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The Tale of Genji
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ii | The Tale of Genji
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The Tale of Genji
A Visual Companion
Melissa McCormick
Princeton University Press
Princeton and Oxford
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Copyright © 2018 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton,
New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR
press.princeton.edu
Front matter illustrations: p. ii, detail of image on p. 88; p. vi, detail of image on p. 232; p. viii, detail of image on p. 68; p. x, detail of image on p. 160
Jacket illustration: ( front) Tosa Mitsunobu, The Lady at Akashi (Chapter 13) f rom The Tale of Genji Album, 1510. Imaging Department
© President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Tale of Genji, translated by Dennis Washburn. Copyright © 2015 by Dennis Washburn. Used by permission of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Poems f rom A Waka Anthology, Volume Two: Grasses of Remembrance, Part B, by Edwin A. Cranston. Copyright © 2006 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Jr. University. All rights reserved. Used by permission of the publisher, Stanford University Press, sup.org.
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: McCormick, Melissa, 1967–
Title: The Tale of Genji : a visual companion / Melissa McCormick.
Description: Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2018. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: lccn 2017061368 | isbn 9780691172682 (hardback : alk. paper) Subjects: lcsh: Murasaki Shikibu, 978?– Genji monogatari — Illustrations. |
Genji album — Illustrations. | Painting, Japanese — Themes, motives. |
Tosa, Mitsunobu, 1434?–1525. | Arts and society — Japan — History. |
Japanese literature — Heian period, 794–1185 — History and criticism.
Classifi cation: lcc nd1059.t6585 t35 2018 | ddc 895.63/14 —
dc23 lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017061368
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
Designed by Yve Ludwig
This book has been composed in Dante Pro and Kozuka Mincho Pro
Printed on acid-f ree paper. ∞
Printed in China
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
vii
Acknowledgments
ix
Note to Reader
1
Introduction
23
The Tale of Genji Album of 1510
Chapters 1–54
240
Appendix: Album Calligraphy Key
242
Glossary
244 The Album: Works Cited and Consulted
246
Bibliography
247
Index
254
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Acknowledgments
Over the years, the students in my seminars and lec-
Meech, Mitamura Masako, Sano Midori, Edith
tures on The Tale of Genji, through their questions,
Sarra, Haruo Shirane, Royal Tyler, J. Keith Vincent,
insights, skepticism, and wonder over the tale, have
Dennis Washburn, Watanabe Masako, and espe-
been a constant source of inspiration, and this book
cially the late H. Richard Okada and the late Chino
was written with them always in mind. The ability
Kaori. For their direct engagement with the man-
to teach with the Genji Album and to examine it up
uscript I am grateful to Fumiko Cranston, Gustav
close on multiple occasions has enriched this project
Heldt, Itō Tetsuya, Kimura Atsuko, Andrew Watsky,
beyond measure. For that, I am indebted to the late
and to Christopher Jury, for his meticulous editing.
Philip Hofer, who bequeathed his collection to the
The collections at the Harvard-Yenching Library
Harvard Art Museums, and to the institution today
and the Fine Arts Library at Harvard University, and
for making it so accessible. I express my sincere
their respective librarians, Kuniko Yamada McVey
thanks to Rachel Saunders, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller
and Nanni Deng, were indispensable to this book’s
Associate Curator of Asian Art, and to Mary Lister,
completion. At Princeton University Press, Michelle
Manager of the Art Study Center at the Harvard Art
Komie shared my vision for the volume f rom the
Museums, for accommodating numerous requests
beginning and worked tirelessly and with endless
and for their dedication to the pedagogical mission
patience to see it to f ruition. For the production,
of the museum. Likewise, the ability to view the
design, and editing of the book, I wish to thank
album alongside visiting colleagues, in particular,
Mark Bellis, Steve Sears, Dawn Hall, and Yve Ludwig
Takagishi Akira, Ido Misato, Kamei Wakana, and
for the professionalism and artistry that they bring
Ikeda Shinobu, deepened my understanding of to their work. Emily Shelton’s careful proof reading the work, and I thank them for their insights and
during the fi nal stages of the book’s production was
intellectual generosity. Conversations with Genji
invaluable, as was Blythe Woolston’s thoughtful and
scholars also helped shaped this book, with special
expert indexing. Finally, I extend my most heartfelt
thanks going to Estelle Bauer, Edwin Cranston, Ii
thanks to my family for their patience and support
Haruki, Edward Kamens, Kasashima Tadayuki, and their belief in this project. To Kio and Azusa, I Kawazoe Fusae, Kojima Naoko, Yukio Lippit, Julia
am forever grateful.
