1. Courtly Literature in MEDIEVAL JAPAN

2. Yamato or Kofun Period Chinese Influence ca. 300-710 ce
Yamato : “great kings”
Kofun: giant tomb mounds
Military aristocracy
Capital at Naniwa (Osaka)
Imported Chinese culture via Korea:
Writing
Confucianism
Buddhism

3. Prince Shotoku Kamakura period, early 14th century Gilt bronze
Regent during reign of Empress Suiko (r )
Wrote the Seventeen Article Constitution, the earliest piece of Japanese writing and basis for Japanese government throughout history
Led Japanese court in adopting Chinese calendar and sponsoring Buddhism
Among the most important figures in Japanese history, Prince Shotoku (r ) adopted Chinese and Korean policies and doctrines for Japan, and instigated major cultural, religious, economic, and political reforms. He introduced Buddhism, a foreign religion that successfully coexisted with native Shinto beliefs. He Japanized foreign systems and beliefs, in the process clarifying a notion of Japaneseness. For this, Shotoku was venerated as a national hero during his lifetime, and deified after his death. The cult of Shotoku resulted in the proliferation of his images, which were placed in temples as well as domestic shrines.
Prince Shotoku Kamakura period, early 14th century Gilt bronze

4. Asuka Period 645-710 Capital in the Asuka District
Establishment of Imperial Power under Taika Reform Edict
Temple building and sculpture introduced with Buddhism -- heavily influenced by Korean and Chinese models
The period from 592 to 710 is called the Asuka Era, because the capital was in the Asuka district during this time. It was the beginnings of the Imperial dynasty in establishing its sovereignty. Buddhism was brought from China: 538Buddhism was not only a religion but also a vast tome of deep knowledge about everything in those days. Japanese learned various knowledge from Chinese Buddhist priests. Buddhism was also a powerful weapon for court politics. In the days of the house Soga, many people were converted to Buddhism. Taika no Kaishin: 645 In the early 6th century, a noble house Soga raised its power. They held important posts in the government. Eventually, they began to intervene in the Imperial succession. They assassinated Prince Yamashiro-no-Oe in 645. During this crisis, Prince Naka-no-Oe allied with another noble, Nakatomi-no-Kamatari, and broke a coupe d'etat in 645. They assassinated Soga-no-Iruka, the leader of house Soga, at a banquet. They prepared the coupe d'etat plan very well, and all members of the house Soga were soon deported. Today, the coupe d'etat is called "Taika-no-Kaishin". Prince Naka-no-Oe ruled the government, and became the next Emperor Tenji in 668. Natatomi-no- Kamatari renamed himself Fujiwara-no-Kamatari. His house, Fujiwara, came to have major power in the government, and finally ruled the government in the Heian Era. The Battle of Jinshin : 672 When Emperor Tenji died in 671, he had two apparent successors. One was his eldest son, Prince Otomo. The other was his elder brother, Prince Oama. Tenji had named Prince Otomo as his successor two years before. So Prince Oama retired from the government and become a Buddhist priest. If he had remained in government, he would likely have been killed by some supporter of Prince Otomo. So he had escaped to a temple in the Yoshino mountains. When Emperor Tenji died, the two Princes began a battle for the throne. Prince Oama finally won, and Prince Otomo comitted suicide. Prince Oama became the new Emperor Tenmu. This battle is called "the Battle of Jinshin".
Relief Tile with Buddhist Triad
Asuka period, 7th century Metropolitan Museum of Art

5. Taika Reform Edicts: 645 Fusion of Buddhism and Shinto
Influence of Chinese culture -- institutions, language, philosophy -- concept of national unity symbolized by Emperor's dual role:
Shinto religious leader with elaborate rituals, ceremonial functions
Chinese-like secular Emperor
Emperor ruled by Decree of Heaven with absolute authority and by descent from Amaterasu, the sun goddess
Emperor Tenji (From Ogura Hyakunin Isshu)

