Check out our other new and used items>>>>>HERE! (click me)

FOR SALE:

A premium puzzle featuring the beautiful art of Waki Yamato

1988 "STORY OF GENJI" 500-PIECE JIGSAW PUZZLE FROM CENTRAL HOBBY

DETAILS:

Brand: Central Hobby

Title: "Story Of Genji" (あさきゆめみし, Asakiyumemishi)
Artist: Waki Yamato
Year: 1988
Product No.: 52-359
Availability: Retired
Size: 380 x 520 mm (approximately 15 inches x 20.5 inches)
Piece Count: 500

Features puzzle art based on the first-ever novel written !

The puzzle is a colored illustration of Prince Hikaru Genji removing his shoes while sitting atop a cherry blossom tree. The artwork was created by Waki Yamato in the 1980s as part of her manga series Asaki Yumemishi: Genji Monogatari. This manga is Yamato's renowned adaptation of Murasaki Shikibu’s 11th century, Tale of Genji - the very first novel written in all of recorded history.

The original artwork was hand inked and colored by Yamato. She paid particular attention to the floral patterns on the robes worn by Genji. The patterns of the robes were carefully selected by Yamato to reflect the traits of Genji.

The cherry blossoms surrounding Genji are a symbol of Genji himself. According to legend the mountain cherry blossoms are very rare and only bloom once every three thousand years. These mountain cherry blossoms symbolize the rarity of a person like Genji who is handsome, regal, poetic and an ideal of manhood - in short he's perfect.

The art on this puzzle was featured on the cover of the 1989 edition of Asaki Yumemishi: Genji Monogatari Volume 1. It was also featured on the 2019 release of the English translation of The Tale of Genji: Dreams at Dawn Volume 1.

This puzzle was produced by Central Hobby – a Japanese jigsaw puzzle company.  Central Hobby is known for creating quality/well-made puzzles through the 1980s and 1990s. This puzzle is part of the Central Hobby "Sunday Puzzle" series which is an easygoing style of jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle pieces are constructed of thick cardboard.

A retired and very rare manga-themed puzzle!

The puzzle was released in the late 1980s in Japan. The puzzle is retired and very hard to find.

CONDITION:

New/Like-new; sealed. This awesome puzzle is new in box with shrink wrap. The shrink wrap and box have acquired some storage wear/damage. The shrink wrap has a few tears/rips and the box has a small puncture and corner wear. Please see photos.

*To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out.*

THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK.

*ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.*

"The Tale of Genji (源氏物語, Genji monogatari, pronounced [ɡeɲdʑi monoɡaꜜtaɾi]) is a classic work of Japanese literature written in the early 11th century by the noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu. The original manuscript, created around the peak of the Heian period, no longer exists. It was made in "concertina" or orihon style:[1] several sheets of paper pasted together and folded alternately in one direction then the other.

The work is a unique depiction of the lifestyles of high courtiers during the Heian period. It is written in archaic language and a poetic and complex style that make it unreadable to the average Japanese speaker without specialized study.[2] It was not until the early 20th century that Genji was translated into modern Japanese by the poet Akiko Yosano. The first English translation was attempted in 1882 by Suematsu Kencho, but was of poor quality and incomplete.

The work recounts the life of Hikaru Genji, or "Shining Genji", who is the son of an ancient Japanese emperor (known to readers as Emperor Kiritsubo) and a low-ranking concubine called Kiritsubo Consort. For political reasons, the emperor removes Genji from the line of succession, demoting him to a commoner by giving him the surname Minamoto, and he pursues a career as an imperial officer. The tale concentrates on Genji's romantic life and describes the customs of the aristocratic society of the time. It may be the world's first novel,[3] the first psychological novel, and the first novel still to be considered a classic particularly in the context of Japanese literature....

Historical context

Murasaki was writing at the height of the Fujiwara clan's power—Fujiwara no Michinaga was the Regent in all but name, and the most significant political figure of his day. Consequently, Murasaki is believed to have partially informed the character of Genji through her experience of Michinaga.

The Tale of Genji may have been written chapter by chapter in installments, as Murasaki delivered the tale to aristocratic women (ladies-in-waiting). It has many elements found in a modern novel: a central character and a very large number of major and minor characters, well-developed characterization of all the major players, a sequence of events covering the central character's lifetime and beyond. There is no specified plot, but events happen and characters simply grow older. Despite a dramatis personæ of some four hundred characters, it maintains internal consistency; for instance, all characters age in step, and both family and feudal relationships stay intact throughout.

One complication for readers and translators of the Genji is that almost none of the characters in the original text are given an explicit name. The characters are instead referred to by their function or role (e.g. Minister of the Left), an honorific (e.g. His Excellency), or their relation to other characters (e.g. Heir Apparent), which changes as the novel progresses. This lack of names stems from Heian-era court manners that would have made it unacceptably familiar and blunt to freely mention a person's given name. Modern readers and translators have used various nicknames to keep track of the many characters.
Authorship
Murasaki Shikibu, illustration by Tosa Mitsuoki who created a series of illustrations of The Tale of Genji (17th century)

There is debate over how much of Genji was actually written by Murasaki Shikibu. Debates over the novel's authorship have gone on for centuries, and are unlikely to ever be settled unless some major archival discovery is made.

It is generally accepted that the tale was finished in its present form by 1021, when the author of the Sarashina Nikki wrote a diary entry about her joy at acquiring a complete copy of the tale. She writes that there are over 50 chapters and mentions a character introduced at the end of the work, so if other authors besides Murasaki did work on the tale, the work was finished very near to the time of her writing. Murasaki's own diary includes a reference to the tale, and indeed the application to herself of the name 'Murasaki' in an allusion to the main female character. That entry confirms that some if not all of the diary was available in 1008 when internal evidence convincingly suggests that the entry was written.[4]

Murasaki is said to have written the character of Genji based on the Minister on the Left at the time she was at court. Other translators, such as Tyler, believe the character Murasaki no Ue, whom Genji marries, is based on Murasaki Shikibu herself.

Yosano Akiko, the first author to make a modern Japanese translation of Genji, believed that Murasaki had only written chapters 1 to 33, and that chapters 35 to 54 were written by her daughter, Daini no Sanmi.[5] Other scholars have also doubted the authorship of chapters 42 to 54 (particularly 44, which contains rare examples of continuity mistakes).[5] According to Royall Tyler's introduction to his English translation of the work, recent[when?] computer analysis has turned up "statistically significant" discrepancies of style between chapters 45–54 and the rest, and also among the early chapters.[5]
Plot
Chapter 15 – Yomogiu (蓬生, "Waste of Weeds"). Scene from the 12th-century illustrated handscroll Genji Monogatari Emaki kept at the Tokugawa Art Museum.
Chapter 16 – Sekiya (関屋, "At The Pass")
Chapter 37 – Yokobue (横笛, "Flute").
Chapter 39 – Yūgiri (夕霧, "Evening Mist"). 12th-century Gotoh Museum handscroll.
Chapter 48 – Sawarabi (早蕨, "Bracken Shoots"). Tokugawa Art Museum's illustrated handscroll.
Chapter 49 – Yadorigi (宿り木, "Ivy"). Tokugawa Art Museum's illustrated handscroll.

Genji's mother dies when he is three years old, and the Emperor cannot forget her. The Emperor Kiritsubo then hears of a woman (Lady Fujitsubo), formerly a princess of the preceding emperor, who resembles his deceased concubine, and later she becomes one of his wives. Genji loves her first as a stepmother, but later as a woman, and they fall in love with each other. Genji is frustrated by his forbidden love for the Lady Fujitsubo and is on bad terms with his own wife (Aoi no Ue, the Lady Aoi). He engages in a series of love affairs with other women. These are however unfulfilling, as in most cases his advances are rebuffed, or his lover dies suddenly, or he becomes bored.

Genji visits Kitayama, a rural hilly area north of Kyoto, where he finds a beautiful ten-year-old girl. He is fascinated by this little girl (Murasaki), and discovers that she is a niece of the Lady Fujitsubo. Finally he kidnaps her, brings her to his own palace and educates her to be like the Lady Fujitsubo, who is his womanly ideal. During this time Genji also meets Lady Fujitsubo secretly, and she bears his son, Reizei. Everyone except the two lovers believes the father of the child is the Emperor Kiritsubo. Later the boy becomes the Crown Prince and Lady Fujitsubo becomes the Empress, but Genji and Lady Fujitsubo swear to keep the child's true parentage secret.

Genji and his wife, Lady Aoi, reconcile. She gives birth to a son but dies soon after. Genji is sorrowful but finds consolation in Murasaki, whom he marries. Genji's father, the Emperor Kiritsubo, dies. He is succeeded by his son Suzaku, whose mother (Kokiden), together with Kiritsubo's political enemies, take power in the court. Then another of Genji's secret love affairs is exposed: Genji and a concubine of the Emperor Suzaku are discovered while meeting in secret. The Emperor Suzaku confides his personal amusement at Genji's exploits with the woman (Oborozukiyo), but is duty-bound to punish Genji even though he is his half-brother. He exiles Genji to the town of Suma in rural Harima Province (now part of Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture). There, a prosperous man known as the Akashi Novice (because he is from Akashi in Settsu Province) entertains Genji, and Genji has an affair with Akashi's daughter. She gives birth to Genji's only daughter, who will later become the Empress.

In the capital the Emperor Suzaku is troubled by dreams of his late father, Kiritsubo, and something begins to affect his eyes. Meanwhile, his mother, Kokiden, grows ill, which weakens her influence over the throne, and leads to the Emperor ordering Genji to be pardoned. Genji returns to Kyoto. His son by Lady Fujitsubo, Reizei, becomes the emperor. The new Emperor Reizei knows Genji is his real father, and raises Genji's rank to the highest possible.

However, when Genji turns 40 years old, his life begins to decline. His political status does not change, but his love and emotional life begin to incrementally diminish as middle age takes hold. He marries another wife, the Third Princess (known as Onna san no miya in the Seidensticker version, or Nyōsan in Waley's). Genji's nephew, Kashiwagi, later forces himself on the Third Princess, and she bears Kaoru (who, in a similar situation to that of Reizei, is legally known as the son of Genji). Genji's new marriage changes his relationship with Murasaki, who had expressed her wish of becoming a nun (bikuni) though the wish was rejected by Genji.

Genji's beloved Murasaki dies. In the following chapter, Maboroshi ("Illusion"), Genji contemplates how fleeting life is. Immediately after the chapter titled Maboroshi, there is a chapter titled Kumogakure ("Vanished into the Clouds"), which is left blank, but implies the death of Genji.

Chapter 45–54 are known as the "Uji Chapters". These chapters follow Kaoru and his best friend, Niou. Niou is an imperial prince, the son of Genji's daughter, the current Empress now that Reizei has abdicated the throne, while Kaoru is known to the world as Genji's son but is in fact fathered by Genji's nephew. The chapters involve Kaoru and Niou's rivalry over several daughters of an imperial prince who lives in Uji, a place some distance away from the capital. The tale ends abruptly, with Kaoru wondering if Niou is hiding Kaoru's former lover away from him. Kaoru has sometimes been called the first anti-hero in literature.[6]
Completion

The tale has an abrupt ending. Opinions vary on whether this was intended by the author. Arthur Waley, who made the first English translation of the whole of The Tale of Genji, believed that the work as we have it was finished. Ivan Morris, however, author of The World of the Shining Prince, believed that it was not complete and that later chapters were missing. Edward Seidensticker, who made the second translation of the Genji, believed that Murasaki Shikibu had not had a planned story structure with an ending as such but would simply have continued writing as long as she could.
Literary context
   
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Because it was written to entertain the Japanese court of the 11th century, the work presents many difficulties to modern readers. First and foremost, Murasaki's language, Heian-period court Japanese, was highly inflected and had very complex grammar. Another problem is that naming people was considered rude in Heian court society, so none of the characters are named within the work; instead, the narrator refers to men often by their rank or their station in life, and to women often by the color of their clothing, or by the words used at a meeting, or by the rank of a prominent male relative. This results in different appellations for the same character depending on the chapter.

Another aspect of the language is the importance of using poetry in conversations. Modifying or rephrasing a classic poem according to the current situation was expected behavior in Heian court life, and often served to communicate thinly veiled allusions. The poems in the Genji are often in the classic Japanese tanka form. Many of the poems were well known to the intended audience, so usually only the first few lines are given and the reader is supposed to complete the thought themselves, leaving the rest – which the reader would be expected to know – unspoken.

