Research Guides: Japanese Studies Resource: The Tale of Genji

Japanese Studies Librarian and Associate Professor

Ann Marie Davis

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The Ohio State University Libraries
305K Thompson Library 1858 Neil Avenue
Columbus OH 43210-1286

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Subjects: International & Area Studies

The Tale of Genji

Considered by many to be the world's first novel, The Tale of Genji (源氏物語), was written by noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu in the 11th century. Our library collections on this canonical work are extensive and diverse. Inspired by the course "Japanese Literature Classical Period" (Japanese 5454) taught by Dr. Naomi Fukumori, this Library Guide introduces collection highlights, including rare facsimiles in Special Collections; translations into modern Japanese, regional dialects, and English; literary and art history scholarship; exhibition catalogs; and Japanese comics (manga) and other popular interpretations!

Notable Works

The Tale of Genji - Illustrated Handscrolls (国宝源氏物語絵卷). ND1059.6.G4 K65 2021

Visual Works @ OSU Libraries

Genji monogatari by Hasegawa Hōsei
Call Number: PL770.5 M36 1994 v.3-5
ISBN: 4124032811
Covers the entirety Genji. Done in a neutral manga style.
Genji monogatari by Egawa Tatsuya
Call Number: PL788.4.G4 2001
ISBN: 4087826643
Covers through Chapter 7, and intends to complete the entire Genji. Egawa is a Shōnen manga artist. Explicit scenes portrayed. Volume 1-7
Manga Genji monogatari by Mihashi Mari
Call Number: PL788.4.G417 M36 1988
ISBN: 4582287085
Publication Date: 1988
Volume 1-2
Meicho o manga de! Genji monogatari by Sanazaki Harumo
Call Number: PN6790.J33 S263 2010
ISBN: 4059006149
Publication Date: 2010
Genji monogatari : BL ansorojī aiyoku no otoko ōchō, koiemaki by Saotome Ageha
Call Number: PN6790.J33 S2584 2011
ISBN: 9784047271937
Publication Date: 2011
Danshoku Hikaru Genji : shitto ni modaeru toshiue no otoko by Rokujōno Miyasudokoro / Saotome Ageha
Call Number: PN6790.J33 S2584 2013
ISBN: 9784047289123
Publication Date: 2013
Asaki yumemishi by Yamato Waki
Call Number: PN6790.J33 Y37753 2001
ISBN: 4063600505
Perhaps the most famous of the Genji manga. Presents the entire storyline in 13 volumes. Shōjo manga. Volume 1-7
Asaki yumemishi no sekai : Genji monogatari nabi book by Yamato Waki
Call Number: NC1709.Y365 A625 2005
ISBN: 4063642689
Publication Date: 2005
Asaki yumemishi Perfect Book : Genji monogatari by Bessatsu Takarajima Henshūbu
Call Number: NC1709.Y365 A63 2008
Publication Date: 2008
Manga Genji monogatari wārudo omoikkiri kōryakubon : Murasaki Shikibu to Heian bungaku sōmakuri by Kawai Shōko
Call Number: PL788.4.G418 K35 2001
ISBN: 4062691574
Publication Date: 2001
Atarashii "Genji monogatari" no kyōkasho by Horie Hiroki
Call Number: PL788.4.G43 H666 2010
Publication Date: 2010

The Tale of Genji: Legends and Paintings by Miyeko Murase; Mitsuoki Tosa
Call Number: ND1059.6.G4 T35 2001
ISBN: 0807615005
Publication Date: 2001-09-01
Two 17th c. albums by the Tossa school.
Kokuhō genji monogatari emaki = The Tale of Genji-illustrated handscrolls by Tokugawa Yoshinobu / English translation by Janice S, Kande
Call Number: ND1059.6.G4 K65 2021
Publication Date: 2021
Facsimile of 12th c. picture scroll. LIBRARY SITE INDICATES THIS HAS BEEN LOST.
Iconography of the Tale of Genji by Miyeko Murase
Call Number: ND1053 .M79 1983
ISBN: 0834801884
Publication Date: 1984-01-01
Based on the Genji monogatari e-kotoba, before the 16th c.

