for the scrolls of the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra
fi gure of Murasaki has disappeared f rom the paint-
( Daihannyakyō) resting on the Buddhist altar, turned
ing, but her work lives on. The album beckons us to
them over, and began writing the Suma and Akashi
join centuries of readers who have come before to
chapters of her tale.
experience and reimagine her tale.
Introduction| 17
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Notes
hokan ‘Genji monogatari gajō’ ni kansuru ichi kōsatsu: Chō-
jirō ni yoru jūfuku roku bamen wo megutte,” Kokka 1223 (1997):
1.
Philip Hofer, “On Collecting Japanese Manuscript 7–15; and Kano Hiroyuki et al., eds., Kyoto Kokuritsu Hakubutsu-Scrolls,” Book Collector 7 (1958): 369–80; he mentions the Genji kan zō Genji monogatari gajō (Tokyo: Benseisha, 1997).
Album on p. 375.
6. The connection between the diary entries and the Har-
2. The style of The Tale of Genji was thus especially striking
vard Genji Album was fi rst put forth in Melissa McCormick,
for literary modernists at the turn of the twentieth century exper-
“Hābādo Bijutsukan zō ‘Genji monogatari gajō’ to ‘Sanetaka
imenting with new modes of narration, such as Virginia Woolf
k ō ki’ shosai no ‘Genji-e shikishi,’ ” Kokka 1241 (1999): 27–28.
and Raymond Mortimer, who in his review of Arthur Waley’s
7. Mitamura Masako, “Ashikaga Yoshimitsu no seigaiha
translation of the tale described Murasaki’s carefully drawn char-
‘chūsei Genji monogatari’ no ryōiki,” Monogatari kenkyū 1
acters as always “wondering what impression they are making
(2001): 55–70.
and what is going on in other people’s minds.” Mortimer, “A New
8. A number of individuals throughout time, especially
Planet,” Nation and Athenæum 37, no. 12 (1925), 371. Exceptional
writers preoccupied with the tale and with periods of exile
scholarship in English on the reception of Genji in the late nine-or isolation in their histories, explicitly likened themselves to
teenth and early twentieth centuries includes Michael Emmerich,
Genji and understood his story as one of redemption. The
The Tale of Genji: Translation, Canonization, and World Literature
sixteenth-century courtier Kujō Tanemichi (1507–1594), author
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2013); Patrick W. Cad-
of the Genji commentary Mōshinshō (1575) and grandson of
deau, Appraising Genji: Literary Criticism and Cultural Anxiety in the Sanjōnishi Sanetaka, is one such example, as pointed out by Ii
Age of the Last Samurai (New York: State University of New York
Haruki, “Kujō Tanemichi to ‘Genji monogatari kyōenki,’ ” in
Press, 2006); Gaye Rowely, Yosano Akiko and The Tale of Genji,
Genji monogatari chūshakushi no kenkyū, Muromachi zenki (Tokyo:
Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies 28 (Ann Arbor:
Ōfūsha, 1980), 1069. In the Edo period, Kumazawa Banzan used
Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2000).
a neo-Confucian reading of Genji’s character to interpret the
3. The Ukifune booklet in the Yamato Bunkakan Museum
tale as a form of protest literature against the authoritarian
consists of two illustrations and thirty pages of text f rom the
Tokugawa regime; see James McMullen, Idealism, Protest, and
latter half of the chapter preserved in book form; another
the Tale of Genji: The Confucianism of Kumazawa Banzan (1619–91)
twenty-three pages of text and three illustrations f rom the
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999). At the same time, a male writ-
fi rst part of the chapter survive in the Tokugawa Art Museum,
er’s ability to identify with both Genji and Murasaki Shikibu
remounted as a handscroll.
the author could potentially transform his understanding of the
self within existing paradigms of gender and literary genre; see
known as “Sugawara no Takasue’s daughter,” author of the
J. Keith Vincent, “Purple and White: Shiki and Sōseki’s Homo-
literary memoir The Sarashina Diary ( Sarashina nikki). She social Genji, ” forthcoming in The Tale of Genji: A Norton Critical describes receiving all “fi fty-some chapters” of the tale at the
Edition (New York: Norton, 2019), edited by Dennis Washburn.
age of fourteen in the year 1020, then immersing herself in
9. Melissa McCormick, “Murasaki’s ‘Mind Ground’: A Bud-
reading “scroll after scroll.” The account is not a simple record
dhist Theory of the Novel,” in James McMullen, ed., Oxford
of reading habits, but deliberately highlights the author’s
Studies in Philosophy and Literature: Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of
own formation as a writer through her relationship to Genji.
