Genji
By BrushFog
Is the Genji in “Prince Genji” connected at all to the Genji name people use for the Minamoto? Or is it just the same word by coincidence?
Reader discussion: The tale of Genji
Public reader discussion about The tale of Genji in the WeRead Catalog by Murasaki Shikibu.
Japanese writers and their obsession with cats
By Castle_Loose
I love how back in 1905 Sōseki basically wrote this short thing where a cat “handles” the whole Japanese culture watching and commenting thing, and the cat talks in that super formal, noble way. People ate it up and kept asking for more, and then it turned into a whole book situation. That’s when cats kind of became this recurring, signature presence in Japanese lit. Then you’ve got Uchida Hyakken writing non-fiction about trying to find his missing cat, and later Tanizaki doing that whole 1936 novella where a newly split couple ends up fighting over the one thing they both care about most—a cat named Lily. After that it just snowballs: Murakami promised a publisher a novel because someone watched his cat while he was gone, and we ended up with Norwegian Wood. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles is also basically a cat hunt (and then cats show up a lot in Kafka on the Shore too). Even Murakami has an essay about the death of a cat he got from Ryu Murakami, so yeah, cats stay hanging around. And it doesn’t stop there—Hiraide has The Guest Cat, Kawamura does that scary “what if cats disappeared” idea, Arikawa has The Traveling Cat Chronicles with a cat and owner traveling together. So I think it’s a good note to end on The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsugawa, where Tiger the talking cat helps the main character save books. Cats have already done so much for Japanese literature, it almost feels right.
Japanese Fiction?
By field_simple
I’m traveling around Japan this summer, and I’d love to squeeze in as much Japanese fiction as I can—mostly so I can get a better sense of what day-to-day life there feels like.
Books like The Tale of Genji
By greenMeadow1994
Hi everyone! Can someone recommend me a book similar to The Tale of Genji? I’m looking for something by Japanese authors only. If possible, I’d like it to be set before the Edo period (not a dealbreaker), and I want it to have things like romance, women having more power through their relationships with men, court-life vibes, etc. Thanks!
I’ve just begun reading Tales of Genji and I’m thoroughly hooked for probably the wrong reason: its absolutely hilarious!
By clearPanda754
The damp sleeves, the kind of spur-of-the-moment poetry, and then getting all worked up over someone’s handwriting—honestly it feels like a soap opera cranked up to max.
Murasaki Shikibu's Profile
By KettleKeeps
An author and poet from the Heian period. Nobody seems to know when she was born or when she died. Her works are said to include The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Shikibushuu, and The Diary of Lady Murasaki. Her poems also show up in a bunch of imperial poetry collections, beginning with the Goshuui Wakashuu. Height/Weight: 163cm/51kg Source: Historical Fact Region: Japan Alignment: Neutral Good Gender: Female She usually comes off like a calm librarian, but the second the topic turns to certain stories, certain books, or certain feelings, she starts happily reciting poetry. She was born to Fujiwara no Tametoki, who was a Sinologist and poet. Her father’s side was known as a family full of cultured people, so she was expected to grow up surrounded by writing and poetry too. In her twenties, she married Yamashiro no Kami no Emonnosuke no Fujiwara no Nobutaka, had one child, and then her much older husband died three years later. The spring after she became a widow, she began writing a tale. That ended up being The Tale of Genji, the huge story finished in 54 volumes. She seems like the proper, scholarly type. Well educated and sensible. Quiet. She loves reading. She also likes writing stories with a sort of graceful love-and-poetry feel. She’s organized and keeps a diary, and apparently it’s a pretty realistic one. Her favorite stories are The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and The Tales of Ise. People think her character design was influenced by The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, and her storytelling, plotting, and characterization were heavily inspired by The Tales of Ise. Besides that, she probably drew from a lot of other things too, like Bai Shi Wenji and Records of the Grand Historian, and the scenes where Hikaru Genji seduces women are said to be inspired by the T’ang romance tale Youxianku. For poetry, her top three collections are Kokinshuu, Gosenshuu, and Shuuishuu. She was clearly a big fan of poetry anthologies even while she was alive. She’s very interested in stories and poems from outside her own era and region, and spends basically all her free time reading them. Immortal’s Poetry: A In the 16th volume of Taiheiki, Ki no Yasuo is sent to deal with Fujiwara no Chikata, the traitor who worked with the Four Oni. He drove them off with a poem. Murasaki Shikibu is one of the poets listed among both the Medieval 36 Immortal Poets and the 36 Immortal Lady Poets, so she could probably write a demon-banishing poem like that without much trouble. Her poem in the Ogura Anthology of One Hundred Tanka by One Hundred Poets was: We meet after long, yet you depart before I am sure whether I saw you or not. Like the midnight moon hidden by the snow. Curses (Poem): D+ She seems to have known a bit about onmyoudou, and you can see some of that show up in parts of The Tale of Genji. Basically, in modern terms, she feels like the kind of writer who actually studies magecraft just to put magecraft into a novel. Genji Monogatari – Aoi – Mononoke Rank: C Type: Poetic Noble Phantasm Range: 1-20 Max. Targets: 50 people Traditionally, the color of my robes is shallow and empty. Yet from the tears on my sleeve a bottomless abyss is made. The poem spoken with the True Name Release works like a curse and brings ruin to the target or targets. It hurts and weakens them too. It’s a waka poem from The Hollyhocks, the 9th volume of The Tale of Genji. It’s the regretful poem Hikaru Genji recites as his wife Aoi no Ue dies right after giving birth to their son Yuugiri. Aoi no Ue’s death was caused by the grudge of Genji’s former lover Rokujou no Miasundokoro. Basically, she was killed by a curse. By using this sorrowful poem so closely tied to resentment and a deadly curse, Caster Murasaki Shikibu is mourning the fate of her target. Also, the chapters about Aoi no Ue’s death later became the source for the Noh play Aoi no Ue. Physical books, paper books… She works as the librarian for a pretty mixed collection of books. More specifically, she used her own curse-based magecraft to turn digital publications into paper books and quietly built a library underground. As the only manager, librarian, and owner, she protects her dark, cold little book paradise. If asked, she could probably teach someone how to write diaries and letters too. One glance at a person is enough for her to find a book that fits them. A lot of them end up being romantic tragedies, revenge stories, and other books tied closely to feelings. Which makes sense, since she’s a Heroic Spirit who writes feelings. “I am a Heroic Spirit who writes feelings. A person’s heart for another is what I script and copy.”