As with most Heian literature, Genji was probably written mostly (or perhaps entirely) in kana (Japanese phonetic script) and not in kanji, because it was written by a woman for a female audience. Writing in kanji was at the time a masculine pursuit; women were generally discreet when using kanji, confining themselves mostly to native Japanese words (yamato kotoba).

Outside of vocabulary related to politics and Buddhism, Genji contains remarkably few Chinese loan words (kango). This has the effect of giving the story a very even, smooth flow. However, it also introduces confusion: there are a number of homophones (words with the same pronunciation but different meanings), and for modern readers, context is not always sufficient to determine which meaning was intended.
Structure
Outline

The novel is traditionally divided into three parts, the first two dealing with the life of Genji and the last with the early years of two of Genji's prominent descendants, Niou and Kaoru. There are also several short transitional chapters which are usually grouped separately and whose authorships are sometimes questioned.

    Genji's rise and fall
        Youth, chapters 1–33: Love, romance, and exile
        Success and setbacks, chapters 34–41: A taste of power and the death of his beloved wife
    The transition (chapters 42–44): Very short episodes following Genji's death
    Uji, chapters 45–54: Genji's official and secret descendants, Niou and Kaoru

The 54th and last chapter, "The Floating Bridge of Dreams", is sometimes argued by modern scholars to be a separate part from the Uji part. It seems to continue the story from the previous chapters but has an unusually abstract chapter title. It is the only chapter whose title has no clear reference within the text, although this may be due to the chapter being unfinished. This question is made more difficult by the fact that we do not know exactly when the chapters acquired their titles.
List of chapters

The English translations here are taken from the Arthur Waley, the Edward Seidensticker, the Royall Tyler, and the Dennis Washburn translations. It is not known for certain when the chapters acquired their titles. Early mentions of the Tale refer to chapter numbers, or contain alternate titles for some of the chapters. This may suggest that the titles were added later. The titles are largely derived from poetry that is quoted within the text, or allusions to various characters.
Chapter 5 – Wakamurasaki (若紫, "Young Murasaki"). Tosa Mitsuoki, 1617–91.
Chapter 20 – Asagao (朝顔, "The Bluebell"). Tosa Mitsuoki.
Chapter 42 – Niō no Miya (匂宮, "The Perfumed Prince"). Tosa Mitsuoki.
Chapter 50 – Azumaya (東屋, "Eastern Cottage"). 12th-century Tokugawa Art Museum handscroll.
Chapter     Japanese     Waley     Seidensticker     Tyler     Washburn
01     Kiritsubo (桐壺)     "Kiritsubo"     "The Paulownia Court"     "The Paulownia Pavilion"     "The Lady of the Paulownia-Courtyard Chambers"
02     Hahakigi (帚木)     "The Broom-Tree"     "Broom Cypress"
03     Utsusemi (空蝉)     "Utsusemi"     "The Shell of the Locust"     "The Cicada Shell"     "A Molted Cicada Shell"
04     Yūgao (夕顔)     "Yugao"     "Evening Faces"     "The Twilight Beauty"     "The Lady of the Evening Faces"
05     Wakamurasaki (若紫)     "Murasaki"     "Lavender"     "Young Murasaki"     "Little Purple Gromwell"
06     Suetsumuhana (末摘花)     "The Saffron-Flower"     "The Safflower"
07     Momiji no Ga (紅葉賀)     "The Festival of Red Leaves"     "An Autumn Excursion"     "Beneath the Autumn Leaves"     "An Imperial Celebration of Autumn Foliages"
08     Hana no En (花宴)     "The Flower Feast"     "The Festival of the Cherry Blossoms"     "Under the Cherry Blossoms"     "A Banquet Celebrating Cherry Blossoms"
09     Aoi (葵)     "Aoi"     "Heartvine"     "Heart-to-Heart"     "Leaves of Wild Ginger"
10     Sakaki (榊)     "The Sacred Tree"     "The Green Branch"     "A Branch of Sacred Evergreens"
11     Hana Chiru Sato (花散里)     "The Village of Falling Flowers"     "The Orange Blossoms"     "Falling Flowers"     "The Lady at the Villa of Scattering Orange Blossoms"
12     Suma (須磨)     "Exile at Suma"     "Suma"     "Exile to Suma"
13     Akashi (明石)     "Akashi"     "The Lady at Akashi"
14     Miotsukushi (澪標)     "The Flood Gauge"     "Channel Buoys"     "The Pilgrimage to Sumiyoshi"     "Channel Markers"
15     Yomogiu (蓬生)     "The Palace in the Tangled Woods"     "The Wormwood Patch"     "A Waste of Weeds"     "A Ruined Villa of Tangled Gardens"
16     Sekiya (関屋)     "A Meeting at the Frontier"     "The Gatehouse"     "At the Pass"     "The Barrier Gate"
17     E Awase (絵合)     "The Picture Competition"     "A Picture Contest"     "The Picture Contest"     "A Contest of Illustrations"
18     Matsukaze (松風)     "The Wind in the Pine-Trees"     "The Wind in the Pines"     "Wind in the Pines"
19     Usugumo (薄雲)     "A Wreath of Cloud"     "A Rack of Clouds"     "Wisps of Cloud"     "A Thin Veil of Clouds"
20     Asagao (朝顔)     "Asagao"     "The Morning Glory"     "The Bluebell"     "Bellflowers"
21     Otome (乙女)     "The Maiden"     "The Maidens"     "Maidens of the Dance"
22     Tamakazura (玉鬘)     "Tamakatsura"     "The Jewelled Chaplet"     "The Tendril Wreath"     "A Lovely Garland"
23     Hatsune (初音)     "The First Song of the Year"     "The First Warbler"     "The Warbler's First Song"     "First Song of Spring"
24     Kochō (胡蝶)     "The Butterflies"     "Butterflies"
25     Hotaru (螢)     "The Glow-Worm"     "Fireflies"     "The Fireflies"     "Fireflies"
26     Tokonatsu (常夏)     "A Bed of Carnations"     "Wild Carnation"     "The Pink"     "Wild Pinks"
27     Kagaribi (篝火)     "The Flares"     "Flares"     "The Cressets"     "Cresset Fires"
28     Nowaki (野分)     "The Typhoon"     "An Autumn Tempest"
29     Miyuki (行幸)     "The Royal Visit"     "The Royal Outing"     "The Imperial Progress"     "An Imperial Excursion"
30     Fujibakama (藤袴)     "Blue Trousers"     "Purple Trousers"     "Thoroughwort Flowers"     "Mistflowers"
31     Makibashira (真木柱)     "Makibashira"     "The Cypress Pillar"     "The Handsome Pillar"     "A Beloved Pillar of Cypress"
32     Umegae (梅枝)     "The Spray of Plum-Blossom"     "A Branch of Plum"     "The Plum Tree Branch"     "A Branch of Plum"
33     Fuji no Uraba (藤裏葉)     "Fuji no Uraba"     "Wisteria Leaves"     "New Wisteria Leaves"     "Shoots of Wisteria Leaves"
34     Wakana: Jō (若菜上)     "Wakana, Part I"     "New Herbs, Part I"     "Spring Shoots I"     "Early Spring Genesis: Part 1"
35     Wakana: Ge (若菜下)     "Wakana, Part II"     "New Herbs, Part II"     "Spring Shoots II"     "Early Spring Genesis: Part 2"
36     Kashiwagi (柏木)     "Kashiwagi"     "The Oak Tree"
37     Yokobue (横笛)     "The Flute"     "The Transverse Flute"
38     Suzumushi (鈴虫)     (omitted)     "The Bell Cricket"     "Bell Crickets"
39     Yūgiri (夕霧)     "Yugiri"     "Evening Mist"
40     Minori (御法)     "The Law"     "Rites"     "The Law"     "Rites of Sacred Law"
41     Maboroshi (幻)     "Mirage"     "The Wizard"     "The Seer"     "Spirit Summoner"
X     Kumogakure (雲隠)         "Vanished into the Clouds"    
42     Niō Miya (匂宮)     "Niou"     "His Perfumed Highness"     "The Perfumed Prince"     "The Fragrant Prince"
43     Kōbai (紅梅)     "Kobai"     "The Rose Plum"     "Red Plum Blossoms"     "Red Plum"
44     Takekawa (竹河)     "Bamboo River"
45     Hashihime (橋姫)     "The Bridge Maiden"     "The Lady at the Bridge"     "The Maiden of the Bridge"     "The Divine Princess at Uji Bridge"
46     Shii ga Moto (椎本)     "At the Foot of the Oak-Tree"     "Beneath the Oak"     "At the Foot of the Oak Tree"
47     Agemaki (総角)     "Agemaki"     "Trefoil Knots"     "A Bowknot Tied in Maiden's Loops"
48     Sawarabi (早蕨)     "Fern-Shoots"     "Early Ferns"     "Bracken Shoots"     "Early Fiddlehead Greens"
49     Yadorigi (宿木)     "The Mistletoe"     "The Ivy"     "Trees Encoiled in Vines of Ivy"
50     Azumaya (東屋)     "The Eastern House"     "The Eastern Cottage"     "A Hut in the Eastern Provinces"
51     Ukifune (浮舟)     "Ukifune"     "A Boat upon the Waters"     "A Drifting Boat"     "A Boat Cast Adrift"
52     Kagerō (蜻蛉)     "The Gossamer-Fly"     "The Drake Fly"     "The Mayfly"     "Ephemerids"
53     Tenarai (手習)     "Writing-Practice"     "The Writing Practice"     "Writing Practice"     "Practising Calligraphy"
54     Yume no Ukihashi (夢浮橋)     "The Bridge of Dreams"     "The Floating Bridge of Dreams"     "A Floating Bridge in a Dream"

The additional chapter between 41 and 42 in some manuscripts is called Kumogakure (雲隠) which means "Vanished into the Clouds"—the chapter is a title only, and is probably intended to evoke Genji's death. Some scholars have posited the earlier existence of a chapter between 1 and 2 which would have introduced some characters that seem to appear very abruptly in the book as it stands.

The Waley translation completely omits the 38th chapter.

Later authors have composed additional chapters, most often either between 41 and 42, or after the end.
Manuscripts
Main article: Textual tradition of The Tale of Genji

The original manuscript written by Murasaki Shikibu no longer exists. Numerous copies, totaling around 300 according to Ikeda Kikan, exist with differences between each. It is thought that Shikibu often went back and edited early manuscripts introducing discrepancies with earlier copies.[7]

The various manuscripts are classified into three categories:[8][9]

    Kawachibon (河内本)
    Aobyōshibon (青表紙本)
    Beppon (別本)

In the 13th century, two major attempts by Minamoto no Chikayuki and Fujiwara Teika were made to edit and revise the differing manuscripts. The Chikayuki manuscript is known as the Kawachibon; edits were many beginning in 1236 and completing in 1255. The Teika manuscript is known as the Aobyōshibon; its edits are more conservative and thought to better represent the original. These two manuscripts were used as the basis for many future copies.

The Beppon category represents all other manuscripts not belonging to either Kawachibon or Aobyōshibon. This includes older but incomplete manuscripts, mixed manuscripts derived from both Kawachibon and Aobyōshibon, and commentaries.

On March 10, 2008, it was announced that a late Kamakura period (1192–1333) manuscript had been found in Kyoto,[10][11] containing the sixth chapter, Suetsumuhana; the manuscript was 65 pages in length. Most remaining manuscripts are based on copies of the Teika manuscript which introduced revisions in the original; this manuscript, however, belongs to a different lineage and was not influenced by Teika. Professor Yamamoto Tokurō, who examined the manuscript, said, "This is a precious discovery as Kamakura manuscripts are so rare." Professor Katō Yōsuke said, "This is an important discovery as it asserts that non-Teika manuscripts were being read during the Kamakura period."