Genji (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
See Sarashina nikki, in Shinpen nihon koten bungaku zenshū, ed.
10. The legend of the tale’s miraculous origins is recounted
Fujioka Tadaharu et al. (Tokyo: Shōgakkan, 1994), 26: 298. For
later in this introduction. For more on the way Murasaki Shi-
a translation and study of the author’s relationship to Genji,
kibu came to be worshipped as a bodhisattva, see the analysis
see Sonja Arntzen and Itō Moriyuki, The Sarashina Diary (New
of the earliest dated Buddhist portrait-icon of the author in
York: Columbia University Press, 2014).
Melissa McCormick, “Purple Displaces Crimson: The Wakan
5. The era of The Tale of Genji painting and calligraphy Dialectic as Polemic,” in Around Chigusa: Tea and the Arts of Six-album truly began in the Edo period (1615–1868), when artists,
teenth-Century Japan, ed. Dora Ching, Louise Allison Cort, and
primarily those of the Tosa school, produced albums in great
Andrew Warsky (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
numbers, often to be a part of bridal trousseau. Genji albums
2017), 181–208. For a comprehensive and insightful account of
by Tosa Mitsuyoshi (1539–1613), Tosa Mitsunori (1583–1638),
the reception history of the author see Satoko Naito, “The Mak-
Tosa Mitsuoki (1617–1691), and Sumiyoshi Jokei (1598–1670) are
ing of Murasaki Shikibu: Constructing Authorship, Gendering
characteristic examples, and they diff er f rom the 1510 album
Readership, and Legitimizing The Tale of Genji” (PhD diss.,
in appearance and tone. Important studies on several of these
Columbia University, 2010), which includes accounts of how the
albums include: Sakakibara Satoru, “Sumiyoshi-ha ‘Genji-e’
author was said to suff er in hell for the sin of writing fi ction.
kaidai: Tsukusho bon kotobagaki,” Suntory Bijutsukan ronshū 3
11. For more detail on the historical and literary context
(1989): 5–181; Kawada Masayuki, “ ‘Genji monogatari tekagami’
of the album, which can only be partially addressed here, see
kō,” 84–115, in Izumi-shi Kubosō Kinen Bijutsukan Genji
monogatari
Melissa McCormick, “Genji Goes West: The 1510 Genji Album
tekagami kenkyū (Izumi-shi: Izumi-shi Kubosō Kinen Bijutsukan,
and the Visualization of Court and Capital,” Art Bulletin 85, no. 1
1992); Sakakibara Satoru, ed., Edo meisaku gajō zenshū 5, Tosa-ha, (2003): 54–85.
Sumiyoshi-ha: Mitsunori, Mitsuoki, Gukei (Tokyo: Shinshindō,
12. Hiroaki copied the entire chronicle over the course of
1993); Inamoto Mariko, “Kyoto Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan
twenty years, acquiring various recensions to complete his for-
18 | The Tale of Genji
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ty-eight-volume manuscript in 1522, one year before his death.
