June 2022
Tuttle Publishing
192 pages.
Adapted by Sean Michael Wilson
Illustrated by Inko Ai Takita
"Step into a story of life and love in Kyoto's 10th century royal court.
Tale of Genji tells the story of Prince Genji. Handsome, romantic, and talented in the art of seduction, Prince Genji skillfully navigates the court and all its intrigues—always in search of love and often finding it. His story is the oldest and most famous tale of romance in the annals of Japanese literature and, as a representation of passion and romance, remains beyond compare.
In this beautifully illustrated edition, Genji's story comes alive as readers experience:
- His birth in the royal court to Kiritsubo, who comes to represent Genji's ideal of female beauty and grace.
- His lifelong obsession with Fujitsubo, one of the emperor's lovers and mother to Genji's son Ryozen.
- His romantic life with Murasaki, Fujitsubo's beautiful niece and Genji's favored lover. Taken with him at first she becomes wary of his motivations but she becomes the true love of Genji's life.
Superbly illustrated and retold, this visual take on Japan's most important classic offers an intimate look at the social mores and intrigues in the Heian-era court of medieval Japan, and Prince Genji's representation as the ideal male courtier."
The book is created and published in the Japanese reading order.
GET THE BOOK HERE:
AMAZON
BOOK DEPOSITORY
PUBLISHER
Various lovely pages from throughout the book:
"The Tale of Genji…is written with an almost miraculous naturalness, and what interests us is not the exoticism—the horrible word—but rather the human passions of the novel. Such interest is just: Murasaki's work is what one would quite precisely call a psychological novel…I dare to recommend this book to those who read me."
—Jorge Luis Borges
Reviews
"Many characters were removed to keep the focus on Genji's life and I applaud the effort and result here to make this an enjoyable read...The illustration work is beautiful - a very stunning mix of Japanese and Western styles that is smooth and elegant. Because there is so much Western influence, this is a book that will appeal to all audiences and not just manga aficionados. The work is clean, the panels neither busy nor sparse but all nicely laid out and look to be historically accurate. The perfect artist was chosen to illustrate this beloved story....The [original]story really has no structure and out of the hundreds of poems throughout the original, several are included here, which is a nice touch. I appreciated that since the poems are not just pretty decorations but instead are there to also tell the story..."
- Talvi, top reviewer on amazon
"Many characters were removed to keep the focus on Genji's life and I applaud the effort and result here to make this an enjoyable read...The illustration work is beautiful - a very stunning mix of Japanese and Western styles that is smooth and elegant. Because there is so much Western influence, this is a book that will appeal to all audiences and not just manga aficionados. The work is clean, the panels neither busy nor sparse but all nicely laid out and look to be historically accurate. The perfect artist was chosen to illustrate this beloved story....The [original]story really has no structure and out of the hundreds of poems throughout the original, several are included here, which is a nice touch. I appreciated that since the poems are not just pretty decorations but instead are there to also tell the story..."
- Talvi, top reviewer on amazon
An interview i did at the publishers blog
Click the below image to go to a free pdf sample of our book:
Guimet Museum in Paris
Off to Paris soon!
Myself and Japanese artist, Inko Ai Takita, will go to Paris give a presentation at the Guimet Museum, in the afternoon on February 24th. The evening before that we will do a talk and book signing in the publisher's own book shop, from 6pm Feb 23rd. Both are about our manga version of the classic The Tale of Genji.
The museum event is part of a big exhibition all about the Tale of Genji, with a lot of interesting related objects and events. Our event will also include the Japanese artist Harumo Sanazaki, the French ‘raguko’ performer Cyril Coppini, and our French publisher, Benoit Labayle.
Anyone in the area is welcome to come:
"Roman fondateur pour la culture japonaise, "Le Dit du Genji" continue d'inspirer des expressions artistiques contemporaines, comme les mangas, qui en réinterprètent les codes et les thèmes. Le plus célèbre est sans doute Asaki yume mishi de Waki Yamato (né en 1948). La récente édition de Sean Michael Wilson (2022), illustrée par Inko Ai Takita, sera présentée dans cette exposition. "
https://www.guimet.fr/fr/expositions/la-cour-du-prince-genji
Inko Ai Takita and I made a manga of the classic Tale of Genji book. And an exhibition including our book started on November 22nd 2023 in the Guimet Museum in Paris, the French national museum for Asian art.
