Since even the Japanese versions of the Tale of Genji tend to be translations (from old to modern Japanese), this translation is based on 日本古典文学大系 (nihon koten bungaku taikei) edition and checked by Odagiri Hiroko and Ikeda Tadashi. It’s basically an arbitrary selection of chapters that tries to cover as much of the story in as reasonable a wordcount as possible, something which suits me quite well as an introduction to this book. Mostly because I was really excited and the only e-copy the library has is an abridged one.Īccording to the introduction, this version contains 12 chapters and is about one-quarter of the original novel. So to start, I decided to read an abridged version of The Tale of Genji. I’m planning to look into the culture of Heian Japan, in particular, their clothing and how they might have been influenced by Tang dynasty China. After the course finished, we were asked to sign up for projects that we’re interested in and I chose The Tale of Genji. I’m starting a new project! A while back, I answered a call for people interested in learning about Chinese culture and went for a couple of lectures.
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