yes, we know they are fictions, but even so we are moved and half drawn for no reason to the pretty, suffering heroine....
"Lately, when my little girl [8-year-old Akashi] has someone read to her and I stand there listening, I think to myself what good talkers there are in this world, and how this story, too, must come from somebody's persuasively glib imagination---but perhaps not."
[Tamakasura replied that someone accustomed to telling lies would naturally assume tales to be lies (for four years, Genji has been deceiving the world about her parentage) but that she believed the tales to be true. Genji responded:]
"I have been very rude to speak so ill to you of tales! They record what has been going on ever since the Age of the Gods...." He laughed. "Not that tales accurately describe any particular person; rather, the telling begins when all those things the teller longs to have pass on to future generations---whatever there is about the way people live their lives, for better or worse, that is a sight to see or a wonder to hear---overflows the teller's heart. To put someone in a good light brings out the good only, and to please other people one favors the oddly wicked, but none of this, good or bad, is removed from life as we know it.... "He mounted a very fine defense of tales.
"But do any of these old tales tell of an earnest fool like me?" He moved closer. "No, no cruelly aloof heroine in any of them could possible pretend to notice nothing as heartlessly as you do. Come, let us make our story one like no other and give it to all the world!" [Ch.25, pp.461-62]
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"Certain lords and ladies criticized my story...."
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[Nor can the narrator simply tell what "overflows the teller's heart"; she too must consider what her audience wants to hear. At the end of a chapter recounting Genji's ambivalent role in the death of a young woman:]
I had passed over Genji's trials and tribulations in silence, out of respect for his determined efforts to conceal them, and I have written of them now only because certain lords and ladies criticized my story for resembling fiction, wishing to know why even those who knew Genji best should have thought him perfect, just because he was an Emperor's son. No doubt I must now beg everyone's indulgence for my effrontery in painting so wicked a portrait of him. [Ch.4, p.80]
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[For 25 years, Edward Seidensticker's was the standard translation of Genji monogatari; whether it or Tyler's will be in the future remains to be seen. Seidensticker's two-volume book has a brief but helpful introduction, explanatory notes, and, thankfully, lists of principal characters in each volume. It also provides reproductions of woodcuts by Yamamoto Shunsho, first published in 1650. The text is available online:]
The tale of Genji / Murasaki Shikibu; translated with an introd.
by Edward Seidensticker. New York: Knopf, 1976. (2 v. (xix, 1090
p.): ill.)
LC#: PL788.4.G4 E5 1976; ISBN: 0394483286.
[Also published: (1) A paperback reprint: 2 vols. boxed: Rutland,
VT & Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1978; (2) London: Secker and
Warburg, 1976. ISBN: 0436459507]
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"She, young and irresolute, did not know how to send him
on his way."
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[Seidensticker's translation seems to present a narrator with a sharper, less indulgent, view of the characters and their society; this is perhaps best shown in comparing some brief passages of Seidensticker and of Tyler. First, after a 20-year-old Genji has accosted a sister of the empress, the narrator describes her response:]
She recognized his voice and was somewhat reassured. Though of course upset, she evidently did not want him to think her wanting in good manners. It may have been because he was still a little drunk that he could not admit the possibility of letting her go; and she, young and irresolute, did not know how to send him on his way. [Ch.8, p.153]
[The same passage in Tyler:]
She knew his voice and felt a little better. She did not want to seem cold or standoffish, despite her shock. He must have been quite drunk, because he felt he must have her, and she was young and pliant enough that she probably never thought seriously of resisting him. [p.157]
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"It is doubtful that he said anything he did not mean."
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[Here the narrator describes a 25-year-old Genji's visit to Hanachirusato, the younger --- but less attractive --- sister of one of his father's concubines:]
His manner as always gentle and persuasive, it is doubtful that he said anything he did not mean.
There were no ordinary, common women among those with who he had even fleeting affairs, nor were there any among them in whom he could find no merit; and so it was, perhaps, that an easy, casual relationship often proved durable. [Ch.11, p.218]
[And in Tyler:]
He spoke as always so kindly that he must have meant it.
No lady Genji had known, however, briefly, lacked a distinction of her own, nor did any give him reason to regret courting her; and perhaps that is why nothing came between them and him, and why they always got on so well. [p.225]
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"When he was with her he thought first of his own dependability."
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[Ten years later, Genji had brought Hanachirusato into his home. The narrator describes his feelings:]
They were as close as ever, she and Genji, despite the passage of the years. It was an easy sort of intimacy which he would not have wished to change. They had their talks, pleasant and easy as talks between husband and wife seldom are....
