At last! I discovered only a few months ago that this year's Taiga Drama will center on the life of Murasaki Shikibu, the Heian court that employed her for her brilliance, and presumably the conditions that gave birth to her formidable grace and energy, the qualities which characterize her Tale of Genji. Why did it take NHK so long to produce a drama that features Japan's greatest artist? No matter - it is here, it is here at last.
The timing for HIKARU KIMI E for me personally could not be better. I have finally reached the point with my Japanese ability where I feel I can dedicate the time and effort to reading and studying classical Japanese, which has long been the dream. I kept wondering when that day would come, and so here we go. That I am able to take this leap, my enthusiasm for all things Japanese now is off the charts. And so I begin this blog.
I have read The Tale of Genji but through a combination of the Arthur Waley and Edward Seidensticker translations. I skimmed the final third, and barely that, and with what I did read not with the attention it deserves. I have come to the conclusion that I will never be satisfied with the Genji until I can read it in Murasaki's own language so that I can feel the men and women that surrounded her, but mainly to get a feel for Murasaki herself, in flesh and blood. It is breathtaking to consider the amount of intellectual energy the writing of the Genji required. So throughout 2024, while watching HIKARU KIMI E, I plan on reading and studying classical Japanese, Murasaki's own. I probably will only get through a quarter of it by the end of 2024, but if I can accomplish that, all the better.
Currently I am reading Yamasaki Toyoko's Karei Naru Ichizoku, the title of which could probably be translated The Great Family. It has been adapted twice for Drama World, once in 2007 and again in 2021; I rate both, but especially the 2007 version, among the best dramas I have seen, for the story captures the essence of the 20th century Japanese experience. The novel's great seducer of the rich and influential, Takasu Aiko, who no one really loves because she does not allow herself to be loved, is described by Yamasaki as a 才色兼備 - a woman whose talents extend to both her beauty and intelligence. There are many American women for whom one could say the same, but for some reason the English language does not contain a word like the Japanese does to describe such a woman. It makes you wonder why not. I love discovering little touches like that that can only be grasped by reading the original.
Murasaki's Genji details the life of an exceptional male beauty, as seen through the eyes of a refined, highly cultured woman, who would also be, by today's standard, thoroughly middle class. She was not raised under the privilege of the court, but found herself at the center of it, invited to Kyoto from the provinces due to her astute insights into human character and motivation. A female acquaintance told me, after reading The Tale of Genji for the first time, that the book really defied all her expectations: it read, she was not too embarrassed to say, as if it were an entertaining soap opera set in the distant past. I would say that observation gets to the heart of the story a lot more perceptively than the ways of the Anglo American scholars. I think there has been some misperception among the English scholars and literary critics, mainly from people who have read neither the tale nor Japanese culture very well, that The Tale of Genji is primarily fantasy, a work of a privileged world so remote from our own that we cannot even begin to relate to it, so bizarre was it in terms of its rituals of love and sex that the only rational response is to view it as a kind of alien culture. Far from it. The construction of Murasaki's story, the psychological observations that built it, flow seamlessly with what we know about the life at court at that time. I expect that the Taiga Drama will show us exactly how the realties of life overlapped with the art.
If there is anything fantastical about the tale it is that it portrays a female centered view of the cosmos, for that time or any time. Murasaki wrote like she understood and appreciated powerful men (like the historical figure Fujiwara Michinaga, a curiosity for her who was a constant presence of her life at court, and who will be a major figure in HIKARU KIMI E) who not only knew how to command the politics and backroom maneuvering of their time, but whose sensibilities and sensitivities to taste could be admired and respected as well. (Sei Shonagon's work shows how men who failed at the latter test fared: with laughter and derision and scorn right to their faces.) However for reasons I would like to understand, Murasaki did not spend that much time within her tale depicting the world of male conflict and struggle, one which involved military exercise, the quelling of rebellions, how to deal with piracy and banditry and theft, the building and fortifying of public works. Murasaki was a tough and discerning critic, but apparently she took little interest in the power structure she served; she certainly had an eye to notice it. It is probably for this reason that my acquaintance made the comment about Genji reading like a soap opera.
Will this year's Taiga drama correct the perception that the Genji is primarily a female-centered conception of the world? It certainly looks that way so far. The scriptwriter is Oishi Shizuka. I am encouraged, because I liked her 2011 drama SECOND VIRGIN very much. A lot of the excitement I felt from it had to do with the main character played by Suzuki Kyoka, a woman of great (middle class) intelligence and beauty herself, and personally one of my favorite talents of the modern age, and not just of Japan's; whatever the writing had to do with the drama's success, I barely noticed. Like Murasaki, Oishi wrote a drama, upon reflection, that showed a healthy appreciation for men while at the same time depicting a professional woman at ease in establishing her independence, and with a high standard, as she endeavored to achieve success for her company within, alas, the mediocre sector of the arts world better known as mainstream publishing. Oishi has been quoted as saying that she intends to show the power struggles of the Heian Age through depicting a tale full of sex and violence. It looks like she has The Godfather in mind, because she quoted it. But also the Yamasaki novel I mentioned above.
The actress chosen to play Murasaki, Yoshitaka Yuriko, though she is in her mid-thirties now, looks much younger than that. Based on what I have read from Murasaki's diary, whenever I have thought of Murasaki, I have pictured a mature woman, one who is intimidating when in her presence, perhaps a little standoffish with a welcome or withering smile, depending on how seriously she took you, not a beauty in her own right but someone to whom you were drawn, a good servant for the court who if she ever had a rebellious streak, it was entirely poured into the energies she needed to write her Chinese-art inspired tale, fluctuating with poetry and intrigue.
What can we expect from Yoshitaka? I felt that she was excellent playing the historical figure and political activist Ito Noe in NHK's 2022 Spring drama, KAZE YO, ARASHI YO. The role required her to play a borderline unstable, irrational individual who also deeply believed in the social causes she fought for, who loved her children but didn't care for them so much that she wouldn't take social risks that might endanger them. A lesser actress would have required us to give her our unqualified sympathy; instead, Yoshitaka played Ito Noe in the round, and so I felt the drama was a success; a year after watching it I recall the story as a whole, and not Yoshitaka's requirement, as an actress, to have us sympathize with a tragic figure. If Yoshitaka can play Murasaki with even a fraction of that kind of depth, well, we are all in for a treat.
I cannot imagine the weight that sits on Yoshitaka's shoulders now as production for the drama proceeds. This role is a long time in coming, and the culture demands a plausible lead. In the small city I had lived up in northern Japan, I had seen a stage production of Kawabata's Snow Country. The actress playing the lead role said in a press release that she was very much aware of the obligation she carried playing the role that has been inhabited by the many talented actresses that preceded her, all for the sake of dignifying the country's arts. If Yoshitaka is not convincing from the outset, offending many by depicting a kind of mediocrity that the woman she portrays did not have, the performance will instantly kill the 50-week production. As for myself, I plan on watching it from start to finish no matter how well written or performed. I already know it is going to serve as a great inspiration for my reading of the classical literature, because Taiga has never failed me. Work hard, Yoshitaka, and may your performance make your name!
[Photograph: Actress Yoshitaka Yuriko and writer Oishi Shizuka, as they face the press for 光る君へ Hikaru Kimi e.]