On October 29, 2008, Konan Women's University announced that a mid-Kamakura period manuscript had been found,[12][13][14] containing the 32nd chapter, Umegae. The manuscript was recognized as the oldest extant copy of this chapter, dating to between 1240 and 1280. The manuscript, considered to be of the Beppon category, is 74 pages in length and differs from Aobyōshi manuscripts in at least four places, raising the "possibility that the contents may be closer to the undiscovered Murasaki Shikibu original manuscript".[12]

On October 9, 2019, it was announced that an original copy of Teika's Aobyōshibon had been found in Tokyo at the home of the current head of the Okochi-Matsudaira clan, who ran the Yoshida Domain. The manuscript is the 5th chapter, Wakamurasaki (若紫), and is the oldest version of the chapter. Blue ink common in Teika's manuscript and handwriting analysis confirmed that the manuscript was written by Teika, making it among the 5 original versions of the Aobyōshibon known to exist.[15]
Illustrated scrolls
Late-16th- or early-17th-century hanging scroll in ink and gold leaf illustrating a scene from Genji.

Numerous illustrations of scenes from Genji have been produced, most notably a 12th-century scroll, the Genji Monogatari Emaki, containing illustrated scenes from Genji together with handwritten sōgana text. This scroll is the earliest extant example of a Japanese "picture scroll": collected illustrations and calligraphy of a single work. The original scroll is believed to have comprised 10–20 rolls and covered all 54 chapters. The extant pieces include only 19 illustrations and 65 pages of text, plus nine pages of fragments. This is estimated at 15% of the envisioned original.

The Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya has three of the scrolls handed down in the Owari branch of the Tokugawa clan and one scroll held by the Hachisuka family is now in the Gotoh Museum in Tokyo. The scrolls are designated National Treasures of Japan. The scrolls are so fragile that they normally are not shown in public. The original scrolls in the Tokugawa Museum were shown from November 21 to November 29 in 2009. Since 2001, they have been displayed in the Tokugawa Museum annually for around one week in November. An oversize English photoreproduction and translation was published in limited edition in 1971 by Kodansha International.[16]

Other notable illustrated scrolls of Genji are by Tosa Mitsuoki, who lived from 1617 to 1691. His paintings are closely based on Heian style from the existing scrolls from the 12th century and are fully complete. The tale was also a popular theme in ukiyo-e prints from the Edo period.
Modern readership
Japanese
Pages from the illustrated handscroll from the 12th century

The Tale of Genji was written in an archaic court language, and a century after its completion it was unreadable without specialized study. Annotated and illustrated versions existed as early as the 12th century.[17] It was not until the early 20th century that Genji was translated into modern Japanese, by the poet Akiko Yosano.[18] Therefore, translations into modern Japanese and other languages solve these problems by modernizing the language, unfortunately losing some of the meaning, and by giving names to the characters, usually the traditional names used by academics. This gives rise to anachronisms; for instance, Genji's first wife is named Aoi because she is known as the lady of the Aoi chapter, in which she dies.

Both scholars and writers have tried translating it. The first translation into modern Japanese was made by the poet Yosano Akiko. Other known translations were done by the novelists Jun'ichirō Tanizaki and Fumiko Enchi.

Because of the cultural differences, reading an annotated version of the Genji is quite common, even among Japanese readers. There are several annotated versions by novelists, including Seiko Tanabe, Jakucho Setouchi and Osamu Hashimoto.[19] Many works, including a manga series and different television dramas, are derived from The Tale of Genji. There have been at least five manga adaptations of Genji.[20] A manga version was created by Waki Yamato, Asakiyumemishi (The Tale of Genji in English), and a current version by Sugimura Yoshimitsu[21][better source needed] is in progress. Another manga, Genji Monogatari, by Miyako Maki, won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1989.[22]
English translations

The first partial translation of Genji into English was by Suematsu Kenchō, published in 1882. Arthur Waley published a six-volume translation of all but one chapter, with the first volume published in 1925 and the last in 1933.[23] In 1976, Edward Seidensticker published the first complete translation into English, made using a self-consciously "stricter" approach with regards to content if not form.[24] The English translation published in 2001 by Royall Tyler aims at fidelity in content and form to the original text.[5] The most recently written ("Genji and the Luck of the Sea") dates from 2007. Its initial version has been extensively revised, retitled, and updated for this publication.[25]

As of 2008, WorldCat identifies 88 editions of Genji. The major translations into English are each slightly different, mirroring the personal choices of the translator and the period in which the translation was made. Each version has its merits, its detractors and its advocates, and each is distinguished by the name of the translator. For example, the version translated by Arthur Waley would typically be referred to as "the Waley Genji".
Major English translations

In chronological order:

    The Suematsu Genji (1882) – Suematsu's Genji was the first translation into English, but is considered of poor quality and is not often read today. Significantly, only a few chapters were completed.
    The Waley Genji (1925–1933) – Waley's Genji is considered a great achievement for his time,[26] although some purists have criticized Waley's changes to the original.[27] Others have criticized as overly-free the manner in which Waley translated the original text. Regardless, it continues to be well-appreciated and widely read today.[28] When the Waley Genji was first published, it was eagerly received. For example, Time explained that "the reviewers' floundering tributes indicate something of its variegated appeal. In limpid prose The Tale combines curiously modern social satire with great charm of narrative. Translator Waley has done service to literature in salvaging to the Occident this masterpiece of the Orient."[29]
    The Seidensticker Genji (1976) – Seidensticker's Genji is an attempt to correct what were perceived to have been Waley's failings without necessarily making his translation obsolete. Seidensticker hews more closely to the original text, but in the interests of readability, he takes some liberties. For example, he identifies most of the characters by name so that the narrative can be more easily followed by a broad-based audience of Western readers. (In 2008, a 4,400-page Braille version of the Seidensticker Genji was completed. This Braille edition was the product of five Japanese housewives from Setagaya, Tokyo, working voluntarily for five years and was subsequently donated to the Japan Braille Library (日本点字図書館) and the Library of Congress. It is also available for download.)[30]
    The McCullough Genji (1994) – An abridgement.
    The Tyler Genji (2001) – Tyler's Genji contains more extensive explanatory footnotes and commentary than the previous translations, describing the numerous poetical allusions and cultural aspects of the tale. Tyler consciously attempted to mimic the original style in ways that the previous translations did not. For example, this version does not use names for most characters, identifying them instead by their titles in a manner which was conventional in the context of the 11th-century original text. Writing for the New York Times, reviewer Janice Nimura described it as "wonderfully evocative of the original, [but] can be difficult to follow".[31] Tyler's version "makes a special virtue of attending to a certain ceremonial indirectness in the way the characters address one another. The great temptation for a translator is to say the unsaid things, and Tyler never gives in to it."[attribution needed][32] This has been praised by some critics[who?] as "preserving more of what once seemed unfamiliar or strange to English readers",[attribution needed] as understanding the culture of Murasaki's time is arguably a chief reason for reading Genji.[28]
    The Washburn Genji (2015) – Dennis Washburn's Genji separates the poems from the prose and puts interior thoughts in italics. The translation has been received slightly more controversially than Tyler's, with most criticism aimed at the perceived over-clarification of the text and addition of modern colloquialisms.[33]

Reception and legacy

The Tale of Genji is an important work of Japanese literature, and modern authors have cited it as inspiration, such as Jorge Luis Borges who said of it, "The Tale of Genji, as translated by Arthur Waley, 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. The English translation that has inspired this brief insufficient note is called The Tale of Genji."[34] It is noted for its internal consistency, psychological depiction, and characterization. The novelist Yasunari Kawabata said in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech: "The Tale of Genji in particular is the highest pinnacle of Japanese literature. Even down to our day there has not been a piece of fiction to compare with it."
2000 yen note with The Tale of Genji and Murasaki Shikibu on the right corner

The Genji is also often referred to as "the first novel",[35] though there is considerable debate over this—some of the debate involving whether Genji can even be considered a "novel". Some[who?] consider the psychological insight, complexity and unity of the work to qualify it for "novel" status while simultaneously disqualifying earlier works of prose fiction.[36] Others[who?] see these arguments as subjective and unconvincing.

Related claims, perhaps in an attempt to sidestep these debates, are that Genji is the "first psychological novel" or "historical novel",[37] "the first novel still considered to be a classic" or other more qualified terms. However, critics have almost consistently described The Tale of Genji as the oldest, first, and/or greatest novel in Japanese literature,[38][39] though enthusiastic proponents may have later neglected the qualifying category of 'in Japanese literature', leading to the debates over the book's place in world literature. Even in Japan, the Tale of Genji is not universally embraced; the lesser-known Ochikubo Monogatari has been proposed as the "world's first full-length novel", even though its author is unknown.[40] Despite these debates, The Tale of Genji enjoys solid respect among the works of literature, and its influence on Japanese literature has been compared to that of Philip Sidney's Arcadia on English literature.[38]

The novel and other works by Lady Murasaki are staple reading material in the curricula of Japanese schools. The Bank of Japan issued the 2000 yen banknote in her honor, featuring a scene from the novel based on the 12th-century illustrated handscroll. Since a 1 November 1008 entry in The Diary of Lady Murasaki is the oldest date on which a reference to The Tale of Genji has appeared, November 1 was designated as the official day to celebrate Japanese classics. According to Act on Classics Day, the "classics" that are honored not only include literature, but encompass a wide range of arts such as music, art, traditional performing arts, entertainment, lifestyle art including tea ceremony and flower arrangement and other cultural products.[41]

The names of the chapters became a central element a sort of incense based game called Genjikō, part of the larger practice of Monkō popular among the nobility. In Genjikō, players must match the scents of a series of five incense samples without being told the names of said samples. Each possible combination was matched to a symbol, called a genji-mon, that represented a chapter from the story.[42]
Adaptations in other media

    12th-century illustrated hand scroll, Genji Monogatari Emaki
    1951 film The Tale of Genji by Kōzaburō Yoshimura
    1966 film by Kon Ichikawa
    1980 manga Asaki Yume Mishi by Waki Yamato
    1981 theatre performance run by the Takarazuka Revue
    1987 anime film The Tale of Genji by Gisaburō Sugii – covers only the first 12 chapters, while adding in some psychological motivation that is not explicit in the novel.
    1987 film O Desejado
    1989 theatre performance run by the Takarazuka Revue
    1988 manga by Miyako Maki
    2000 opera by Miki Minoru
    2001 film Sennen no Koi Story of Genji
    2009 anime series Genji Monogatari Sennenki by Osamu Dezaki
    2011 film Genji Monogatari: Sennen no Nazo
    2015 theatre performance run by the Takarazuka Revue; actress Asumi Rio received the Agency for Cultural Affairs Arts Festival award for her portrayal of Genji." (wikipedia.org)

"Waki Yamato (大和 和紀, Yamato Waki, born March 13, 1948, in Sapporo) is a Japanese manga artist. She debuted in 1966 with the short story Dorobou Tenshi.[1][2]

Since her debut, Yamato steadily created and published a variety of works in the genre of shōjo manga. Among her early time works, Mon Cherie CoCo, 1971, was adapted into an anime television series, and her work, Haikara-san ga Tōru, 1975 to 1977, was very successful, winning the 1st Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo in 1977.[2][3] It was also made into a musical for the Takarazuka Revue, an anime series (which reached an international audience through TV broadcasts in Italy and France), and a live-action movie. Through these early works, she established her position as one of the most popular manga artists....

Works

After the success of Haikara-san ga Tōru, she continued to create many manga, including the comedy Aramis '78 (series), Yokohama Monogatari (The Story of Yokohama), and N. Y. Komachi (The Belle of New York). The latter two were historical manga, set during the Meiji period.

The heroines of these stories were active girls who traveled overseas. Yamato's early work Reidii Mitsuko (Lady Mitsuko), 1976, was based on the true story of Mitsuko Aoyama, who was the mother of Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi.

