Ideal Man and Woman in The Tale of Genji

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Genji monogatari has been called to be the world’s finest and first novel, completed in the early Heian period in 1008. Many people doubted if Murasaki Shikibu was the true authorship, but evidences from Murasaki Shikibu nikki and Sarashina nikki have proven that she is the author of this masterpiece. I personally think that it is important to talk about some of the important events happened in Murasaki’s life before examining the ideal woman and man of the Heian court.

“Shikibu was born into the Fujiwara family, daughter of the governor of a province, who also was a well known scholar. Always very intelligent, as a child she learned more quickly than her brother, causing her father to lament, "If only you were a boy, how happy I should be!"”(Female Hero, 1996-2011). The importance of this will be discussed later in the essay. Murasaki was brought into the imperial court due to her brilliant mind and great talents in writing. Attending at the court, “she went to great pains to hide her knowledge of Chinese, fearing the criticism of those who felt it to be unladylike to be happy reading this obscure language (Female Hero, 1996-2011).” One can be sure that the majority of the characters are fictitious in the novel, however, I believe the court life, way of thinking, human relationship and most important, views of an ideal man and woman among members in the imperial court are truly according to Murasaki’s observance.

The indigenous Japanese culture, arts and literature have flourished in the Heian period of Japan. One can tell that exchanging short poems and messages between each other was the most prominent device of communication for both men and women at the time. Composing and exchanging love poems and messages were mostly us...

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.... As mentioned above, Murasaki was smarter and brighter than her own brother, nevertheless, instead of receiving compliment from her father, his father said “if only you were a boy, how happy I should be.” Because of the phenomenon of danson-johi, women should pretend to be unintelligent in order to accelerate men’s status in the society. In conclusion, through important quotas from Genji monogatari and my own interpretations, significant characteristics and traits on an ideal man and an ideal of the Heian court have ultimately displayed.

Works Cited

Female Hero: Murasaki Shikibu (Women in World History Curriculum. Biographies: Female Hero of Asia: Japan. Retrieved: February 28, 2011 from http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine9.html.

Shikibu, Murasaki. The Tale of Genji: The Broom Tree. Tyler, Royall. Published by the Penguin Group: New York. 2006.

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