Japn 314

Introduction to Japanese Literature in Translation

 

The Genji monogatari:

Besides the fact that this sustained prose narrative appeared very early in history and in a place rather remote and isolated from much of the world, what else can we say is interesting or intriguing about this narrative?

--one of the first and most startling elements of this text is that it manifests an interest in the internal, psychological state of its characters (like we just observed Sôseki doing in Kokoro), something that we associate with "modern" fiction. This element may account for why despite everything else that is strange or "other" about the Genji, readers can still relate to it today--and do so!

 

So, we can also note that:

--it was written by a woman;

-- it is over 1,000 pages long;

-- it spans two generations of characters;

--it makes color, ambiance, elegance, refinement, grace, beauty, love, romance, beautiful poetic exchanges, romantic trysts and sexual encounters, spirit possession, jealousy, daily court life of male and female aristocrats, etc. the very stuff of its narrative;

--it features poetry, poetics, intense emotion, anguish, sorrow, grief, moments of parting, seasonal moods, the weather and its effects;

--it also makes the passage of time a central part of the narrative;

--it does this by making the arc, the trajectory, of an entire character's life and experiences, the mistakes, the regrets, the lessons learned, etc., the focus of a complex narrative; and then 2/3 of the way through, starts all over again with Genji's son and grandson the featured characters;

--it seems to capture a certain Japanese appreciation for mono-no-aware or the "pathos of things," the sadness that accompanies many of life's transitions, indeed, the transitoriness of life itself;

-- in that sense, the tale seems to illustrate some Buddhist values, like the notion of the impermanence of things, the brevity and etherealness of human life, not to mention, the law of Karma, i.e., that things that occurred in earlier lifetimes may shape and influence events of one's own life time;

--there was also a Buddhist notion calledMappō or Mofa (Chinese: 末法; pinyin: Mò Fǎ) signaling the end of an age when the teachings of the Buddha, and the laws (dharma) hold sway; so what lies ahead once this age is over will be some kind of breakdown and social chaos?

--this may be tied to the intuition of the author who sensed that she was living during a time when the Aristocratic lifestyle was at its zenith; she somehow sensed the no later age would shine quite like her own;

--hence she works with a motif of Light (Hikaru Genji, the Shining One) and Darkness especially visible in the final 10 Uji chapters;

--finally, there is something to be said for the notion that gender relations are an important topic in this narrative; where was power located in male-female relations? where was power located at the Heian Court?

NOTE: "Marriage" in Heian times among the high-echelon aristocrats was not very much like a modern marriage today. There was no formal marriage ceremony in a church or temple, no public "vows," no actual expectations about monogamy or staying together forever, etc. These were mostly arranged marriages by the families and since marriage politics was a huge part of how governance worked in Heian times, these marriages were not about love, romance but about securing the next generation of elites and rulers to maintain the family status. Please see here for more details.

--What are we to make of the fact that a female author chooses to write so much about this amazing "Shining One," Genji, whose light seemed to fill up his years and the text? Why is she focusing on this seemingly ideal (but also flawed) young man and his many love affairs and escapades?

Is this her way to expose, to unveil for all to see, exactly where power resides at the Heian Court and how the marriage system was used as a politcal tool but one that did little to empower women? Or are there things about Prince Genji she admires? Do you think she condemns him up and down the line?

--This period accepted various degrees of sexual freedom for both men and women, varying depending on rank. Virginity, except perhaps principal wives, was not a requirement before marriage, and casual affairs were very common. Polygamy, with principal and secondary wives, official and unofficial concubines, regularized a wide variey of relationships in addition to the casual affair. Genji conducts his love affairs in this system. (http://gallery.sjsu.edu/heian/polygamy.html)

 

--So does the text deal with women's powerlessness in this polygamous setting?

One could certainly argue that merely by depicting some of these things, by drawing our attention to them, the author is, indeed, engaging in a form of feminist critique even though no such notion of feminism or even individual human liberation was in the air at the time she lived.

But as feminist philosopher and critic Rita Felski argues, when considering feminist texts, it is important "to encompass all those texts that reveal a critical awareness of women's subordinate position and of gender as a problematic category, however this is expressed." Can we say that this sort of awareness is present in the Genji?

