Genji Monogatari 源氏物語

choi

Emily Ferguson, The Legacy of a Japanese Classic; For a millennium, artists have taken inspiration from 'The Tale of Genji.' Wall Street Journal, Feb 23, 2019
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the ... classic-11550846467
(exhibition review on The Tale of Genji, A Japanese classic illuminated. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mar 5 - June 16, 2019)

Quote:

(a) "Legend has it that the Japanese noblewoman known as Murasaki Shikibu was in a Buddhist temple, sitting under a full moon, when she had the idea of writing a story to entertain the princess she served. The book she produced in the early 11th century [ja.wikipedia.org says 1008, whereas en.wikipedia.org says 1004], 'The Tale of Genji,' is now widely considered the world's first psychological novel [actually first novel]—a 750,000-word tale about the complex dynamics of the imperial Japanese court.

(b) "The novel's hero is Genji 源氏 [a fictional character], a son of the emperor who possesses unmatched beauty  and charm. When a diviner from Korea informs the emperor that his son would be a bad ruler, Genji is demoted to the status of a commoner. His insatiable appetites keep him entangled with numerous women throughout the tale, including his father's mistress, who looks like Genji's dead mother.

"Genji's greatest love is Murasaki, a 10-year-old girl whom he raises and later marries. (The author's name is derived from the character's; her real name is unknown.) But Murasaki's death destroys Genji, and he retires to a temple, finally finding purity from vice. 'His way was the rare amourfraught with difficulty and heartache,' the novel says, 'for he did sometimes do things he ought not to have done.'

(c) "Over the centuries, it has inspired art in many genres, including calligraphy, silk robes, screens, scrolls and manga.  

"Among the exhibit's highlight are two works that have been designated national treasures in Japan. The first, a pair of screens of the Lotus Sutra from the 12th century, situate the 'Genji' [character] in a Buddhist context. The Lotus Sutra, a popular Buddhist scripture, promised salvation to those who ritually read it, heard it or wrote it out. Some religious readers feared 'Genji' could inspired lewd behavior, so patrons commissioned Lotus Sutra decorated with motifs from the tale 'to save Murasaki Shikibu an her readers from the sin of succumbing to seductive fictions,' Dr [Melissa] McCormick[, a professor of Japanese art and culture at Harvard, and a co-curator of the exhibit] said.

"The other national treasure is a pair of screens painted by the 17th-century artist Tawaraya Sotatsu. The screens depict two chapters of 'HGenji' with intricately drawn characters and sprawling landscapes. Because Sotatsu had a range of upper-class clients, his 'Genji' scenes confirms its prestige as a subject.

(d) "The 'Phantom Genji Scrolls' of the mid-17th century dazzle with their complex illustrations of the book's first 10 chapters.

(e) "One of the most captivating items in the show is a palanquin from 1856, which was used to carry a wealthy bride to her groom's home. Its interior displays romantic scenes from the tale, and its exterior is intricately covered with golden arabesque foliage.

(f) "Perhaps the most compelling [manga] is 'The Tale of Genji: Dreams at Dawn' by YAMATO Waki 大和 和紀 [1048- ; female; maiden name 一ノ関 和紀, married name 木野 和紀; 大和 和紀 is pen name], for its combination of traditional and contemporary motifs. The series, which was produced from 1979 to 1993, became a best-seller.

Note:
(a)
(i) The review is locked behind paywall.
(ii) Museum web page for the exhibit is quite bare, without any image of a painting. I do not know whether this is because the exhibit is a future event.
(b) Murasaki Shikibu 紫 式部 is a pen name, so neither is a surname. The kanji 紫 (purple) has shi and murasaki as Chinese and Japanese pronunciations, respectively.

