I am creating Excel spreadsheets to organize my information and am including chapter title and number (there are 54 chapters in total!), location name in text, other/current names, the passage the location is mentioned in and, if applicable, which character(s) visited there. Now, much of the novel does take place within the city but, as I’m discovering as I page through this text looking for place names, there are so many more locations that are mentioned or visited by characters that it seems remiss not to look at how travel and place outside the capital are being used and interacted with in the story.Ĭurrently I am making lists of locations and whether they are mentioned in prose, mentioned in poetry, or visited by a character. However, much of the focus of research regarding “place” in the text is focused on Heian-kyo (the capital). Since the text is based in the real world, it stands to reason that there many places visited by characters and/or mentioned in the prose and poetry. Part 2 of my project, and what I’m focusing on mostly this summer, is the digital map I am creating. The website, entitled Genjipedia, includes relevant information about characters as well as details about things like plants and animals. It’s a complex and convoluted piece of literature to say the least, and there aren’t many in depth resources available to English language students of the text, so Part 1 of my project is my ongoing work to create a Wikipedia-esque reference website. It can very easily be used as an in depth guide to the aesthetics of the Heian Period, since it includes detailed descriptions of kimono colors and patterns, incense making practices, poetry and the societal expectations for both men and women. Widely considered to be the world’s first real novel, it combines fictional characters, relationships and plot line with the very real intricacies of every day life at the Imperial Court. The Tale of Genji, written in approximately year 1000, during Japan’s Heian Period, was penned by Murasaki Shikibu, a mid ranking noble court lady who served the Empress.
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