How you explore The Tale of Genji on Literah
The cast, the places, the objects, the plot, and the author’s own words — each one a card in a feed you scroll on your phone. One at a time, at your pace, in any order you like.
- Built for your phone. Literah is designed for mobile, so your worlds travel with you. On a laptop it shows a QR code to carry the world to your phone.
- A feed, not a wall of text. 38 characters, 19 places, 14 objects and 8 plot beats, each its own card with its own illustration.
- The author’s own words. 26 passages of The Tale of Genji sit in the feed verbatim, exactly as Murasaki Shikibu wrote them, each with a short reading of what it is doing. The map is ours; the prose is always the book’s.
- The same scroll, a better world. The gesture you already give away to feeds, spent on Murasaki Shikibu instead.
The Tale of Genji feed, as it appears in your mobile
The plot of The Tale of Genji
The story beat by beat, as Literah maps it.
- Kiritsubo dies and Genji is made a commoner
- Lady Fujitsubo enters the court and shapes everything Genji will want
- The Rainy Night conversation - what makes a woman worth loving
- Yūgao - the woman of the Evening Faces
- Genji finds and takes the child Murasaki
- The Red Leaves festival - Genji in public magnificence
- The forbidden intimacy with Fujitsubo - and its consequence
- Lady Aoi's possession and death - Lady Rokujō's spirit acts without her knowledge
The author's pen in The Tale of Genji
The passages themselves, Murasaki Shikibu's own words, as Literah maps it.
- A New and Embittered Enemych. 1
- She Goes Alonech. 1
- The Mother’s Letterch. 1
- The Hidden Heirch. 1
- Fujitsubo at Courtch. 1
- The Minister's Whisperch. 1
- The Hidden Beautych. 2
- The Wrong Sleeping Figurech. 3
- The Fan and Its Writerch. 4
- The Woman in the Darkch. 4
- The Secret Meetingch. 4
- The Unnamed Deadch. 4
- Flight From The Lettersch. 4
- The Child and the Sparrowch. 5
- Genji Carries Her Offch. 5
- Playing With a Beautiful Childch. 5
- Inaccessible Lovech. 5
- A Trembling New Yearch. 6
- Genji the Shining Onech. 7
- The Late Magnificent Entrancech. 8
The characters of The Tale of Genji
Who is who, as Literah maps it.
- Genjimajor
- The Emperormajor
- Kiritsubomajor
- Fujitsubomajor
- Murasakimajor
- Aoimajor
- Rokujōmajor
- Yūgaomajor
- Tō no Chūjōsupporting
- Utsusemisupporting
- Suyetsumuhanasupporting
- Oborozukiyosupporting
- Kōkidensupporting
- Koremitsusupporting
- Shōnagonsupporting
- Ukonsupporting
The locations in The Tale of Genji
Where it happens, as Literah maps it.
- Imperial Palacepalace
- Kiritsubo’s Lodging and Hostile Palace Routepalace lodging
- Kiritsubo’s Mother’s Desolate Househouse
- Atago Funeral Groundfuneral ground
- Fujitsubo’s Palace Apartmentspalace apartments
- Nijō-inresidence
- Middle River Househouse
- Yūgao’s Humble Dwellinghouse
- Deserted Mansion Where Yūgao Diesdeserted mansion
- Northern Hills Templetemple retreat
- Murasaki’s Grandmother’s Househouse
- Prince Hitachi’s Decaying Mansionmansion
- Red Sparrow Courtceremonial court
- Southern Court at the Great Cherry Treeceremonial court
The core concepts in The Tale of Genji
What the book keeps returning to, as Literah maps it.
- Beauty protects, exposes, endangers, and passes away
- Private love becomes social consequence
- Memory creates desire through substitution and resemblance
- Women are hidden, but not powerless
- Refinement can conceal cruelty
- Secrecy is both shelter and danger
- Emotion can exceed the self
- Genji's charm is unstable power
The objects of note in The Tale of Genji
The things that carry meaning, as Literah maps it.
- Letters and Poems
- Screens, Curtains, and Blinds
- Carriages
- Utsusemi’s Discarded Garment
- Evening-Face Flowers
- Kiritsubo’s Mementoes
- Picture of “The Everlasting Wrong”
- Murasaki’s Dolls and Drawings
- Hair-Cutting Implements
- Musical Instruments
- Ritual and Exorcism Objects
- Fans
- Suyetsumuhana’s Old-Fashioned Jacket and Robes
- Dance Wreath and Court Costumes
The offer
Explore The Tale of Genji. And 126 more.
Literah maps the classics into worlds you can walk through: the cast, the places, the objects, the plot, and the author’s own words, passage by passage. Every book is there to read in full too. One payment, no subscription, yours to keep.
Or start with one of its collections
This collection includes The Tale of Genji, along with The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, The Rámáyan of Válmíki, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Hung Lou Meng, or, The Dream of the Red Chamber, Book I, Noli Me Tangere, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, The Popol Vuh and The Story of an African Farm.
Counts in full toward the library. See the collection · Give it as a gift
This collection includes The Tale of Genji, along with Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein, Little Women, Middlemarch, My Ántonia, North and South, The Age of Innocence, The Awakening and The Princess of Cleves.
Counts in full toward the library. See the collection · Give it as a gift
Not ready? first.