‘Genji monogatari emaki’ as Trans-and Intermedial Storytelling - Previous Knowledge and Time as Factors of Narrativity

Aug 27, 2026

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‘Illustrated Handscrolls of the Tale of Genji’ (‘Genji monogatari emaki’) are grounded in ‘Genji monogatari,’ a literary work written in the early eleventh century by Murasaki Shikibu. Produced around 1120–1140, the handscrolls are examined through the interplay between textual excerpts and their corresponding pictures. The study asks how depictions of time operate within both media and informs the issue of ‘potentially narrative paintings.’ Competing views of two Japanese scholars are evaluated via cognitive narratology, showing how prior knowledge can trigger images of passing time even within a single image.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages34

Reading Time1 h 26 min

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Introduction

The Tale of Genji and its illustrated handscrolls

Text–picture relations and narrative time

Separatum from: SPECIAL ISSUE 7 Sebastian Balmes (ed.) Narratological Perspectiveson Premodern Japanese Literature Published August 2020. BmE Special Issues are published online by the BIS-Verlag Publishing House of the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg (Germany) under the Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Senior Editors: PD Dr. Anja Becker (Munich) and Prof. Dr. Albrecht Hausmann (Oldenburg) . [http://www.erzaehlforschung.de](http://www.erzaehlforschung.de) – Contact: [herausgeber@erzaehlforschung.de](herausgeber@erzaehlforschung.de)[ ](herausgeber@erzaehlforschung.de)ISSN 2568-9967 Suggested Citation: Wittkamp , Robert F.: ‘Genji monogatari emaki’ as Trans-and Intermedial Storytelling. Previous Knowledge and Time as Factors of Narrativity , in: Balmes, Sebastian (ed. ): Narratological Perspectives on Premodern Japanese Literature, Oldenburg 2020 (BmE Special Issue 7), pp. 267– 299 (online) . Robert F. Wittkamp ‘Genji monogatari emaki’ as Trans-and Intermedial Storytelling Previous Knowledge and Time as Factors of Narrativity Abstract. The ‘Illustrated Handscrolls of the Tale of Genji’ (‘Genji monogatariemaki’) are based on ‘Genji monogatari,’ a literary work written at the beginning of the eleventh century by Murasaki Shikibu. The handscrolls were manufactured between approximately 1120 and 1140. This paper scrutinizes certain relationships between the literary work and the excerpts contained in the handscrolls as well asthe relationships between the textual excerpts and the pictures of the handscrolls. The leading question of the examination is the extent to which the description of time is included in the excerpts and pictures, and how this sheds light on the problem of ‘potentially narrative paintings.’ These issues will be discussed by taking the hypotheses of two Japanese scholars into account. While Sano Midori claims that an adequate reception of the handscrolls requires the knowledge of the original text, Shimizu Fukuko takes the opposite standpoint. For her, previous knowledge isnot necessary. However, as seen from a cognitive narratology perspective, the analyses will show how previous knowledge can evoke images of passing time, even in a single picture. 1. Introduction The ‘Genji monogatari’源氏物語(‘The Tale of Genji’) consists of interwoven narrative strands written by Murasaki Shikibu 紫式部, an erudite lady-in-waiting at the court in Heiankyō 平安京(Kyōto) . She began composing the tale between 1001 and 1005, but the date of completion has not been established. The first part of the fifty-four chapters recounts the life of Hikaru Genji 光源氏, literally ‘Shining Genji,’ the son of a fictive emperor. In the last third of the tale, after Genji’s death, the stories deal with other characters.‘The Tale of Genji,’which has been translated into English at least four times, is considered to be the peak of the monogatari物語(‘tale,’ literally: ‘storytelling’) literature. It has exerted a great deal of influence not only on the following monogatari literature but also on Japanese culture as a whole. Haruo Shirane writes, The history of the reception of The Tale of Genji is no less than a cultural history of Japan, for the simple reason that the Genji has had a profound impact at various levels of culture in every historical period since its composition, including the twenty-first century, producing what is called “Genji culture.”(Shirane 2008, p. 1) The original manuscripts have not survived, and the oldest documents comprising excerpts ofthe text are the ‘Illustrated Handscrolls of The Tale of Genji’ (‘Genji monogatari emaki’源氏物語絵巻),1 which were manufactured approximately one hundred years later, sometime between 1120 and 1140. Although the ‘Illustrated Handscrolls’ presumably encompassed all fifty-four chapters, only a small proportion of them has survived, and today even these remnants are divided between the two museums Tokugawa Bijutsukan 徳川美術館 in Nagoya and Gotō Bijutsukan

FAQs

What are ‘Genji monogatari emaki’ and what source work do they draw on?

They are the illustrated handscrolls of The Tale of Genji, based on the original ‘Genji monogatari’ written by Murasaki Shikibu.

What is the central research question about time in the handscrolls?

The paper investigates the extent to which descriptions of time appear in both the textual excerpts and the pictures, and how this clarifies the problem of ‘potentially narrative paintings.’

How do prior knowledge and different scholarly hypotheses affect the analysis?

The study weighs hypotheses of two Japanese scholars: Sano Midori argues that reception requires knowledge of the original text, while Shimizu Fukuko denies its necessity; cognitive narratology then shows how prior knowledge can evoke images of passing time even in a single picture.

Aug 27, 2026

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