6. Shinto: Ise Jingu: Grand Shrines of Ise
                                             
Fondly known as "O-Ise-san" since ancient times, the Grand Shrines of Ise (Ise Jingu) formally comprise the Inner Shrine (Naigu, known also as Kotai Jingu), the Outer Shrine (Gegu, known also as Toyouketai Jingu) and another 125 smaller shrines in Mie, which together form the largest group of shrines in Japan. Traditionally people visit the Outer Shrine before proceeding to the Inner Shrine. Legend has it that Toyouke-omikami, the god of industry,
was enshrined at the Outer Shrine some 500 years after Amaterasu-omikami (the legendary ancestor of the imperial family) was enshrined at the Inner Shrine. The grounds around both are thickly wooded, and visitors are deeply moved by the somber ancient atmosphere. Ever since their construction, the Grand Shrines have been an site for the imperial family and have been under its the district of Monzenmachi around the Grand Shrines has prosperity. The practice of making a pilgrimage to Ise only practiced by the nobility, but the custom rapidly the entire country as it was adopted by warriors and and townsfolk. The area enjoyed its greatest prosperity during the Edo period ( ). The special Ise pilgrimage called "Okage Mairi" (held in the year following the periodic rebuilding of the shrines) attracted even more visitors than in normal years, and records indicate that in million people visited in just fifty days, while in 1771 there were 4.57 million visitors in six months with a peak of 150,000 in a single day. At one time, going on a journey meant practically the same thing as going to Ise. During the Okage Mairi, all distinctions based on age, sex or wealth disappeared, and it may well have represented a desire on the part of the common people to temporarily escape the restrictions of a feudal society. Rather than being a religious pilgrimage, a pilgrimage to Ise allowed people to enjoy a sense of freedom similar to that enjoyed by people on holiday nowadays. It gave people the chance to travel and meet people on the way or welcome people to the area, and in this sense the origins of travel for the common people can be seen in the Ise pilgrimage. More recently, an area called "Oharaimachi" leading to the entrance to the Inner Shrine was built to recreate the sights and atmosphere of the time of the Ise pilgrimages. "Okage Yokocho" was also built. In this area there are a number of shops and houses with distinctive "kiritzuma" and "tsumairi" roofs, and the old paved streets have also been recreated. In one part is "Okage Yokocho", which features a reconstruction of a wholesale store and western-style buildings from the Meiji period ( ). In the "Okageza", the largest building in Yokocho, visitors can see videos which recreate the Okage Mairi of the Edo period.
Shinto: Ise Jingu: Grand Shrines of Ise

7. Ise Grand Shrine is Japan's most important Shinto shrine and serves as the center of all shrines nationwide.
Situated near the banks of the Isuzu River, the shrine is surrounded by 800-year-old Ise Grand Shrine cedars.
The smooth pebble-lined approach to the shrine lends the site a majestic air.

8. Ise Shrine, Geku (outer shrine), inner precinct showing outer fence

9. The Naiku
The most revered of all Shinto shrines, the Naiku, is located at Ise.
The Naiku enshrines Amaterasu Omikami, the ancestral goddess of Japan's imperial house and the great ancestral deity of the Japanese people.

10. Amaterasu
Utagawa Kunisada ( ). Amaterasu Emerges from the Light. (colored woodcut, no date).

12. Nara Period: 710-794 710: first permanent capital established at Nara
Emperors embraced Buddhism leading to its rapid and dramatic expansion
784: Rise in political power of Buddhist monasteries led to capital being moved to Nagaoka

13. Nara Fashion
During the Nara and the previous Asuka periods, techniques for dyeing silk were developed. Clothing consisted of many pieces including upper and lower garments, jackets, a front skirt, and a back skirt.