vii
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viii | The Tale of Genji
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SS180121-Genji_061518.indd viii
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Note to Reader
The pages that follow reproduce for the fi rst time in
script beneath each calligraphy leaf to make them as
color all 108 painting and calligraphy leaves of The
accessible as possible, following the transliteration in
Tale of Genji Album (1510) by Tosa Mitsunobu (act.
ca. 1462–1525) in the collection of the Harvard Art
zō ‘Genji monogatari gajō’ kotobagaki shakumon,”
Museums, along with English translations of the
Kokka no. 1222 (1997): 54–57. The romanization of
album’s texts. Foundational to the writing of The
the calligraphy follows modern reading conventions
Tale of Genji and integral to its later reception are
rather than historical orthography, and punctuation
the 795 waka (poems in 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic meter),
marks are based on the annotated edition of The Tale
interspersed throughout the prose, which the of Genji in Shinpen Nihon koten bungaku zenshū
album emphasizes by allotting thirty-four of the
(Tokyo: Shōgakkan, 1994–98). Corresponding page
fi fty-four calligraphy leaves to verse rather than numbers in this edition to all of the album’s texts prose excerpts. Unless otherwise noted, translations
are provided in the bibliography. Except for a few
of poems in the book are taken f rom Edwin A.
modifi cations and translations of my own to match
Cranston, A Waka Anthology, vol. 2: Grasses of the album excerpts, all English translations of prose Remembrance (Stanford, CA: Stanford University passages and Genji chapter titles are taken f rom Press, 2006). All of the album’s texts have been Dennis Washburn’s translation of The Tale of Genji rendered into the modern, standardized Japanese
(New York: Norton, 2015).
ix
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x | The Tale of Genji
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Introduction
In the year 1510, at a private residence in the capital
ity began even before Murasaki had completed the
city of Kyoto, two men raised their wine cups to cel-
work, and by the late twelfth century it had become
ebrate the completion of an extraordinary project,
so widely admired that would-be poets and littera-
an album of fi fty-four pairs of calligraphy and paint-
teurs were advised to absorb its lessons. The Tale of
ing leaves representing each chapter of Japan’s most
Genji quickly became a fi xture of the Japanese liter-
celebrated work of fi ction, The Tale of Genji. One of
ary canon and centuries later joined the canon of
the men, the patron of the album Sue (pronounced
world literature. With its length (over 1,300 pages
Sué) Saburō, would take it back with him to his home
in the most recent English translation), complexity,
province of Suō (present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture),
sophisticated writing style, development of char-
on the western end of Japan’s main island. Six years
acter and plot, realistic representation of historical
later, in 1516, the album leaves would be donated
time and place, ironic distance, and subplots that
to a local temple named Myōeiji, where the work’s
extend thematically across the entire work, it meets
traceable premodern history currently ends. In 1957
every criterion that is generally used to distinguish
it came into the possession of Philip Hofer (1898–
novels f rom other forms of literature. Although
1984), founder of the Department of Prints and steeped in the complex belief systems and moral Graphic Arts at the Houghton Rare Book Library of
codes of its own era, which complicate any sim-
Harvard University.1 A prolifi c collector of illustrated
plistic equation of the work with modern fi ction,
manuscripts, Hofer purchased the album along with
the tale can be read as a monumental exploration
numerous other Japanese books and scrolls, which
of human nature. No matter how characters may
were subsequently bequeathed to the Harvard Art
triumph or what virtues they may exhibit, all ulti-
Museums in 1985 (fi g. 1). This remarkable compen-
mately conf ront hardships and grapple with their
dium has survived intact for over fi ve hundred years,
own fallibility, none more so than the eponymous
making it the oldest complete album of Genji paint-
protagonist Genji. To give voice to her characters’
ing and calligraphy in the world.
