The Genji Monogatari, ‘Tale of Genji’, is Japan’s greatest work of classical literature and the earliest ‘novel’ in world literature. Written by a court lady who we know as Murasaki Shikibu around the beginning of the eleventh century, it tells the story of Genji, the son of an emperor, and a paragon among men, in his search for happiness with many lovers. A vast work, the novel depicts its characters’ psychological states in minute detail and provides a wealth of information about an (idealised version of) court life in Heian Japan. There a three complete English translations, the most recent by Royall Tyler.
Murasaki Shikibu’s eleventh century classical “Tale of Genji “ has a universal cultural and psychological appeal, and should be required reading for all students of literature. As a retired teacher of English as a second language, who enjoys reading and writing poetry as a hobby, I’ve composed a poem entitled “A Senryu Tale of Genji “ based on Murasaki Shikibu’s composition and available online on poetry.com. Readers are invited to read, review and comment on this imaginative composition of mine.