Genji monogatari emaki
Call Number: ND1059.6 G4 W66 1994
Publication Date: 1994
Woodblock prints reproducing 12 c. picture scroll.

Nise Murasaki inaka Genji by Ryūtei, Tanehiko
Call Number: PL797.8.N5 1927
Publication Date: 1829-1842
Shūkan bijuaru Genji monogatari
Call Number: NC1706.45 .S58
Publication Date: 2002-
Volume 1-96

Nanki Tokugawa-ke denrai Genji monogatari gajō : zen gojūyonsaku by Sumiyoshi Jokei
Call Number: ND1059.S86 A4 1992
Publication Date: 1992
Reproduction of 17th c. picture album.

The Tale of Genji by Arthur Waley
Call Number: PL788.4 .G41 1925 A
Publication Date: 1925
Translation of nine chapters. Part 2 of this translation is published under the title "The sacred tree." Part 3 under the title "A wreath of cloud." Part 4 under the title "Blue trousers." Part 5 under the title "The lady of the boat." Part 6 under the title "The bridge of dreams."
The Tale of Genji by Royall Tyler
Call Number: PL788.4 G41 2001
ISBN: 0670030201
Publication Date: 2001
Lady Murasaki's exquisite, 11th-century portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan has been widely celebrated as the world's first novel. Offering a lively and well-rounded glimpse of golden age Japan with a cast of richly conceived and nuanced characters, Royall Tyler's superb translation, detailed and poetic, is scrupulously true to the Japanese original yet appeals as well to modern readers.
The Tale of Genji by Kencho Suematsu
Call Number: PL788.4.G4 E5 2001
ISBN: 0804832560
Publication Date: 2000
Gazing through the portal of Japanese culture at the amorous exploits of Prince Hikaru Genji, this novel tells the story of a time when indigenous Japanese culture still held prominence over the Chinese culture that would come to dominate Japan.
The Tale of Genji by Edward Seidensticker
Call Number: PL788.4.G41 2001 v.1-2
ISBN: 0394483286
Publication Date: 1976
The Tale of Genji by Michael Emmerich
Call Number: PL788.4.G43 E45 2013
ISBN: 9780231162722
Publication Date: 2013
Michael Emmerich thoroughly revises the conventional narrative of the early modern and modern history of The Tale of Genji. Exploring iterations of the work from the 1830s to the 1950s, he demonstrates how translations and the global circulation of discourse they inspired turned The Tale of Genji into a widely read classic, reframing our understanding of its significance and influence and of the processes that have canonized the text.
Blue trousers : being the fourth part of "The tale of Genji" by Arthur Waley
Call Number: PL788.4.G417 F841 1928
Publication Date: 1928
Part 1 of this translation is published under the title "The Tale of Genji." Part 2 under the title "The sacred tree." Part 3 under the title "A wreath of cloud." Part 5 under the title "The lady of the boat." Part 6 under the title "The bridge of dreams."
The lady of the boat : being the fifth part of the "Tale of Genji" by Arthur Waley
Call Number: PL788.4.G417 N561 1932
Publication Date: 1932
Part 1 of this translation is published under the title "The Tale of Genji." Part 2 under the title "The sacred tree." Part 3 under the title "A wreath of cloud." Part under the title "Blue trousers." Part 6 under the title "The bridge of dreams."
The sacred tree / being the second part of 'The tale of Genji' by Arthur Waley
Call Number: PL788.4.G417 S341 1926
Publication Date: 1926
Part 1 of this translation is published under the title "The Tale of Genji." Part 3 under the title "A wreath of cloud." Part 4 under the title "Blue trousers." Part 5 under the title "The lady of the boat." Part 6 under the title "The bridge of dreams."
A wreath of cloud : being the third part of "The tale of Genji" by Arthur Waley
Call Number: PL788.4.G417 U881 1927
Publication Date: 1927
Part 1 of this translation is published under the title "The Tale of Genji." Part 2 under the title "The sacred tree." Part 4 under the title "Blue trousers." Part 5 under the title "The lady of the boat." Part 6 under the title "The bridge of dreams."
The bridge of dreams : being the second volume of "The lady of the boat" and the final part of "The tale of Genji" by Arthur Waley
Call Number: PL788.4.G417 Y841 1933
Publication Date: 1933
Part 1 of this translation is published under the title "The Tale of Genji." Part 2 under the title "The sacred tree." Part 3 under the title "A wreath of cloud." Part under the title "Blue trousers." Part 5 under the title "The lady of the boat."

