Murasaki Shikibu

Cole Conte Art 368 Japanese Art Fall 2017 Due Friday, October 13th The Tale of Genji is Murasaki Shikibu’s 11th century masterpiece, this piece is considered as the world's first novel and first defining illustrative story. The illustrative story of Genji gives us a glimpse of the Heian era of Japanese’ art style, along with the actual ongoings of the empress’s entourage during the time. The book is composed of 54 chapters, the actual Genji Monogatari Emaki, commonly called the Tale of Genji…

Our next example will take us to the Tale of Heike that happened during the Kamakura period. The Tale of Heike tells us a story about the two clans (Genji clan and Taira clan) that fight for their ideology and freedom. Two interesting characters that can be derived from this tale would be the story of Taira no Kiyomori and Minamoto Yoshitsune. Taira no Kiyomori of Taira clan is a character that is not just consequential in the Tale of Heike, but he also plays a very…

Keji Nakazawa’s graphic narrative Barefoot Gen illustrates a nation ruled by imperialism. The author demonstrates this by the Nakaoka family who suffers greatly under the Imperial Japanese army. The army is controlled by the Emperor who rules as a dictator. In the narrative Nakazawa’s use of feet symbolizes the oppressive rule of the Emperor in Japan. Specifically, the two covered feet crushing the wheat exemplifies the strength of the wheat in being strong and tall. While the…

The Heian period, often called Japan’s Golden Age, was a time when the aristocrats led a great flourishing of Japanese culture. They created advancements in architecture, had powerful families to keep the peace intact, conducted an efficient social system, made entertainment more updated, used new beauty and fashion styles, art became very important, and literature became greatly prized. The aristocrats created a spectacular culture that still lives on to this day. Heian-kyo, the new capital…

Two stories Hojoki and Tales of the Heike through various views to provide the different information about the late twelfth century of Japan. In story Hojoki, it focuses on author Kamo no Chomei’s personal experiences to describe a horrible period of time. It shows normal people were struggling for their life while the natural disasters occurred repeatedly. Those disasters including conflagration, whirlwind, famine, and earthquake. The story emphasizes that there were lots of people suffering…

that one day all good things must come to an end. The Tale of Genji has many scenarios in which Mappō is shown such as that many girls Genji had fallen for and wanted to spend his life with them ended up dying; some of them being Yugao, Aoi, and Murasaki. The deaths of his lovers and all the betrayal plus his exile show Mappō to its fullest extent. Aoi is the women that he deemed the love of his life and died shortly after giving birth to a boy. Aoi was Genji’s first wife and died after…

The Uji chapters, a story of Kaoru and Niou after Genji’s death, are obviously different from the previous chapters as the main protagonist of the Tale of Genji, Genji, is not present; however these chapters also shares many similarity with the previous chapters as the story is continued with the characters related to Genji. As a result, the Uji chapters are often considered a resolution to the problems and conflicts begun in the rest of Genji. I disagree to this claim since I think a conclusion…

Genji’s Future Love Within The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, chapter three titled “Lavender” stands out to encompass many Chinese ideals that help further understand their history and way of life. Throughout the entirety of chapter three, Genji develops a deep interest for a young girl named Murasaki, and the chapter sheds insight on the chase of women and indirectness. In order to fully understand Shikibu’s claims throughout the chapter, it is imperative to unpack the details within the…

This literary study will define the importance of spiritual enlightenment and the teacher/student relationship in the philosophy of Zhuangzi and the Buddhist spiritualism/evanescence of The Tale of the Genji by Murasaki Shikibu. In Zhuangzi’s Taoist philosophy, the meaning of existence was relative to the person perceiving the ever-changing point of view of the observer, as defined in the dialogue between Hui Tzu and Chuang Tzu. This form of enlightenment provided a way to understand the…

The Germanic Tribes told a few stories one of which was Beowulf. The epic, Beowulf “was the first monumental literary composition in a European vernacular language” (Fiero 123). That way everyone in European could understand the poem at the time. This epic’s purpose was to “celebrate the deeds of warrior heroes” as well as to entertain the audience with song (Fiero 123). Beowulf's original story is unknown, since this tale came to existents far before the written word was generalized. In the…