internal confl icts and thought processes, Murasaki
Authored in the early decades of the eleventh
Shikibu took unprecedented advantage of two hall-
century by the court lady Murasaki Shikibu, The
marks of classical Japanese literature: the aff ective
Tale of Genji is a fi fty-four-chapter work of prose and
power and ironic distancing eff ect of waka poetry,
795 waka poems, centered primarily on the life of
and a mode of prose narration similar to stream
an imperial son, the “radiant Genji,” who is denied
of consciousness and f ree indirect discourse in
his chance to ascend the throne. The tale’s popular-
Western literature. The shifting perspective of the
1
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Fig. 1 The Tale of Genji Album, 1510. Two volumes, remounted in 1998. Paintings by Tosa Mitsunobu (act. ca. 1462–1525), calligraphy by Kunitaka Shinnō (1456–1532), Konoe Hisamichi (1472–1544), Sanjōnishi Sanetaka (1455–1537), Jōhōji Kōjo (1453–1538), Reizei Tamehiro (1450–
1526), Son’ō Jugō (d. 1514). Overall mounting, each volume: 34.1 × 44.9 cm; 108 album leaves, 24.3 cm × 18.1 cm each. Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge. Credit: Harvard Art Museums/
Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of the Hofer Collection of the Arts of Asia, 1985.352.
narrator throughout the work also makes for a beneath this earliest Genji manuscript, with its dyed reading experience surprisingly akin to that of the
sheets, underdrawings, and its surface encrusted
modern novel.2 At the same time, the tale’s evoc-
with metal in the form of gold dust, and thin slivers
ative description of the imperial court and the of cut silver and gold foil, resembles the sop
his-rituals of the aristocracy caused it to be regarded
tication and numinous quality of Buddhist sūtra
as the embodiment of a golden age of courtly life,
decoration f rom the same period. From the thir-
especially in later eras when juxtaposed against the
teenth century, we have vestiges of a more everyday
nobility’s waning political authority.
reading experience of Genji in the form of small,
The history of Genji pictures in many ways tells
thread-bound books with scenes f rom the tale inter-
the history of the early illustrated book in Japan.
spersed in their interior pages. As a rule, such books
The rich tradition of Genji illustration began almost
consisted of sets with each of the fi fty-four chapters
four hundred years before the 1510 album came into
bound separately. This facilitated the circulation of
being, with the earliest known and most famous
individual chapters for reading and copying, which
extant example being the twelfth-century Genji
was essential for creating new manuscript copies
Scrolls (fi g. 2). These horizontal handscrolls, with
before the age of print. Early examples are rare,
alternating texts and pictures, represent the old-
but one “chaplet” of Ukifune (Chapter Fifty-One)
est manuscript of the Genji text and suggest how
survives partially intact (fi g. 3).3 Its well-thumbed
images and texts functioned symbiotically to shape
pages convey the enthusiasm of some of the tale’s
a reader’s cognitive experience of the work. Several
earliest readers, who confessed their preoccupa-
paintings in these earliest scrolls helped establish a
tion with the story and who pored over their own
Genji iconography that endured through the centu-
cherished copies.4 Whether extravagantly illustrated
ries and informed the 1510 album as well, which even
scrolls or thread-bound books, both formats tend to
a simple comparison of fi gure 2 with the album’s
reproduce The Tale of Genji either in its entirety or
painting for Chapter Forty-Five (p. 200) makes clear.
in lengthy excerpted passages that approximate the
The extravagant treatment of the paper decoration
full story.
2 | The Tale of Genji
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