14. Buddha Sculptures Nara - Temple Horyu-ji 7th c.
Nara - Temple Chugu-ji 7th c.
Buddha Sculptures

15. Umayasaka Temple at Nara
With the establishment of the new capital at Heijo (present-day Nara) in the third year of Wado (710 A.D.), the Umayasaka Temple was moved from Asuka to itspresent site and was given its present name. In addition to the five-storied pagoda, which is well known as a symbol of Nara, various buildings and historic Buddhist statues remind us one of the long, impressive history of this temple

16. Earliest Japanese Literature
712 : The Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) -- an anthology of myths, legends, and other stories
713: The Fudoki (Records of Wind and Earth), compiled by provincial officials describe the history, geography, products, and folklore of the various provinces.
720: Nihon shoki (Chronicle of Japan) -- a chronological record of history.

17. The Kojiki
The Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) is traditionally viewed as Japan's first book. It was written in 712 by the courtier Ono Yasumaro (? - 723) at the behest of Empress Gemmei ( ) and is in three volumes.
The Kojiki recounts the history of Japan from its mythological origins to the era of the Empress Suiko ( ) in the Yamoto era and includes myths, legends, Imperial genealogy, history, and poetry.
Ono Yasumaru's work was based on the oral recitations of Hieda no Are
                                           
The Kojiki is considered the earliest historical record of Japan.  It was completed in 712 but purportedly records the events dating back to 660 bce and the creation of the Japanese Imperial line.  The writing of the Kojiki was a particularly tricky task because the Japanese language did not have a written script.  Yasumaro, the scribe charged with recording what had heretofore been committed to memory by Hieda no Are and other kataribe, describes the challenges of trying to find a way to use Chinese characters to represent Japanese words.  Refer to pages of The Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 1 (Columbia University Press, 1958).  As a result, the Kojiki is written in a strange mixture of Chinese used both ideographically, phonetically, and otherwise to create Japanese.  There was little apparent logic to Yasumaro's selection, and the Kojiki was soon to be illegible until Nativist Scholars unraveled the cumbersome readings in the later centuries.
The Kojiki ("Record of Ancient Matters") is considered the earliest remaining record written by the Japanese. It is an account of Japanese history as viewed by seventh and eighth century Yamato aristocracy. The early accounts are considered a myth, while later accounts hold some historical accuracy.
The compilation of the Kojiki was first commissioned by emperor Tenmu (reigned ), but it was completed only twenty five years and three emperors later in the year 712, during the reign of Empress Genmei. The completion of the Kojiki a year after the establishment of the capital in Nara indicates that the Yamato court was making a significant step forward towards justifying its claim to supreme authority over the Japanese people.
The writing in the Kojiki is based on Chinese characters and employs the kambun, the manyogana, and the hybrid kambun style. The kambun style is basically Chinese writing with a pure Chinese vocabulary and sentence structure. This type of writing comprises the preface of the Kojiki and is the style of the majority of extant early Japanese works. Manyogana consists of Chinese ideographs used phonetically, devoid of their original lexical meanings. The largest portion of the Kojiki however, is written in the hybrid kambun style where words are written phonetically or ideographically in Chinese writing, but read in Japanese. So, the Kojiki announced the adoption of a written form of the Japanese language.
The Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) is traditionally viewed as Japan's first book. It was written in 712 by the courtier O no Yasumaro (? - 723) at the behest of Empress Genmei ( ) and is in three volumes. The Kojiki recounts the history of Japan from its mythological origins to the era of the Empress Suiko ( ) in the Yamoto era and includes myths, legends, Imperial geneology, history, and poetry.
O no Yasumaru's work was based on the oral recitations of Hieda no Are who had been commanded to memorize and maintain this body of work by Emperor Tenmu ( ).
This book is extremely significant because in its sections on the "Age of Gods" and the "Age of Emperors", it set the standard framework for the measurement of Japanese history and imperial power.
Kojiki – album cover
Kitaro