Genji monogatari / 源氏物語 by Yosano Akiko / 与謝野晶子
Call Number: PL753.N545 v. 4-6
Publication Date: 1976
Genji monogatari / 源氏物語 by Tanizaki Junʼichirō / 谷崎潤一郎
Call Number: PL788.4 .G4 1969
Publication Date: 1939-1965
Genji monogatari / 源氏物語 by Setouchi Jakuchō / 瀬戶内寂聴
Call Number: PL788.4 .G4 1996
Publication Date: 1996-1998
Volume 1-10
Genji monogatari / 源氏物語 by Kakuta Mitsuyo / 角田光代
Call Number: PL788.4.G4 A35 2017
Publication Date: 2017
Genji kuyō / 源氏供養 by Hashimoto Osamu / 橋本治
Call Number: PL788.4.G43 H29 1993
Publication Date: 193-1994
Volume 1-2
Genji kuyō / 源氏供養 by Hashimoto Osamu / 橋本治
Call Number: PL788.4.G43 H29 1993
Publication Date: 1993-1994
Volume 1-2
Yosano Akiko and the Tale of Genji by G.G. Rowley
Call Number: PL819.O8 Z8 Y78 2000
Publication Date: 2000
Ezōshi, Genji monogatari / 絵草紙源氏物語 by Tanabe Seiko / 岡田喜夫絵
Call Number: PL862.A48 G44 1984
ISBN: 4041314143
Publication Date: 1984

Audio Recording

Genji monogatari by Murasaki Shikubu
Call Number: PL788.4.G4 2008
Voiced by Kōda Hiroko. Commentary by Seito Uchijakuchō. Goes up through Ch. 19 Usugumo/A Thin Veil of Clouds

Multimedia/Multigenre

The Tale of Genji by John Carpenter; Melissa McCormick
Call Number: ND1053.3.C37 2019
ISBN: 9781588396655
Publication Date: 2019-03-26
Catalogue to 2019 MET exhibition
Envisioning the Tale of Genji: media, gender, and cultural production by Haruo Shirane (Editor)
Call Number: PL788.4.G43 E58 2008
ISBN: 9780231142366
Publication Date: 2008-07-28

English Scholarship

Figures of resistance : language, poetry, and narrating in The tale of Genji and other mid-Heian texts

H. Richard Okada offers new readings of three well-known tales: The Tale of the Bamboo-cutter, The Tale of Ise, and The Tale of Genji. Okada contends that the cultural and gendered significance of these works has been distorted by previous commentaries and translations belonging to the larger patriarchal and colonialist discourse of Western civilization.

Unreal Houses : character, gender, and genealogy in the Tale of Genji

Unreal Houses radically rethinks the Genji by focusing on the figure of the house. Edith Sarra examines the narrative's fictionalized images of aristocratic mansions and its representation of the people who inhabit them, exploring how key characters in the Genji think about houses in both the architectural and genealogical sense of the word.

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Japanese Studies Resource

Japanese Studies Librarian and Associate Professor

The Tale of Genji

Notable Works

Visual Works @ OSU Libraries

Written Works @ OSU Libraries

Audio Recording

Multimedia/Multigenre

English Scholarship

The Splendor of Longing in the Tale of the Genji

Figures of resistance : language, poetry, and narrating in The tale of Genji and other mid-Heian texts

The Bridge of Dreams: a poetics of the Tale of Genji

Unreal Houses : character, gender, and genealogy in the Tale of Genji

The Splendor of Longing in the Tale of the Genji

Figures of resistance : language, poetry, and narrating in The tale of Genji and other mid-Heian texts

The Bridge of Dreams: a poetics of the Tale of Genji

Unreal Houses : character, gender, and genealogy in the Tale of Genji

The Splendor of Longing in the Tale of the Genji