As a "Genji-ist," I have not missed a single episode, though torn between admiration for the highly imaginative depiction of Murasaki Shikibu's life and wincing at the anachronisms and cultural incongruity...There are clearly references to the Genji. In the Waka-murasaki chapter, Genji first glimpses the young girl who will become the great love of his life. She is weeping over the escape of her pet sparrow. Her nurse gives her no sympathy: 罪得ることぞと、常に聞こゆるを、心憂く. 'It is a sin [to keep such creatures caged], as I have repeatedly told you. Oh, oh, woe is me!"
Thank you so much for reading, Charles! I don’t know if you ever look at the かしまし歴史チャンネル on YouTube but She does a really wonderful job of discussing what comes from history and what has been created to drive the plot. There’s also a great blog online that talks about a lot of the Chinese literary elements, which is what I’m interested in. I have been watching really quite happily. The only major complaint I had was having Michinaga’s ‘s brother kill her mother. But I think everything they do on the show is trying to uncover possible experiences that informed her great empathy and sensitivity. Maybe I just thought that one really went over the line! Also, birds and Birdsong is used really wonderfully in this production! I haven’t caught up with this week yet, but I I’m really looking forward to seeing her first experience with people from song China. I’m on the road right now, but hoping to write something about it. There’s a couple of things just in the trailer that I saw that made me pretty excited!
ありがとうございます。I have watched the channel's latest episode...My! Her enthusiasm is contagious...I've often said half-jokingly that my favorite Shakespeare play is "As You Like It," because no one dies or is killed--well, except perhaps a deer...In Genji Monogatari, many die, but none is murdered...I too was startled at Michikane's killing of our heroine's mother...In Genji Monogatari, the most "violent" act may be when the first wife of Prince Higekuro, who has married Tamakazura, suddenly dumps a censer-full of ashes on his head. And in Chapter 2, a courtier describes having his finger bitten by a jealous lover...In the most recent episode, Mahiro meets on the beach in Echizen a taciturn young man from Song who does not seem to speak Japanese. As he leaves, he says to her 再見 (zàijiàn). I have remarked elsewhere that he must be a time traveler, as that expression wasn't used until the late Qing Dynasty and, in any case, wouldn't have been pronounced as such in Middle Chinese...But then Mahiro herself is hardly speaking Early Middle Japanese, is she? 仕方がないでしょう。
Good morning, Charles, I’m having a hard time finding a way to message you privately. I’m really excited about your new translation. That’s coming out. I’m a big fan of Hirano!! I pre-ordered the Kindle version or the paperback. I can’t remember. If you happen to have a digital file, I could try to place a review earlier. I’m not really reviewing all that much anymore, but it’s very least. I could do something on Goodreads and Kyōto Journal. I used to write a lot of book reviews for the Chicago review books the Asian review books, the Dublin review of books among a lot of places, but I kind of backed away from it because it just became really hard for me to organize it, Even though I really love doing it, it ended up becoming kind of hassle…. to pitch it often months before the book is published and try to get review copy and all this kind of thing for unpaid work. It became a lot of work. But I still really love writing reviews so if you wanted one on Goodreads or Amazon, I’d be happy to do it and I’ll do it when I get my copy in November either way. congratulations I saw one review already on Tony’s reading review site …. Hope all is well!
Isn't she wonderful!! I didn't think I would like her quite as much since those sidekicks of hers are so puzzling... I wonder who she is. She is so great at making history entertaining, as she says. And yes, since they are speaking in modern Japanese, it does make sense to speak in modern Chinese. Kashmashi mentioned that, I think.... but when Tametoki recites poetry in Chinese, I was assuming it was ancient pronunciation but now thinking about it, I am not sure. Kashmimashi talked in one of her videos about how the real Tametoki did know how to speak the language--not just read and write as I'd assumed (with kanbun etc). And I also love As You Like It... I think it might be my favorite play of all, but I love to laugh!
Oh great! I missed the first episode and happy to find the link here. And I never knew baka was even written with kanji. While I too wish there were subtitles, these are such wonderful productions, I don't mind at all if I miss some of the story--I revel in the costumes and scenery.
I do too because whenever the emperor spoke I had a hard time understanding and I also had a hard time understanding the powerful men. I did better than I thought I would but they didn’t really use a lot of complicated language since these dramas are meant for the entire population. But I wish there was subtitles myself!
So glad you enjoyed it! I still haven’t had the chance, but I will! I’m so glad NHK has done something different for a change, I’m really tired of Ieyasu, Yoritomo, and Nobunaga...