18. Izanami and Izanagi, the creator kami

19. Language of The Kojiki
The writing in the Kojiki is based on Chinese characters and employs the kambun, the hybrid kambun (kanji), and the manyogana styles.
The kambun style is basically Chinese writing with a pure Chinese vocabulary and sentence structure: the preface of the Kojiki and the style of the majority of extant early Japanese works.
The largest portion of the Kojiki is written in the hybrid kambun -- kanji -- style where words are written phonetically or ideographically in Chinese writing, but read in Japanese. So, the Kojiki announced the adoption of a written form of the Japanese language.
Manyogana consists of Chinese ideographs used phonetically, devoid of their original meanings and used for the songs in the Kojiki – the only truly literary parts of the work.
the only truly literary parts of the work are the songs. The early songs lack a fixed metrical form; the lines, consisting of an indeterminate number of syllables, were strung out to irregular lengths, showing no conception of poetic form. Some songs, however, seem to have been reworked—perhaps when the manuscript was transcribed in the 8th century—into what became the classic Japanese verse form, the tanka (short poem), consisting of five lines of five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables
While historical records and myths are written in unique Chinese, songs are written with Chinese characters used only to convey sounds of songs. This special use of Chinese characters is called Manyogana and knowledge of this is critical to understanding these songs.

20. Waka wa-Japanese ka-poetry
Waka were first composed orally to celebrate victories in battle and love, or for religious reasons
Around the 8th century the fixed forms Choka (long poem) and Tanka (short poem) emerged. These Waka are based on a set number of Mora (syllables).
During the first great age of written waka in the seventh and eighth centuries, nagauta or choka 'long poems‘ were composed for performance on public occasions at the imperial court.
At the same time, tanka 'short poems', consisting of five 'lines' in the pattern of syllables, became a useful shorthand for private communication between friends and lovers, and the ability to compose a tanka on a given topic became an essential skill for any gentleman or lady at court.
It was not uncommon for parties to be thrown just to recite waka. One ritual was the Utokai. At Utokai parties each guest would come with an original waka and recite it to the group. All of the waka would then be judged by the host and the winner would be welcomed to eat at the head table.
Waka were first composed, before the advent of writing in Japan, to celebrate victories in battle and love, or for religious reasons, and this tradition of poetry for public occasions carried through to the first great age of written waka in the seventh and eighth centuries, with highly wrought nagauta 'long poems', consisting of alternating 'lines' of five and seven syllables, being composed for performance on public occasions at the imperial court. At the same time, tanka 'short poems', consisting of five 'lines' in the pattern of syllables, became a useful shorthand for private communication between friends and lovers, and the ability to compose a tanka on a given topic became an essential skill for any gentleman or lady at court. Over time, the tanka became the premier poetic form for the Japanese aristocracy and nobles competed to produce ever better examples of the art in poetry competitions, while critics formulated elaborate critiques and definitions of what was 'acceptable' poetry.
Eventually, the tanka of the court became ossified, and the vitality of waka was transferred to a new form, renga 'linked verse' which pairs or groups of poets would compose jointly, with one poet supplying the initial of a verse and another the concluding 7-7, often building up to hundred verse sequences. Finally, the initial of a renga became a poetic form on its own, the haiku, and great poets came to be found among the samurai warriors and the townsfolk of early modern Japan.

21. The Manyoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves)
Collected ca. 759
Anthology of over 4500 poems
Includes wide variety of poems: courtly, rustic, dialectical, military, travel
Identified and anonymous poets
Syllabic poetry: 5-7-5
Choka: indeterminate number of lines culminating in a 7-syllable (mora) couplet
Tanka: 31 syllable poem: 5,7,5,7, 7

22. Heian Japan

23. Heian Japan 794-1185 Capital at Heian: present-day Kyoto
Highly formalized court culture
Aristocratic monopoly of power
Literary and artistic flowering
Ended in civil wars and emergence of samurai culture

24. The Kokinshu (Collection of Ancient and Modern Times)
Anthology commissioned by Emperor Daigo (r
1111 tanka poems in 20 books
Set the pattern for later anthologies
Books divided by subject: love, seasons, felicitations, parting, travel, names of things, etc.
Poetic sequences – linked narrations
Renga: 'linked verse' : pairs or groups of poets would compose jointly, with one poet supplying the initial of a verse and another the concluding 7-7, often building up to hundred verse sequences.
The initial of a renga became a poetic form on its own, the haiku
The Kokinshu (Collection of Ancient and Modern Times)
A confused array of red leaves in the current of Tatsuta River. Were I to cross, I would break the fabric of a rich brocade

