Prince Genji

 

The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari) is the greatest novel in classical Japanese literature, and arguably, the world’s first novel.  It was written in the first decade of the eleventh century by Lady Murasaki, and relates the womanizing exploits of Prince Genji.  Most of the prints depicting Prince Genji portray a sumptuously clothed prince with beautiful women, who are also extravagantly dressed.  

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Series

Date

Robinson

1982*

Robinson 1961

Schaap

1998†

Heroic Comparisons for the Chapters of Genji (Buyû nazorae Genji)

1843

S28

27

3

Ukiyo-e Comparisons for the Cloudy Chapters of Genji (Genji kumo ukiyoe awase)

1845-1846

S45

36

 

Select Five Elements (triptychs) (Mitate go gyô)

1852

 

139

 

Japanese and Chinese Comparisons for the Chapters of Genji (Wakan nazorae Genji)

1855-1856

S88

63

 

 

Miscellaneous Genji triptychs 

 

 

147

 

 

* Series number in Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982) and its privately published supplement

 

‡ Listing in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson, 1961, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

 

† Listing in Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi by Robert Schaap (Hotei Publishing, Leiden, 1998)

 

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