--Could it be that the Genji is about all the jealousy, the hurt, and sometimes the rage that gripped Heian court women because of the double-standard that granted permission for the male courtiers to pursue and seduce women at will? As Tyler notes, many argue that this grand narrative only seems to be about the Shining Genji; it is really all about the women who populate his world. I can certainly agree, but if she is unveiling or exposing certain things--unmasking the patriarchal system--what do you think is the most significant revelation that she makes? On what grounds, if any, could we say the author is challenging the patriarchy?

--And lest we forget, at the very center, the core of this narrative, lies the fact that Genji's own son by his father's consort, ascends to the Imperial Throne of Japan; does this, in effect, turn the patriarchy on its head? All the notions about "a line of monarchs unbroken" back to the age of the gods becomes highly suspect;

--everyone believes the emperor is Genji's brother but Genji and we know that he is Genji's son; and the monarch learns this fact as well. What does that say?

--Royall Tyler makes an interesting point. Quoting from Virginia Woolf's 1925 review of the first installment of Arthur Waley translation of the Genji (about 9 chapters) which she greatly admired but ultimately felt it lacked

Some element of horror, of terror, or sordidity, some root of experience has been removed from the Eastern world so that crudeness is impossible and coarseness out of the question, but with it too has gone some vigour, some richness, some maturity of the human spirit.

But, Tyler would wonder, is there really no terror, no horror or sordidity in the Genji? What about the "Yugao" chapter? What about spirit possession? What about isolated, dilapidated (haunted?) venues? What about spells, incantations?

 

--Tyler even sees something more, something more like the horror of the "Game of Thrones," albeit without so much brutal physical violence, because the Heian Era was a prolonged era of peace. Violence among the aristocracy was fairly rare. But we can see in the Genji something very human and painful in the marriages that characters must enter into for political reasons and the disastrous consequences that they often bring about.

 

--One of the most poignant scenes in the entire narrative occurs when Genji holds and welcomes his new son by the Third Princess--whom he was asked to marry by the Emperor Suzaku--when he knows the child is not his own but actually Kashiwagi's. Things have come full-circle for him: what he did to his own father now comes back to haunt him. Is it karma? Whatever it is, it is powerful and deep.

--This leads Tyler to feel as though this narrative is more than just about the manners, the aesthetics, the grace, the refinement, the beauty, the romance, the passion, the mastery of musical instruments, of poetry, of dance, of dress, of scents, incense, of the art of verbal exchange, color, the seasons and how they affect us--although all of these things are clearly there! But there is much more that is deeply imbedded at the very core of the tale he argues. And some of it can be terrifying and horrific.

--see also http://www.jpf.org.au/onlinearticles/profile/royalltyler-genji-lect-english.pdf for details.

 

Some Ideas about concepts like Miyabi, Wabi, Sabi, Yugen, and Mono no Aware

 

Miyabi 雅 (“courtly elegance” or the aristocracy’s privileging of a refined aesthetic sensibility and an indirectness of expression) refers to a way of refinement that is associated with a transient elegance and a related word miyako meaning the palace or capital.

A person who is said to be characterized by miyabi is often cultured in the arts, has a dignified manner, and carries him or herself according to the rules of decorum defined by the elite in the center of the Heian cultural world, the capital.

What could it mean that one of the most famous characters associated with the term miyabi, the Rokujo Lady, is said to be the archetype of miyabi in the very chapter where she has left the capital? What part of her elegance is enhanced by her move from the capital?

To what extent does her move to a more rural setting reveal the transience of her refinement? One can answer these questions with images and passages in the text that seem to refer to her refinement. To what extent do you think miyabi is a term that might be used beyond the capital? To what extent is the term exportable beyond The Tale of Genji and beyond Heian Japan?

 

Mono no aware ( 物の哀れ the “poignant beauty of things,” a cultivated sensitivity to the ineluctable transience of the world) describes a deeply Buddhist awareness of the transitory nature of everything worldly. For example, viewing cherry blossoms can elicit a feeling of the impermanence of natural phenomena, and by extension a reminder of human frailty, and the change of seasons can bring one to tears. Examine this exchange of poetry between Genji and the Rokujo Lady.

