It has belatedly occurred to me that as a Singaporean, I have access to J*STOR via the national library. Which is a great way for me to read up on The Tale of Genji without actually having to leave the house. So here are a few papers that I’ve read and what I’ve learnt:

The Language of Love in the Tale of Genji by Yanping Wang

First thing I learnt: there are 795 waka poems in The Tale of Genji (‘Genji’ for short). I have no problem believing this after reading the book. Out of this 795 poems, 80% of them are exchanges (zotoka).

Waka poetry has three techniques: pivot words with several meanings (kakekotoba), word associations that have shared cultural images and meanings (engo) and quoting part of a well-known poem (honkadori). And since waka poetry “pervades every aspect of life”, I would obviously have died in Heian Japan for not being able to understand what was going on. Unless it’s really like referencing memes, in which case I might be able to survive.

These literary techniques help make Genji a lyrical work, and also one filled with allusions and puns. Specific literary influences are Chang Hen Ge by Bai Juyi (much admired in Heian Japan and alluded to in the beginning of the novel).

I have not read Dream of the Red Chamber, but Hanfugirl had an excellent series about it. Apparently, Akashi (the lady Genji got to know in his exile and the mother of his daughter) is the finest woman poet in Genji, as Daiyu was in Dream of the Red Chamber. Genji, on the other hand, is most “tender, fervent and poetic” when he’s with Murasaki.

As for contents of the poem, dreams, clouds, flowers, and colours all have meaning. The paper goes into analysis of several poems, and it seems like we can draw some similarities between various characters in Genji and Daiyu – something interesting that could be explored!

Speaking of colours, colours are also connected to states of mind and “Genji creates for each of his women in the Rokujo garden a floral name based on his artistic tastes, his predilection to the women’s persona and their sexual appeals to him.”

If you’re interested in reading this, it’s also available here

The Informing Image. ‘China’ in Genji Monogatari by David Pollack

This paper is about the influence of China on Heian Japan, and by extension Genji. An interesting tidbit that opens the paper is that Bai Juyi (also written as Po Chu I) wrote “in a preface to his collected words dated 845 that, aside from the three authorised editions of those works that he was depositing for safekeeping in separate temples […] and two others in the hands of his relatives, later generations were to ignore especially those editions circulating among the populaces of Japan and Silla.” Apparently, he wasn’t happy that the Japanese people took the most beautiful and lyrical couplets and left all the serious morals out.

It’s probably not a surprise that Japan didn’t copy China wholesale – instead, they took note “only of things that resonated with some native aesthetic chord.” It’s really the Japanisation that still takes place today that was going on back then.

In Genji, “China is brought in as sort of a glittering background against which a pattern of quiet native Japanese sensibility emerges”. For example, the contrast of Kiritsubo against the ‘gaudy’ Yang Guifei. Speaking of Yang Guifei, she’s mentioned from the start of the book, and that’s a technique “whereby Mursaki’s plots and characters are endowed with the grandeur of the classical archetype.” I suppose it’s like how people reference Greek and Roman stories in theirs.

Interestingly, “‘China’ often seems very nearly the antithesis of ‘feminine'”. Women who had studied too much Chinese and used words from their studies in their speech were considered masculine and unattractive. Making Chinese allusions was not considered ladylike. If women were exposed to Chinese scenes, they would probably not be from poetry but from screen paintings that were Japanised.

Another woman who influenced the Chinese influence in Genji is Wang Zhaojun, whose exile to the Huns because she refused to bribe the painter is reminiscent of Genji’s exile to Suma. I’ve got to admit, even though I know Wang Zhaojun’s story, I did not connect the dots at all.

And of course, Bai Juyi is also an influence in Genji’s exile, although I guess that had he known, he wouldn’t have been happy about it. When Genji leaves the capital, one of the items he takes is a book titled “The Collected Poems of Po Chu I”.

A Wisp of Smoke. Scent and Character in The Tale of Genji by Aileen Gatten

We’ve had the chance to study scents in China, so obviously I was interested in finding out more (apart from the obvious allusions in Niou and Karou’s names. The first thing I learnt from this paper is that the the art of incense was one that “often benefitted from closely guarded techniques passed down by illustrious ancestors” – which would explain a lot of the incense competition. The reason why scent was so important was because people rarely saw each other, making smell one of the few ways they could form an opinion on one another.

Incense was made of fragrant wood and other plant and animal products from the Middle East, India, Indonesia, Indochina, and the Philippines, imported through China, Korea, and later Ryukyu. They’d have entered Japan through Dazaifu (which is one of the places I’ve actually visited!). Incense was introduced from the kingdom of Paekche in Southwest Korea and quickly moved from Buddhist ceremonies into daily life. I suppose if you trace it back, it would have come from China – I’ve heard quite a bit about how the Chinese also highly valued incense blending. The indirect route is a bit of a shock, given that China was such a huge influence on Japan.

The art of incense blending reached its peak in Heian Japan, with at least some scents linked to seasons. The six scents were plum blossom (spring), lotus leaf (summer), chamberlain (autumn), chrysanthemum, fallen leaves, and black (deepest winter). All six scents “are compounded of the same six ingredients: aloes, cloves, seashells, amber, sandalwood, and musk. The quantity of each and the order combination vary with each scent. Each scent is further defined by the addition of a characteristic seventh element”.

With incense comes its accessories, which gives everyone more opportunity to show off how well-bred they were. If we’re talking about examples in the tale of Genji, the lady from Omi puts too much honey in her incense, which is an additional sign of her crass nature and drives away suitors. The incense competition also reveals/reinforces traits of the various characters. The analysis of that scene was really interesting – definitely worth a read!