Japanese Literature | Page 2

the Wistaria blossom is violet. Those
holding the other, trace it to the fact that out of several persons
introduced into the story, Violet (Murasaki in the text) is a most modest
and gentle woman, whence it is thought that the admirers of the work
transferred the name to the authoress herself. In her youth she was maid
of honor to a daughter of the then prime minister, who became
eventually the wife of the Emperor Ichijiô, better known by her
surname, Jiôtô-Monin, and who is especially famous as having been the

patroness of our authoress. Murasaki Shikib married a noble, named
Nobtaka, to whom she bore a daughter, who, herself, wrote a work of
fiction, called "Sagoromo" (narrow sleeves). She survived her husband,
Nobtaka, some years, and spent her latter days in quiet retirement,
dying in the year 992 after Christ. The diary which she wrote during
her retirement is still in existence, and her tomb may yet be seen in a
Buddhist temple in Kiôto, the old capital where the principal scenes of
her story are laid.
The exact date when her story was written is not given in the work, but
her diary proves that it was evidently composed before she arrived at
old age.
The traditional account given of the circumstances which preceded the
writing of the story is this: when the above-mentioned Empress was
asked by the Saigû (the sacred virgin of the temple of Ise) if her
Majesty could not procure an interesting romance for her, because the
older fictions had become too familiar, she requested Shikib to write a
new one, and the result of this request was this story.
The tradition goes on to say that when this request was made Shikib
retired to the Buddhist temple in Ishiyama, situated on hilly ground at
the head of the picturesque river Wooji, looking down on Lake Biwa.
There she betook herself to undergo the "Tooya" (confinement in a
temple throughout the night), a solemn religious observance for the
purpose of obtaining divine help and good success in her undertaking.
It was the evening of the fifteenth of August. Before her eyes the view
extended for miles. In the silver lake below, the pale face of the full
moon was reflected in the calm, mirror-like waters, displaying itself in
indescribable beauty. Her mind became more and more serene as she
gazed on the prospect before her, while her imagination became more
and more lively as she grew calmer and calmer. The ideas and incidents
of the story, which she was about to write, stole into her mind as if by
divine influence. The first topic which struck her most strongly was
that given in the chapters on exile. These she wrote down immediately,
in order not to allow the inspiration of the moment to be lost, on the
back of a roll of Daihannia (the Chinese translation of

Mahâprajñâpâramitâ, one of the Buddhist Sûtras), and formed
subsequently two chapters in the text, the Suma and Akashi, all the
remaining parts of the work having been added one by one. It is said
that this idea of exile came naturally to her mind, because a prince who
had been known to her from her childhood had been an exile at Kiûsiû,
a little before this period.
It is also said that the authoress afterwards copied the roll of Daihannia
with her own hand, in expiation of her having profanely used it as a
notebook, and that she dedicated it to the Temple, in which there is still
a room where she is alleged to have written down the story. A roll of
Daihannia is there also, which is asserted to be the very same one
copied by her.
How far these traditions are in accordance with fact may be a matter of
question, but thus they have come down to us, and are popularly
believed.
Many Europeans, I daresay, have noticed on our lacquer work and
other art objects, the representation of a lady seated at a writing-desk,
with a pen held in her tiny fingers, gazing at the moon reflected in a
lake. This lady is no other than our authoress.
The number of chapters in the modern text of the story is fifty-four, one
of these having the title only and nothing else. There is some reason to
believe that there might have existed a few additional chapters.
Of these fifty-four chapters, the first forty-one relate to the life and
adventures of Prince Genji; and those which come after refer
principally to one of his sons. The last ten are supposed to have been
added by another hand, generally presumed to have been that of her
daughter. This is conjectured because the style of these final chapters is
somewhat dissimilar to that of those which