The Tale of Genji is still amazing and timeless after 1000+ years
By Amber_Cat
I’m always blown away by how it kind of drops you into that Heian-era Japan world, totally different from today, but you still end up feeling how real and human the characters are. Some folks seem to just treat it like a harem romance, but it actually touches a bunch of different stuff—relationships with all their messiness, the whole court politics vibe, the psychology of it, the scenery and nature moments, the supernatural stuff, and how everything feels so temporary. Also, it’s kind of weird/cool how you can still see its influence now in modern anime—especially the whole bishonen/loli/yandere style. It’s really interesting and gorgeous, and sometimes unsettling too. I don’t see it talked about much here though, so I’m curious—what did you think? Who were your favorite characters, and what parts did you like least and best?
Daily Chaldea 0650: Murasaki Shikibu Arrives
By BalanceCandle14
Blackbeard. Just… Blackbeard, no. This lady also wrote the Tale of Genji, right? But don’t let her look fool you—she’s not as harmless as she seems.
Hikaru Kimi e/Dear Radiance, period drama about Murasaki Shikibu, the writer of The Tale of Genji
By ancientbutton
Kinda annoying that the Japanese licensing rules are still stuck in some old era, so I can’t see this anywhere outside Japan unless my local station happens to air it.
Murasaki Shikibu Wrote The World's First Novel, So Why Don't We Talk About Her More?
By CatStory8597
This isn’t an easy read at all. I studied Japanese literature in college, and even then it took me a whole year of reading it piece by piece with other grad students. It’s gorgeous—really poetic, full of imagery, symbolism, and emotion—but the plot drifts around, and a lot of the key details just feel impossible to get unless you already know a bunch of the historical and cultural context.
Any good Japanese version of the Tale of Genji?
By amberfrog40
I studied Japanese for like three years, and I’m going to uni mostly so I can learn from real Japanese teachers and also get into more history/lit. Next year we’re starting the literature class, and I guess it kicks off with The Tale of Genji. So I’m trying to find a modern Japanese translation that’s kind of aimed at late elementary/middle school level, since that’s about where my kanji is right now. Does anyone know any good recommendations?
The tale of Genji (源氏物語)
By cocoa7429
Hi everyone, こんにちは！ I really want to read this book. I’ll try to find a PDF, but does anyone know how many pages the original book has? I’m looking for the original edition. Thanks!
Why “The Tale of Genji” Is Still Seductive
By BeanRose
I read this for a world lit class and I honestly liked it a lot. It still feels really solid, too, especially since (depending on who you believe) it might be the earliest novel ever written. I keep thinking about that one scene where they’re walking around the garden and basically trying to one-up each other with random poetry—poets were such a big deal back then, so it really stood out to me.
I'm sorry?
By lazyYarn66
I get that Hannibal Rising deserved a ton of criticism, but I’m genuinely surprised nobody really talks about how there’s this pretty obvious grooming vibe going on. Maybe I’m missing it, or maybe I’m overthinking it, I don’t know. Either way, Lady Murasaki is basically feeding the infatuation of this extremely damaged 13-year-old orphan from a war, helping him along with his violent urges, and then she acts shocked when her “little plan” blows up and she bails. Like… you can justify a backstory you didn’t ask for, but did it really need to be framed like some Orientalist emotional-abuse story alongside a Nazi hunt?
