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The year 2008 has been commemorated as the thousand-year anniversary of the Tale of Genji.  This novel of monumental length, set in the 11th century imperial court in Japan, is made up of colorful stories of the protagonist Genji (a handsome son of an emperor) and his many lady friends.  But not to be taken lightly as cheap love stories of the court aristocracy, this is a classic Japanese high school students learn in language class.  This is a novel that is still widely read by many, young and old, and in foreign-language translations, too.

What is really remarkable is the fact it has continued to have a significant impact on people for 1,000 years.  There must be some kind of secret to be noted, except that the author Murasaki Shikibu was an exceptional literary genius, if any artwork has survived this long.  If we read this novel today, we can understand why men and women behaved the way they did 1,000 years ago.  We learn they had the same emotions we feel today.  We find they appreciated the same things around us as we do.  The truth about humanity and the aesthetic toward nature -- these qualities never change.  When they are beautifully and eloquently expressed in an artwork, they have the power to transcend many limitations that could otherwise separate us, such as time and language.  When they reach us and speak to us, they have presented themselves in a master work of art.  This may be the secret of the longevity of the Tale of Genji.

To mark the millenium, many events have been organized throughout the year in Japan.  With their interest in the Tale of Genji renewed and their curiosity heightened by the celebration, a lot of people are visiting places mentioned in the novel.  Most want to feel what it might have been like to live in the 11th century when the novel was written, which was during the Heian era, the period of peace and tranquility.  Back then, Japan’s capital was in Kyoto.

One such popular place welcoming many visitors is the city of Uji in the south of Kyoto.  Out of 54 chapters of the Tale of Genji, the last 10 were set here in Uji.  One can easily spend a whole day walking by the Uji River (where a heroine Ukifune and her lover Niounomiya sailed) and visiting the Byodoin Temple (a magnificent villa used to belong to a nobleman thought to be a model of Genji), the Tale of Genji Museum, the Mimurotoji Temple (associated with a heroine Ukifune) among others.

        Mimurotoji Temple

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Uji, Kyoto, Japan I

Click here for an enlarged view of this painting.

Media: Original watercolor on paper

Image Size: 10.25 x 28.75 inches (26 x 73 cm)

Mat/Frame: No

Purchase: Sold