The "shiki" and "bu" are both Chinese pronunciations, of kanji 式 and 部, respectively; these two kanji have the same meaning in Kapan as in China.
(c) Quotation (c) will be discussed in a new posting.

choi

(d) "The 'Phantom Genji Scrolls' of the mid-17th century" in quotation (d).
(i) Melissa McCormick (of Harvard), The Tale of Genji in Japanese Painting. The Society for Asian Art, Arts of Asia Lecture Series Spring 2014
https://www.societyforasianart.o ... 31.14_McCormick.pdf
(synopsis of the lecture: "Part II: An introduction to what can only be called a golden age of Genji painting and patronage between the sixteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries, focusing on screens in the [Harvard's] Asian Art Museum collection, and the so called 'phantom' Genji Scrolls ca 1655")

The word "phantom" is used (almost) only by her in the whole world, so it took me hours to find what it really is. 幻 in Japanese has the same meaning as in Chinese.
(ii) Dora CY Ching, Louise Allison Cort and Andrew M Watsky (eds), Around Chigusa: Tea and the Arts of Sixteenth-Century Japan. Princeton Univ Press, 2017, possibly page 251
https://books.google.com/books?i ... p;lpg=PA251&dq="Phantom+Genji+Scrolls"+源氏&source=bl&ots=jZ0aScDFgV&sig=ACfU3U2W4aoa0O58NlVpkEJUrBVA28lG1Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivz-rQr9rgAhUSn-AKHaCgCjIQ6AEwAHoECAAQAQ#v=onepage&q="Phantom%20Genji%20Scrolls"%20源氏&f=false
(bibliography: "Sugimoto Mayuko 杉本まゆ子. 'Kujō Yukiie to Genji Monogatari -- Genji kirigami to maboroshi no emaki' 九条幸家と源氏物語 --源氏切紙と幻の絵巻 (Kujō Yukiie and The Tale of Genji -- Genji Certifications and the 'Phantom Genji Scrolls'). Kobubun Meijiro 国文目白 (National Literature Meijiro) 49 (2010): 92-101")
(A) The order of the citation is as follows: author's name (in English and then in Japanese), followed by paper title (first in Japanese pronunciation, second in Japanese, and third in English translation or meaning).

Here is the URL for the aforesaid paper,
http://mcm-[url]www.jwu.ac.jp/~nichibun/thesis/kokubun-mejiro/KOME_49_09.pdf[/url]
There is no need to read it, though.
(B) KUJŌ Yuki-ie 九条 幸家 (1586 – 1665; male) en.wikipedia.org.
(C) 国文目白 is a journal published by 日本女子大学国語国文学会 -- all papers writtten in Japanese only, not a word of English (so presumably the English title in the preceding item is not official).

日本女子大学 Japan Women's University (founded in 1901 by Jinzō NARUSE  成瀬 仁蔵; private; students all female from the start; main campus 本部: 東京都文京区目白台二丁目8番1号)  ja.wikipedia.org
"is the oldest and largest of private Japanese women's universities."  en.wikipedia.org.

Center of this university is half a mile north of that of Waseda University 早稲田大学.

The privately-owned Yamanote Line 山手線 (1885- ) runs around downtown Tokyo in a loop (not a circle, but often represented as a circle), connecting with various other MRT (mass rapid transit) lines (that may be operated by other privately own railway companies).  山手 (abbreviated from 山の手, which literally means foothills -- edges of mountains) is west of Imperial Palace -- being cool in summer and hence residential areas for the rich, in contrast to Shitamachi 下町 to the east, reclaimed from marsh by the sea and traditionally occupied by merchants and ordinary people. Among stations along 山手線 are Mejiro Station 目白駅 and Meguro Station 目黒駅. These two are named after the first two of 不動明王 (English proper noun Acala is from Sanskrit of the same spelling for "immovable"). See 五色不動
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/五色不動
("五行思想の五色（白・黒・赤・青・黄） * * * 東京の五色不動は、目黒不動、目白不動、目赤不動、目青不動、目黄不動")

