Tale Of Genji

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“The Tale of Genji” written by Murasaki Shikibu originated in Japan and was written by a Heian court lady within the early 11th century. The original copy of this literature no longer exists. Up until this Japanese literature was written most of the collection of poetry consisted of borrowed Kanji script from China. The Heian society was utilized in this Tale. The literature included a depiction of the lifestyle of the high courtiers during the Heian period. The Heian courtiers didn’t know a lot about the world outside of the capital. Most of them rarely ever travelled. This work of literature reflects the life of the son of an ancient Japanese emperor Kiritsubo. Genji is removed from the line of succession by the emperor. The literature then …show more content…

One of the problems with this piece of literature was during the Heian period Japanese was very inflected with complex grammar. On the other hand, another problem when it came to the Heian court society it was found very rude to name other people. Leaving many of the characters within this work of literature to be nameless. Which in this case the author often refers to men by their social rank or stage in life, as well as women being referred to by the color of their clothing or ranking given by a prominent male relative. The novel is split into three different parts; two dealing with Genji’s life, and the last one focusing on the earlier years of two of Genji’s prominent descendants, Niou and Kaoru. Several short transitorily chapters are also included in this piece of …show more content…

Most of the customs described within this chapter was very out of the ordinary when it comes to more of American tradition. In this chapter it was discussed the value of family and their status within the Heian society. It was told how Kiritsubo had no type of solid family support what-so-ever at court, leading to her suffering a tremendous amount of insults from envious competitors. Kiritsubo gives birth to a beautiful baby boy, the emperor’s son was also mentioned. In this specific part of the chapter the birth of the emperor’s new son was viewed as making matters worse. In this type of culture, it was more of a competition between the siblings on who would in this case become prince. In many societies like the Heian’s it was necessary that to stay in royalty both of your parents had to have some type of family support to be succeeded into royalty. It was also described as to how the baby boy will one day be the rival of the eldest son when it comes to crowning the future prince. Which at the time was normal for siblings to be in competition when it came to being apart of the royal family. The author then went on to describe how shortly after giving birth, Kiritsubo becomes very ill and eventually falls to her death. Leaving the child to

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