Similarly, in Yokohama Monogatri, Uno visits California, marries her Japanese lover there and returns to Yokohama, while Mariko visits London to meet her Japanese husband. In N. Y. Komachi tomboy Shino travels to New York and becomes a camerawoman. At the end she settles in America with her husband Danny.
Asaki Yume Mishi

Yamato's major work is Asaki Yume Mishi. Yamato spent 13 years (1980–93) completing this famous long work, based on Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji. Yamato studied the historical details of the Heian period. But she made radical changes to the characters and plot, to fit contemporary mores. Yet her work remains one of the best visualizations of the Heian era.
List of works

    Dorobou Tenshi, (どろぼう天使, Thief Angel) debut short work, 1966
    Mon Cheri CoCo, (モンシェリCoCo) 1971
        Adapted into an anime television series in 1972
    Redii Mitsuko, (レディーミツコ, Lady Mitsuko[4]). 1975–1976
    Haikara-san ga Tōru, (はいからさんが通る, "The Modern Girl Passes By") 1975–1977
        Adapted into an anime television series in 1978-1979 and a live-action movie in 1987
    Killa, (Killa) 1977–1978
    Ten no Hate, Chi no Kagiri, (天の果て地の限り) 1978
    Aramis ’78, (アラミス’78) 1978–1984
    Kigen 2600 nen no Playball, (紀元2600年のプレイボール) 1979–1980
    Gekkou-ju, (月光樹, Moonlight Shining Tree) 1980
    Yokohama Monogatari, (ヨコハマ物語, The Story of Yokohama) 1981–1983
    N. Y. Komachi, (NY小町, The Belle of New York) 1985–1988
    Asaki Yume Mishi, (あさきゆめみし, Asakiyunemishi, based on Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji) 1980–1993
    Hi-heel Cop, (ハイヒールCOP) 1989–1994
    Tenshi no Kajitsu, (天使の果実, Fruit of the Angel, based on novel by Shizuka Ijuuin) 1993–1994
    Niji no Natascha, (虹のナターシャ, Natascha of Rainbow, based on novel by Mariko Hayashi) 1995–1997
    Nishimuku Samurai, (にしむく士, Samurai facing to the West) 1997
    Baby-sitter Gin!, (ベビーシッター・ギン!) 1997
    Kurenai Niwofu, (紅匂ふ)" (wikipedia.org)

"The Tale of Genji (あさきゆめみし, Asakiyumemishi) is a Japanese manga version of Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji by Waki Yamato.

It follows nearly the same plot with some modern adaptation. It was originally published from 1980 to 1993. It spanned thirteen volumes and was published by Kodansha. The series was partially translated into English (as The Tale of Genji) by Stuart Atkin and Yoko Toyosaki as a part of Kodansha's attempts to publish bilingual manga as a study guide for Japanese students. The Tale of Genji sold 20 million copies.[1] The first ten volumes focus on Hikaru Genji and his life, the final three volumes follow two princes, lord Kaoru and Niou no miya (Royal Prince with Perfumes) after Hikaru Genji's death.

An anime adaptation was scheduled to air in Fuji Television's noitaminA block, starting January 2009,[2] but the producer decided to make the anime directly from the original Tale of Genji, calling the new anime Genji Monogatari Sennenki.....

Characters
The First Part

Volumes 1 to 10

    Hikaru Genji - royal prince, 2nd son of Emperor Kiritsubo. Because of his beauty and excellence, people called him the Shining Prince. His father, the Emperor, loved this beautiful prince, and gave him a branch house, called Gen. This meant he was no longer part of the royal family and lost the right to succeed the throne, since his mother was a concubine of low rank. Therefore, he was called Gen-ji, shining Gen-ji (Hikaru Genji).
    Emperor Kiritsubo - father of Genji. He wished Genji to become his successor, but it would be impossible since his mother Kiritsubo-koui's was of low rank and the mother of his 1st son, Kokiden-nyougo, was of high rank.
    Kiritsubo-koui - 2nd class concubine of Emperor Kiritsubo, mother of Genji. The emperor loved her most, but it resulted in death of Kiritsubo-koui under jealousy and hatred of other concubines in the palace.
    Kokiden-nyougo - 1st class concubine, mother of 1st royal prince (later, Emperor Suzaku) of Emperor Kiritsubo. Daughter of the Minister at the right.
    Fujitsubo-nyougo - royal princess and 1st class concubine of Emperor Kiritsubo. Fujitsubo looked a lot like late Kiritsubo-koui. Emperor Kiritsubo loved her and she became the Empress consort (Chuuguu). Lord Genji loved and adored Fujitsubo and he committed adultery with her.
    Murasaki no ue - daughter of the Prince Lord Minister of Ceremony, niece of Empress consort Fujitsubo. Lord Genji first met her when she was 12 years old. Later, Genji married her and she was called Murasaki no ue (high Dame Murasaki).
    Aoi no ue - daughter of the Minister at the left. She was 4 years older than Genji. Aoi was the first spouse of Genji - therefore she was called Aoi no ue (high Dame Aoi). She has been raised to be married to the next emperor, but was instead married to Genji who was the second son of the emperor. This has made Aoi cold and distant from her husband. Aoi was killed by jealous living ghost of royal Dame Rokujou.
    Rokujou-miyasudokoro - mother of princess Umetsubo-nyougo, 1st class concubine of the former Crown Prince who was an elder brother of Emperor Kiritsubo. After her husband's death, she has locked herself up in her mansion and only comes out during a poetry recital. Considered to be very popular at court and carries the reputation of being both wise and beautiful. She became Genji's mistress. Her love overwhelmed the Prince Genji which eventually drove him away from her."Miyasudokoro" is title of mother of royal prince/princess.
    Yuugiri - 2nd son of Genji. His mother was high Dame Aoi.
    Emperor Suzaku - 1st son of Emperor Kiritsubo. His mother was Kokiden-nyougo. Suzaku succeeded his father Kiritsubo's throne and became emperor. Kokiden-nyougo was, then, grand Empress consort.
    Emperor Reizei - son of Empress consort Fujitsubo. He was considered as the royal prince, son of Emperor Kiritsubo, but his real father was Lord Genji. He was a child of adultery.
    Tou-no-chuujou - eldest son of the Minister at the left, elder brother of Aoi. He was a rival and good friend of Genji.
    Yuugao - a young lady from middle class but reputed to be beautiful and young. She was one of Genji's loves. She was killed by living ghost of jealous Rokujou-miyasudokoro at the age of nineteen. Her death left Genji into a pit of depression. She left a girl baby, later called Tamakadura, who was just a daughter of Tou-no-chuujou.
    Hana-chiru-sato - a young lady, sister of the concubine of Emperor Suzaku. One of Genji's loves. Not so beautiful, but warm-hearted lady.
    Oborodukiyo - daughter of the Minister at the right, younger sister of grand Empress consort Kokiden. She was beautiful and brave lady. Kokiden planned to make her 1st class concubine of Emperor Suzaku. But she had love affairs with Lord Genji. Then, she became the chief Lady of Chamber (Naishi-no-kami) of Emperor Suzaku. Kokiden got anger, and Genji retired to the seashore place at Suma.
    Akashi-no-okata - daughter of Priest Akashi. A beautiful, elegant, young lady. Genji and his followers met with disaster by typhoon at Suma. They moved to Akashi according to invitation by Priest Akashi. Genji, then, made love with her and begot a girl baby (later, Akashi-no-nyougo).
    (shin)-Kokiden-nyougo - daughter of Tou-no-chuujou, elder sister of Kumoi-no-Kari. She was a 1st class concubine of Emperor Reizei.
    Umetsubo-nyougo - daughter of Rokujou-miyasudokoro and the former Crown Prince. She was Royal princess and entered into the palace of Emperor Reizei as nyougo (1st class concubine). Royal Dame Rokujou had died. Genji became her father in palace low. Emperor Reizei became aware that Genji was his real father. Reizei fell in agony, and at last accepted the fact. Reizei raised Umetsubo to the Empress consort for she was Genji's daughter in low. Umetsubo became Akikonomu-chuuguu. Genji became de facto Ex-Emperor, Rokujou-in.
    Kumoi-no-Kari - daughter of Tou-no-chuujou. Younger sister of shin-Kokiden-nyougo. She fell in love with Yuugiri, the son of Genji. She married Yuugiri.
    Tamakadura - daughter of Tou-no-chuujou and Yuugao. Beautiful young lady. She left Kyoto for Dazai-fu at Kyushu in her very young age. After having grown up and become a young lady she returned to Kyoto. Genji found her and announced she was her daughter. Many high rank noblemen sent love-letters to her. Royal army General at the left, Kurohige, proposed her and kidnapped her.
    San-no-miya

Relations maps of characters
See also: List of characters from The Tale of Genji

Characters appeared in the Tale of Genji are many and their relations are highly complicated. The following lists/maps show the rough overview of their relations.
Emperor Kiritsubo and Hikaru Genji

Emperor Kiritsubo has many wives, representatively three ladies are important:

    Kokiden-nyougo, 1st class concubine, mother of Emperor Suzaku, She is later Grand Empress consort
    Kiritsubo-koui, 2nd class concubine, mother of Genji
    Fujitsubo-nyougo, Royal princess, 1st class concubine, mother of Emperor Reizei, She is later Empress consort

    Emperor Kiritsubo has at least 10 sons, representatively five princes are important:

    1st son, Emperor Suzaku, child of Kokiden-nyougo
    2nd son, Hikaru Genji, child of Kiritsubo-koui
    ?th son, Sochi-no-miya (Prince Lord Minister of Dazaifu)
    8th son, Hachi-no-miya (Eighth Royal prince)
    9th son (maybe), Emperor Reizei, child of Fujitsubo-nyougo, really, son of Genji

Hikaru Genji has many wives and loves, representatively following ladies are important:

    1st formal spouse, high Dame Aoi (Aoi no ue), mother of Yuugiri, daughter of the Minister at the left
    2nd formal spouse, high Dame Murasaki (Murasaki no ue), no child, informal daughter of Prince Lord Minister of Ceremony
    3rd formal spouse, Royal princess San-no-miya (third Royal princess), mother of Kaoru (real father of Kaoru is but Kashiwagi), daughter of Emperor Suzaku
    spouse, Dame Hana-chiru-sato, no child
    spouse, Dame Akashi (Akashi-no-onkata), mother of Akashi-no-nyougo, daughter of Priest Akashi
    love, Rokujou-miyasudokoro, mother of Umetsubo-nyougo (her father is former Crown Prince)
    love, Lady Oborodukiyo (Chief Lady of Chamber), no child, daughter of the Minister at the right
    love, Lady Suetsumu-hana, no child, daughter of Hitachi-no-miya (Royal Prince Hitachi)
    love, Lady Utsusemi, no child, daughter of middle class nobleman
    love, Lady Yuugao, mother of Tamakadura (her father is Tou-no-chuujou)
    secret love, Empress consort Fujitsubo, mother of Emperor Reizei, daughter of the former Emperor

    Hikaru Genji has three children. Officially his children are two.

    1st son, Emperor Reizei, child of Fujitsubo-chuuguu, child of adultery
    2nd son, Yuugiri, child of high Dame Aoi (Aoi no ue),
    1st daughter, Akashi-no-nyougo, child of Dame Akashi (Akashi-no-onkata)
    daughter in law, Umetsubo-nyougo, child of Rokujou-miyasudokoro and former Crown Prince, later Empress consort Akikonomu of Emperor Reizei

Other characters

The house of the Minister at the left (Sa-daijin) and the house of the Minister at the right (U-daijin) are rival. Genji's first formal spouse (high Dame Aoi) is daughter of the Sa-dijin and his love Lady Oborodukiyo is daughter of U-daijin, in addition Oborodukiyo is love of Emperor Suzaku who is son of Kokiden-nyougo.

Sa-daijin (Minister at the left) has at least two children.

    Tou-no-chuujou, rival and friend of Genji
    Aoi, (high Dame Aoi), 1st formal spouse of Genji, mother of Yuugiri

U-daijin (Minister at the right) has at least two daughters.

    Kokiden-nyougo, mother of Emperor Suzaku
    Lady Oborodukiyo, love of Genji and Emperor Suzaku

Tou-no-chuujou has at least five children.

    Kashiwagi, father of Kaoru, Kaoru's mother is San-no-miya (Kaoru is child of adultery)
    Koubai-dainagon
    (shin) Kokinden-nyougo, 1st class concubine of Emperor Reizei
    Dame Kumoi-no-Kari, formal spouse of Yuugiri
    Dame Tamakadura, daughter of Yuugao, 2nd formal spouse of Kurohige

Emperor Suzaku has at least three children.