As you can see, it is not their eyes, but mostly the (wooden) statutes, that are colored. See Zach Davisson, Goshiki Fudo – The Five Fudo Temples of Tokyo. 百[-]物語 怪談会 ("Translated Japanese Ghost Stories and Tales of the Weird and the Strange"), Feb 26, 2015.  (The "go" and "shiki" are, respectively, Chinese pronunciations of kanji 五 and 色.)
https://hyakumonogatari.com/2015 ... o-temples-of-tokyo/

The neighborhood around 目白駅 and 目黒駅 are 目白 and 目黒, respectively. The 目白台, where main campus of 日本女子大学 is located, is a section of 目白. And 目白台 is the namesake of 国文目白.
(iii) What is chigusa?  
(A) The publisher's (undated) Web page for the book explains:
https://press.princeton.edu/titles/11121.html
("Around Chigusa investigates the cultural and artistic milieu in which a humble jar of Chinese origin dating to the thirteenth or fourteenth century became Chigusa [千草], a revered, named object in the practice of formalized tea presentation (chanoyu [茶の湯 tea ceremony]) in sixteenth-century Japan. This tea-leaf storage jar * * * "
(B) Andrew M Watsky (translator), Sixteenth-Century Textural References to Chigusa. Freer | Sackler, 2014
http://archive.asia.si.edu/exhib ... ary-translation.asp
("1. Accounting of Karamono [Karamono oyoso no kazu 唐物凡数], circa 1570–73. Recorded in the entry for objects owned by Jū no Sōho [重 宗甫 (sometimes without 'no' in the name):] Chikusa, the ōtsubo 千(ち)草(くさ)ノ(の)大(おお)ツボ")  (brackets original to contain Japanese pronunciations of the book)

Click the items in the right column, too see 千草 (ignore rope as decoration).

division by types: 茶の湯の道具 (or Chaki 茶器)：唐物 karamono・高麗物・和物.

Japanese-English dictionary: tsubo 壺【つぼ】(n): "jar, pot"

In comparison, the similarly-shaped cha-ire 茶入 (which Dora CY Ching's book defined as "powdered-tea containers") is also 陶磁器製, but smaller than 千草 with different functions (tea leaf vs powder).
(iv) Phantom Genji Scrolls = 幻の源氏物語絵巻.

Online I fail to locate the Harvard collection. But a recent discovery will help you know what this series looks like.
(A) in English:
Wakato ŌNISHI 大西 若人, Rare Hand Scroll Features Prince Genji Weeping over Slain Lover. Asahi Shimbun, Jan 16, 2019
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201901160070.html
("The painting, with lavish use of gold * * * Midori SANO [佐野 みどり; midori is Japanese pronunciation of 緑], a professor of Japanese art history at Gakushuin University * * * The Moriyasu version, compiled by Moriyasu SUGIHARA [杉原 盛安], has remained a mystery. * * * One scroll from the series, designated by the central government as important cultural property, has been preserved at Ishiyamadera temple in Ōtsu [大津; present-day 滋賀県大津市, an eastern neighbor of Kyoto and situated on western bank of Lake Biwa], where Murasaki Shikibu started writing The Tale of Genji, according to legend.  Detailed information about the scroll will be provided in 'Kokka,' an art magazine to be published on Jan 20")

Name of the deceased is Yūgao 夕顔. At the same time, the plant yūgao 夕顔 is Ipomoea alba.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipomoea_alba
(is a species of night-blooming morning glory; perennial; The flowers are fragrant, white or pink, and large, 8–14 cm diameter)

学習院大学 (1847- ; until the end of World War II, when aristocracy, was abolished, it was government-owned to educate children -- men and women in separate schools -- of nobility; after the War, it was privatized; campus is ¾ of a mile west of 日本女子大学)

"The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō [平安京; modeled after Tang capital Chang-an], or modern Kyōto. " en.wikipedia.org for "Heian period" 平安時代.