He knew that no other man was likely to have been as good to her, and in the knowledge was one of his private pleasures. What misfortunes might she not have brought upon herself had she been a less constant sort! Always when he was with her he thought first of his own dependability and her undemanding ways. They were a remarkable pair. [Ch.23, pp.411-412]
[And in Tyler:]
The passage of time had only brought the two closer together and made them fonder of each other. Genji no longer insisted on intimacy between them. They confined themselves to exchanging unusually affectionate assurances of mutual regard....
She was quite acceptable as she was, but, he thought, she really ought to wear a wig --- anyone else would be put off by looks like hers, though I myself am happy to stay by her this way.... Whenever he was with her, he took pleasure above all in his loyalty to her, as well as in her own steadiness of heart. [p.433]
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"She had presumed too much upon his affections."
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[For the first ten years of her marriage to Genji, Murasaki could treat his wanderings lightly , but when she was 24 she learned that he was meeting with his cousin, Asagao, Murasaki's equal in rank and of greater influence. Seidensticker has the narrator report Murasaki's thoughts in the third person:]
If Genji's intentions proved serious Murasaki would would be in a very unhappy position indeed. Perhaps too confident that she had no rivals, she had presumed too much upon his affections. It did not seem likely that he would discard her, at least in the immediate future, but it was quite possible that they had been together too long and that he was taking her for granted. [Ch.20, p.352]
[And Tyler, using the first person:]
Am I to be cast aside then, when I never had any serious rival?... Perhaps he will not really cut me off entirely, but even so, all these years of keeping me so close to him, when nothing about me required him to do so, could only turn to slights and condescension! [p.368]
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"...pity the fathers who went to such trouble rearing them?"
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[Murasaki's thoughts, when Genji, aged 50 and 8 years older than she, spoke of taking Buddhist vows and leaving her alone:]
Such a difficult, constricted life as a woman was required to live! Moving things, amusing things, she must pretend to be unaffected by them. With whom was she to share the pleasure and beguile the tedium of this fleeting world? Since it chose to look upon women as useless, unfeeling creatures, should it not pity the fathers who went to such trouble rearing them? [Ch.39, p.699]
[And in Tyler:]
Ah, she reflected, there is nothing so pitifully confined and constricted as a woman.... What will brighten the monotony of her fleeting days. And will she not bitterly disappoint the parents who reared her if she turns out hopelessly dull and insensitive to everything around her? [p.741]
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"Because she had been reared on the outer edges of society...."
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[Near the end of the novel, long after the deaths of Murasaki and Genji, a young girl, Ukifune, who had been raised far from court, was torn between two young men who wanted to shape her future. Fearing that one or both would be injured or killed, she decided on suicide. The narrator describes her thoughts:]
One or the other of the two men was certain to be made desperately unhappy, and the obvious solution was for her to disappear.... Why should she have regrets for a world that promised only torment?...
Ukifune was on the surface a gentle, docile, obedient girl, but perhaps because she had been reared on the outer edges of society, she was capable of sudden, impulsive action.... [Ch.51, p.1006]
[And in Tyler:]
One way or the other, then, something awful is going to happen to one of them! The only decent way out is for me to die.... If I live, I will have cause to regret it, so why should I not wish to die?
So her thoughts ran. Her upbringing had given her little true pride or knowledge of the ways of the world, and perhaps that is why she had been able, despite her air of girlishly mild innocence, to conceive of taking this almost brutal step. [Ch.51, p.1039]
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"'No more' is my resolve."
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[After Ukifune tried unsuccessfully to drown herself, she determined (against the objections of others) to become a Buddhist nun; this is the last time we are told her thoughts:]
She had never been an articulate girl, and she had no confidante with whom to discuss the rights and wrongs of what had happened. She seated herself at her inkstone and turned to the one pursuit in which she could lose herself when her thoughts were more than she could bear, her writing practice.
"A world I once renounced, for they and I
Had come to nothing, I now renounce again.
Finally, this time, I have done it."
The poem moved her to set down another:
"I thought that I should see the world no more,
And now, once more, 'no more' is my resolve." [Ch.53,
pp.1069-70]
[And in Tyler:]
She never had been good at telling other people her feelings, and since in any case she now had no one close to talk to, she could only sit before her inkstone and bravely set down her emotions, when they overflowed, as writing practice.
"This world that to me---myself and all others, too---meant
nothing at all
until I cast it from me, I have now renounced again.