    Tou-guu (Crown Prince), later Emperor
    2nd daughter, Ni-no-miya (second Royal princess) alias Ochiba-no-miya
    3rd daughter, San-no-miya (third Royal princess), 3rd formal spouse of Genji

Terms in Heian Peers

Basic terms

    Tei, Mikado (帝) : Emperor
    Official spouses of emperor: There are some classes of official spouses.
        Chuuguu (中宮), or Kougou (皇后) : Empress consort, formal spouse, highest rank, member of royal family
        Nyougo (女御) : 1st class concubine, usually royal princess or daughter of highest rank house
        Koui (更衣) : 2nd class concubine, usually daughter of middle rank house
        Naishi-no-kami (尚侍) : Chief Lady of Chamber, Emperor's Secretary in chief, sometimes informal 1st class concubine
        Naishi-no-suke (典侍) : Deputy Lady of Chamber, Emperor's deputy Secretary
    Shinnou (親王) : Royal prince, son of emperor/royal prince, authorized by emperor
    Nai-shinnou (内親王) : Royal princess, daughter of emperor/royal prince, authorized by emperor
    Miya (宮) : Royal prince/princess, house of emperor/royal family
    Ichi-no-miya (一宮) : eldest Royal prince/princess
    Ni-no-miya (二宮) : second Royal prince/princess
    San-no-miya (三宮) : third Royal prince/princess
    Joukou (上皇) : Ex-emperor/Ex-empress
    In (院) : title name of Ex-emperor, palace of Ex-emperor
        Kiritsubo-tei (桐壺帝) : Emperor Kiritsubo
        Kiritsubo-in (桐壺院) : Ex-Emperor Kiritsubo
        Suzaku-tei (朱雀帝) : Emperor Suzaku
        Reizei-tei (冷泉帝) : Emperor Reizei
        Rokujou-in (六條院) : Ex-Emperor Rokujou (de facto Ex-Emperor title of Hikaru Genji)
    Otodo, Daijin (大臣) : Minister
        Dajou-daijin (太政大臣) : Grand Minister
        Sa-daijin (左大臣) : Minister at the left, higher rank than U-daijin
        U-daijin (右大臣) : Minister at the right
        Shikibukyou (式部卿) : Lord Minister of Ceremony
        Shikibukyou-no-miya (式部卿宮) : Prince Lord Minister of Ceremony
    Ue (上) : literally "up", "the high", in the case of "/female name/+no+Ue", formal spouse of highest rank person, such as formal spouse of Grand Minister
        Aoi-no-ue (葵の上) : formal spouse of Hikaru Genji, Genji later became Grand Minister and Ex-Emperor
        Murasaki-no-ue (紫の上) : de facto formal spouse of Hikaru Genji, Murasaki is but not so high rank as that of Aoi. Aoi is a daughter of Grand Minister and Royal princess. Murasaki is an informal daughter of Royal prince and a daughter of middle class peer.

Origin of title

The title "Asaki yume mishi" comes from the Iroha poem.

    Iro ha nihoheto chirinuru wo wakayo .... uwi no okuyama kefu koete, Asaki yume mishi wehi mo sesu." (wikipedia.org)

"Murasaki Shikibu (紫 式部, English: "Lady Murasaki"; c. 973 or 978 – c. 1014 or 1031) was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court in the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, widely considered to be one of the world's first novels, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012.[1] Murasaki Shikibu is a descriptive name; her personal name is unknown, but she may have been Fujiwara no Kaoriko (藤原 香子), who was mentioned in a 1007 court diary as an imperial lady-in-waiting.

Heian women were traditionally excluded from learning Chinese, the written language of government, but Murasaki, raised in her erudite father's household, showed a precocious aptitude for the Chinese classics and managed to acquire fluency. She married in her mid-to late twenties and gave birth to a daughter before her husband died, two years after they were married. It is uncertain when she began to write The Tale of Genji, but it was probably while she was married or shortly after she was widowed. In about 1005, she was invited to serve as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Shōshi at the Imperial court by Fujiwara no Michinaga, probably because of her reputation as a writer. She continued to write during her service, adding scenes from court life to her work. After five or six years, she left court and retired with Shōshi to the Lake Biwa region. Scholars differ on the year of her death; although most agree on 1014, others have suggested she was alive in 1031.

Murasaki wrote The Diary of Lady Murasaki, a volume of poetry, and The Tale of Genji. Within a decade of its completion, Genji was distributed throughout the provinces; within a century it was recognized as a classic of Japanese literature and had become a subject of scholarly criticism. Early in the 20th century her work was translated; a six-volume English translation was completed in 1933. Scholars continue to recognize the importance of her work, which reflects Heian court society at its peak. Since the 13th century her works have been illustrated by Japanese artists and well-known ukiyo-e woodblock masters....

Early life

Murasaki Shikibu was born c. 973[note 1] in Heian-kyō, Japan, into the northern Fujiwara clan descending from Fujiwara no Yoshifusa, the first 9th century Fujiwara regent.[2] The Fujiwara clan dominated court politics until the end of the 11th century through strategic marriages of their daughters into the imperial family and the use of regencies. In the late 10th century and early 11th century, Michinaga, the so-called Mido Kampaku, arranged his four daughters into marriages with emperors, giving him unprecedented power.[3] Murasaki's great-grandfather, Fujiwara no Kanesuke, had been in the top tier of the aristocracy, but her branch of the family gradually lost power and by the time of Murasaki's birth was at the middle to lower ranks of the Heian aristocracy—the level of provincial governors.[4] The lower ranks of the nobility were typically posted away from court to undesirable positions in the provinces, exiled from the centralized power and court in Kyoto.[5]

Despite the loss of status, the family had a reputation among the literati through Murasaki's paternal great-grandfather and grandfather, both of whom were well-known poets. Her great-grandfather, Fujiwara no Kanesuke, had 56 poems included in 13 of the Twenty-one Imperial Anthologies,[6] the Collections of Thirty-six Poets and the Yamato Monogatari (Tales of Yamato).[7] Her great-grandfather and grandfather both had been friendly with Ki no Tsurayuki, who became notable for popularizing verse written in Japanese.[5] Her father, Fujiwara no Tametoki, attended the State Academy (Daigaku-ryō)[8] and became a well-respected scholar of Chinese classics and poetry; his own verse was anthologized.[9] He entered public service around 968 as a minor official and was given a governorship in 996, staying in service until about 1018.[5][10] Murasaki's mother was descended from the same branch of northern Fujiwara as Tametoki. The couple had three children, a son and two daughters.[9]
Painting of a woman in a violet kimono looking left
Designated one of the One Hundred Poets, Murasaki is shown dressed in a violet kimono, the color associated with her name, in this Edo period illustration.
Painting of a standing man facing right
Fujiwara no Michinaga (19th century monochrome illustration by Kikuchi Yōsai) became extremely powerful during Murasaki's lifetime.

In the Heian era the use of names, insofar as they were recorded, did not follow a modern pattern. A court lady, as well as being known by the title of her own position, if any, took a name referring to the rank or title of a male relative. Thus "Shikibu" is not a modern surname, but refers to Shikibu-shō, the Ministry of Ceremonials where Murasaki's father was a functionary. "Murasaki", an additional name possibly derived from the color violet associated with wisteria, the meaning of the word fuji (an element of her clan name), may have been bestowed on her at court in reference to the name she herself had given to the main female character in "Genji". Michinaga mentions the names of several ladies-in-waiting in a 1007 diary entry; one, Fujiwara no Takako (Kyōshi), may be Murasaki's personal name.[7][note 2]

In Heian-era Japan, husbands and wives kept separate households; children were raised with their mothers, although the patrilineal system was still followed.[11] Murasaki was unconventional because she lived in her father's household, most likely on Teramachi Street in Kyoto, with her younger brother Nobunori. Their mother died, perhaps in childbirth, when they were quite young. Murasaki had at least three half-siblings raised with their mothers; she was very close to one sister who died in her twenties.[12][13][14]

Murasaki was born at a period when Japan was becoming more isolated, after missions to China had ended and a stronger national culture was emerging.[15] In the 9th and 10th centuries, Japanese gradually became a written language through the development of kana, a syllabary based on abbreviations of Chinese characters. In Murasaki's lifetime, men continued to write formally in Chinese, but kana became the written language of intimacy and of noblewomen, setting the foundation for unique forms of Japanese literature.[16]

Chinese was taught to Murasaki's brother as preparation for a career in government, and during her childhood, living in her father's household, she learned and became proficient in classical Chinese.[8] In her diary she wrote, "When my brother ... was a young boy learning the Chinese classics, I was in the habit of listening to him and I became unusually proficient at understanding those passages that he found too difficult to understand and memorize. Father, a most learned man, was always regretting the fact: 'Just my luck,' he would say, 'What a pity she was not born a man!'"[17] With her brother she studied Chinese literature, and she probably also received instruction in more traditional subjects such as music, calligraphy and Japanese poetry.[12] Murasaki's education was unorthodox. Louis Perez explains in The History of Japan that "Women ... were thought to be incapable of real intelligence and therefore were not educated in Chinese."[18] Murasaki was aware that others saw her as "pretentious, awkward, difficult to approach, prickly, too fond of her tales, haughty, prone to versifying, disdainful, cantankerous and scornful".[19] Asian literature scholar Thomas Inge believes she had "a forceful personality that seldom won her friends."[8]
Marriage

Aristocratic Heian women lived restricted and secluded lives, allowed to speak to men only when they were close relatives or household members. Murasaki's autobiographical poetry shows that she socialized with women but had limited contact with men other than her father and brother; she often exchanged poetry with women but never with men.[12] Unlike most noblewomen of her status, however, she did not marry on reaching puberty; instead she stayed in her father's household until her mid-twenties or perhaps even to her early thirties.[12][20]

In 996 when her father was posted to a four-year governorship in Echizen Province, Murasaki went with him, although it was uncommon for a noblewoman of the period to travel such a distance that could take as long as five days.[21] She returned to Kyoto, probably in 998, to marry her father's friend Fujiwara no Nobutaka (c. 95 – c. –), a much older second cousin.[5][12] Descended from the same branch of the Fujiwara clan, he was a court functionary and bureaucrat at the Ministry of Ceremonials, with a reputation for dressing extravagantly and as a talented dancer.[21] In his late forties at the time of their marriage, he had multiple households with an unknown number of wives and offspring.[7] Gregarious and well-known at court, he was involved in numerous romantic relationships that may have continued after his marriage to Murasaki.[12] As was customary, she would have remained in her father's household where her husband would have visited her.[7] Nobutaka had been granted more than one governorship, and by the time of his marriage to Murasaki he was probably quite wealthy. Accounts of their marriage vary: Richard Bowring writes that the marriage was happy, but Japanese literature scholar Haruo Shirane sees indications in her poems that she resented her husband.[5][12]
Painting of a woman on a veranda looking to the left
Murasaki depicted at Ishiyama-dera by Hiroshige III (c. 1880)
Painting of a woman gazing at the full Moon
Murasaki depicted gazing at the Moon for inspiration at Ishiyama-dera by Yoshitoshi (1889)

The couple's daughter, Kenshi (Kataiko), was born in 999. Two years later Nobutaka died during a cholera epidemic.[12] As a married woman Murasaki would have had servants to run the household and care for her daughter, giving her ample leisure time. She enjoyed reading and had access to romances (monogatari) such as The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and The Tales of Ise.[21] Scholars believe she may have started writing The Tale of Genji before her husband's death; it is known she was writing after she was widowed, perhaps in a state of grief.[2][5] In her diary she describes her feelings after her husband's death: "I felt depressed and confused. For some years I had existed from day to day in listless fashion ... doing little more than registering the passage of time ... The thought of my continuing loneliness was quite unbearable".[22]

According to legend, Murasaki retreated to Ishiyama-dera at Lake Biwa, where she was inspired to write The Tale of Genji on an August night while looking at the moon. Although scholars dismiss the factual basis of the story of her retreat, Japanese artists often depicted her at Ishiyama Temple staring at the moon for inspiration.[13] She may have been commissioned to write the story and may have known an exiled courtier in a similar position to her hero Prince Genji.[23] Murasaki would have distributed newly written chapters of Genji to friends who in turn would have re-copied them and passed them on. By this practice the story became known and she gained a reputation as an author.[24]

In her early to mid-thirties, she became a lady-in-waiting (nyōbō) at court, most likely because of her reputation as an author.[2][24] Chieko Mulhern writes in Japanese Women Writers, a Biocritical Sourcebook that scholars have wondered why Murasaki made such a move at a comparatively late period in her life. Her diary evidences that she exchanged poetry with Michinaga after her husband's death, leading to speculation that the two may have been lovers. Bowring sees no evidence that she was brought to court as Michinaga's concubine, although he did bring her to court without following official channels. Mulhern thinks Michinaga wanted to have Murasaki at court to educate his daughter Shōshi.[25]
Court life
A Tosa-school mid- to late 17th century yamato-e of Heian courtiers by Tosa Mitsuoki, shows women dressed in jūnihitoe and with floor-length hair.

