Lessons
Web Resources related to this lesson
Royall Tyler's translation of The Tale of Genji (site has intro, chap. 1, and more)
Liza Dalby's Tale of Murasaki site
Glossary/Character List (Univ. of Wisconsin, Parkside)
Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan (1920 book, Univ. of Pennsylvania)
Yûgao scene from Tale scroll (Dartmouth)
Tale of Genji on cd-rom (Fujitsu), a review
1987 film version of Tale (Facets)
A Short History of Genji Illustration by Steven Carter (UC Irvine)
Costume Museum (Japan) exhibits of Genji-era interiors
Plants in the Tale (images and passages from Seidensticker translation, part of Genji.net)
Aoi no Uye English translation of a Noh play based on the Tale (Univ. of Virginia)
Tale of Genji in Japanese Text (Virgina)
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Teaching
the Yûgao Chapter of
the Tale of Genji
Lynne
K. Miyake
Pomona College
This is a chapter very early in the tale when the
central male protagonist Genji, nicknamed the “Shining One” is still a
very young man and just beginning to embark on his various adventures and
liaisons with different women. At
this point in the story Genji, has been demoted to
commoner status, because, although he is a son of the reigning emperor, he
is without powerful maternal relatives to promote his bid for the imperial
throne. He is married to the
daughter of the Minister of the Left, a powerful man at court and has
begun a liaison with the Rokujo Lady, a very proud woman, older than Genji,
who was once a consort to the Crown Prince. Perhaps spurned on by the discussion of different kinds of
women he participates in with several young courtiers, Genji begins to
look around him for suitable liaisons.
One of the first he encounters is with a young woman whom he
chances upon while visiting his old nurse who took care of him as a child.
Richard Bowring’s Landmarks
of World Literature Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji is a quick way
to contextualize the entire 54 chapters of the tale as well as give a good
introduction to the historical, social, and culture context of the period.
The only fault with the book is the rather passive and sterile role
Bowring proscribes to the women of the text.
Norma Field’s The Splendor of Longing in The Tale of Genji, although it only
discusses the women protagonists in the tale, will provide a good balance.
Haruo Shirane’s The Bridge of
Dreams: A Poetics of ‘The Tale of Genji’ is also a good source.
The “Yûgao” chapter will reveal how courtship
took place and what role poetry plays in that process.
It will also hint at class issues, as we view Yûgao’s
embarrassment at having Genji hear the sounds of her neighbor’s
conducting their daily routine. The
chapter also gives us some idea of the position in which women appeared to
be placed in the period and how they dealt with jealousy issues in a world
where men are free to have many liaisons with many women.
Students will likely ask why a figure such as Genji who seems to be
a playboy should be considered an ideal lover. Teachers can help students
grasp this by working with them to examine Murasaki's explanation and
description of the era.
Possible discussion launching questions include:
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How are Genji and Yûgao portrayed?
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Are both equally assertive? Is one more passive in the relationship? Why or why not?
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Why does Yûgao allow herself to be taken to a deserted mansion?
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How does Yûgao die? Is the text explicit?
-
Who is the strange figure who comes in the night to disturb the two lovers sleep? Why does she come?
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How does Genji react to Yûgao’s death?
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Is this like other ghost stories that you have read or heard about? What is similar about it? What is different about it?
“Yûgao”
Chapter from Tsuboi Koh’s
Murasaki Shikibu The Illustrated Tale of Genji
The background and story for this excerpt is
similar to that for the text version of The
Tale of Genji. The major
differences, of course, are the change in medium and the 20th century
perspective of a manga comics artist whose works include a series
on great figures in Japanese
history and an illustrated world geography.
An effective method of discussing this work would be to compare and contrast this manga version with the textual version of “Yûgao”. Sample questions could include:
-
How is the story told in the manga? What are the similarities? The differences? Why is that so? Are the differences due to medium or period or both?
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How are the characters portrayed? Whose perspectives are presented and why? Whose story is this--Genji’s? Yûgao's?
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What kind of character is Genji? Yûgao? What about the lesser characters like Koremitsu or Ukon (Yûgao’s lady in waiting)?
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Who is the spirit that Genji sees? How is she portrayed?
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Who is at fault for Yûgao’s death? Why do you feel that is so?
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How does Genji feel about Yûgao’s death?
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What roles do love, death, and the relationships between men and women play in the chapter?
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What is gained and what is lost in moving from text to manga?
As a product of the 20th century, the manga
version reveals the concerns and interest of a contemporary audience. The focus is on Genji and Genji’s life and the women are
not portrayed with much psychological complexity.
Thus Genji’s liaisons with the central women figures take center
stage at the expense of more tangential narratives -- although this is
perhaps less evident in the “Yûgao” chapter.
Dramatic moments such as the spirit possession scene are given
ample space and made explicit as to what is happening and who is to blame.
Fine gradations of emotion are the intricacy evident in dialogue
and poetry are much harder to depict and, therefore, are conventionalized
(dialogues) or largely omitted (poetry).
The medium of drawing (and text of the manga comics)
leaves less to the imagination, but is
also very helpful for those unfamiliar with the material culture of the
period. (My college students
were very happy to access this insider knowledge instantly and without
being expected to “just know it”.)
Further, primary and secondary protagonists are instantly
recognizable through the ways in which their faces are drawn.
The central figures are portrayed with more detail and, be they men
or women with as “beautiful men and women” (bishônen and bishôjo).
In other words their faces are aestheticized, feminized with
beautiful, sensitive eyes. Secondary
characters are shown with less well drawn, less attractive, and sometimes
even comical faces. See the
difference between Genji and his servant Koremitsu on p. 41.
Koremitsu’s face shows much more gradation and is even comical in
his distress in two frames. The
tear-shaped drops that fall from his face in frames 4 and 5 are called
“sweatlets” and signal and almost comic embarrassment or distress.
The dangers of introducing the manga version of the tale without some discussions about its differences in emphasis, story line, etc. is that students will come away with only the manga rather than the textual version of the story, for the manga version is geared for a 20th C audience and, thus, more accessible to them. However, surprisingly enough, when my students read the text version first, they actually found that the manga left much of the complexity out and in fact reduced both the story and their enjoyment of it.
You might also elect to not discuss the manga in class and instead assign it as one activity choice in which the students would use these questions to do a writing assignment. In either case the manga would be a fun way for students to get into the Genji text and help them develop their skills in comparing and contrasting literary works.
*Teachers
using the Yamato Waki Asaki yume mishi version could talk about there not being any
division into chapters, the more central role that the Genji/Fujitsubo
relationship plays, the look of the faces, the clothes, the sense of
drama, etc. evident thru the way the drawings are made, etc. While there is nudity in this version of The Tale of Genji,
there is no nudity in the Yûgao segment.
The focus is on the apparition.
The Teaching about Japan website is
edited by Clayton Dube.
He welcomes your comments and suggestions.