I've struggled with this issue. I even have an essay I wrote when I was reading the chapter on Utsusemi, and I didn't publish it because I didn't like thinking about it. And yet I love Genji and always have. I wonder if reading Genji is meant to be a little bit like watching Succession (i.e. filled with loathsome characters doing awful things). In other words, we're supposed to be gazing at the story, not aligning ourselves with anyone in it? I'm assuming that the readers who got their hands on it back when Murasaki (the author) was writing it were familiar with court life. Perhaps they waited eagerly for each installment, wondering if Genji was going to be caught, and wondering about the fate of Murasaki (the child). It's interesting to think about whose point of view we are hearing in Genji, and whether the original Japanese feels courtly and distant, versus intimate and personal.
I'm still trying to figure out what I love so much about the Tale of Genji!
In the comments, someone compared it to reading Proust. Immersive and transportive to a different world. I really love the female characters in the novel and the seasonal poems and references so much. There was another funny comment in the Times article about a couple traveling in Japan and a bunch of high school kids asked to practice their english with them so one of them said, "What do you think of Genji?" And the students conferred in Japanese and one finally said, "He is a narcissist!"
thank you so much for this article! I read it once through and will read it again--she does a good job talking about how "close" Genji can feel, when you read it with empathy and a sense of connection to the writer and the women she portrays. It's a good answer to my dilemma! And lol I would agree with narcissist, and I think Murasaki is very deliberate in painting that picture. A lot of people with giant egos get there because they frankly do have a special something that they offer the world, and they learn to manipulate it.
And I love the words "immersive and transportive!"
Hans, your substack looks fantastic!!! Thank you so much for finding mine~~ I was really happy to know there was something new in it! I know nothing about Edo period literature and had never heard of Jiraiya. But I read it was an early adaption to Kabuki, plus all the influence to anime etc. Anyway--thank you again for your comment and for reading: :) :) :)
Oh wow!!! thank you for your kind words, means so much to me... really! *bows 5 times*
Ah, so youre focused on a certain time period, my bad I didnt notice. Regardless, Japan is Japan and Im here for it. 🤩 Looking forward to your next posts!
I will definitely read Genji and come back to this!
Ok I’m so glad you brought this up because I made it halfway through The Tale of Genji and just could not continue through the misogyny. I was trying to understand the culture and the philosophy from the literature, but ultimately concluded it either wasn’t a good example of either, or that both things were bettered by time. Either way, I appreciate you wading through it and still attempting to find the gems! It’s helping me to understand it better.
Thank you so much, Elle!! There is so much beauty in the tale--especially with regard to the seasons. But yeah.... Genji is a piece of work. I think in the later part of the Tale he starts to become more circumspect but this chapter five is hard to read. So was chapters three and four lol!!
Oh wow, must be part of the zeitgeist at the moment. This was really good and helped me wrap a cultural understanding of the story around it. Thank you so much for sharing!
Oh, my. . . so much to unpack here, and I have to start out by saying that my reading of Genji has gotten sidetracked because of other obligations. However, I am so accustomed to taking care of women (and some men) who have been sexually abused that it has become "just another day" of the week. The power grab for dominance has been with us forever; how to establish constraints that can be enforced has seemed to become reliant on appealing to individual conscience within the community's purview. Predatory behaviors and grooming -- so commonplace that I still am at square one in asking how we have become a culture in which sexual mores and the shame or glory thereof (and experience, wanted or coerced) have become so overwhelmingly central to individual identity. The differing hierarchical worth of the people sexually involved creates another level of complexity in the game of life that is mostly out of our control regardless of how we'd like to think otherwise. No, I don't take casually to misogyny and pedophilia; I'd protect a child from their harms in a minute. I do understand the aesthetic order explanation, too. There is perhaps an assumption that the ten-year-old child is teaching Genji necessary lessons for his own development. (Whether the written story devotes any clear links to those changes, I don't know.)
As for the Dalai Lama's comment, the explanation was akin to what I guessed; the folk tale source is actually "eat my tongue" (he used "suck" mistakenly) with its Tibetan origin in family in which the grandfather kids the grandchild as if to say, "you have taken everything, now all that is left is my tongue: eat my tongue." https://www.vice.com/en/article/jg5854/tibetans-explain-what-suck-my-tongue-means-dalai-lama-viral-video
I meant to delete that sentence about the Dalai Lama since I was really only trying to describe how watching the video made (some) people feel since is a very old story. The strong forever devouring the weak, like you said. It is very sad. When I watched the DL video I felt the same way I did reading chapter five of Genji. It made me throw up in my mouth. Do I have the full picture of either? Definitely not. This was linked in the New York Times article I shared above https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/world/asia/jakucho-setouchi-dead.html
Thanks for the link about her death. I'd been aware of her although I think I disagreed about something she said about Noh. Anyway, more power to you for reading Genji!
I've struggled with this issue. I even have an essay I wrote when I was reading the chapter on Utsusemi, and I didn't publish it because I didn't like thinking about it. And yet I love Genji and always have. I wonder if reading Genji is meant to be a little bit like watching Succession (i.e. filled with loathsome characters doing awful things). In other words, we're supposed to be gazing at the story, not aligning ourselves with anyone in it? I'm assuming that the readers who got their hands on it back when Murasaki (the author) was writing it were familiar with court life. Perhaps they waited eagerly for each installment, wondering if Genji was going to be caught, and wondering about the fate of Murasaki (the child). It's interesting to think about whose point of view we are hearing in Genji, and whether the original Japanese feels courtly and distant, versus intimate and personal.