Heian culture and court life reached a peak early in the 11th century.[3] The population of Kyoto grew to around 100,000 as the nobility became increasingly isolated at the Heian Palace in government posts and court service.[26] Courtiers became overly refined with little to do, insulated from reality, preoccupied with the minutiae of court life, turning to artistic endeavors.[3][26] Emotions were commonly expressed through the artistic use of textiles, fragrances, calligraphy, colored paper, poetry, and layering of clothing in pleasing color combinations—according to mood and season. Those who showed an inability to follow conventional aesthetics quickly lost popularity, particularly at court.[18] Popular pastimes for Heian noblewomen—who adhered to rigid fashions of floor-length hair, whitened skin and blackened teeth—included having love affairs, writing poetry and keeping diaries. The literature that Heian court women wrote is recognized as some of the earliest and among the best literature written in Japanese canon.[3][26]
Rival courts and women poets

When in 995 Michinaga's two brothers Fujiwara no Michitaka and Fujiwara no Michikane died, leaving the regency vacant, Michinaga quickly won a power struggle against his nephew Fujiwara no Korechika (brother to Teishi, Emperor Ichijō's wife), and, aided by his sister Senshi, he assumed power. Teishi had supported her brother Korechika, who was discredited and banished from court in 996 following a scandal involving his shooting at the retired Emperor Kazan, causing her to lose power.[27] Four years later Michinaga sent Shōshi, his eldest daughter, to Emperor Ichijō's harem when she was about 12.[28] A year after placing Shōshi in the imperial harem, in an effort to undermine Teishi's influence and increase Shōshi's standing, Michinaga had her named Empress although Teishi already held the title. As historian Donald Shively explains, "Michinaga shocked even his admirers by arranging for the unprecedented appointment of Teishi (or Sadako) and Shōshi as concurrent empresses of the same emperor, Teishi holding the usual title of "Lustrous Heir-bearer" kōgō and Shōshi that of "Inner Palatine" (chūgū), a toponymically derived equivalent coined for the occasion".[27] About five years later, Michinaga brought Murasaki to Shōshi's court, in a position that Bowring describes as a companion-tutor.[29]

Women of high status lived in seclusion at court and, through strategic marriages, were used to gain political power for their families. In the case of Shōshi and other such marriages to members of the imperial clan, it enabled the woman's clan to exercise influence over the emperor—this was how Michinaga, and other Fujiwara Regents, achieved their power. Despite their seclusion, some women wielded considerable influence, often achieved through competitive salons, dependent on the quality of those attending.[30] Ichijō's mother and Michinaga's sister, Senshi, had an influential salon, and Michinaga probably wanted Shōshi to surround herself with skilled women such as Murasaki to build a rival salon.[24]
Painting of a woman poet in a kimono looking left
Izumi Shikibu, shown here in a Kusazōshi by Komatsuken from about 1765, was a poet at Empress Teishi's court.
Painting of a woman poet in a kimono looking right
Akazome Emon, a rival court poet, depicted in a c. 1765 ink and color Kusazōshi by Komatsuken
Painting of a standing man and a seated woman looking at each other
Sei Shōnagon, Murasaki's court rival, depicted in a Benizuri-e (c. 1760s)

Shōshi was 16 to 19 when Murasaki joined her court.[31] According to Arthur Waley, Shōshi was a serious-minded young lady, whose living arrangements were divided between her father's household and her court at the Imperial Palace.[32] She gathered around her talented women writers such as Izumi Shikibu and Akazome Emon—the author of an early vernacular history, The Tale of Flowering Fortunes.[33] The rivalry that existed among the women is evident in Murasaki's diary, where she wrote disparagingly of Izumi: "Izumi Shikibu is an amusing letter-writer; but there is something not very satisfactory about her. She has a gift for dashing off informal compositions in a careless running-hand; but in poetry she needs either an interesting subject or some classic model to imitate. Indeed it does not seem to me that in herself she is really a poet at all."[34]

Sei Shōnagon, author of The Pillow Book, had been in service as lady-in-waiting to Teishi when Shōshi came to court; it is possible that Murasaki was invited to Shōshi's court as a rival to Shōnagon. Teishi died in 1001, before Murasaki entered service with Shōshi, so the two writers were not there concurrently, but Murasaki, who wrote about Shōnagon in her diary, certainly knew of her, and to an extent was influenced by her.[35] Shōnagon's The Pillow Book may have been commissioned as a type of propaganda to highlight Teishi's court, known for its educated ladies-in-waiting. Japanese literature scholar Joshua Mostow believes Michinaga provided Murasaki to Shōshi as an equally or better educated woman, so as to showcase Shōshi's court in a similar manner.[36]

The two writers had different temperaments: Shōnagon was witty, clever, and outspoken; Murasaki was withdrawn and sensitive. Entries in Murasaki's diary show that the two may not have been on good terms. Murasaki wrote, "Sei Shōnagon ... was dreadfully conceited. She thought herself so clever, littered her writing with Chinese characters, [which] left a great deal to be desired."[37] Keene thinks that Murasaki's impression of Shōnagon could have been influenced by Shōshi and the women at her court, as Shōnagon served Shōshi's rival empress. Furthermore, he believes Murasaki was brought to court to write Genji in response to Shōnagon's popular Pillow Book.[35] Murasaki contrasted herself to Shōnagon in a variety of ways. She denigrated the pillow book genre and, unlike Shōnagon, who flaunted her knowledge of Chinese, Murasaki pretended to not know the language, regarding it as pretentious and affected.[36]
"The Lady of the Chronicles"

Although the popularity of the Chinese language diminished in the late Heian era, Chinese ballads continued to be popular, including those written by Bai Juyi. Murasaki taught Chinese to Shōshi who was interested in Chinese art and Juyi's ballads. Upon becoming Empress, Shōshi installed screens decorated with Chinese script, causing outrage because written Chinese was considered the language of men, far removed from the women's quarters.[38] The study of Chinese was thought to be unladylike and went against the notion that only men should have access to the literature. Women were supposed to read and write only in Japanese, which separated them through language from government and the power structure. Murasaki, with her unconventional classical Chinese education, was one of the few women available to teach Shōshi classical Chinese.[39] Bowring writes it was "almost subversive" that Murasaki knew Chinese and taught the language to Shōshi.[40] Murasaki, who was reticent about her Chinese education, held the lessons between the two women in secret, writing in her diary, "Since last summer ... very secretly, in odd moments when there happened to be no one about, I have been reading with Her Majesty ... There has of course been no question of formal lessons ... I have thought it best to say nothing about the matter to anybody."[41]
Painting of a woman poet in a kimono at a desk, writing
A Tosa Mitsuoki illustration of Murasaki writing in solitude, late 17th century
Court women in the snow
A Tosa Mitsuoki illustration of Heian court women in the winter, late 17th century

Murasaki probably earned an ambiguous nickname, "The Lady of the Chronicles" (Nihongi no tsubone), for teaching Shōshi Chinese literature.[24] A lady-in-waiting who disliked Murasaki accused her of flaunting her knowledge of Chinese and began calling her "The Lady of the Chronicles"—an allusion to the classic Chronicles of Japan—after an incident in which chapters from Genji were read aloud to the Emperor and his courtiers, one of whom remarked that the author showed a high level of education. Murasaki wrote in her diary, "How utterly ridiculous! Would I, who hesitate to reveal my learning to my women at home, ever think of doing so at court?"[42] Although the nickname was apparently meant to be disparaging, Mulhern believes Murasaki was flattered by it.[24]

The attitude toward the Chinese language was contradictory. In Teishi's court, the Chinese language had been flaunted and considered a symbol of imperial rule and superiority. Yet, in Shōshi's salon there was a great deal of hostility towards the language—perhaps owing to political expedience during a period when Chinese began to be rejected in favor of Japanese—even though Shōshi herself was a student of the language. The hostility may have affected Murasaki and her opinion of the court, and forced her to hide her knowledge of Chinese. Unlike Shōnagon, who was both ostentatious and flirtatious, as well as outspoken about her knowledge of Chinese, Murasaki seems to have been humble, an attitude which possibly impressed Michinaga. Although Murasaki used Chinese and incorporated it in her writing, she publicly rejected the language, a commendable attitude during a period of burgeoning Japanese culture.[43]

Murasaki seems to have been unhappy with court life and was withdrawn and somber. No surviving records show that she entered poetry competitions; she appears to have exchanged few poems or letters with other women during her service.[5] In general, unlike Shōnagon, Murasaki gives the impression in her diary that she disliked court life, the other ladies-in-waiting, and the drunken revelry. She did, however, become close friends with a lady-in-waiting named Lady Saishō, and she wrote of the winters that she enjoyed, "I love to see the snow here".[44][45]

According to Waley, Murasaki may not have been unhappy with court life in general but bored in Shōshi's court. He speculates she would have preferred to serve with the Lady Senshi, whose household seems to have been less strict and more light-hearted. In her diary, Murasaki wrote about Shōshi's court, "[she] has gathered round her a number of very worthy young ladies ... Her Majesty is beginning to acquire more experience of life, and no longer judges others by the same rigid standards as before; but meanwhile her Court has gained a reputation for extreme dullness".[46]
In this 13th century painting from the Murasaki Shikibu Diary Emaki, drunk, disarranged, and disordered Heian courtiers are shown joking and flirting with court ladies.

Murasaki disliked the men at court, whom she thought were drunken and stupid. However, some scholars, such as Waley, are certain she was involved romantically with Michinaga. At the least, Michinaga pursued her and pressured her strongly, and her flirtation with him is recorded in her diary as late as 1010. Yet, she wrote to him in a poem, "You have neither read my book, nor won my love."[47] In her diary she records having to avoid advances from Michinaga—one night he sneaked into her room, stealing a newly written chapter of Genji.[48] However, Michinaga's patronage was essential if she was to continue writing.[49] Murasaki described her daughter's court activities: the lavish ceremonies, the complicated courtships, the "complexities of the marriage system",[20] and in elaborate detail, the birth of Shōshi's two sons.[48]

It is likely that Murasaki enjoyed writing in solitude.[48] She believed she did not fit well with the general atmosphere of the court, writing of herself: "I am wrapped up in the study of ancient stories ... living all the time in a poetical world of my own scarcely realizing the existence of other people .... But when they get to know me, they find to their extreme surprise that I am kind and gentle".[50] Inge says that she was too outspoken to make friends at court, and Mulhern thinks Murasaki's court life was comparatively quiet compared to other court poets.[8][24] Mulhern speculates that her remarks about Izumi were not so much directed at Izumi's poetry but at her behavior, lack of morality and her court liaisons, of which Murasaki disapproved.[33]

Rank was important in Heian court society and Murasaki would not have felt herself to have much, if anything, in common with the higher ranked and more powerful Fujiwaras.[51] In her diary, she wrote of her life at court: "I realized that my branch of the family was a very humble one; but the thought seldom troubled me, and I was in those days far indeed from the painful consciousness of inferiority which makes life at Court a continual torment to me."[52] A court position would have increased her social standing, but more importantly she gained a greater experience to write about.[24] Court life, as she experienced it, is well reflected in the chapters of Genji written after she joined Shōshi. The name Murasaki was most probably given to her at a court dinner in an incident she recorded in her diary: in 1008 the well-known court poet Fujiwara no Kintō inquired after the "Young Murasaki"—an allusion to the character named Murasaki in Genji—which would have been considered a compliment from a male court poet to a female author.[24]
Later life and death
Genji-Garden at Rozan-ji, a temple in Kyoto associated with her former mansion

When Emperor Ichijō died in 1011, Shōshi retired from the Imperial Palace to live in a Fujiwara mansion in Biwa, most likely accompanied by Murasaki, who is recorded as being there with Shōshi in 1013.[49] George Aston explains that when Murasaki retired from court she was again associated with Ishiyama-dera: "To this beautiful spot, it is said, Murasaki no Shikibu [sic] retired from court life to devote the remainder of her days to literature and religion. There are sceptics, however, Motoori being one, who refuse to believe this story, pointing out ... that it is irreconcilable with known facts. On the other hand, the very chamber in the temple where the Genji was written is shown—with the ink-slab which the author used, and a Buddhist Sutra in her handwriting, which, if they do not satisfy the critic, still are sufficient to carry conviction to the minds of ordinary visitors to the temple."[53]

Murasaki may have died in 1014. Her father made a hasty return to Kyoto from his post at Echigo Province that year, possibly because of her death. Writing in A Bridge of Dreams: A Poetics of "The Tale of Genji", Shirane mentions that 1014 is generally accepted as the date of Murasaki Shikibu's death and 973 as the date of her birth, making her 41 when she died.[49] Bowring considers 1014 to be speculative, and believes she may have lived with Shōshi until as late as 1025.[54] Waley agrees given that Murasaki may have attended ceremonies with Shōshi held for Shōshi's son, Emperor Go-Ichijō around 1025.[50]

Murasaki's brother Nobunori died in around 1011, which, combined with the death of his daughter, may have prompted her father to resign his post and take vows at Miidera temple where he died in 1029.[2][49] Murasaki's daughter entered court service in 1025 as a wet nurse to the future Emperor Go-Reizei (1025–1068). She went on to become a well-known poet as Daini no Sanmi.[55]
Works
Murasaki is depicted writing at Ishiyama-dera in this late 17th century silk painting on the Harvard Genji Album frontispiece by Tosa Mitsuoki, housed at the Sackler Museum.

