List of The Tale of Genji characters

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The Third Princess, a character from The Tale of Genji (ukiyo-e by Suzuki Harunobu, ca. 1766) Suzuki Harunobu 002.jpg
The Third Princess, a character from The Tale of Genji (ukiyo-e by Suzuki Harunobu, ca. 1766)

The characters of The Tale of Genji do not possess birth names. Instead they are assigned sobriquets derived from poetic exchanges (e.g. Murasaki takes her name from a poem by Genji), from the particular court positions they occupy (in the Tyler translation, characters are often referred to by such terms as His Highness of War, Her Majesty the Empress, His Grace, the Palace Minister and so on), from their geographical location (e.g. Lady Akashi who lived on the Akashi coast before meeting Genji), or from the name of their residence (e.g. Lady Rokujō, whose mansion is on the Sixth Avenue, rokujō, or Fujitsubo, literally wisteria pavilion, the part of the Imperial Palace where this particular lady resided). In two out of the three complete translations into English, Seidensticker’s tends to systematically employ the same names (e.g. Genji, Murasaki, Akashi, Utsusemi, etc.), whereas Tyler’s, a more textually accurate translation, tends to change sometimes characters’ appellation with every chapter.

Contents

Similarly, many women writers of the Heian period left behind their sobriquets alone. Murasaki Shikibu is no exception: "Murasaki" means "purple" and is likely derived from her character of the same name or her clan background, which used the wisteria as its flower, while “Shikibu” refers to a court position in the Bureau of Ceremonies (shikibu) that her father used to occupy.

Notes

Following Genji, all the other characters are introduced following the chronology of the events in the tale. However, this chronology does not take into account the first time a character is mentioned, but rather the time a character actually makes his or her debut into the tale. Some of the character descriptions below include a reference to the chapter in which the character is introduced to the narrative. Important characters are in capital letters.

Characters

Part I

Part II

Part III

References

  1. Ivan Morris, The World of the Shining Prince, 1994, 285.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Norma Field, The Splendor of Longing in The Tale of Genji, 1987.
  3. Tyler, Royall and Susan. “The Possession of Ukifune.” Asiatica Venetiana, 5 (2002): 177–209.
  4. Royall Tyler tends to interpret spirit possession at face value, at least in the case of another female character, Ukifune. Tyler, Royall and Susan. “The Possession of Ukifune.” Asiatica Venetiana, 5 (2002): 177–209.
  5. 1 2 Doris Bargen, A Woman’s Weapon: Spirit Possession in The Tale of Genji, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1997.
  6. Seidensticker, The Tale of Genji, 1993, 43.
  7. Childs, Margaret H. “The Value of Vulnerability: Sexual Coercion and the Nature of Love in Japanese Court Literature.” The Journal of Asian Studies, 58, no. 4 (1999): 1059–1079.
  8. 1 2 Komashaku Kimi, Murasaki Shikibu no messēji (Tōkyō: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1991).
  9. Royall Tyler, “I am I”: Genji and Murasaki,” Monumenta Nipponica 54, no4 (1999).
  10. Royall Tyler, trans., The Tale of Genji, p. 91.