Genji Monogatari In Focus: Hikaru Genji's Childhood - Male Loneliness in the 11th Century
A detailed analysis of the first chapter of Genji Monogatari
There are few stories that have had as much of an impact on a civilization, as Genji has had upon that of Japan. The nearest one might compare it to, is something akin to the Aeneid upon Roman civilization or Homer upon the Greeks, though there is no war or conflict to speak of in the tale of Genji.
To the contrary, the story takes place during the reign of a fictional Emperor of Japan, one whom is hopelessly in love with a woman of low birth by the name of Kiritsubo (she is the lady of the ‘Kiritsubo Pavilion’. The other ladies don’t take his infatuation very well and begin to torment and bully her, until at last she is driven to her death by melancholia and loss of the will to live.
What this speaks to is an inclination towards depression on her part, one which she interestingly passes down to her son.
Born from this highly contentious union, Hikaru Genji when we first meet him is an innocent if lonely child. Thrust forward into the brutal world of politics after his mother dies, he is taken in by his father, who raises him but is often away due to court ceremonials and due to his own grief at the passing of the woman he loved.
The harem for its part full of guilt seeks to make peace with Genji, and yet he never fully belongs amongst them, but so cherubic does he look that all are drawn to him. When he is nine years old, his father presents him with an unexpected ‘gift’ if one could term it such; he has found a new wife.
The new lady is called Fujitsubo, and she is 14 years old and the spitting image of Genji’s mother. It is unclear whether the marriage is initially consumated as it seems that Kiritsubo-no-tennou (the Emperor) married her more so that his son would have someone to befriend and a maternal figure.
Fujitsubo for her part is a child, and initially takes to Hikaru Genji, with the two making friends. Unfortunately for her, Genji doesn’t come to love her as one would a sister or mother, but comes to develop a peculiar attraction towards her. One could easily read some Oedipal Rex type of themes here, and one would probably be correct in most of the assumptions one makes here.
Genji is very much someone who longs for his mother, and who could blame him? The only person he has on his side is his father, there’s certainly his brother Suzaku but Suzaku is a weak-willed, meek man who rarely interacts with him. As to Kiritsubo he’s very blind to how wounded and how much his son is grieving for the Kiritsubo Lady.
That said, Genji when he makes his affection clear to her, is evidently rejected and Fujitsubo puts some distance between them. Because of this Genji goes on to have his ‘genpuku’ ceremony (this involves him donning pants, cutting his hair and receiving a new name, in this case his ‘surname’ Genji (or Minamoto)), and after he has done this he is no longer permitted to interact with the Imperial harem and is cast out from his home.
This may seem cold but in reality it was the only way to cut down on expenses, as the Imperial family by the 11th century was too large, and so the only way to prune the tree and to allow for the treasury some relief from supporting so many family members was to remove from the family the illegitimates (such as Hikaru Genji) or to marry off those 5th cousins or so.
Genji though is married off to the Minister of the Left’s daughter Aoi no Ue, whom does not take to her new husband who is 4 years her junior (he’s 12 at the time and she 16). They have a poor start to their relationship, with Aoi being the first ‘tsundere’ in literary history, as she behaves coldly, jealously only to deep down long for her husband and later soften towards him.
One can see here an interesting story about growing up, how even in the 11th century, even for an Imperial family member with everything in life at their fingertips there is sorrow to be had. Genji’s life is one of melancholy, sorrow and loss as he loses his mother at an early age, bonds with his new stepmother only to be cut off from her and then to go on to marry another woman who seemingly doesn’t like him.
His only comforts are his shallow friends such as Tou-no-Chujo, who encourage him towards the lifestyle of a playboy and thus he gives into self-indulgence.
Is there a lot one can read here about loneliness, and how it breaks an individual and how it can have a negative impact on folks back then, and on those alive to-day? Sure. Genji’s life is one of isolation, as is that of Aoi-no-Ue, and even that of Fujitsubo, heck even Kiritsubo-no-tenno seems cut off from others.