Ishiyama-dera  石山寺
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishiyama-dera
(747- ; 真言宗; "Allegedly, Murasaki Shikibu began writing The Tale of Genji at Ishiyama-dera during a full moon night in August 1004")
Return to quotation (a). The legend is that Murasaki Sikibu that night saw the moon reflection in Lake Biwa 琵琶湖.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Biwa (section 1 Name)

Kokka  國華
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokka
(B) in Japanese:
幻の源氏物語絵巻「夕顔の死」 「盛安本」一部、仏で発見：朝日新聞, Jan 16, 2019
https://www.asahi.com/articles/DA3S13850329.html
(paragraph 1: "江戸時代初期に描かれ、全容がわからないこともあって「幻」とも呼ばれる「盛安本源氏物語絵巻」のうち、ヒロインの一人である夕顔の死を描いた場面が新たにフランスで見つかった。源氏物語絵巻で不幸な場面を描いたものは、極めて珍しい")

仏 is France. The first two clauses were translated in Chinese edition. See next.
(C) in Chinese:
大西若人, 法国发现部分《盛安本源氏物语绘卷》 '夕颜之死' 精巧现世. 朝日新闻, Jan 16, 2019
https://asahichinese-j.com/cool_japan/style_culture/12074337
(first 2 sentences: "盛安本源氏物语绘卷》创作于江户时代初期，全貌尚有未知之处且被称为 '梦幻' 之作。该绘卷中对女主角之一的夕颜之死进行描写的场面，新于法国被发现")


* 幻の源氏物語絵巻. 石山寺, Jan 16, 2019 (blog)
https://www.ishiyamadera.or.jp/info/blog/5096
("紫式部は石山寺に参籠 [to a temple for prayer] 中、 湖面に映る月を見て  『 源氏物語』の一節 [a section, passage of literature work] 思いつき [to hit upon, to come into one's mind] ました。  その伝説は『 石山寺縁起絵巻』や『 河海抄』 にも記され * * * 盛安本は、 同一セットと思われる「 桐壺」「 帚木」「 葵」「 賢木」が世界各地に所蔵されており、もし54帖すべての绘卷が存在したなら、数百巻にのぼる大絵巻セットであったことが想像されます。 このことから、 「 幻の源氏物語絵巻」と呼ばれています")

my rough translation: 紫式部は石山寺に参籠中、 湖面に映る月を見て a section of Genji Monogatari dawned on her. That legen was also recorded in both he painting scroll that depicted the beginning of [this] temple and 河海抄. 盛安本 is collected all over the world, which supposedly includes this [newly discovered] scroll as well as [other known] 桐壺, 帚木, 葵 and 賢木
Since there are 54 chapters [and 盛安本 seems to have multiple scenes -- each in the form of a scroll卷 -- for each chapter-, there might have been hundreds of scrolls in this series. Hence the name [my translation: imagined 源氏物語絵巻].

There are 54 chapters 帖 in 源氏物語, whose selected chapters are: 1 桐壺, 2 帚木, 4 夕顔, 6 末摘花, 9 葵, 10 榊 or 賢木 [both kanji are pronounced sakaki, which is a tree that is one of the classical offerings at Shintō shrines], 20 朝顔 [a female character in Tale of Genji, which is also, in real life, morning glory the plant], 41 幻. In comparison, 源氏物語絵巻 (国宝, and collected in various places in Japan) was painted "perhaps c 1120–1140" en.wikipedia.org, and one to three scenes were chosen from each chapter. A. wikipedia.org.

