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Genjo monogatari
“When the busy day of the New Year ceremonies finished, Genji went calling on Suetsumuhana, the safflower princess. Her hair had been her only charm when she was young, but now the flow was a white trickle. Her nose was red on her white face as before. He arranged the curtain not to see her profile. As she looked cold, he sent to the Nijo warehouses for figured silks. Yet the plantings were fine. He spoke very softly that it seemed a pity that there was no one to appreciate the rose plum, just coming into bloom.”
The Genji monogatari is a thousand-year-old Japanese epic, often described as the first psychological novel. It is generally thought to have been composed by the noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu, and told by her in installments to the other women of her court. Rather than being tied to a central plot, the novel follows a bewildering multitude of characters as they go through the experiences of their lives. The lovely, strangely melancholy excerpt above comes from a UNESCO World Heritage site containing a shortened version of the story.
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