The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji is about a Man named Genji, who is the son of the Emperor of Japan and his favorite concubine. His mother dies at a young age and is under the care of one of the emperor's concubine, Fujitsubo. Genji’s attraction grows for her and they have an affair, which lead to Fujitsubo having a son. The Boy is later passed as the Emperor's son and he is next in line to be on the throne. This Tale was written by a woman named Murasaki Shikibu and this book is a part of the Japanese culture…

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…

time in which Japanese art and literature flourished, and the Japanese court was at its peak. The unified religious practices of the Heian 's and, most importantly, the influential texts and works of literature such as lady Murasaki Shikibu 's tale of Genji, made the Heian period a great and successful golden age. The Heian period was a time in which a civilization not only existed but flourished. It was a peak time for the Japanese aristocratic court. The Government was originally ruled in…

The Tale of Genji is another Japanese literary work that confuses nature with poems about nature. The Tale of Genji, Kuitert hypothesizes, is based off of poems from the Konkinshu, rather than actual depictions of nature. This means that Heian gardens which were meant to emulate nature actually emulate the poetic beauty of the meisho rather than nature (Kuitert 47). The Sakuteiki is an obvious attempt to create idealized depictions of natural scenes in one’s home, but this hypothesis begs the…

would be natural to assume that the central character of The Tale of Genji, a classic work of the Japanese Heian Period attributed to a courtier known as Murasaki Shikibu, is none other than the titular Hikaru Genji himself. His life and exploits provide the main focus of forty-one of the tale’s fifty-four chapters. However, there are those who claim that the real heroes of the tale are in fact heroines. J.M. Maki even declared that the tale has “the most remarkable galaxy of feminine characters…

Genji, the protagonist from Murasaki Shikibu’s novel The Tale of Genji, should be considered a classical hero. Although it can be contested whether or not, on the whole, Genji completely meets the standards of a classical hero, it is also important to consider that the novel was not written with Genji designed as a classical hero. That being said, when comparing the traits of a classical hero to the traits of Genji, there is significant overlap which leads to a strong argument in support of…

is still dominated by men. Genji was infatuated by Murasaki when he first saw her in the Northern Hills when she was ten, because she looked like Lady Fujitsubo; therefore, he decided to take her into one of his residence after the death of her grandmother. Hence, “Genji took advantage of Murasaki’s misfortune, abducting her to raise her as an ideal woman and make her serve as a substitute for Fujitsubo” (Komashaku ). By molding a little girl into his dream girl, Genji is treating her as his own…

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 to the story of Genji has ended with his death. Although Kaoru and Niou are…

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 fundamental role in the Japanese tale and…

Enthusiasts do not view the painting from a distance, as in the West, but approach close to "read the painting”. The Tale of Genji, the son of an ancient Japanese emperor, is a very long and it is sometimes called the world's first novel. The novel is made up of fifty four chapters and an approximately thirteen hundred pages in the English translation. The novel tells of the life of Genji and the recounts the early years of two of Genji's descendants. It is written on a handscroll. The…