I’m starting a new project! A while back, I answered a call for people interested in learning about Chinese culture and went for a couple of lectures. After the course finished, we were asked to sign up for projects that we’re interested in and I chose The Tale of Genji. I’m planning to look into the culture of Heian Japan, in particular, their clothing and how they might have been influenced by Tang dynasty China.

So to start, I decided to read an abridged version of The Tale of Genji. Mostly because I was really excited and the only e-copy the library has is an abridged one.

According to the introduction, this version contains 12 chapters and is about one-quarter of the original novel. It’s basically an arbitrary selection of chapters that tries to cover as much of the story in as reasonable a wordcount as possible, something which suits me quite well as an introduction to this book. Since even the Japanese versions of the Tale of Genji tend to be translations (from old to modern Japanese), this translation is based on 日本古典文学大系 (nihon koten bungaku taikei) edition and checked by Odagiri Hiroko and Ikeda Tadashi.

Since this is an abridged version, I managed to finish it in two days and I have to say, Genji doesn’t really come across as a very likeable character. His main traits seem to be looking handsome, being artistic/good at poetry, and making women fall in love with him. I think I’ve lost count of the number of times he’s described as looking more handsome even though he’s sad/lost weight/sad & lost weight & is not wearing very formal clothes. But okay, my apathy might have something to do with my modern sensibilities and the fact that he kidnapped a ten year old girl to groom into his ideal woman.

That said, the court life of Heian Japan is very fascinating and seems very tiring. Everyone can come up with poetry at a moment’s notice and the way they express themselves is quite beautiful (even though I don’t quite get the references). And since I’m taking special note of their clothes, these were a few lines that caught my eye:

“Genji dressed with great care. It was almost dark when he finally presented himself. He wore a robe of a thin white Chinese damask with a red lining and under it a very long train of magenta. Altogether the dashing young prince, he added something new to the assembly that so cordially received him, for the other guests were more formally clad.” 

The reference to the Chinese damask reminds me – the first chapter of the book references Yang Guifei, one of the four beauties of the ancient world. It was a reminder that Japan in that period was very heavily influenced by China; in fact, the book repeatedly refers to Chinese poetry and other Chinese objects as well.

“The shutters were raised and women were gathered at the southwest corner, where the wisteria was in bloom. Their sleeves were pushed somewhat ostentatiously out from under blinds, as at a New Year’s concert.” 

I did some googling and there was a Wikipedia article that mentioned that because women were not allowed to speak to men face-to-face, and so the only thing they could see was the sleeves. When I read that, I understood why Genji kept talking about how he wished he could have seen the priestess of Ise – he never actually got to see her face-to-face.

“Because his teeth was slightly decayed, his mouth was charmingly dark when he smiled.”

This reminded me that white teeth wasn’t always the standard of beauty and that ohaguro used to exist.

I really enjoyed how little details about life in the court were sprinkled throughout the novel. I know that wasn’t the original intention, but it’s quite amazing how much you can find out about life there through the novels. That said, it’s just courtly life there, since there aren’t any characters that aren’t from nobility. Next, I’ll be reading The World of the Shining Prince, which is about the court life in ancient Japan. If that helps in giving me more context about court life, I’ll probably try and find an unabridged copy of The Tale of Genji after that.