As a "Genji-ist," I have not missed a single episode, though torn between admiration for the highly imaginative depiction of Murasaki Shikibu's life and wincing at the anachronisms and cultural incongruity...There are clearly references to the Genji. In the Waka-murasaki chapter, Genji first glimpses the young girl who will become the great love of his life. She is weeping over the escape of her pet sparrow. Her nurse gives her no sympathy: 罪得ることぞと、常に聞こゆるを、心憂く. 'It is a sin [to keep such creatures caged], as I have repeatedly told you. Oh, oh, woe is me!"
Thank you so much for reading, Charles! I don’t know if you ever look at the かしまし歴史チャンネル on YouTube but She does a really wonderful job of discussing what comes from history and what has been created to drive the plot. There’s also a great blog online that talks about a lot of the Chinese literary elements, which is what I’m interested in. I have been watching really quite happily. The only major complaint I had was having Michinaga’s ‘s brother kill her mother. But I think everything they do on the show is trying to uncover possible experiences that informed her great empathy and sensitivity. Maybe I just thought that one really went over the line! Also, birds and Birdsong is used really wonderfully in this production! I haven’t caught up with this week yet, but I I’m really looking forward to seeing her first experience with people from song China. I’m on the road right now, but hoping to write something about it. There’s a couple of things just in the trailer that I saw that made me pretty excited!
ありがとうございます。I have watched the channel's latest episode...My! Her enthusiasm is contagious...I've often said half-jokingly that my favorite Shakespeare play is "As You Like It," because no one dies or is killed--well, except perhaps a deer...In Genji Monogatari, many die, but none is murdered...I too was startled at Michikane's killing of our heroine's mother...In Genji Monogatari, the most "violent" act may be when the first wife of Prince Higekuro, who has married Tamakazura, suddenly dumps a censer-full of ashes on his head. And in Chapter 2, a courtier describes having his finger bitten by a jealous lover...In the most recent episode, Mahiro meets on the beach in Echizen a taciturn young man from Song who does not seem to speak Japanese. As he leaves, he says to her 再見 (zàijiàn). I have remarked elsewhere that he must be a time traveler, as that expression wasn't used until the late Qing Dynasty and, in any case, wouldn't have been pronounced as such in Middle Chinese...But then Mahiro herself is hardly speaking Early Middle Japanese, is she? 仕方がないでしょう。
Good morning, Charles, I’m having a hard time finding a way to message you privately. I’m really excited about your new translation. That’s coming out. I’m a big fan of Hirano!! I pre-ordered the Kindle version or the paperback. I can’t remember. If you happen to have a digital file, I could try to place a review earlier. I’m not really reviewing all that much anymore, but it’s very least. I could do something on Goodreads and Kyōto Journal. I used to write a lot of book reviews for the Chicago review books the Asian review books, the Dublin review of books among a lot of places, but I kind of backed away from it because it just became really hard for me to organize it, Even though I really love doing it, it ended up becoming kind of hassle…. to pitch it often months before the book is published and try to get review copy and all this kind of thing for unpaid work. It became a lot of work. But I still really love writing reviews so if you wanted one on Goodreads or Amazon, I’d be happy to do it and I’ll do it when I get my copy in November either way. congratulations I saw one review already on Tony’s reading review site …. Hope all is well!
Good morning, Leanne,
So good to hear from you! This is such a good site!
How can I reply privately?
Many thanks!
Charles
Isn't she wonderful!! I didn't think I would like her quite as much since those sidekicks of hers are so puzzling... I wonder who she is. She is so great at making history entertaining, as she says. And yes, since they are speaking in modern Japanese, it does make sense to speak in modern Chinese. Kashmashi mentioned that, I think.... but when Tametoki recites poetry in Chinese, I was assuming it was ancient pronunciation but now thinking about it, I am not sure. Kashmimashi talked in one of her videos about how the real Tametoki did know how to speak the language--not just read and write as I'd assumed (with kanbun etc). And I also love As You Like It... I think it might be my favorite play of all, but I love to laugh!
Oh great! I missed the first episode and happy to find the link here. And I never knew baka was even written with kanji. While I too wish there were subtitles, these are such wonderful productions, I don't mind at all if I miss some of the story--I revel in the costumes and scenery.
Because you’re in Japan I think you’ll have much better luck with the NHK online page to view it. It was so good I hope you like it!
Oh, how I wish for translation!
I do too because whenever the emperor spoke I had a hard time understanding and I also had a hard time understanding the powerful men. I did better than I thought I would but they didn’t really use a lot of complicated language since these dramas are meant for the entire population. But I wish there was subtitles myself!
So glad you enjoyed it! I still haven’t had the chance, but I will! I’m so glad NHK has done something different for a change, I’m really tired of Ieyasu, Yoritomo, and Nobunaga...
I can’t wait to hear what you think of the first episode!