Loneliness is a common theme in Genji Monogatari, and it is one that the Japanese still struggle with to this day, with Genji being a popular character to-day in plays and movies. Currently NHK has launched for their yearly Taiga History Drama, a tv series all about Murasaki Shikibu the novelist who wrote Genji (who was alive from around 973 A.D. up until 1024 or 1025 A.D., some suggest she lived up until around 1032 A.D., but we don’t know). This history drama will play all year long, and is quite good and is being also used to market Genji Monogatari.
The inventor of the novel (with its chapter format, and typically singular to dual protagonist lead, and major antagonist framework, along with multiple themes and motifs), Murasaki Shikibu was a brilliant woman, sometimes called ‘Japan’s Shakespeare’ for how deeply she delves into the human psyche, I cannot recommend her novel enough.
Stylistically, the book reads in its English and French translations like a modern novel, with the original Japanese however being very complex and difficult even for the Japanese to read. This is the case because Japanese can be divided between Old Japanese and ‘New Japanese’. The older version reads like English’s Shakespearian style or the old Anglo-Saxon English might be a more apt comparison, compared to the modern version.
Also interspersed every few paragraphs are poems which describe the character’s thoughts, mood and view of the universe at that moment. Genji does this, Kiritsubo does it, Fujitsubo, and so on. It helps that Murasaki was the finest poet of her time, and that she could compose verse and poetry better than any of her peers.
The style is woven together so that Genji’s world seems like a dream, a very fantastical one. And this stylistic choice will persist throughout the novel, and would prove to have a lasting influence over Japanese art and especially their cinema.
That said, the opposite camp of Japanese art would really come to fruition in the 14th century with the writing of the war-epic Taiheiki which depicts real life events in semi-novelized format, notably those of the civil wars of the 1330s when Go-Daigo-tennou sought to restore his authority (this is called the Kenmou Restoration), he was however to prove ineffectual (just as all his supporters were) so that he was pushed off the throne, replaced with a rival and all authority was given to a new ‘seitaishogun’ or ‘shogun’ Ashikaga Takauji.
Genji thus exists on one side of the literary field and Taiheiki the other. Even Heike Monogatari (the story about the fall of the Heike clan) seems dream-like in some ways, so that it leans more closely towards the Genji camp even as it depicts a massive civil war that rocked Medieval Japan to its roots (this was the Gempei Wars).
Genji predates all of this as it was written in the 11th century (Gempei Wars take place at the end of the 12th century, and Taiheiki in the 14th). What period is Genji set in? Who knows. It doesn’t really matter as it is both a historical fiction novel and a psychological-thriller-horror story.
The book served also as the inspiration for my own novel Heishi Monogatari, with the first chapter being written in French and then translated into English. You can find them both at the bottom of this article.
The French edition of Heishi Monogatari;
And here’s the English Edition;
This first chapter is a great one, and I highly recommend picking up a pdf, epub, physical copy of Genji Monogatari as it is an amazing book, and one that I hope to continue analyzing in full for you all over the coming months. I’ll continue to expand on its history and that of Murasaki Shikibu as time goes on, and will intersperse the history and literary analysis also with my own views and criticism if you all want.
Genji himself is a kind of ‘Tit-Jean’ type of everyman even as he's a kind of ‘Superman’ type of hero, one who suffers loss after loss, and who is very much like a Greek Tragic lead. One could easily compare him to not only Oedipus, but also to the likes of Heracles in some ways. He’s in a way Prince Charming, but if he failed at almost every turn of the way, and if he had nothing but spiteful Iagos’ all around him. The truth is very complex when it comes to what screwed him most, but one could be excused for viewing it as entirely his own fault.
In the modern world he’d likely not feel too out of place with his immense guilt, loneliness and sense of abandonment, which is why I think strangely it resonates so much with modern people even as many modern Japanese don’t like to read it. Viewing it as too complex to read, and yet thanks to the new history drama sales are taking off again which is good as it might lead more people to analyzing themselves, and seeking some self-help.
Wow, what a really good essay. You took a dive into explaining some of the depth and nuance of the text. I have heard of Genji but I haven't really read it. Your essay definitely pushes that idea further in priority now. Thank you for a great analysis. I do like stories that delve into the character's psyche more.