Three works are attributed to Murasaki: The Tale of Genji, The Diary of Lady Murasaki and Poetic Memoirs, a collection of 128 poems.[48] Her work is considered important for its reflection of the creation and development of Japanese writing, during a period when Japanese shifted from an unwritten vernacular to a written language.[30] Until the 9th century, Japanese language texts were written in Chinese characters using the man'yōgana writing system.[56] A revolutionary achievement was the development of kana, a true Japanese script, in the mid-to late 9th century. Japanese authors began to write prose in their own language, which led to genres such as tales (monogatari) and poetic journals (Nikki Bungaku).[57][58][59] Historian Edwin Reischauer writes that genres such as the monogatari were distinctly Japanese and that Genji, written in kana, "was the outstanding work of the period".[16]
Diary and poetry
13th century illustration (emakimono) of The Diary of Lady Murasaki showing Empress Shōshi with the infant Emperor Go-Ichijō and ladies-in-waiting secluded behind a kichō.

Murasaki began her diary after she entered service at Shōshi's court.[48] Much of what is known about her and her experiences at court comes from the diary, which covers the period from about 1008 to 1010. The long descriptive passages, some of which may have originated as letters, cover her relationships with the other ladies-in-waiting, Michinaga's temperament, the birth of Shōshi's sons—at Michinaga's mansion rather than at the Imperial Palace—and the process of writing Genji, including descriptions of passing newly written chapters to calligraphers for transcriptions.[48][60] Typical of contemporary court diaries written to honor patrons, Murasaki devotes half to the birth of Shōshi's son Emperor Go-Ichijō, an event of enormous importance to Michinaga: he had planned for it with his daughter's marriage which made him grandfather and de facto regent to an emperor.[61]

Poetic Memoirs is a collection of 128 poems Mulhern describes as "arranged in a biographical sequence".[48] The original set has been lost. According to custom, the verses would have been passed from person to person and often copied. Some appear written for a lover—possibly her husband before he died—but she may have merely followed tradition and written simple love poems. They contain biographical details: she mentions a sister who died, the visit to Echizen province with her father and that she wrote poetry for Shōshi. Murasaki's poems were published in 1206 by Fujiwara no Teika, in what Mulhern believes to be the collection that is closest to the original form; at around the same time Teika included a selection of Murasaki's works in an imperial anthology, New Collections of Ancient and Modern Times.[48]
The Tale of Genji
Main article: The Tale of Genji

Murasaki is best known for her The Tale of Genji, a three-part novel spanning 1100 pages and 54 chapters,[62][63] which is thought to have taken a decade to complete. The earliest chapters were possibly written for a private patron either during her marriage or shortly after her husband's death. She continued writing while at court and probably finished while still in service to Shōshi.[64] She would have needed patronage to produce a work of such length. Michinaga provided her with costly paper and ink, and with calligraphers. The first handwritten volumes were probably assembled and bound by ladies-in-waiting.[49]
Late 17th century or early 18th century silk scroll painting of a scene from chapter 34 of The Tale of Genji showing men playing in the garden watched by a woman sitting behind a screen.

In his The Pleasures of Japanese Literature, Keene claims Murasaki wrote the "supreme work of Japanese fiction" by drawing on traditions of waka court diaries, and earlier monogatari—written in a mixture of Chinese script and Japanese script—such as The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter or The Tales of Ise.[65] She drew on and blended styles from Chinese histories, narrative poetry and contemporary Japanese prose.[62] Adolphson writes that the juxtaposition of formal Chinese style with mundane subjects resulted in a sense of parody or satire, giving her a distinctive voice.[66] Genji follows the traditional format of monogatari—telling a tale—particularly evident in its use of a narrator, but Keene claims Murasaki developed the genre far beyond its bounds, and by doing so created a form that is utterly modern. The story of the "shining prince" Genji is set in the late 9th to early 10th centuries, and Murasaki eliminated from it the elements of fairy tales and fantasy frequently found in earlier monogatari.[67]

The themes in Genji are common to the period, and are defined by Shively as encapsulating "the tyranny of time and the inescapable sorrow of romantic love".[68] The main theme is that of the fragility of life, "the sorrow of human existence" (mono no aware), a term used over a thousand times in Genji.[69] Keene speculates that in her tale of the "shining prince", Murasaki may have created for herself an idealistic escape from court life, which she found less than savory. In Prince Genji she formed a gifted, comely, refined, yet human and sympathetic protagonist. Keene writes that Genji gives a view into the Heian period; for example love affairs flourished, although women typically remained unseen behind screens, curtains or fusuma.[67]

Helen McCullough describes Murasaki's writing as of universal appeal and believes The Tale of Genji "transcends both its genre and age. Its basic subject matter and setting—love at the Heian court—are those of the romance, and its cultural assumptions are those of the mid-Heian period, but Murasaki Shikibu's unique genius has made the work for many a powerful statement of human relationships, the impossibility of permanent happiness in love ... and the vital importance, in a world of sorrows, of sensitivity to the feelings of others."[70] Prince Genji recognizes in each of his lovers the inner beauty of the woman and the fragility of life, which according to Keene, makes him heroic. The story was popular: Emperor Ichijō had it read to him, even though it was written in Japanese. By 1021 all the chapters were known to be complete and the work was sought after in the provinces where it was scarce.[67][71]
Legacy

Murasaki's reputation and influence have not diminished since her lifetime when she, with other Heian women writers, was instrumental in developing Japanese into a written language.[72] Her writing was required reading for court poets as early as the 12th century as her work began to be studied by scholars who generated authoritative versions and criticism. Within a century of her death she was highly regarded as a classical writer.[71] In the 17th century, Murasaki's work became emblematic of Confucian philosophy and women were encouraged to read her books. In 1673, Kumazawa Banzan argued that her writing was valuable for its sensitivity and depiction of emotions. He wrote in his Discursive Commentary on Genji that when "human feelings are not understood the harmony of the Five Human Relationships is lost."[73]
Painting of women sleeping in a screen area; a woman and a man in a separate screened area
Early 12th century handscroll scene from Genji, showing lovers separated from ladies-in-waiting by two screens, a kichō and a byōbu.
Court women in a room
Early 12th century painting showing a scene from Genji of women in a traditional room partitioned by fusuma, shōji and a kichō. This work is listed as National Treasure of Japan.

The Tale of Genji was copied and illustrated in various forms as early as a century after Murasaki's death. The Genji Monogatari Emaki, is a late Heian era 12th century handscroll, consisting of four scrolls, 19 paintings, and 20 sheets of calligraphy. The illustrations, definitively dated to between 1110 and 1120, have been tentatively attributed to Fujiwara no Takachika and the calligraphy to various well-known contemporary calligraphers. The scroll is housed at the Gotoh Museum and the Tokugawa Art Museum.[74]

Female virtue was tied to literary knowledge in the 17th century, leading to a demand for Murasaki or Genji inspired artifacts, known as genji-e.Dowry sets decorated with scenes from Genji or illustrations of Murasaki became particularly popular for noblewomen: in the 17th century genji-e symbolically imbued a bride with an increased level of cultural status; by the 18th century they had come to symbolize marital success. In 1628, Tokugawa Iemitsu's daughter had a set of lacquer boxes made for her wedding; Prince Toshitada received a pair of silk genji-e screens, painted by Kanō Tan'yū as a wedding gift in 1649.[75]

Murasaki became a popular subject of paintings and illustrations highlighting her as a virtuous woman and poet. She is often shown at her desk in Ishimyama Temple, staring at the moon for inspiration. Tosa Mitsuoki made her the subject of hanging scrolls in the 17th century.[76] The Tale of Genji became a favorite subject of Japanese ukiyo-e artists for centuries with artists such as Hiroshige, Kiyonaga, and Utamaro illustrating various editions of the novel.[77] While early Genji art was considered symbolic of court culture, by the middle of the Edo period the mass-produced ukiyo-e prints made the illustrations accessible for the samurai classes and commoners.[78]

In Envisioning the "Tale of Genji" Shirane observes that "The Tale of Genji has become many things to many different audiences through many different media over a thousand years ... unmatched by any other Japanese text or artifact."[78] The work and its author were popularized through its illustrations in various media: emaki (illustrated handscrolls); byōbu-e (screen paintings), ukiyo-e (woodblock prints); films, comics, and in the modern period, manga.[78] In her fictionalized account of Murasaki's life, The Tale of Murasaki: A Novel, Liza Dalby has Murasaki involved in a romance during her travels with her father to Echizen Province.[23]
17th century ink and gold paper fan showing Murasaki's writing

The Tale of the Genji is recognized as an enduring classic. McCullough writes that Murasaki "is both the quintessential representative of a unique society and a writer who speaks to universal human concerns with a timeless voice. Japan has not seen another such genius."[64] Keene writes that The Tale of Genji continues to captivate, because, in the story, her characters and their concerns are universal. In the 1920s, when Waley's translation was published, reviewers compared Genji to Austen, Proust, and Shakespeare.[79] Mulhern says of Murasaki that she is similar to Shakespeare, who represented his Elizabethan England, in that she captured the essence of the Heian court and as a novelist "succeeded perhaps even beyond her own expectations."[80] Like Shakespeare, her work has been the subject of reams of criticism and many books.[80]
The design of the 2000-yen note was created in Murasaki's honour.

Kyoto held a year-long celebration commemorating the 1000th anniversary of Genji in 2008, with poetry competitions, visits to the Tale of Genji Museum in Uji and Ishiyama-dera (where a life size rendition of Murasaki at her desk was displayed), and women dressing in traditional 12-layer Heian court jūnihitoe and ankle-length wigs. The author and her work inspired museum exhibits and Genji manga spin-offs.[14] The design on the reverse of the first 2000 yen note commemorated her and The Tale of Genji.[81] A plant bearing purple berries has been named after her.[82]

A Genji Album, only in the 1970s dated to 1510, is housed at Harvard University. The album is considered the earliest of its kind and consists of 54 paintings by Tosa Mitsunobu and 54 sheets of calligraphy on shikishi paper in five colors, written by master calligraphers. The leaves are housed in a case dated to the Edo period, with a silk frontispiece painted by Tosa Mitsuoki, dated to around 1690. The album contains Mitsuoki's authentication slips for his ancestor's 16th century paintings." (wikipedia.org)

"Manga (Japanese: 漫画 [maŋga])[a] are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century,[1] and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art.[2] The term manga is used in Japan to refer to both comics and cartooning. Outside of Japan, the word is typically used to refer to comics originally published in the country.[3]

In Japan, people of all ages read manga. The medium includes works in a broad range of genres: action, adventure, business and commerce, comedy, detective, drama, historical, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction and fantasy, erotica (hentai and ecchi), sports and games, and suspense, among others.[4][5] Many manga are translated into other languages.[6] Since the 1950s, manga has become an increasingly major part of the Japanese publishing industry.[7] By 1995, the manga market in Japan was valued at ¥586.4 billion ($6–7 billion),[8] with annual sales of 1.9 billion manga books and manga magazines in Japan (equivalent to 15 issues per person).[9] In 2020 Japan's manga market value hit a new record of ¥612.6 billion due to the fast growth of digital manga sales.[10][11] Manga have also gained a significant worldwide audience.[12][13][14] Beginning with the late 2010s manga started massively outselling American comics.[15] In 2020 the North American manga market was valued at almost $250 million.[16] The fast growth of the North American manga market has been attributed to manga's wide availability on digital reading apps, book retailer chains such as Barnes & Noble and online retailers such as Amazon as well as the increased streaming of anime.[17] According to Jean-Marie Bouissou, Manga represented 38% of the French comics market in 2005.[18][unreliable source?] This is equivalent to approximately 3 times that of the United States and was valued at about €460 million ($640 million).[19] In Europe and the Middle East, the market was valued at $250 million in 2012.[20]

Manga stories are typically printed in black-and-white—due to time constraints, artistic reasons (as coloring could lessen the impact of the artwork)[21] and to keep printing costs low[22]—although some full-color manga exist (e.g., Colorful). In Japan, manga are usually serialized in large manga magazines, often containing many stories, each presented in a single episode to be continued in the next issue. Collected chapters are usually republished in tankōbon volumes, frequently but not exclusively paperback books.[23] A manga artist (mangaka in Japanese) typically works with a few assistants in a small studio and is associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company.[24] If a manga series is popular enough, it may be animated after or during its run.[25] Sometimes, manga are based on previous live-action or animated films.[26]

Manga-influenced comics, among original works, exist in other parts of the world, particularly in those places that speak Chinese ("manhua"), Korean ("manhwa"), English ("OEL manga"), and French ("manfra"), as well as in the nation of Algeria ("DZ-manga")....