25. Kokinshu Poets Fun'ya-no-Yasuhide Otomo-no-Kuronushi
Ono no
Komachi
Lady Ise
Otomo-no-Kuronushi
The Kokinshû also has two prefaces: a Japanese one written by Ki no Tsurayuki and a Chinese one by Ki no Yoshimochi. Tsurayuki's preface is regarded as being the first work of Japanese poetic criticism, setting out criteria for judging poems, giving terminology and making suggestions about poets who were to be regarded as superior. In particular, he mentions the 'Six Poetic Sages' (rokkasen): Archbishop Henjô, Ariwara no Narihira, Fun'ya no Yasuhide, The Monk Kisen, Ono no Komachi and Ôtomo no Kuronushi.
The principal poets of the collection (those with more that 5 poems included) are: Tsurayuki (102), Mitsune (60), Tomonori (46), Tadamine (36), the Monk Sosei (36), Narihira (30), Ise (22), Fujiwara no Tomoyuki (19), Komachi (18), Henjô (17), Kiyowara no Fukayabu (17), Fujiwara no Okikaze (17), Ariwara no Motokata (14), Ôe no Chisato (10), Sakaoue no Korenori (8).
Ariwara no Narihira
Ki no Tsurayuki

26. Thirty-six Immortal Poets
                                                                                                                                                                   
Thirty-six Immortal Poets
The Thirty-six Immortal Poets (detail), Edo period ( ) Ikeda Koson (1802–1867) Two-panel folding screen; ink and color on silk; 68 x 68 3/4 in. (172.8 x cm) Property of Mary Griggs Burke

28. Heian Fashion
Today, 1200 years later, the Imperial household still uses the costumes of the Heian period for the formal occasions of coronations and weddings.
During the Heian period, the japanese expressed their perception color and color changes of the four seasons through costume. Their deep love of artistic beauty and colors were reflected in the kimono of this period.
To protect against high humidity, buildings had elevated floors made of tatami mats. The convention of sitting on the floor became an important part of the life style. Clothing became stiffer and more voluminous. Court women wore 10, 12, 15 or even 20 layers at a time. This layered dressing is called "juni- hito" which literally means "12 layers." The layered color pattern reflected many things including seasons, directions, virtues, and elements of the earth as they related to spirits of nature. The multiple layers also helped in staying warm in winter.

30. Heian Style A culture more independent of Chinese influence
miyabi : courtliness makoto : simplicity aware : melancholy mono no aware :evanescence
Emphasis on the exquisite and evanescent
Literary: poems, letters, pillow books
Extreme sensitivity to nature
Nocturnal
Importance of convention and fashion

31. Heian Society
Patriarchal but women inherited: matrilineal and matrilocal
Polygamous
Sexuality viewed as normal and necessary part of life
Men exercised political power, but marriages created political alliances and women could exercise significant political influence

32. Heian Style A culture more independent of Chinese influence
miyabi : courtliness makoto : simplicity aware : melancholy mono no aware :evanescence
Emphasis on the exquisite and evanescent
Literary: poems, letters, pillow books
Extreme sensitivity to nature
Nocturnal
Importance of convention and fashion

33. Heian Painting: Yamato-e
Otoko-e
strong calligraphic outlines on figures with washed colors so that these strong lines would not be overwhelmed by the color
the medium for action subjects involving war or conflict;
primarily concerned with the public life outside the court or house.
Onna-e
rich colors and subtle outlines.
the medium for courtliness, appropriate to the literature of miyabi, such as The Tale of Genji.
"cutaway" painting, in which interior scenes are painted by "cutting away" the roof.
primarily concerned with the Japanese life that goes on inside the court or house
It wasn't until the Heian period ( ) that the visual arts began to change. Paramount among these changes was the development of yamato-e, or Japanese painting. The yamato-e depicted Japanese subjects and scenes from Japanese life. Once this genre of painting was created it also created retrospectively the genre of kara-e, or "Chinese painting." While yamato-e would not have the same prestige as kara-e, the depiction of Japanese scenes required a different visual imagination. This development in the Japanese visual imagination was a highly gendered one. In the Heian court culture, women's communities were the most significant culturally creative centers of Japanese society. In addition to literature, women also influenced the nature of painting until two distinct painting styles were recognized: otoko-e, or "men's paintings," and onna-e, or "women's paintings

