TALES OF GENJI

TALES OF GENJI

by Thea Tweet

The six-fold Japanese screen in the Asian Room pictures events from The Tale of Genji. The author of this romance, the first of its kind in Japan and perhaps in the history of literature, was Murasaki Shikibu, the widow of a minor court official. Her stories were much in demand and have inspired an endless series of illustrations throughout the years to modern times. They were written during the period when the capital of Japan was Heian, present day Kyoto.

On page 435 of Lady Murasaki’s long book we learn that “the shining Genji” is dead.  His many adventures (most of them amorous) have come abruptly to an end. During the course of those events readers learn a great deal about Heian court life, particularly from 897 to 1183, and of course about Genji, a semi-historical figure.

The Gallery’s screen (62.39) was probably painted as much as 700 years after the story was written.  By then the government had shifted from Kyoto to Tokyo (Edo), and yet the costumes and traditions of the Heian-Fujiwara period were faithfully depicted. Reading from right to left the panels in our screen depict the following chapters from the Tale of Genji:

Chapter 8: The Festival of the Cherry Blossoms. Oborozukiyo (one of Genji’s conquests) is shown embracing a pillar.

Chapter 46: Beneath the Oak. Kaoru and Niou (Genji’s successors in the novel) cross the Uji River by boat and arrive at the pavilion of the Eighth Prince’s villa.

Chapter 27: Flares. Genji visits Tamakazura (Genji’s adopted daughter) for a music lesson. A bored servant holds the fire basket.

Chapter 11. The Orange Blossoms. The song of the cuckoo urges Genji to revisit the Lady of the Orange Blossoms. His carriage awaits him.

Chapter 32: A Branch of Plum. The competition of scents is enhanced by the perfume of plum blossoms. Genji plays the koto, a long, stringed instrument.

Chapter 54: The Floating Bridge of Dreams. The final chapter of the novel in which Ukifune becomes a nun after refusing the suit of Kaoru. Her attendant reads a sutra.

The pictorial code of the Heian period depicts stiff figures elaborately clothed; faces and hands are shown only with slashes for eyes and hooks for noses. A classic convention used in the screen is the removal of the roof to illustrate interior space. The cloud-like spaces on our screen may originally have been intended for calligraphy, but this was never added.  The historian Sherman Lee notes another stylistic convention which is used in our illustrations: the more acute the angle from which the scene is observed, the greater agitation in the scene.  

The setting of nature in its various seasons of the year is an integral part of the story. The grasses are as significant as the flowering trees.  Stormy winter scenes and remote windswept seasides offer dramatic contrast with quiet, refined interiors. Even the carriages which carried the nobility from place to place were elaborately decorated.  (See the fourth panel of our screen.) Although these carriages had their origins in the shape of the lowly oxcart, they were transformed into an impressive vehicle to announce  the arrival of an important personage

Scents were an important part of Fujiwara court life. The book speaks of “burning” the scents into the silk. The silk itself was beaten to smooth out any irregularities, and the court ladies specialized in subtle dyes and many changes of costume. Clothing, as well as elaborate boxes and fans, were frequent gifts of friendship and for service. (See the incense box at the entrance to the Asian Gallery.)

Equally important to court life was the skill of courtiers in playing musical instruments. Both the Chinese and Japanese koto were played; Genji was adept on the flute, and others played the lute. There were ceremonial dances and songs that survive to this day. Needless to say, these musical parties were usually drinking parties as well.

The observances of Pure Land Buddhism, with its worship of the bodhisattva Amitabha and its various rites and festivals, play a central role in the story.  Many of the characters long to leave court life and enter monasteries or become nuns, which women could have done easily simply by removing decorative objects and replacing them with religious objects. (See the sixth paned of our screen.)

When a woman decided to become a nun, the first step was to cut her hair. Hair was almost a fetish with men, who prized the long, lustrous hair of the court women. Women who became nuns also changed their clothing to a subdued gray, in contrast to the elaborate range of bright colors chosen for both public and private wear by men as well as women.

The position of men and women in court was determined by rigid class distinctions.  In the upper classes, women were almost cloistered. They were surrounded by many women of slightly lower class and they received men only when they were seated behind a screen. The man was allowed only as far as the veranda--at least on the first visit. (See the first panel of the screen.) Refinement was the ultimate goal of both men and women.

Although the scenes around the village of Uji suggest a remote, undeveloped countryside, the Uji River was to become the setting for one of Japan’s best-loved surviving temples (By-a-do-in) some forty years after Lady Murasaki’s death.

Prince Genji was a dashing, romantic figure to Lady Murasaki, and her public clamored for more and more stories. To a twenty-first century reader; Genji may seem like a sexual predator, but artistic representation restores him to the glamour and brilliance of his original reputation as "the shining Genji.”

Source: Shikibu, Murasaki, The Tale of Genji; Lee, Sherman, A History of Far Eastern Art, Curatorial files