Genji Monogatari Emaki
Encyclopedia
The , also called The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
Scroll, is a pictorial hand scroll of the Japanese literature
Japanese literature
Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan...
piece The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
. The word emaki comes from the word "emakimono
Emakimono
, often simply called , is a horizontal, illustrated narrative form created during the 11th to 16th centuries in Japan. Emakimono combines both text and pictures, and is drawn, painted, or stamped on a handscroll...
" meaning "picture scrolls".
History
The emakimono picture scrolls consisted of two designs: Pictures that were painted on a scroll with text added to the same scroll or a number of paintings that accompanied passages of text and were joined together in a scroll. The first known picture scroll was produced in Japan during the late ninth or tenth century. The Genji Monogatari picture scroll, however, was constructed at the beginning of the twelfth century. It is said to be the oldest surviving picture scroll depicting the novel The Tale of Genji. Not only is the Genji Monogatari Emaki the oldest surviving monogatariMonogatari
is a literary form in traditional Japanese literature, an extended prose narrative tale comparable to the epic. Monogatari is closely tied to aspects of the oral tradition, and almost always relates a fictional or fictionalized story, even when retelling a historical event...
scroll but it is also the oldest surviving non-Buddhist scroll in Japan. There is no exact date to the scroll, but it is estimated to being sometime between 1120 and 1140. It was constructed just a little over one hundred years after Lady Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji.
Some believe that the Genji Monogatari Emaki is an example of narrative art
Narrative art
Narrative art is art that tells a story, either as a moment in an ongoing story or as a sequence of events unfolding over time. Some of the earliest evidence of human art suggests that people told stories with pictures...
from the Heian
Heian
The name Heian may mean:* Heian period, an era of Japanese history* Heian-kyō, the Heian Period capital of Japan that has become the present-day city of Kyoto* Heian series, a group of karate kata ....
period and came directly from a Chinese source, despite the fact that the scroll uses strictly Japanese techniques. Those who believe this say that it came from T'ang
Tang Dynasty art
Tang Dynasty art refers to the art in China during the Tang Dynasty . It is best known for the development of many forms—painting, sculpture, calligraphy, music, dance and literature.-Background:...
figure and landscape painting which was imported into Japan during the early Heian
Heian
The name Heian may mean:* Heian period, an era of Japanese history* Heian-kyō, the Heian Period capital of Japan that has become the present-day city of Kyoto* Heian series, a group of karate kata ....
period. In almost all ways The Genji Monogatari Emaki scroll differs from the values and art styles of the Chinese which leads to the assumption that the Genji Monogatari Emaki comes from Japanese art forms. The purpose for the construction of the scroll was to provide a visual depiction, and further explanation, of the novel The Tale of Genji.
Dimensions
The original scroll was about 450 feet long. It consisted of twenty rolls, contained over 100 paintings, and had over 300 sheets of calligraphy. The surviving scrolls of The Genji Monogatari Emaki, however, are not a complete depiction of The Tale of Genji. It consists of only 19 paintings, 65 sheets of text, and 9 pages of fragments housed in the Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya and the Gotoh MuseumGotoh Museum
The is a private museum in the Kaminoge district of Setagaya on the southwest periphery of Tokyo. It was opened in 1960, displaying the private collection of Keita Gotō, chairman of the Tokyu Group...
in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. The surviving scroll amounts to about 15 percent of the original scroll.
Design
It was believed that the scroll was a work of Fujiwara no Takayoshi, a well known Court painter of the twelfth century, although after continued research this belief has changed. It is still unknown who the exact illustrator was and how the scroll was constructed. Because of the techniques used it is obvious that various calligraphers and artists with connections to Takayoshi produced the scroll. The characteristic pictorial technique of the scroll is known as "tsukuri-e" meaning "manufactured painting". The tsukuri-e style was hardly ever used in men’s paintings but was always used in women’s paintings. This style is referred to in the actual novel The Tale of Genji as the process of applying paint to a black and white drawing. It also referred to the painter himself, as opposed to the artist who the did the basic drawing.In the present day it is a form of painting in which all the empty space of the paper is covered with heavy pigment. There are four steps to this process: The first step is where a series of scenes with noteworthy visual effects were chosen from the respective monogatari. The second step is where the piece is executed in a black and white drawing. The third step is where pigments were added to the basic drawing and the details are colored. The last step is where the original black lines, which are now covered up by paint, were drawn back in with ink in order to make the picture stand out more. When deciding to represent the novel The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
as a picture scroll, the people in charge wanted to use a style that would not jar with people’s image of the novel. The decided to make all the scenes peaceful, elegant and static which reflected the dominant aesthetic attitude of the artists and the early twelfth century court aristocracy towards The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
.
Pictorial technique
The Genji Monogatari Emaki is characterized by two pictorial techniques: "funkinuki yatai" and "hikime kagibana". Fukinuki yatai relates to the architecture of the painting as fukinuki yatai means "blown away roof". It is a form of composition that gives the person viewing a bird’s eye view of the interior of a building. It is seen from an upper diagonal with the roof, ceiling and sometimes inner partitions removed. The artists were very realistic when it came to details of the architecture of the scroll. Hikime kagibana style is "line for an eye, hook for a nose" and relates to the illustration of the people. Hikime kagibana takes place when all the faces are drawn with essentially identical features. This technique takes place in all but one of the nineteen pictures in the scroll. Another characteristic of Hikime Kagibana is that throughout the entire scroll there is not a single full front view of a face. There are only two different viewpoints used to show the faces. These viewpoints consist of an oblique angle of 30 degrees from the front and a right angle giving a straight profile. With the right angle the eyebrows and corners of the eyes are seen but the nose is invisible. This is a fictional depiction of a person because in actuality it is impossible to see the corner of someone’s eye but not see their nose.Although the illustration of architecture throughout the scroll is very realistic, the images of the faces were very unrealistic. This is said to be because the dominant figures in the novel The Tale of Genji were not a part of everyday life and were unfamiliar to the readers. They were instead figures of one’s imagination from the past or a make believe world. It was intended for the readers to portray their own image of the figures while reading the novel. If the artists had created realistic portraits of the figures it would have interfered with the images that the readers had. Therefore the artist chose to use the unrealistic technique of hikime kagibana so that the readers individual image of the figures could be preserved.
Emotional aspects of the characters
Although the technique of hikime kagibana was used for the drawing of the figure’s faces, there was still a great amount of emotion that could be discerned from them. One way that the artists showed individual emotions in the figure’s faces is through the placement and size of their facial features; such as the thickness of the eyebrows or lips, the angle of the eyebrows or eyes, and the space between the eyes and brows.For example in chapters 37 and 39 the depiction of Lady Kumoi is of a strong-willed young woman who has become prey to overwhelming jealousy. This depiction is done by making her eyebrows a bit stronger, tiny pupils that are a little lower, eyes slightly cast down, and her upper lip being just a little thicker.
Another way that the artists showed emotion in the characters was by the tilt of their faces. This was done by making the characters faces look away, or covering their faces by placing them in their hands, almost completely covering them, or showing them looking away. The artists also portrayed individual expressions and emotions to the characters by using inanimate elements. Some examples that were used throughout the scroll were autumn grasses and raindrops. The autumn grasses were used as a symbol of human emotion.