Tale of Genji Scroll

Tale of Genji Scroll

This classical work of Japanese literature has been called the world’s first novel, the first modern novel, first psychological novel, and the earliest novel to still be considered a classic. The debate about how to classify it aside, the Tale of Genji is a remarkable work, not least of which because of the identity of its author: Murasaki Shikibu (ca. 973/78 – ca. 1014/31), a lady-in-waiting at the imperial court during the Heian Period who was also active as a poet and author. Created at the beginning of the 11th century, it is a highlight of Japan’s Heian period – Heian meaning peace in Japanese – when the country enjoyed great stability and a cultural golden age. The Heian period was also when the Japanese court reached its peak in terms of art, poetry, and literature. Murasaki Shikibu’s work is a depiction of life at the imperial court and concentrates in particular on the customs of the contemporary aristocracy and their romantic entanglements. It recounts the life of Hikaru Genji or “Shining Genji”, so-called because of his supreme handsomeness and intellect. Genji is born the son of the Emperor Kiritsubo and a low-ranking, but beloved concubine. He is removed from the line of succession for political reasons, and so he pursues a career as an imperial officer. The romantic adventures and misadventures of the protagonist are the lens through which this literary masterpiece presents an inside view into life at the Japanese imperial court a millennium ago. This illuminated Genji scroll, known as the Genji Monogatari Emaki is the oldest surviving specimen of the work, whose artistry contrasts realistic, detailed depictions of architecture with unrealistic, typified faces.

A Japanese National Treasure

Unfortunately, the original 11th century manuscript by Murasaki Shikibu no longer exists. The Genji Monogatari Emaki from ca. 1140 is not only a national treasure because it is the oldest Genji manuscript, but also the earliest surviving artwork of the so-called Yamato-e tradition, which is considered to be the classical Japanese style and has continued to influence Japanese art into the present. This manuscript is also the oldest non-Buddhist scroll and the oldest monogatari scroll. Its title consists of the word emaki, stemming from the word Emakimono meaning “picture scrolls”, and monogatari, an extended prose narrative similar to an epic. Artistically speaking, it is purely Japanese and breaks with the Chinese influenced art forms that were common in the time, and is also written in Early Middle Japanese instead of Chinese, which was in vogue among the aristocracy. The scroll contains 19 paintings, 65 sheets of text, and 9 loose pages. It is only a fragment of the original, which must have consisted of 20 scrolls comprising 100 paintings, 300 sheets of calligraphy, and would have been 450-feet-long altogether. It is believed to have originated from a team of female artists, who used the Fukinuki yatai and hikime kagibana techniques to create peaceful, elegant, and static scenes that reflected the tastes of the contemporary Japanese aristocracy. Fukinuki yatai presents events in an interior space from above as though the roof were removed and hikime kagibana depicts faces either from an oblique angle or in profile with essentially identical features, so as to protect the reader’s individual image of the characters.