34. Onna-e style from Genji-monogatari
Onna-e was characterized by rich colors and subtle outlines. The onna-e was the medium for communicating, or courtliness, appropriate to the literature of miyabi, such as The Tale of Genji. The most interesting aspect of onna-e is the "cutaway" painting, in which interior scenes are painted by "cutting away" the roof. The viewer seems to be looking down into a house or room from which the roof has been removed. This unique illustrative device points out the dominant aspect of onna-e: it is primarily concerned with the Japanese life that goes on inside the court or house, while the otoko-e is primarily concerned with the public life outside the court or house. Both of these painting styles emerged as a means to represent specifically Japanese subjects and the cultural ideas represented in these subjects.

35. Otoko-e style
." Otoko-e was characterized by strong calligraphic outlines on figures with washed colors so that these strong lines would not be overwhelmed by the color—the illustration below, from the illustrated manuscript Shigisan engi emaki , beautifully represents the style of otoko-e. The otoko-e was the medium for action subjects involving war or conflict;
The Japanese literary genre of engi is a narrative that chronicles the founding of a Buddhist establishment, in this case, Chogosonshiji, founded by Myoren. The painting style is in otoko-e , or "men's pictures." This style is characterized by active movement; the artist uses strong ink calligraphic lines and weak color pigments so that the colors don't overwhelm the black or gray lines. All the emakimono were classified as yamato-e , or "Japanese painting," in distinction to kara-e , or "Chinese painting." The main criterion for differentiation was the yamato-e concerned subjects drawn from Japanese culture and life while the kara-e were based on Chinese themes or subjects.

36. Heian Literature Men continued to write Chinese-style poetry
Women began to write in Japanese prose
First novel: Genji Monogatari by Lady Murasaki Shikibu
Diaries:
The Pillowbook by Sei Shonagan
As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams by Lady Sarashina
The greatest artistic medium of these new painting styles was the illustrated manuscript, or emakimono, developed in the late 900's. The emakimono ("painted scrolls") were really scrolls that one rolled out. Illustrations would occupy the full height of the scroll; beside the illustration would be the story. The greatest of these scrolls is the Genji monogatari emaki , an illustrated scroll of The Tale of Genji from the early 1100's.

