Essay on The Cultural Significance of The Tale of Genji

Based on Murasaki Shikibu’s “The Tale of Genji” the ideal man and the ideal woman of the Heian Court can easily be discerned as not truly existing, with the main character, Genji, being the nearly satirical example of what was the ideal man, and descriptions of the many women in the story as prescription of the ideal woman with the young Murasaki playing a similar role to that of Genji in the story.

Marriage at this time was a way of securing a happy livelihood and relative

As time progressed, the roles of men and women were more defined by what usefulness they had and what society found appropriate. Women were not allowed to obtain education, travel, or go out in public

Cultural structures are often very complex and unique guidelines that vary across the globe. These cultural aspects provide a prominent background into the lives of each society respectfully, as seen often throughout the historic piece of literature, The Tale of Genji. Three crucial aspects depicted in the novel’s progression are the role of women, Buddhism, and the political configuration, each containing positive and negative attributes prevalent in the tale. China was a powerful nation at the time, and during this age, these three societal concepts were important, yet controversial at times. These concepts can all be related directly back to the central character, Genji, along with the other vital people who, not

Being a student interested in the field of biology, one knows that studying life in the past plays an important role in the history of organisms that lived on this earth. Similarly, being Japanese, studying the past of how Japanese were plays an important role in Japanese history. Despite all the general aspects of life that have changed from the Heian period, the one idea that has definitely not changed is the romantic relationships between a man and woman. Though the general concept is the same, from reading The Tale of Genji, it is what was considered the ideal woman and ideal man that were both surprising and thus worth discussing.

The Samurai’s Tale is about a young boy named Taro, who had became the hero of the story. The main characters in the story was Lord Akiyama, Lord Takeda Shingen, and Togan. This story took place in Japan around the 16th century. The story began with Taro, Murakami Harutomo, arguing with his mother about what she had been telling him to wear for an event that was going to happen without him knowing about. Later that day Taro saw that soldiers came attacking his house, his mother leaving him with Yone in a chest trying to keep them safe in a storehouse that had laid behind the house. A soldier then found them both and took them out of the chest, then as they walked out of the store hold, he found his mother on the ground dead. A plot twist that

An example of a great relationship in the story is the marriage of Hsi-lu and Kao. Hsi-lu says to her husband Kao, “Would you be willing to give up attending to our family’s business affairs and let me look after them?” Kao let her take over; for six months everything went well with the family’s affairs, and Kao praised her” (Spence 63). Hsi-lu did such a good job with what Kao asked of her to do that he praised her very much. He let his wife take care of the family’s expenses and pay the bills. During this time woman running the household and paying bills is unheard of. No man would let a woman do the job that he was supposed to be doing, but Kao saw how smart his wife was and let her do her thing. It turned out for the best. Along from this relationship, other women in relationships, along with widows, are treated very poorly. Men were considered higher up and better than women so men and women were not equals. Spence has been able to show throw the novel The Death of Woman Wang the positive and negative sides to these relationships that took place in seventeenth century China.

The Heian court of medieval Japan was a progressive and dynamic society where women commanded a fair amount of power and respect. In many ways it seemed to be the basis of the "rank n file", material culture of today’s society. The social structure of society throughout the court was set up in three different ranks. In chapter two, Genji’s friend, To no Chujo explained the three roles and how they determined the role of women in court. Women of high rank would be the wife of a high ranking elite, thus responsible for raising the future heirs, women of lower rank were concubines and often had better relationships with the man than his wife. did It was this complicated ranking system that led to the abundance of accepted promiscuity, however the two roles kept a bit of stability and normalcy throughout the court.

Relationships between people depend on the time period, the location, the social norms set at place in one’s society and one’s own personality. Throughout history and cultures the meaning of relationships have changed. In some ways they have become more relaxed and in others stricter in following these rules of society. In Six Records of a Floating Life by Shen Fu, he describes his relationship with his wife and his culture during the eighteenth century in China. His story tells a relationship that was very unique between his wife, Yun and himself. For the time they were very progressive in their beliefs and actions. It helps the reader see the culture in China at this time and how relationship during a time with strict societal rules especially for women became to be a very surprising and reformist relationship.

The author who brought to us The Tale of Genji, a novel now regarded as the first written novel in history, left behind an arguably more treasurable artifact: a diary that opens a window into history. The Diary of Lady Murasaki by Lady Murasaki Shikibu gives the reader a glimpse of the imperial court during eleventh century Japan and presents the past in an illuminated vision. Being an attendant in the imperial court, Lady Murasaki is frequently involved with the activities of elite Japanese women. Her day-to-day interaction with the nobles and elites enhance her account with the curious perspective of an elite female. As a woman, Lady Murasaki's descriptions are oriented around clothing

Women's lives, roles, and statuses changed over various early world history eras and culture areas in many ways. Ancient Persia, Paleolithic, Athens, Mesopotamian and Roman eras were all different in very unique ways. The Paleolithic era treated women fairly and were treated equally. During the Neolithic era women were not treated fairly. She was the daughter of her father or the wife of her husband. Women rarely acted as individuals outside the context of their families. Those who did so were usually royalty or the wives of men who had power and status.” (oi.uchicago.edu, 2010) Athenian women were not treated fairly

Women were expected to basically be merely an object, even a trophy for their husbands. They were expected to stay home and clean, as well as cook. With all these expected tasks, women hardly had any time to branch out and figure out what they wanted to do with their life. They had no time for leisure activities of any kind because, of course, their activities involved taking care of the house. Women were also seen as the weaker sex, always submissive to their dominant male counterpart. Although the women were submissive, they were held to a higher moral standard. Adultery was twice shamed upon if committed by a woman rather than a man. (Hughes par.3) A woman could be stoned to death, but people would turn their cheek for a man while the woman still was expected to stay beside the man.

The concept that marriage can occur, endure, and succeed without the factor of love seems to be common in many other places in the world. “Who Needs Love! In Japan, Many Couples Don’t,” by Nicholas D. Kristof published in the New York Times in 1996 explores the aspects and success of loveless marriage in Japan beginning with Yuri Uemura of Omiya, Japan.

The literary masterpiece The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu is a fictional tale that provides clear insight into the sociopolitical court life of the Heian period in Japan. In the tale we are able to see the standards of life that were expected of the aristocrats during the Heian period. The social nature of Heian court life is depicted in the many relationships of the characters through the various stories presented in The Tale of Genji. The relationships in the tale are mainly romantic relationships that surround the Shining Prince Genji, along with other relationships such as parent and child, master and servant, and relationships between social contemporaries. The romantic relationships in the tale indirectly provide the reader with

This function of marriage endured throughout much of human history, even transcending different cultures, so often, in plays from past centuries, marriage plots function not like a familiar Katherine Heigl romantic comedy but rather like a business deal. This disparity leaves modern audiences who grew up on these movies unable to understand the at times strange, clinical nature of marriage in plays such as Goldoni’s A Servant To Two Masters. Furthermore, without this knowledge of the historical practice of marriage, audiences cannot clearly understand the dynamic between fathers and daughters like Pantaloon and