In what ways do the poems reflect the aesthetic consciousness of mono no aware ? What words and images convey beauty in melancholy? Why?

Genji says:

A dawn farewell is always drenched in dew,
But sad is the autumn sky as never before.

 

The Rokujo Lady replies:

An autumn farewell needs nothing to make it sadder.
Enough of your songs, O crickets on the moors!

(p. 191 in The Tale of Genji by MURASAKI Shikibu. Translated and Abridged by Edward G. SEIDENSTICKER. New York , NY : Vintage Classics, 1990.)

 

Wabi-Sabi (wabi 侘 can be translated as “rustic beauty” and sabi 寂 as “desolate or imperfect/flawed beauty;” the qualities usually associated with wabi and sabi are austerity, imperfection, and a palpable sense of the passage of time. Finding appeal in rustic simplicity, extending into the attraction of imperfections or imbalances; possessing a patina of age, an antique appearance. Therefore, they evoke sadness and loss.

Yûgen (幽玄) (an emotion, a sentiment, or a mood so subtle and profoundly elegant that it is beyond what words can describe) is a literary term rooted in Buddhism. It refers to the idea of suggesting or hinting at beauty is a more effective way to express its power and impact on us. The following is an English list of words into which yûgen has been translated, though obviously no one word individually comprises the range of meanings of the term: ambiguity, sadness, mystery, placidity, and profundity.

Which scenes in the Genji convey such a sentiment? Why? In what ways might it be significant that the term yûgen was not promoted as a major poetic ideal in Japan until decades after The Tale of Genji was written?

 

Think about the following questions based on a careful reading of the quoted text given below and an examination of the picture of the “sacred tree” (an evergreen related to the camellia).

What does the sacred tree symbolize? What feelings are conveyed through the poetry exchange between Genji and the Rokujo Lady? What words and images suggest such feelings?

Note that the phrase, “beckoning cedars,” refers to a famous poem about the sacred cedar trees of Miwa, the site of a Shinto shrine in Yamato province: “My humble dwelling is below Miwa Mountain: come, if you love me, to the gate where the cedars stand.”

(Translation by Royall Tyler, The Tale of Genji , p. 195 footnote 9.)

 

 

Picture of the Sacred Tree From the website “Plants in Genji Monogatari” http://www.genji.co.jp/syokubut/sakaki1.htm

Genji: “Not wishing to apologize for all the weeks of neglect, he pushed a branch of the sacred tree in under the blinds. ‘I come through the sacred gate,' he said, ‘because I obey the urgings of a heart as constant as this evergreen. You do not respond as I had hoped you would.'” She replies: “You err with your sacred tree and sacred gate. No beckoning cedars stand before my house.” And he responds: “Thinking to find you here with the holy maidens, I followed the scent of the leaf of the sacred tree.” (pp. 188-190 in The Tale of Genji by MURASAKI Shikibu. Translated and Abridged by Edward G. SEIDENSTICKER. New York, NY: Vintage Classics, 1990.)

• While wabi is concerned with a tranquil and plain flavor, sabi means a timeworn mood or loneliness, a withered look. The late Heian aesthetic consciousness was deeply rooted in both sentiments.

• Read the following description of the Nonomiya shrine gates from “The Sacred Tree” and examine the photograph below. Why does the narrator describe the unfinished logs that make up the shrine gates as having “a grand and awesome dignity for all their simplicity”? In what ways does the narrator's expression of beauty reflect a deep appreciation of wabi and sabi?

Picture of Shrine Gates (Torii) From: http://www.kt70.com/~r-s/area/14-yamanobe/iso/01-torii.jpg

“The shrine gates, of unfinished logs, had a grand and awesome dignity for all their simplicity, and the somewhat forbidding austerity of the place was accentuated by clusters of priests talking among themselves and coughing and clearing their throats as if in warning.” (pp. 187-188 in The Tale of Genji by MURASAKI Shikibu. Translated and Abridged by Edward G. SEIDENSTICKER. New York , NY : Vintage Classics, 1990.)

 

 

 

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