37. Adapted from Chinese calligraphy, but a totally different language
Kanji: ideogrammatic use of Chinese characters
Manyo-kana: ideogrammatic and syllabic
Kana: syllabic
Hiragana: onna de or “women’s writing” -- cursive, does not require knowledge of Chinese
Katakana -- cursive, derived from Chinese
Japanese Writing
Writing was introduced into Japan in the sixth and seventh centuries AD. Like so much else in early Japanese culture, it was a direct import from China. Since the Japanese had no native writing system, the introduction of literacy involved writing first in Chinese using Chinese characters. However, since knowledge of Chinese was limited, the Japanese soon adapted the Chinese style of writing to the Japanese language—by the seventh century AD, the Japanese were writing Japanese using the Chinese style of writing. Japanese, however, was an exponentially different language than Chinese —they are not even in the same language family—so the development of Japanese writing involved ingenious but complex reconfigurations of Chinese writing When the Japanese exported Chinese writing, they first exported Chinese writing phonetically. That is, if you needed to write the word, "onna," meaning woman, early Japanese writing would write first a Chinese character that in Chinese represents the word "on" or something close to it and then another Chinese ideogram that translates into the Chinese word "na." After a while, the Japanese began to use the characters ideogrammatically, that is, they'd use the character that corresponded not to the sound but to the meaning of the Chinese word with which it was associated. So, in later Japanese writing, when one wanted to write the word "onna," one would use the Chinese character for "woman." This style of writing, which characterized all Japanese writing until the late seventh century, is called kanji. By the seventh century, both methods were used whenever one wrote Japanese using Chinese characters In the seventh and eighth centuries, the Japanese invented another writing technology based on Chinese characters called kana , which means "borrowed words." There are two types of kana , hiragana (which the early Japanese called onna-de , or "women's writing"), and katakana . The most important innovation in Japanese writing occurred with the introduction of hiragana or completely syllabic writing in the Heian period. In Japanese historiography, hiragana was introduced by the Buddhist, Kobo Daishi, who had studied Sanskrit, a phonetic alphabet, in India. The alphabet that he invented was a syllabic alphabet—in part based on Chinese writing, hiragana is made of simple, cursive strokes in which each character represents a single syllable. Not only is hiragana easier and faster to write, it also doesn't require a knowledge of Chinese characters. In the Heian period, hiragana was called onna-de , or "women's writing" and made possible the great works of Japanese literature composed by women such as Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon. Through these works and the court culture produced by women's communities, hiragana eventually became the dominant writing system in Japan A little later, Buddhists developed yet one more writing system, katakana . Like hiragana , katakana is a syllabic alphabet derived from Chinese characters. Hiragana , however, was produced by drawing Chinese characters in quick, cursive, fluid strokes—they are curvy and simple renditions of the Chinese characters from which they were derived. Katakana , however, takes Chinese characters and draws only one part of the character, a kind of shorthand.

38. Murasaki Shikibu From a series of the 36 Immortal Poets
Katsukawa Shunsho 18th c.
From a series of the 36
Immortal Poets
Katsukawa Shunsho 18th c.

39. The Tale of Genji

40. The Tale of Genji Lady Murasaki
Picture of life at the 10th c. Heian court
Relates the lives and loves of Prince Genji and his children and grandchildren
Unesco Global Heritage Pavilion: The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji Lady Murasaki

41. The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji has 54 chapters and over 1,000 pages of text in its English translation.
The novel has three gradual stages:
1. The experience of a youth (Chapters 1-33): Love and romance
2. The glory and the sorrow (Chapters 34-41): A taste of power and the death of Genji’s beloved wife
3. The descendants (Chapters 42-54): After the death of Genji
The Tale of Genji depicts a unique society of ultra-refined and elegant aristocrats whose indispensable accomplishments were skill in poetry, music, calligraphy, and courtship.
The novel is permeated with a sensitivity to human emotions and the beauties of nature.

42.                                                                            
Artist Unknown, Chapter 12 Suma, Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji). About mid-18th century, Color on paper

43. Family Relationships in The Tale of Genji

44. Members of the Emperor’s Family
Former Emperor Minister of the Right
Prince Hyobu Fujitsubo--Lady of the --Kokiden--Emperor Princess Omiya---Minister Paulownia Court of the Left
Murasaki Crown Prince Genji Crown Prince Aoi To no Chujo Reizei Emperor Suzaku Emperor

45. Genji’s Families
Genji --- Aoi To No Chujo Suzaku Emperor--Lady Shokyoden
Yugiri --- Kumoinokari
--- Murasaki
~~ Akashi Lady
Akashi Empress ---Emperor
Prince Niou -- Rokunokimi
--- Third Princess ~~ Kashiwagi
Kaoru

46. Genji’s Liaisons Genji ~ Lady at Rokujo---late Crown Prince
Akikonomu, High Priestess of Ise  consort of Reizei Emperor
~ Yugao (Evening Faces) ~ To no Chujo
daughter, Tamakazura
~ Fujitsubo -- Emperor
Crown Prince (Reizei Emperor)
~ Lady of the Locust Shell -- Governor of Iyo
~ Naishi
~ Safflower Lady
~ Oborozukiyo, Kokiden’s sister -- consort of Suzaku Emperor
~ Lady of the Orange Blossoms, Reikeiden’s sister
~ Gosechi dancer
~ Akashi Lady
Akashi Empress