Fleeting Blossoms, Enduring Words: A Reflection on The Tale of Genji

Fleeting Blossoms, Enduring Words: A Reflection on The Tale of Genji

This week, Japan welcomed the arrival of cherry blossom season. The delicate Sakura, blooming from late March to early April, symbolizes renewal, rebirth, and the fleeting nature of life. Their brief yet breathtaking bloom serves as a marker of spring, embodying hope, optimism, purity, innocence, and femininity with their soft pink hues. They remind us that beauty and existence itself are transient, urging us to embrace the present moment.

The cultural significance of cherry blossoms can be traced back over a thousand years. During the Heian period (794–1185), aristocrats celebrated their arrival through poetry and seasonal gatherings. Over time, Sakura became a symbol of refinement, elegance, and the ever-changing seasons. It was during this very era that Murasaki Shikibu lived, and reflecting on her work, The Tale of Genji, brings me back to a cherished memory of my father’s library. I first encountered this classic in its 1935 translation by Arthur Waley. Later, before my first visit to Japan in the late 1980s—a fascinating experience—I revisited The Tale of Genji through Edward Seidensticker’s 1976 translation. That trip also marked my first visits to the memorials in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, where I was profoundly shaken by the senseless destruction wrought by nuclear weapons—an unfathomable tragedy in our modern era.

At the heart of this reflection stands Lady Murasaki Shikibu (c. 978–c. 1014, Kyōto), a pioneering author and poet. Born into a lesser branch of the powerful Fujiwara family, she was highly educated and uniquely privileged in learning Chinese—a field typically reserved for men. She married a much older distant cousin, Fujiwara Nobutaka, with whom she had a daughter. After just two years of marriage, he succumbed to illness, and it is said that she began writing Genji monogatari (literally and undeniably Gossip about Genji), later known as The Tale of Genji, as a means of coping with her grief and loss.

Spanning 55 chapters and, in some editions, over 4,200 pages, The Tale of Genji is widely regarded as the greatest work of Japanese literature and the world’s first full-length novel. Will Durant, in The Story of Civilization – Our Oriental Heritage, recounts how Lady Murasaki, having exhausted all available paper, even resorted to writing on the sacred sutras of a Buddhist temple—such was the rarity and luxury of writing materials at the time.

Her literary talent eventually brought her to the imperial court in 1005, where she served as a nyōbō (lady-in-waiting) to Chūgū Shōshi, the empress of Emperor Ichijō and daughter of the influential statesman Fujiwara no Michinaga. It is believed that Murasaki acted as both tutor and companion to the future empress, Fujiwara no Shōshi, also known as Jōtō Mon’in.

In an era when women were largely confined to traditional roles and discouraged from learning Chinese, their education limited to the “feminine arts” of embroidery, painting, and calligraphy, Lady Murasaki defied convention. Through The Tale of Genji, she offers an intimate glimpse into the hidden beauty of Japanese poetry and literature. Her writing is imbued with the grace of natural conversation, resembling the elegant gossip of a cultured friend. With exquisite sensitivity to nature and the rhythms of life, she portrays a world of aristocrats moving through the grand palaces of the Heian period. Yet despite the refined setting, her characters are drawn with remarkable depth and realism, capturing the subtleties of love, power, and human nature.

More than just a novel, The Tale of Genji is a profound meditation on life, romance, politics, and philosophy. It does not rely on grand, sensational events but instead immerses the reader in a world of courtly elegance, emotional nuance, and fleeting beauty. It remains a deeply personal journey across time and culture, guided by one of history’s most extraordinary storytellers.

The novel is divided into three distinct parts. The first part, comprising 33 chapters, covers the birth of Hikaru Genji (Shining Genji) and his rise to power and influence. The second part, consisting of eight chapters, follows Genji through a period of decline and suffering until his eventual death. The third part, spanning thirteen chapters, shifts focus to his son, Kaoru, intertwining themes of love and tragedy. The final ten chapters are collectively referred to as the Ten Uji Chapters (Uji-Jujo).

The central figure of the tale, whether hero or villain depending on one’s moral perspective, is Hikaru Genji, the son of an emperor and his beloved concubine, Kiritsubo. Genji is endowed with extraordinary beauty, intellect, and charm, qualities that provoke the jealousy of other concubines, ultimately leading to his mother’s untimely demise. Lady Murasaki appears to exaggerate men’s capacity for devotion, portraying the Emperor as inconsolable over Kiritsubo’s death:

“As the years pass, the Emperor is incapable of forgetting his lost lady; and though many women came to the palace in the hope that he might take pleasure in them, he turned from them all, believing that there was no one in the world like her whom he had lost. . . . Continually he pined that fate should not have allowed them to fulfill the vow which morning and evening was ever talked of between them, the vow that their lives should be as the twin birds that share a wing, the twin trees that share a bough.”

Born into privilege yet burdened by his illegitimate status as the son of a concubine, Genji grows up to be a daring prince, possessing more charm than moral integrity. His life unfolds as a series of passionate relationships and political intrigues. He embodies the ideal man in the eyes of women—sensitive and seductive, perpetually brooding over one love affair or another, occasionally returning to his wife’s home. Lady Murasaki wryly comments:

“The young Prince would be thought to be positively neglecting his duty if he did not indulge in a few escapades; and every one would regard his conduct as perfectly natural and proper even when it was such as they would not have dreamed of permitting to ordinary people. . . . I should indeed be very loath to recount in all their detail matters which he took so much trouble to conceal, did I not know that if you found that I had omitted anything you would at once ask why, just because he was supposed to be an emperor’s son, I must needs put a favourable showing on his conduct by leaving out all his indiscretions; and you would soon be saying that this was no history but a mere made-up tale designed to influence the judgment of posterity. As it is, I shall be called a scandal-monger; but that I cannot help.”

Amid his many affairs, Genji eventually falls ill, prompting a brief period of introspection. Seeking solace, he visits a monastery for spiritual guidance, where a priest rebukes him for his sins. However, his resolve is soon tested when he encounters a beautiful princess, modestly named Murasaki, and finds himself immediately distracted:

“The priest began to tell stories about the uncertainty of this life and the retributions of the life to come. Genji was appalled to think how heavy his own sins had already been. It was bad enough to think that he would have them on his conscience for the rest of his present life. But then there was also the life to come. What terrible punishments he had to look forward to! And all the while the priest was speaking Genji thought of his own wickedness. What a good idea it would be to turn hermit, and live in some such place! . . . But immediately his thoughts strayed to the lovely face which he had seen that afternoon; and longing to know more of her he asked, ‘Who lives with you here?’”

Thanks to the author’s narrative choices, Genji’s first wife dies in childbirth, leaving him free to elevate Murasaki to the foremost position in his household. The novel masterfully captures Genji’s journey from youthful indiscretions to the sobering realities of loss, regret, and the fleeting nature of human existence.

WJJH – 4.4.2025

Reflection: The arrival of cherry blossom season symbolizes renewal and the transient beauty of life, mirroring themes in Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji. This reflection connects the ephemeral blossoms with the novel’s exploration of love, loss, and human nature, showcasing Lady Murasaki’s profound literary legacy and her unique role in Japanese history.