19. In the upper left corner of each original backing paper
Although it currently lacks thirteen years f rom the eighty-six-
for the fi fty-four pairs of leaves an inscription reads, “out of the
year span of the original, Hiroaki’s text contains few errors and
fi fty-four total on the screen surface” ( heimen tsugō gojūyon mai no
is considered one of the best surviving versions of the Azuma
uchi ). Conservators also detected traces
kagami; see Yamaguchi Kenritsu Bijutsukan, Muromachi bunka
of gold leaf on the edges of the backing papers, indicating that
no naka ni miru Ōuchi bunka no ihōten (Yamaguchi-shi: Yamagu-
they were once pasted onto a ground of gold leaf, common to
chi Kenritsu Bijutsukan, 1989), 140, n. 2.
folding screens; see Oka Bokkōdō, Shūfuku, vol. 6 (Kyoto: Oka
13. Hiroaki wrote the notations himself on Eishō 13 (1516),
Bokkōdō, 2000). In addition, Anne Rose Kitagawa determined
4.3. He carefully recorded in one central line the name of each
that the discoloration of certain leaves could only have resulted
calligrapher and a statement of donation (“Tōyō dedicates this
f rom their placement on folding-screen panels abutting each
to Myōeiji”), followed by the name “Hiroaki” and his seal. The
other when closed, and posited the placement of the leaves on
same vermilion, intaglio seal appears at the end of Hiroaki’s
a hypothetical pair of folding screens; see Kitagawa, “Behind
manuscript copy of the Azuma kagami. For more details, see the
the Scenes of Harvard’s Tale of Genji Album,” Apollo 154, no.
conservation report in Oka Bokkōdō, Shūfuku, vol. 6 (Kyoto:
477 (2001): 38–35; Chino, Ikeda, and Kamei also speculated that
Oka Bokkōdō, 2000), 6–16 and 51 for a summary in English.
the leaves were once affi
xed to folding screens, based on the
14. A manuscript copy of The Tale of Genji in the Tenri Uni-
popularity of the format in this period, as well as the absence
versity Library contains a colophon that mentions a written
of other albums f rom the early sixteenth century; see Chino
Genji commentary ( kikigaki) based on Genji lectures delivered Kaori, Ikeda Shinobu, and Kamei Wakana, “Hābādo Daigaku
by Sōseki at the residence of “Sue Hiroaki, Governor of Aki
Bijutsukan zō ‘Genji monogatari gajō’ o meguru shomondai,”
Province,” in Eishō 13 (1516). Kido Saizō, in his study on the
Kokka no. 1222 (1997): 11–24. This publication, a special issue of history of renga mentions this text in passing, see his Renga shi the art history journal Kokka, presented the fi rst substantial
ronkō jō (Tokyo: Meiji Shōin, 1993), 607.
research on the album and was spearheaded by Chino Kaori,
15. It should be noted that despite the predominately male
who invited the participation of twenty-three other scholars.
audience of the Genji Album and its immediate milieu of poets
20. This information appears in the upper right corner on
and scholars, The Tale of Genji enjoyed a continued female read-
the backing paper of each pair of leaves and reads, for exam-
ership over the course of the medieval period. Women too
ple, “back 13, Sacred Rites of the Law” ( ushiro jūsan Minori). The authored Genji commentaries in the sixteenth century, and the
leaves for Chapters 1–27 were labeled “front” ( zen) 1–27, while
fi rst disciple to receive the “Genji teachings” f rom Kujō Tanemi-
those for Chapters 28–54 were labeled “back” ( go) 1–27, thus
chi (see n. 8) was the woman Kyōkōin Nyoshun’ni (1544–1598);
“back 13” corresponds to Chapter 40. Although the leaves may
Ii Haruki, “Mōshinshō no seiritsu,” in Nomura Sei’ichi, ed.,
have been mounted on screens, the numbering system here
Mōshinshō, vol. 6 of Genji monogatari kochū shūsei (Tokyo: Ōfū-
would have been appropriate for a single-volume accordian-style
sha, 1978), 505.
album with Chapters 1–27 on the front, and Chapters 28–54 on
16. This copy of the Kokinshū was created at Sue’s request by
the back. This was the format of the album when it fi rst entered
Sanjōnishi Sanetaka, as he records in his diary Sanetaka kōki on
the Harvard Art Museums, thought to be the result of an Edo
7.28 in what was likely Eishō 11 (1514); see Sanjōnishi Sanetaka,
period remounting. The sequencing of the calligraphers and
Sanetaka kōki, 4th ed., ed. by Takahashi Ryūzō (Tokyo: Zoku
paper colors also roughly corresponds to this division (see the
Gunsho Ruijū Kanseikai, 2000), 10: 673. All subsequent citations
Album Calligraphy Key in the appendix herein), suggesting that
refer to this edition. Sōseki may have become Hiroaki’s main
the album was conceptualized as such and that the inscriptions
conduit to the capital after Sue Saburō’s return, as he was for
record the original order in anticipation of a future remounting
other provincial military households, such as the Imagawa.
back to the album format, which is indeed what happened.
