The Tale of Genji - Introduction

Introduction

The Tale of Genji may have been written chapter by chapter in installments, as Murasaki delivered the tale to aristocratic women, (the yokibito). It has many elements found in a modern novel: a central character and a very large number of major and minor characters, well-developed characterization of all the major players, a sequence of events covering the central character's lifetime and beyond. The work does not make use of a plot; instead, events happen and characters evolve simply by growing older. One remarkable feature of the Genji, and of Murasaki's skill, is its internal consistency, despite a dramatis personæ of some four hundred characters. For instance, all characters age in step and the family and feudal relationships maintain general consistency.

One complication for readers and translators of the Genji is that almost none of the characters in the original text are given explicit names. The characters are instead referred to by their function or role (e.g. Minister of the Left), an honorific (e.g. His Excellency), or their relation to other characters (e.g. Heir Apparent), which changes as the novel progresses. This lack of names stems from Heian-era court manners that would have made it unacceptably familiar and blunt to freely mention a person's given name. Modern readers and translators have used various nicknames to keep track of the many characters.

The Tale of Genji was written in an archaic court language that was already unreadable a century after it was written. Thus, the Japanese have been reading annotated and illustrated versions of the work since as early as the 12th century. It wasn't until the early 20th century that Genji was translated into modern Japanese, by the poet Akiko Yosano.