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The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion

Page 5

by Melissa McCormick


  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

  4. The most famous early reader of Genji was a woman

  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).

 

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