"It is over at last," she wrote; but, still and all, she could only reread it with sorrow.
"That world I knew well, a world I had come to feel was
mine no longer,
I put sternly from me then, and now have done so again." [p.1100-1101]
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[In this abridgement, Tyler gives his version of 12 of the work's first 17 chapters; of these 12, six are given in an abridged form. Given as a "prologue" is a bit of Chapter 25 (in which Genji speaks of the art of fiction). The introduction and the text focus on Genji, to "evoke him as a young man and leave him at his first moment of triumph" (p. ix). (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Murasaki Shikibu. The tale of Genji: abridged; edited and
translated by Royall Tyler (Penguin classics). New York, N.Y.:
Penguin Books, 2006. (xxiv, 319, [6] p.: ill., 1 map)
LC#: PL788.4.G4 A6 2006; ISBN: 0143039490
Includes bibliographical references (p. [325])
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[Between 1925 and 1933, Arthur Waley made the first major
translation of Genji monogatari into English. His was
a "free" translation, with much material cut and passages
that are far from the original meaning. The book, however, is
still easily available in public libraries and can act as an
introduction to the novel:]
The tale of Genji / Lady Murasaki; translated and with an introduction
by Arthur Waley (1993 Modern Library ed.). New York: Modern Library,
1993. (xxii, 1327 p.: geneal. tables)
LC#: PL788.4.G415 E5 1993; ISBN: 0679424679.
[Also published: London : Allen and Unwin, 1973. (2 v. in 1 (xvi,
1135 p.) ISBN: 0048231096, 004823012X ]
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[Using Akiko Yosano's modern Japanese translation of the
poems of Genji, Jane Reichhold and Hatsue Kawamura have
translated the 456 poems by Murasaki (and 3 that the novel quotes
from earlier sources) that are given in the first 33 books. The
effect is to foreground the poetry, often slighted when one reads
an entire chapter. Reichhold summarizes each of the chapters,
gives descriptive headings for each poem and notes for some,
and often provides alternate translations to illustrate a poem's
ambiguity. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
A string of flowers, untied---: love poems from the Tale
of Genji / Murasaki Shikibu; translated by Jane Reichhold with
Hatsue Kawamura. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, c2003.
(xviii, 237 p.)
LC#: PL788.4.G42 A27 2003; ISBN:1880656620
Includes bibliographical references
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"...two side by side."
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[From Chapter 23, when Genji and Murasaki have been together for almost 20 years and their relationship has survived his exile and his ongoing affairs with other women. As Reichhold points out, "it is rare for [poems of the period] to contain the happiness of love." Sitting alone with Murasaki, Genji says:]
at last the thin ice
has melted from the pond
the mirror reflects
an image unequaled in
these times of two side by side.
[And Murasaki replies, extending the image to past and future:]
how clear it is
in the mirror of the pond
these images of
ten thousand generations
which remain vivid forever. [p.173]
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[In 1982 Richard Bowring's translated Murasaki's Nikki and Shu. His translation of the Nikki has since been published alone (see below), but because of its 128 poems, this edition is worth looking for:]
Murasaki Shikibu, her diary and poetic memoirs: a translation
and study / by Richard Bowring (Princeton library of Asian translations).
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, c1982. (ix, 290
p., [8] p. of plates: ill.)
LC#: PL788.4.Z5 A3513 1982; ISBN : 0691065071
Includes indexes. Bibliography: p. [275]-278.
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"...your feelings, thin as summer clothes."
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Be close, you say;
But the first thing I met
On getting close
Were your feelings,
Thin as summer clothes. [p.215]
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"A letter left behind...."
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Who will read it?
Who will live forever
In this world?
A letter left behind
In her undying memory. [p.214]
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[This is a revised version of Bowring's 1982 translation of the Nikki, without the Shu; it has a useful introduction and notes. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The diary of Lady Murasaki / translated and introduced by
Richard Bowring (Penguin classics). London; New York N.Y.: Penguin,
1996. (li, 91 p.: ill., map)
LC#: PL788.4.Z5 A3513 1996; ISBN: 014043576X
Bibliography: p. 91-[92].
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"She will come to no good."
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[On the danger of knowing Chinese; Po Chu-i was a major Chinese poet of the 800s:]
When my brother... was a young boy learning the Chinese classics, I was in the habit of listening with him and I became unusually proficient at understanding those passages that he found too difficult to grasp and memorize. Father, a most learned man, was always regretting the fact: "Just my luck," he would say. "What a pity she was not born a man!"
