Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji: The Manga Edition - Sean Michael Wilson

Original Author: Lady Murasaki

Adapted by: Sean Michael Wilson

Illustrator: Inko Ai Takita

Genre: Manga, Japanese Historical fiction.

Rating: 3 stars.

The first ever English manga adaptation of Lady Murasaki's “Tale of Genji”, acknowledged as the world's oldest known novel.

The original book is supposed to be the oldest and most famous tale of romance in Japanese literature. The (alleged) author, Lady Murasaki Shikibu (pseudonym given to her at court; original name unknown) wrote this story around 1020 CE, some 500 years before Shakespeare.

The introductory note by author Sean Michael Wilson is very helpful in getting the right background for the novel. It reveals that there are many translated versions of the original, and this manga takes inspiration from multiple versions rather than sticking to a single translation. What is also of note is that all the translations are well beyond a thousand pages long, but this manga is just about 180 pages in length. Wilson’s intention is to present the key elements of the original that, though incomplete, will be coherent and interesting. The story arc in this manga limits itself to Genji’s life. The original contained about 795 poems, a few of which are translated and presented in this manga version.

As I haven’t read the original (or rather, any of the English translations), I have no idea how this manga version stands in comparison to the full-length story. But I guess you can look at it as an introductory version of the original. But if you like the traditional story format of a definite start-middle-end progression, this book isn’t for you.

Genji is the emperor’s son but not from the main wife, so his position in the royal court can never be strong. To compensate for the lack of power, he seems to be intent on pursuing love. The story is thus more like a series of episodes, with each episode containing a new love interest of Genji or the other Japanese males from the aristocratic families. The events move very quickly and the story spans multiple generations, though the essence stays the same: the men fall in love with the women and the women accept their fate.

There are quite a lot of characters even in this condensed version. If you go with the flow, things might be a little easier for you. There is a family chart and a character list, but these were inconvenient to access in the digital version.

Genji would certainly be called a womaniser in today’s world rather than being considered “the ideal Japanese male”. It is tough to keep track of his lady loves for he seems to be shuffling his affection from one woman to another within every few pages. It is very difficult to keep our 21st century mindset aside and accept this story for the time period it was written in. It is not just Genji’s numerous conquests, but the way the women have no will of their own and are forced to accept Genji’s advances as if they were a gift seems so forced and pitiful. Only one of the Genji’s conquests, Lady Murasaki, seems to have a strong will and independent mind. Then again, her character begins as a child under Genji’s guardianship and later grows up to marry him. Some of his romantic targets are as young as 13. So many incidents should have counted as rape. This definitely isn’t a story that has stood the test of time.

The illustrations by Inko Ai Takita are captivating. Her skill is visible in every panel. The only reason I wish this were not a manga is that I could have then seen those beautiful sketches in colour.

Basically, if you want a glimpse of 10th century Japan and the social traditions and lifestyle of the royal court in that era, this would be a good book to try. But Genji's representation as the ideal male courtier certainly stunned me and I fail to see why he was someone to aspire to be like.

3 stars, all for the illustrations and the valiant attempt to bring this epic to modern readers. No star for the original story because it truly wasn’t to my liking.

My thanks to Tuttle Publishing and Edelweiss+ for the DRC of “Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji: The Manga Edition”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.