I'm still trying to figure out what I love so much about the Tale of Genji!
Maya, your comments are always so thought-provoking for me! Did you see this today from the New York Times? A friend sent it to me... a nice coincidence. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/15/books/tale-of-genji-japan-women.html#commentsContainer
In the comments, someone compared it to reading Proust. Immersive and transportive to a different world. I really love the female characters in the novel and the seasonal poems and references so much. There was another funny comment in the Times article about a couple traveling in Japan and a bunch of high school kids asked to practice their english with them so one of them said, "What do you think of Genji?" And the students conferred in Japanese and one finally said, "He is a narcissist!"
thank you so much for this article! I read it once through and will read it again--she does a good job talking about how "close" Genji can feel, when you read it with empathy and a sense of connection to the writer and the women she portrays. It's a good answer to my dilemma! And lol I would agree with narcissist, and I think Murasaki is very deliberate in painting that picture. A lot of people with giant egos get there because they frankly do have a special something that they offer the world, and they learn to manipulate it.
And I love the words "immersive and transportive!"
I consider myself quite well read on japan, nonetheless I learned a lot reading this, cool! 🤩
I wonder if you have read the novel about Jiraiya the gallant? I cant find a translated version anywhere? Have you maybe covered that already?
Katakiuchi Kidan Jiraiya Monogatari (報仇奇談自来也説話, "The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya")
Hans, your substack looks fantastic!!! Thank you so much for finding mine~~ I was really happy to know there was something new in it! I know nothing about Edo period literature and had never heard of Jiraiya. But I read it was an early adaption to Kabuki, plus all the influence to anime etc. Anyway--thank you again for your comment and for reading: :) :) :)
Oh wow!!! thank you for your kind words, means so much to me... really! *bows 5 times*
Ah, so youre focused on a certain time period, my bad I didnt notice. Regardless, Japan is Japan and Im here for it. 🤩 Looking forward to your next posts!
I will definitely read Genji and come back to this!
Ok I’m so glad you brought this up because I made it halfway through The Tale of Genji and just could not continue through the misogyny. I was trying to understand the culture and the philosophy from the literature, but ultimately concluded it either wasn’t a good example of either, or that both things were bettered by time. Either way, I appreciate you wading through it and still attempting to find the gems! It’s helping me to understand it better.
Thank you so much, Elle!! There is so much beauty in the tale--especially with regard to the seasons. But yeah.... Genji is a piece of work. I think in the later part of the Tale he starts to become more circumspect but this chapter five is hard to read. So was chapters three and four lol!!
SUCH a piece of work haha!!!! I'll be curious to see what you think of the rest. Thanks for your perspective!!!!
Elle, I left a longer comment to Maya --not sure if you got a notification and I guess we can't tag on substack... but did you see this?
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/15/books/tale-of-genji-japan-women.html#commentsContainer
Oh wow, must be part of the zeitgeist at the moment. This was really good and helped me wrap a cultural understanding of the story around it. Thank you so much for sharing!
I've read it several times--but this is the first time to read the Tyler translation, which I love!
Oooooooh, ok well good to know. Does Genji get more likeable toward the end?? Is worth a second try using the Tyler translation?
It is definitely worth plowing forward--he gets much more circumspect and somewhat self-reflecting. But I think Murasaki is the real hero of the book!
Ok good to know. I'll give it another shot. Thanks so much!
Oh, my. . . so much to unpack here, and I have to start out by saying that my reading of Genji has gotten sidetracked because of other obligations. However, I am so accustomed to taking care of women (and some men) who have been sexually abused that it has become "just another day" of the week. The power grab for dominance has been with us forever; how to establish constraints that can be enforced has seemed to become reliant on appealing to individual conscience within the community's purview. Predatory behaviors and grooming -- so commonplace that I still am at square one in asking how we have become a culture in which sexual mores and the shame or glory thereof (and experience, wanted or coerced) have become so overwhelmingly central to individual identity. The differing hierarchical worth of the people sexually involved creates another level of complexity in the game of life that is mostly out of our control regardless of how we'd like to think otherwise. No, I don't take casually to misogyny and pedophilia; I'd protect a child from their harms in a minute. I do understand the aesthetic order explanation, too. There is perhaps an assumption that the ten-year-old child is teaching Genji necessary lessons for his own development. (Whether the written story devotes any clear links to those changes, I don't know.)
As for the Dalai Lama's comment, the explanation was akin to what I guessed; the folk tale source is actually "eat my tongue" (he used "suck" mistakenly) with its Tibetan origin in family in which the grandfather kids the grandchild as if to say, "you have taken everything, now all that is left is my tongue: eat my tongue." https://www.vice.com/en/article/jg5854/tibetans-explain-what-suck-my-tongue-means-dalai-lama-viral-video
I meant to delete that sentence about the Dalai Lama since I was really only trying to describe how watching the video made (some) people feel since is a very old story. The strong forever devouring the weak, like you said. It is very sad. When I watched the DL video I felt the same way I did reading chapter five of Genji. It made me throw up in my mouth. Do I have the full picture of either? Definitely not. This was linked in the New York Times article I shared above https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/world/asia/jakucho-setouchi-dead.html
Thanks for the link about her death. I'd been aware of her although I think I disagreed about something she said about Noh. Anyway, more power to you for reading Genji!