But then I gradually realized that people were saying "It's bad enough when a man flaunts his Chinese learning; she will come to no good," and since then I have avoided writing the simplest character.... Yet still I kept on hearing these remarks; so in the end, worried what people would think if they heard such rumours, I pretended to be incapable of reading even the inscriptions on the screen.
Then Her Majesty asked me to read with her here and there from the Collected Works of Po Chu-i, and because she evinced a desire to know about such things, to keep it secret we carefully chose times when the other women would not be present.... [pp.57-58]
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"I had entered a different world."
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[Reminiscing on the effects of court service, and on the friendships Murasaki Shikibu had before she went to court:]
As I watched the rather drab scene at home, I felt both depressed and confused. For some years now I had existed from day to day in listless fashion, taking notes of the flowers, the birds in song, the way the skies change from season to season, the moon, the frost and snow, doing little more than registering the passage of time. How would it all turn out?
The thought of my continuing loneliness was unbearable, and yet I had managed to exchange sympathetic letters with those of like mind---some contacted via fairly tenuous connections---who would discuss my trifling tales and other matters with me; but I was merely amusing myself with fictions, finding solace for my idleness in foolish words.... I tried reading the Tale again, but it did not seem to be the same as before and I was disappointed.
Those with whom I had discussed things of mutual interest---how vain and frivolous they must consider me now.... Those in whose eyes I had wished to be of some consequence undoubtedly thought of me now as no more than a common lady-in-waiting who would treat their letters with scant respect.... There were others who no longer came to see me, assuming that I was now of no fixed abode. Indeed everything, however slight, conspired to make me feel as if I had entered a different world....
It struck me as a sad truth that the only people left to me
were those of my constant companions at court for whom I felt
a certain affection, and those with whom I could exchange a secret
or two, with whom I happened to be on good terms at the present
moment.... Had I then succumbed to life at court? [pp.33-34]
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"To be able to adapt to a situation to the correct degree...."
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[On the response of her fellow ladies-in-waiting to male courtiers' poems:]
It is ridiculous to respond to someone's overtures with something that causes offense because it has simply been tossed off without due thought. One should take care to give an appropriate response. This is what is meant by the saying, "Sensitivity is a precious gift." Why should self-satisfied smugness be seen as a sign of wisdom?
And there again, why should one continually interfere with other people's lives? To be able to adapt to a situation to the correct degree and then to act accordingly seems to be extremely difficult for most people....
Once one has entered this kind of service, even the highest
born of ladies learns how to adapt; but our women still act as
though they were little girls who had never left home. [pp.52-53]
------------------------------------
"Thus do I criticize others...."
------------------------------------
[After writing some uncomplimentary things of fellow writers Izumi Shikibu and Sei Shonagon:]
Thus do I criticize others from various angles --- but here is one who has survived this far without having achieved anything of note. [p.54]
-----------------------------------------------
"There is some truth in what they say."
-----------------------------------------------
[On her life at home; we don't know who "he who carefully collected" was--her father? her husband?]
There is also a pair of larger cupboards crammed to bursting point. One is full of old tales and poems...; the other is full of Chinese books that have lain unattended ever since he who carefully collected them passed away.
Whenever my loneliness threatens to overwhelm me, I take out one or two of them to look at; but my women gather together behind my back. "It's because she goes on like this that she is so miserable. What kind of lady is it who reads Chinese books?" they whisper, "In the past it was not even the done thing to read sutras."
"Yes," I feel like replying, "but I've never met anyone who lived longer just because they believed in superstitions!"
But that would be thoughtless of me. There is some truth in what they say. [p.55]
-------------------------------------------------
"I still fret over what others think of me."
-------------------------------------------------
[From a letter incorporated into the diary; we don't know who the recipient was:]
Why should I hesitate to say what I want to? Whatever others might say, I intend to immerse myself in reading sutras for Amida Buddha. Since I have lost what little attachment I ever had for the pains life has to offer, you might expect me to become a nun without delay.
But even supposing I were to commit myself and turn my back on the world, I am certain there would be moments of irresolution before Amida came for me riding on his clouds. And thus I hesitate....
....[M]ind you, if this letter ever got into the wrong hands it would be a disaster ---there are ears everywhere.... So you see, I still fret over what others think of me, and, if I had to sum up my position, I would have to admit that I still retain a deep sense of attachment to this world. But what can I do about it? [p.59]
========================================================================
[This collection contains the print version of the Nikki
translation that is found online. Annie Shepley Omori's and
Kochi Doi's translation is interesting in that it is a more literal
rendering; as such, it shows the difficulty of assigning speeches
to the right speaker and deciding to whom a pronoun refers:]
Diaries of court ladies of old Japan. Translated by Annie Shepley
Omori and Kochi Doi. With an introd. by Amy Lowell. New York,
AMS Press, [1970] (xxxii, 200 p. illus.)