On Eishō 17 (1520) 4.2, Sōseki requests that Sanetaka write a
21. In one well-known early example, Genji paintings on
postscript and chapter titles for a copy of Genji owned by “Sue,
shikishi were said to have been mounted onto a pair of fold-
Governor of Hyōgo,” ( Sanetaka kōki, 10: 711), demonstrating
ing screens for use by the shogun Prince Munetaka (1242–1274)
that Hiroaki had a complete copy by this time if not earlier.
in the mid-thirteenth century. The earliest reference to fans
17. A collection of excerpted renga verses by Sōseki called
pasted onto folding screens is an example f rom 1434 in the diary
Gesson no nukiku includes verses composed at the residence of
of Prince Fushiminomiya Sadafusa (1372–1456), Kanmon nikki
“Sue, Governor of Hyōgo,” another title by which Hiroaki was
(entry for Eikyō 7.6), which mentions that they were of fans
known, on both the Tanabata festival (the seventh day of the
with Genji pictures. Sanetaka himself records seeing a screen
seventh month), and on the fi fteenth of the eighth month. Kido
with Genji fan paintings, newly commissioned by a member of
Saizō surmised that Sōseki was in the environs of Yamag
uchi
the Hosokawa family in Entoku 1 (1489), 12.12 ( Sanetaka kōki,
for at least two months on that occasion; see Kido, Renga shi
3:341), while a pair of screens adorned with sixty Genji fans
ronkō jō, 606–7. The original manuscript of Gesson no nukiku can dated stylistically to the fi fteenth century in the collection of
be found in the Archives of the Imperial Household (MS 353–66).
Jōdōji in Hiroshima provides an important extant example of
18. The link between the 1516 Genji lectures and the Sue
this practice.
Genji Album is discussed in McCormick, “Genji Goes West,”
22. Sanetaka’s ties to the court were through his wife; her
65–66, which includes more details on the work’s donation to
older sister served at the court of Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado
Myōeiji and the familial context.
(1442–1500), while her younger sister, Fujiko, became the con-
Introduction| 19
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sort of Emperor Go-Kashiwabara (1464–1526) and gave birth to through Four of Genji, which Gensei may have used in discus-Emperor Go-Nara (1496–1557); Haga Kōshirō, Sanjōnishi Sane-
sions with Sue concerning the selection of texts for the album.
taka, Jinbutsu sōsho (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1960), 28.
33. Gensei descended f rom a warrior clan, the Kawata, and
23. For a thorough account of Sanetaka’s life and literary
was a retainer of Hosokawa Masaharu, governor of Awa; see
works see Miyakawa Yōko, Sanjōnishi Sanetaka to kotengaku
Inoue Muneo, Chūsei kadanshi no kenkyū, Muromachi kōki, kaitei
(Tokyo: Kazama Shobō, 1995). It examines each year of the
shinpan (Tokyo: Meiji Shoin, 1987), 194–95.
diary, which Sanetaka kept f rom 1474 to 1536.
34. Sōgi transmitted to Sanetaka the “Teachings of Poems
24. Sanetaka’s cultural output and his collaboration with
Ancient and Modern” ( Kokindenju) in 1488, along with the
Tosa Mitsunobu, the artist of the Genji Album, is explored in
“Three Great Matters of Genji” ( Genji sanka ji), as noted in Melissa McCormick, Tosa Mitsunobu and the Small Scroll in Medi-Miyakawa, Sanjōnishi Sanetaka to kotengaku, 45.
eval Japan (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009).