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Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji), written early in eleventh-century Japan and often called the world's first psychological novel, has enjoyed incomparable popularity from the time it was just a work in progress until the present day, influencing both subsequent literature and the everyday lives of readers. The tale, written in archaic Japanese, has been made accessible to modern readers by renderings into modern Japanese by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro,' Enchi Fumiko and others, and to nonJapanese by English, French, German, and Chinese translations? In addition, comic books, movies and TV dramatizations of the Genji allow modern audiences to enjoy this famed literary work in a way remarkably similar to the way author Murasaki Shikibu's (c. 978-1014) own audiences enjoyed it: as literature accompanied by illustrations. Today's news of the Royal Household also supplies relevant background to an understanding of the Heian-era classic.
In the Heian period (794-1185) the Genji and other romances were often told or read aloud to an aristocratic woman, while she and her ladies-in-waiting had open before them scroll illustrations of the story. Early Genji performances may be thought of as illustrated readings. The Genji monogatari emaki (The Tale of Genji Picture Scrolls) have visually enhanced the appeals of the Tale of Genji from the Heian period on. In the modern era the Genji emaki have been transformed into modern renderings in comic-book versions, animations, and movie and TV dramatizations. Heian illustrations have helped later generations understand physical aspects of the court era, such as clothing, room furnishings, and architecture. Further, all visual representations, whether the Heian emaki or their modern mutations, amplify the narrative descriptions of the text, serving as informative guides to the visual aspects of Heian life as well as to the Tale of Genji itself. Even though every Japanese high school student is exposed to small portions of the Genji in the original, few Japanese actually read this classical work in its entirety. In this era of katsuji-banare (separation from print), when young people especially shun traditional printed matter such as books without illustrations, young audiences grow familiar with the Genji through new media.
In Japan almost as much as in other countries, some readers find it difficult to relate to the characters and stories in the Tale of...