LC#: PL782.E8 O4 1970; ISBN: 0404048196
Reprint of the 1920 ed. The Sarashina diary.--The diary of Murasaki
Shikibu.--The diary of Izumi Shikibu.
=========================================================================
[For a c.1200 Japanese woman's view of Genji monogatari, see Michelle Marra's translation of Shunzei kyo no musume's Mumyozoshi, pp. 137-145, 281-292. The periodical is at many university libraries, so you can get the pages through interlibrary loan:]
Marra, Michele, tr. Mumyozoshi. Monumenta Nipponica,
39: 2-4 (1984),115-145, 281-305, 409-434.
LC#: DS821.A1 M6; ISSN: 0027-0741
--------------------
[John R. Wallace's study includes a substantial chapter, "Lady Murasaki's Journal --- The Elicitation and Regulation of Beauty," which sees the goal of Murasaki Shikibu nikki to be a description of the court and it people. Wallace looks at how the work fulfills that purpose and what is revealed about the narrator. The book's introduction and first chapter provide useful background on the writing of the period and the role of the court salons; the notes summarize earlier Japanese-language studies. All quoted passages are given in Wallace's own translation:]
Wallace, John R. Objects of discourse: memoirs by women of
Heian Japan (Michigan monograph series in Japanese studies; no.
54). Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Japanese Studies, the University
of Michigan, 2005. (xi, 325 p.: ill.)
LC#: PL741.2 .W35 2005; ISBN: 1929280343
Includes bibliographical references (p. 296-308) and index
----------------------
[Richard Bowring's introduction to Genji gives the general
reader a useful survey of the novel and the period in which it
was written. Bowring discusses the work's structure and style,
as well as its reception over the centuries. Quotations are usually
given in Tyler's translation, with page references to Seidensticker's,
although in the section on style, Bowring sometimes gives his
own versions. Don't miss the "Guide to further reading"
at the end; the section doubles as notes to the chapters, but
there are no superscripts to alert you to their presence. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Bowring, Richard John. Murasaki Shikibu: the Tale of Genji
(Landmarks of world literature). Cambridge; New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2004. 2nd ed. (viii, 106 p.: geneal. table)
LC#: PL788.4.G43 B68 2004; ISBN: 052183208X, 0521539757
Previous ed.: 1988. Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-106)
--------------------
[This is a collection of 12 essays already published as articles and book chapters, several of which are described below. Of the others, the article that will probably be of most value to the general reader is Royall Tyler's 1999 "'I am I': Genji and Murasaki," which discusses those scenes of the novel that reveal most about the relation between the two characters. In the process, Tyler usefully describes the views of earlier Japanese Genji scholars. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The tale of Genji / edited and with an introduction by Harold
Bloom (Bloom's modern critical interpretations). Philadelphia:
Chelsea House Publishers, c2004.
(vii, 355 p.)
LC#: PL788.4.G43 T33 2004; ISBN:0791075842
Includes bibliographical references (p. 339-341) and index
--------------------
[This collection includes six essays in English, of which
two are perhaps most valuable to the general reader. Haruo Shirane's
"The Tale of Genji: Canon Formation, Gender, and
Cultural Memory" gives the history of the reception and
use of Genji, showing how a popular work by a woman became
part of the male-dominated canon. James McMullen's "The
Pathos of Love: Motoori Norinaga and The Tale of Genji"
discusses the use by a Japanese scholar of the 1700s of the
concept of "mono no aware" (the pathos of things) to
interpret Genji; McMullen shows the strengths and limitations
of its use:]
The world of "The tale of Genji" outside of Japan:
translation and research / Ii Haruki, editor (International Japanese
literature research report; 3). Tokyo: Kazama Shobo, 2004. (2,
393 p.: ill.)
LC#: PL788.4.G43 K254 2004; ISBN: 4759914366
Text in Japanese and English. Based on lecture and symposium,
held at Osaka Daigaku on Dec. 2003, titled: Kaigai ni okeru genji
monogatari no sekai, hon'yaku to kenkyu.
----------------------
[This earlier study by Shirane is a valuable study of the
novel, especially the frequently neglected last chapters. (See the book's
table of contents online.):]
Shirane, Haruo. The bridge of dreams: a poetics of the Tale
of Genji. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, c1987.