choi

(e) About the palanquin in quotation (e).
(i) Ceremonial Palanquin (Norimono). Freer Sackler, undated
https://www.freersackler.si.edu/object/S1985.1a-h/
(1856; Credit Line: "Purchase -- Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program;" Accession Number S1985.1a-h)
(ii) Anika Gupta, A Japanese Princess Gets Her Royal Due at the Sackler Gallery. Smithsonian.com, Dec 18, 2008.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/s ... r-gallery-32915633/
("Back in 1984, curator Ann YONEMURA [kanji for surname is 米村] purchased the first-ever artifact for the Sackler Gallery of Art. It was an antique Japanese palanquin. * * * ['this year'] Yonemura received a call from Shin'ichi SAITŌ 齋藤 慎一, a curator at the Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum. A document he'd found in the Japanese National Archives 独立行政法人国立公文書館 listed the items that had been made for the 1856 marriage between shogun Tokugawa Iesada and Princess Atsuhime. He was sure the Sackler's palanquin was made for Atsuhime. She would have sat in it, and six bearers would have carried her through the streets from her parents' home to her new husband's.  * * * But Atsuhume was more than just a shogun's third wife. Her husband died two years after their marriage, making her a widow at 23. Undaunted, Atsuhime renamed herself Tenshōin 天璋院 [just a title; not a place]")
(A) The blog mentioned a January 2009 article in Smithsonian magazine, which I fail to locate.
(B) Tokyo Metropolitan) Edo-Tokyo Museum (東京都)江戸東京博物館 (1993- ; 東京都立; 公益財団法人東京都歴史文化財団 運営)  ja.wikipedia.org.
(C) TOKUGAWA Iesada  徳川 家定
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Iesada
(1824 – 1858; 将軍 1853–1858; His third marriage was to Princess Atsu (1836–1883), the adopted daughter of the daimyō 大名 [a local lord] of Satsuma, Shimazu Nariakira 島津 斉彬; no children from any of his three marriages)
was the third 将軍 from the last (two more after him).
(D) Princess Atsu (1836-1883; born as SHIMAZU Okatsu 島津 於一; adopted by another Shimazu who changed given name to Atsuko 篤子)  en.wikipedia.org.

Princess Atsu = 篤姫 (pronounced atsuhime; the noun 姫, whose Japanese pronunciation is hime, is defined as "young lady of noble birth.")
(iii) The Princess Atsuhime's Wedding Palanquin Revealed in the Smithsonian's Arthur M Sackler Gallery. Artdaily.org, undated
artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=26995&b=sackler
("Atsuhime's life story is the focus of a novel by Tomiko Miyao, 'Tenshoin Atsuhime [actual Japanese title 篤姫, hence English 'Atsuhime'],' and is currently the spotlight of a 50-episode drama series airing on the Japanese network NHK [in 2008]. * * * The sackler palanquin is an example of a 'norimono 乗り物,' a type of conveyance carried by bearers. Ann Yonemura, curator of Japanese Art at the Freer and sackler galleries, discovered the palanquin in a Sotheby’s London auction in 1984 and identified the palanquin's elite origin through its circular family crests. * * * the sackler Gallery acquired the piece in 1985, before the gallery's opening in 1987. Yonemura's research was published in 'Art and Authority: A Tokugawa Palanquin' in the museum's journal, Asian Art (1989)")
(A) There is no need to read the rest of this report.
(B) For Tokugawa crest (kanji for crest is 紋, see 徳川氏
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/徳川氏

At the top right, you see the crest 徳川葵.  Clicking 徳川葵 leads to 三つ葉葵
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/三つ葉葵
("フタバアオイ [二葉葵] を図案化したもので、フタバアオイの通常の葉の数は2枚である。3つの葉をもつフタバアオイは稀で、三つ葉葵は架空のものである")

My rough translation: futaba aoi [literally 二葉葵; Latin:                                                                                                  Maxim] is stylized. Ordinarily this plant has two leaves [in a pair], but three leaves [in a cluster] does exist, albeit rare

Search images google.com with its Latin name and you will see a pair of leaves. FDA warns the genus caused nephrotoxicity, though it, the genus, is Chinese medicine.

choi

(f) 'The Tale of Genji: Dreams at Dawn'
(i) Its Japanese title is あさき ゆめ み し.
(ii) 『あさきゆめみし』とはどういう意味でしょう . . . Yahoo! Japan, Nov 25, 2005
https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo. ... n_detail/q136871958
(answer:" あさき  ゆめ  み  し
浅しの連体形      夢     見るの連用形 過去の助動詞

訳
浅い夢を見た [saw the shallow dream]")