They made this rather cool video which is playing in the museum, with myself, Ai and the French publisher.
Nice!
Célèbre pour le raffinement extrême de son art de cour, le Japon impérial de l’époque de Heian (794-1185) a notamment donné naissance à une œuvre majeure de la littérature classique japonaise, le Dit du Genji. Écrit au 11e siècle par une femme, la poétesse Murasaki Shikibu, il a généré depuis mille ans une iconographie extrêmement riche, influençant jusqu’aux mangaka contemporains.
La récente édition de Sean Michael Wilson (2022), illustrée par Inko Ai Takita aux éditions Synchronique en est une illustration.
Ce film est projeté dans l’exposition " À la cour du Prince Genji, mille ans d’imaginaire", japonais au musée national des arts asiatique-Guimet du 22 novembre 2023 au 25 mars 2024.
Watch the video here:
https://vimeo.com/886774864?share=copy
Off to Paris soon!
Myself and Japanese artist, Inko Ai Takita, will go to Paris give a presentation at the Guimet Museum, in the afternoon on February 24th. The evening before that we will do a talk and book signing in the publisher's own book shop, from 6pm Feb 23rd. Both are about our manga version of the classic The Tale of Genji.
The museum event is part of a big exhibition all about the Tale of Genji, with a lot of interesting related objects and events. Our event will also include the Japanese artist Harumo Sanazaki, the French ‘raguko’ performer Cyril Coppini, and our French publisher, Benoit Labayle.
Anyone in the area is welcome to come:
"Roman fondateur pour la culture japonaise, "Le Dit du Genji" continue d'inspirer des expressions artistiques contemporaines, comme les mangas, qui en réinterprètent les codes et les thèmes. Le plus célèbre est sans doute Asaki yume mishi de Waki Yamato (né en 1948). La récente édition de Sean Michael Wilson (2022), illustrée par Inko Ai Takita, sera présentée dans cette exposition. "
https://www.guimet.fr/fr/expositions/la-cour-du-prince-genji
Inko Ai Takita and I made a manga of the classic Tale of Genji book. And an exhibition including our book started on November 22nd 2023 in the Guimet Museum in Paris, the French national museum for Asian art.
They made this rather cool video which is playing in the museum, with myself, Ai and the French publisher.
Nice!
Célèbre pour le raffinement extrême de son art de cour, le Japon impérial de l’époque de Heian (794-1185) a notamment donné naissance à une œuvre majeure de la littérature classique japonaise, le Dit du Genji. Écrit au 11e siècle par une femme, la poétesse Murasaki Shikibu, il a généré depuis mille ans une iconographie extrêmement riche, influençant jusqu’aux mangaka contemporains.
La récente édition de Sean Michael Wilson (2022), illustrée par Inko Ai Takita aux éditions Synchronique en est une illustration.
Ce film est projeté dans l’exposition " À la cour du Prince Genji, mille ans d’imaginaire", japonais au musée national des arts asiatique-Guimet du 22 novembre 2023 au 25 mars 2024.
Watch the video here:
https://vimeo.com/886774864?share=copy
Le manga notamment, qui réinterprète les codes picturaux, les thèmes et les scènes de l’histoire du Genji avec une époustouflante inventivité, dont le plus célèbre est sans doute Asaki yume mishi de Waki Yamato (né en 1948). Œuvre magistrale, le Dit du Gengi est encore adapté de nos jours, comme en témoigne la récente édition de Sean Michael Wilson, illustrée par Inko Ai Takita, qui tapissera les murs et le sol d’un espace de l’exposition.
https://www.guimet.fr/event/prince-genji/
https://www.mcjp.fr/fr/la-mcjp/actualites/a-la-cour-du-prince-genji-mille-ans-d-imaginaire-japonais
https://www.guimet.fr/event/prince-genji/
https://www.mcjp.fr/fr/la-mcjp/actualites/a-la-cour-du-prince-genji-mille-ans-d-imaginaire-japonais