(xxiii, 276 p., [8] p. of plates)
LC#: PL788.4.G43 S464 1987; ISBN: 0804713456
Bibliography: p. [249]-263. Includes index.
---------------------
[Although Margaret H. Childs' article looks briefly at other works, its focus in on Genji monogatari. Childs believes that Edward Seidensticker's translation of some passages gives an erroneous impression of Genji as a rapist; she gives her own translations that show Genji as merely an "aggressive seducer":]
Childs. Margaret H. The value of vulnerability: Sexual coercion
and the nature of love in Japanese court literature. Journal
of Asian Studies, 58 (1999), 1059-1079.
LC#: DS501 .F274; ISSN: 0021-9118
---------------------
[Tomika Yoda's article discusses the function of poetic dialogue in Genji, especially as it deals with relations between men and women:]
Yoda, Tomika. Fractured dialogue: Mono no aware and
poetic communication in The Tale of Genji. Harvard Journal
of Asiatic Studies, 59 (1999), 523-557.
LC#: DS501 .H3; ISSN: 0073-0548
---------------------
[Donald Keene's history has a chapter on Genji and discusses Murasaki Shikibu nikki (pp.378-383); Keene also gives an good overview of the literature of the period, and his bibliographies are thorough. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Keene, Donald. Seeds in the heart: Japanese literature from
earliest times to the late sixteenth century. New York: Henry
Holt & Co., 1993. (xiv, 1265 p.)
LC#: PL726.115 .K44 1993; ISBN 0805019995
Includes bibliographical references and index.
----------------------
[Naomi Fukimori's article discusses the ways in which Murasaki and Shonagon each dealt with their contemporaries' suspicion of women who wrote in Chinese by demonstrating that their skill could be made acceptable to those in power:]
Fukimori, Naomi. Chinese learning as performative power in
Makura no soshi and Murasaki Shikibu nikki. Proceedings
of the Association for Japanese Literary Studies: PAJLS.
2 (Summer 2001), 101-119.
LC#: PL700 .P762; ISSN:1531-5533
------------------------
[The last third of H. Richard Okada's study provides (with Morris' World of the Shining Prince, below) a useful introduction to Genji. Okada describes the cultural and historical circumstances of the book's production and the effects of its female authorship. Quoted passages are given in Okada's translation and in romanized Japanese:]
Okada, H. Richard. Figures of resistance: language, poetry,
and narrating in The tale of Genji and other mid-Heian
texts. Durham: Duke University Press, 1991. (x, 388 p.)
LC#: PL726.2 .O42 1991; ISBN: 0822311925, 0822311852
Bibliography: p. 367-376
------------------------
[Ivan Morris' 1964 study is still the best single general introduction to the Japanese court culture of the 900s (the period in which Genji is set) and the 1000s:]
Morris, Ivan I. The world of the shining prince: court life
in ancient Japan; with a new introduction by Barbara Ruch (Kodansha
globe). New York: Kodansha International, 1994. (xxvii, 336 p.:
ill.)
LC#: DS824 .M6 1994; ISBN:1568360290
Includes bibliographical references (p. [321]-324) and index.
[Also published: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England; New York,
N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, 1969, c1964 (1985 printing) ISBN:
0140550836]
========================================================================
[This edition/translation of the early 1100s Genji monogatari emaki is a beautiful work and a guide to what readers found impressive in Genji 100 years after it was written; the text is translated by Ivan Morris. The book is available in many college art libraries (although perhaps not for circulation). A few of the illustrations are available online:]
Genji monogatari emaki / The Tale of Genji scroll. [Translated
by] Ivan Morris; introd. by Yoshinobu Tokugawa. [Tokyo, Palo
Alto, Calif.] Kodansha International [1971]. (154 p. col. plates.
31 x 57 cm.)
LC#: ND1059.6.G4 G413; ISBN: 0870111312
Facsimile reproduction of the existing fragments of the scroll.
"The tale of Genji scroll is a free visual re-creation in
which a number of isolated scenes from Murasaki's novel are represented."
-----------------------
[This is a helpful article by Penelope E. Mason on how to look at and "read" the illustrations in the Genji monogatari emaki:]
Mason, Penelope E. The house-bound heart: The prose-poetry
genre of Japanese narrative illustration. Monumenta Nipponica,
35:1 (1980), 21-43.
LC#: DS821.A1 M6; ISSN: 0027-0741
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Updated 12-22-06