Reading The Tale of Genji

Thomas Harper is retired from the Centre for Japanese and Korean Studies at Leiden University. He is the translator of In Praise of Shadows and other essays by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, and the author of a number of scholarly articles on the reception of The Tale of Genji. Haruo Shirane, Shincho Professor of Japanese Literature and Culture at Columbia University, is the author and editor of numerous books on Japanese literature, including, most recently, Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons: Nature, Literature, and the Arts; Envisioning The Tale of Genji: Media, Gender, and Cultural Production; Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600; Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600-1900; Classical Japanese: A Grammar; Traces of Dreams: Landscape, Cultural Memory, and the Poetry of Basho; and A Bridge of Dreams: A Poetics of The Tale of Genji.

Illustrations Abbreviations Chapter Titles of The Tale of Genji Introduction 1. Early Discussions of Fiction Kagero Diary, by The Mother of Michitsuna Earlier Collected Poems of the Great Kamo Priestess, by Princess Senshi Preface to The Illustrated Three Treasures, by Minamoto no Tamenori The Pillow Book, by Sei Shonagon The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu The Diary of Murasaki Shikibu, by Murasaki Shikibu Sarashina Diary, by The Daughter of Sugawara no Takasue 2. Genji Gossip (Plus a Bit of Good Advice) A Nameless Notebook The Lists Forty-Eight Exemplars from Genji A Key to Genji Exemplars from Genji [Untitled] The Matches The Feelings of People in Genji: A Match (Awa no kuni bunko text) Genji: A Contest The Feelings of People in Genji: A Match (Suzuki manuscript) The Women in Ise and Genji: A Match in Twelve Rounds The Nursemaid's Letter, by Abutsu 3. Toward Canonization Senzaishu, by Fujiwara no Shunzei and Kitamura Kigin Poetry Contest in Six Hundred Rounds, by Fujiwara no Shunzei "Lord Shunzei's Memorial in Japanese Script, Submitted in 1200", by Fujiwara no Shunzei Explicating Murasaki, by Sojaku Diary of the Juntoku Retired Emperor, by The Juntoku Retired Emperor Full Moon Diary, by Fujiwara no Teika Oral Transmissions of the GoToba Retired Emperor, by The GoToba Retired Emperor Conversations with the Kyogoku Middle Counselor, by Fujiwara no Nagatsuna Preface to Sino-Japanese Poems on The Tale of the Shining Genji 4. Obsequies for Genji The Mirror of the Present, by Fujiwara no Tametsune Collected Poems of the Mother of Acting Middle Counselor Lord Saneki, by The Mother of Acting Middle Counselor Lord Saneki Collection of Fujiwara no Takanobu, by Fujiwara no Takanobu New Imperial Collection of Poetry, by Fujiwara no Muneie "A Dedicatory Proclamation for The Tale of Genji", by Choken The Story of Obsequies for Genji, by Seikaku 5. The Tale of Genji Apocrypha "Pillowed upon His Arm", by Motoori Norinaga The "Sakurahito" Fragments The Six "Hidden in Cloud" Chapters The "Sumori" Fragments "Dew on the Mountain Path" 6. Medieval Commentary "Notes on the Rainy Night's Discussion", by Sogi Kaoku's Gleanings, by Kaoku Gyokuei Gyokuei's Collection, by Kaoku Gyokuei The Moonlit Lake Commentary, by Kitamura Kigin 7. Edo-Period Treatises Discursive Commentary on Genji, by Kumazawa Banzan Seven Essays on Murasaki Shikibu, by Ando Tameakira The Tale of Genji: A Little Jeweled Comb, by Motoori Norinaga From Blossoms to Moonlight, by Matsudaira Sadanobu A Critical Appraisal of Genji, by Hagiwara Hiromichi 8. Modern Reception Introduction to Genji Monogatari: The Most Celebrated of the Classical Japanese Romances, by Suematsu Kencho The Essence of the Novel, by Tsubouchi Shoyo Preface to A New Exegesis of The Tale of Genji, by Sassa Seisetsu "Upon Finishing Shin'yaku Genji monogatari", by Yosano Akiko Afterword to Shin-shin'yaku Genji monogatari, by Yosano Akiko "The Tale of Genji: The First Volume of Mr. Arthur Waley's Translation of a Great Japanese Novel by the Lady Murasaki", by Virginia Woolf "On Reading the Classics", by Masamune Hakucho "On Translating The Tale of Genji into Modern Japanese" Tanizaki Jun'ichiro Index