My Top 20 of Japanese Novels
By starBrook1973
I had to push through at first before I really “got” Japanese literature, but once it clicked it kind of took over. It feels like its own whole world—different history, different traditions, all that. Still, there are some things that seem to show up everywhere, like the tension between what individuals want and what society expects of them. I’ve also noticed newer writers mixing in Western stuff with Japanese style. Their books can be super believable or totally weird, and they swing from funny to heavy pretty easily. I’m definitely not done discovering things, but these are my current favorites (at least for now): - Haruki Murakami - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994) - Junichiro Tanizaki - The Makioka Sisters (1948) - Yasunari Kawabata - Thousand Cranes (1952) - Haruki Murakami - 1Q84 (2010) - Sayaka Murata - Convenience Store Woman (2016) - Haruki Murakami - Norwegian Wood (1987) - Yukio Mishima - Confessions of a Mask (1949) - Kenzaburō Ōe - A Personal Matter (1964) - Natsume Sōseki - Kokoro (1914) - Mieko Kawakami - Heaven (2009) - Banana Yoshimoto - Kitchen (1988) - Junichiro Tanizaki - Quicksand (1930) - Yasunari Kawabata - The House of the Sleeping Beauties (1961) - Haruki Murakami - Killing Commendatore (2017) - Murasaki Shikibu - The Tale of Genji (c.1020) - Mieko Kawakami - Breasts and Eggs (2019) - Natsu Miyashita - A Forest of Wool and Steel (2015) - Hiromi Kawakami - The Nakano Thrift Shop (2005) - Yukio Mishima - The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (1963) - Yūko Tsushima - Territory of Light (1979)
Why is the Tale of Genji widely considered the first novel?
By tender-badger
I took a Classical Japanese class where the professor said a lot of people think The Tale of Genji is basically the world’s first novel, and my (admittedly vague) Google searches seemed to back that up. But at the same time I was in an Ancient Novels class, and most of the stuff we covered was earlier than Murasaki Shikibu—like Longus, Heliodorus, Chariton, and others. Then in *Collected Ancient Greek Novels* edited by B.P. Reardon, Reardon mentions in the intro to *Callirhoe* (it’s from the 2nd century A.D.) that it’s considered the first European novel. So I keep getting stuck on why Genji from the early 1100s is so often sold as the first novel ever.
The Tale of Genji
By cosmic2002
I don’t think I’ve seen this brought up here, but I feel like Genji’s whole backstory kind of points to The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu. Like, when Genji is younger he doesn’t seem too interested in following in his dad’s footsteps—he’s basically shown as some kind of playboy living it up in luxury. And in the original story, Genji is the “Radiant Sun” type everyone’s into, messing around with a bunch of women. He also basically ignores court life, and it all blows up in his face and leads to him getting exiled to Suma. I’m not usually big on reading lore, but after I got into Genji’s I ended up reading everyone else’s too, and it actually made the whole experience way better. I’m really excited for the game to come out.
Lost Chapter Of World’s First Novel Found In Japanese Home. It's one of 54 chapters from a transcription of The Tale of Genji, written in the 11th century.
By FollowsDune
Right at the start, Genji does this super fast move, flips over an attack, rolls forward, and goes right through the next guy. Then he turns back, crouches up, and swings his leg out—only for his sandal toe to catch a rock. Nothing huge, but it hurts. He pauses like, “Uh oh,” and immediately seems worried, like he needs healing.
‘The Tale of Genji’ Is More Than 1,000 Years Old. What Explains Its Lasting Appeal?
By tidebeacon1973
Uh… is it really considered the world’s first novel, like broadly accepted or something? That’s kind of like asking why the Wright brothers still have such lasting appeal.
Has anyone else on this sub read The Tale of the Heike?
By mossOcean
I tried digging around for it using both the in-site search and Google, and I couldn’t find anything about it anywhere at all. To be fair, it feels kind of like one of those very Japan-centered things—like it’s basically the country’s big epic there, but not really known outside of that. I first ran into it through Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84. I ended up reading Eiji Yoshikawa’s The Heike Story first—though it’s not a straight-up retelling of The Tale of the Heike, it’s more like a separate book that covers the early life of Heike Kiyomori (one of the main characters) and basically sets up what’s coming later in the actual epic. After that, I went through A. L. Sadler’s partial translation in plain prose twice, and Royall Tyler’s version a few more times (the one that mixes prose and verse). And honestly, every reread turned up stuff I didn’t catch before—tiny Buddhist references I missed, or even just the way certain warriors are described. The simplest way I can explain it is: it’s a war chronicle about two feuding warrior families, the Heike (Taira) and the Minamoto (Genji), fighting for control in medieval Japan. When I try to compare it to other famous books, it never quite lands. I thought about the Iliad, but the Iliad only shows part of the main conflict (and the gods are pretty directly involved in verse), while The Heike runs this whole long conflict with the divine stuff showing up in a more subtle way, all the way through. I also tried relating it to The Tale of Genji, but that one is more court life and political intrigue, and Heike is more about the violent turning point that kind of marks the end of that era. Even A Song of Ice and Fire doesn’t fit well, since that’s a made-up world, and this one is grounded in our real history. Overall, I really do think it’s a unique masterpiece, and it just gets overlooked way more than it should.