The Tale of Genji

February 29, 2008

I am not too keen on WordPress 2.5, which will be out on March 10 2008. I guess I’ll be staying put with my current version.

Anyway, here’s a little bit on medieval Japanese Culture.

Waka Murasaki | Artist Unknown; Hood Museum of Art

Many Japanese artists painted scrolls or screens with scenes from the popular Tale of Genji.

The Tale of Genji was written by Lady Murasaki Shikibu around 1010 A.D. The novel describes the loves and problems of a young nobleman. The reader gets a delightful glimpse into the life of Japan’s aristocratic society in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

This scene (in the art above) is from the fifth chapter, titled Waka Murasaki (Young Murasaki). It depicts Genji’s initial attraction to Murasaki. He watches from behind a brushwood fence as she expresses her anger, because one of her companions has released her pet sparrow. The flowering cherry trees indicate that the scene takes place in spring. They also symbolize the blossoming of new love.

The following is a love poem by Ono no Komachi. She was a fine poet and court beauty, whose romantic affairs became the plots of more than one Noh drama (a form of Japanese theater).

~

Poem by Ono no Komachi (9th century CE)

Though I visit him
Ceaselessly
In my dreams,
The sum of all those meetings
Is less than a single waking glimpse.

~

References: Medieval Japanese Culture, TASSI: Court of Kyoto.
Art screens/scrolls: Genji Monogatari.

Posted in old world, poems