Etymology
The kanji for "manga" from the preface to Shiji no yukikai (1798)

The word "manga" comes from the Japanese word 漫画,[29] (katakana: マンガ; hiragana: まんが) composed of the two kanji 漫 (man) meaning "whimsical or impromptu" and 画 (ga) meaning "pictures".[30][31] The same term is the root of the Korean word for comics, "manhwa", and the Chinese word "manhua".[32]

The word first came into common usage in the late 18th century[33] with the publication of such works as Santō Kyōden's picturebook Shiji no yukikai (1798),[34][30] and in the early 19th century with such works as Aikawa Minwa's Manga hyakujo (1814) and the celebrated Hokusai Manga books (1814–1834)[35] containing assorted drawings from the sketchbooks of the famous ukiyo-e artist Hokusai.[36] Rakuten Kitazawa (1876–1955) first used the word "manga" in the modern sense.[37]

In Japanese, "manga" refers to all kinds of cartooning, comics, and animation. Among English speakers, "manga" has the stricter meaning of "Japanese comics", in parallel to the usage of "anime" in and outside Japan. The term "ani-manga" is used to describe comics produced from animation cels.[38]
History and characteristics
Main articles: History of manga and Manga iconography
See also: Kibyōshi and Kamishibai
A kami-shibai story teller from Sazae-san by Machiko Hasegawa. Sazae appears with her hair in a bun.

The history of manga is said to originate from scrolls dating back to the 12th century, and it is believed they represent the basis for the right-to-left reading style. During the Edo period (1603–1867), Toba Ehon embedded the concept of manga.[39] The word itself first came into common usage in 1798,[33] with the publication of works such as Santō Kyōden's picturebook Shiji no yukikai (1798),[34][30] and in the early 19th century with such works as Aikawa Minwa's Manga hyakujo (1814) and the Hokusai Manga books (1814–1834).[36][40] Adam L. Kern has suggested that kibyoshi, picture books from the late 18th century, may have been the world's first comic books. These graphical narratives share with modern manga humorous, satirical, and romantic themes.[41] Some works were mass-produced as serials using woodblock printing.[9]

Writers on manga history have described two broad and complementary processes shaping modern manga. One view represented by other writers such as Frederik L. Schodt, Kinko Ito, and Adam L. Kern, stress continuity of Japanese cultural and aesthetic traditions, including pre-war, Meiji, and pre-Meiji culture and art.[42] The other view, emphasizes events occurring during and after the Allied occupation of Japan (1945–1952), and stresses U.S. cultural influences, including U.S. comics (brought to Japan by the GIs) and images and themes from U.S. television, film, and cartoons (especially Disney).[43]

Regardless of its source, an explosion of artistic creativity occurred in the post-war period,[44] involving manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy) and Machiko Hasegawa (Sazae-san). Astro Boy quickly became (and remains) immensely popular in Japan and elsewhere,[45] and the anime adaptation of Sazae-san drawing more viewers than any other anime on Japanese television in 2011.[39] Tezuka and Hasegawa both made stylistic innovations. In Tezuka's "cinematographic" technique, the panels are like a motion picture that reveals details of action bordering on slow motion as well as rapid zooms from distance to close-up shots. This kind of visual dynamism was widely adopted by later manga artists.[46] Hasegawa's focus on daily life and on women's experience also came to characterize later shōjo manga.[47] Between 1950 and 1969, an increasingly large readership for manga emerged in Japan with the solidification of its two main marketing genres, shōnen manga aimed at boys and shōjo manga aimed at girls.[48]

In 1969 a group of female manga artists (later called the Year 24 Group, also known as Magnificent 24s) made their shōjo manga debut ("year 24" comes from the Japanese name for the year 1949, the birth-year of many of these artists).[49] The group included Moto Hagio, Riyoko Ikeda, Yumiko Ōshima, Keiko Takemiya, and Ryoko Yamagishi.[23] Thereafter, primarily female manga artists would draw shōjo for a readership of girls and young women.[50] In the following decades (1975–present), shōjo manga continued to develop stylistically while simultaneously evolving different but overlapping subgenres.[51] Major subgenres include romance, superheroines, and "Ladies Comics" (in Japanese, redisu レディース, redikomi レディコミ, and josei 女性).[52]

Modern shōjo manga romance features love as a major theme set into emotionally intense narratives of self-realization.[53] With the superheroines, shōjo manga saw releases such as Pink Hanamori's Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, Reiko Yoshida's Tokyo Mew Mew, and Naoko Takeuchi's Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, which became internationally popular in both manga and anime formats.[54] Groups (or sentais) of girls working together have also been popular within this genre. Like Lucia, Hanon, and Rina singing together, and Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus working together.[55]

Manga for male readers sub-divides according to the age of its intended readership: boys up to 18 years old (shōnen manga) and young men 18 to 30 years old (seinen manga);[56] as well as by content, including action-adventure often involving male heroes, slapstick humor, themes of honor, and sometimes explicit sex.[57] The Japanese use different kanji for two closely allied meanings of "seinen"—青年 for "youth, young man" and 成年 for "adult, majority"—the second referring to pornographic manga aimed at grown men and also called seijin ("adult" 成人) manga.[58] Shōnen, seinen, and seijin manga share a number of features in common.

Boys and young men became some of the earliest readers of manga after World War II. From the 1950s on, shōnen manga focused on topics thought to interest the archetypal boy, including subjects like robots, space-travel, and heroic action-adventure.[59] Popular themes include science fiction, technology, sports, and supernatural settings. Manga with solitary costumed superheroes like Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man generally did not become as popular.[60]

The role of girls and women in manga produced for male readers has evolved considerably over time to include those featuring single pretty girls (bishōjo)[61] such as Belldandy from Oh My Goddess!, stories where such girls and women surround the hero, as in Negima and Hanaukyo Maid Team, or groups of heavily armed female warriors (sentō bishōjo)[62]

With the relaxation of censorship in Japan in the 1990s, an assortment of explicit sexual material appeared in manga intended for male readers, and correspondingly continued into the English translations.[63] In 2010, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government considered a bill to restrict minors' access to such content.[64][needs update]

The gekiga style of storytelling—thematically somber, adult-oriented, and sometimes deeply violent—focuses on the day-in, day-out grim realities of life, often drawn in a gritty and unvarnished fashion.[65][66] Gekiga such as Sampei Shirato's 1959–1962 Chronicles of a Ninja's Military Accomplishments (Ninja Bugeichō) arose in the late 1950s and 1960s partly from left-wing student and working-class political activism,[67] and partly from the aesthetic dissatisfaction of young manga artists like Yoshihiro Tatsumi with existing manga....

Publications and exhibition
Delegates of 3rd Asian Cartoon Exhibition, held at Tokyo (Annual Manga Exhibition) by The Japan Foundation[69]
A manga store in Japan

In Japan, manga constituted an annual 40.6 billion yen (approximately US$395 million) publication-industry by 2007.[70] In 2006 sales of manga books made up for about 27% of total book-sales, and sale of manga magazines, for 20% of total magazine-sales.[71] The manga industry has expanded worldwide, where distribution companies license and reprint manga into their native languages.

Marketeers primarily classify manga by the age and gender of the target readership.[72] In particular, books and magazines sold to boys (shōnen) and girls (shōjo) have distinctive cover-art, and most bookstores place them on different shelves. Due to cross-readership, consumer response is not limited by demographics. For example, male readers may subscribe to a series intended for female readers, and so on. Japan has manga cafés, or manga kissa (kissa is an abbreviation of kissaten). At a manga kissa, people drink coffee, read manga and sometimes stay overnight.

The Kyoto International Manga Museum maintains a very large website listing manga published in Japanese.[73]
Magazines
See also: List of manga magazines and List of Japanese manga magazines by circulation
Eshinbun Nipponchi is credited as the first manga magazine ever made.

Manga magazines usually have many series running concurrently with approximately 20–40 pages allocated to each series per issue. Other magazines such as the anime fandom magazine Newtype featured single chapters within their monthly periodicals. Other magazines like Nakayoshi feature many stories written by many different artists; these magazines, or "anthology magazines", as they are also known (colloquially "phone books"), are usually printed on low-quality newsprint and can be anywhere from 200 to more than 850 pages thick. Manga magazines also contain one-shot comics and various four-panel yonkoma (equivalent to comic strips). Manga series can run for many years if they are successful. Popular shonen magazines include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Shōnen Magazine and Weekly Shōnen Sunday - Popular shoujo manga include Ciao, Nakayoshi and Ribon. Manga artists sometimes start out with a few "one-shot" manga projects just to try to get their name out. If these are successful and receive good reviews, they are continued. Magazines often have a short life.[74]
Collected volumes
Main article: Tankōbon

After a series has run for a while, publishers often collect the chapters and print them in dedicated book-sized volumes, called tankōbon. These can be hardcover, or more usually softcover books, and are the equivalent of U.S. trade paperbacks or graphic novels. These volumes often use higher-quality paper, and are useful to those who want to "catch up" with a series so they can follow it in the magazines or if they find the cost of the weeklies or monthlies to be prohibitive. "Deluxe" versions have also been printed as readers have gotten older and the need for something special grew. Old manga have also been reprinted using somewhat lesser quality paper and sold for 100 yen (about $1 U.S. dollar) each to compete with the used book market.
History

Kanagaki Robun and Kawanabe Kyōsai created the first manga magazine in 1874: Eshinbun Nipponchi. The magazine was heavily influenced by Japan Punch, founded in 1862 by Charles Wirgman, a British cartoonist. Eshinbun Nipponchi had a very simple style of drawings and did not become popular with many people. Eshinbun Nipponchi ended after three issues. The magazine Kisho Shimbun in 1875 was inspired by Eshinbun Nipponchi, which was followed by Marumaru Chinbun in 1877, and then Garakuta Chinpo in 1879.[75] Shōnen Sekai was the first shōnen magazine created in 1895 by Iwaya Sazanami, a famous writer of Japanese children's literature back then. Shōnen Sekai had a strong focus on the First Sino-Japanese War.[76]

In 1905 the manga-magazine publishing boom started with the Russo-Japanese War,[77] Tokyo Pakku was created and became a huge hit.[78] After Tokyo Pakku in 1905, a female version of Shōnen Sekai was created and named Shōjo Sekai, considered the first shōjo magazine.[79] Shōnen Pakku was made and is considered the first children's manga magazine. The children's demographic was in an early stage of development in the Meiji period. Shōnen Pakku was influenced from foreign children's magazines such as Puck which an employee of Jitsugyō no Nihon (publisher of the magazine) saw and decided to emulate. In 1924, Kodomo Pakku was launched as another children's manga magazine after Shōnen Pakku.[78] During the boom, Poten (derived from the French "potin") was published in 1908. All the pages were in full color with influences from Tokyo Pakku and Osaka Puck. It is unknown if there were any more issues besides the first one.[77] Kodomo Pakku was launched May 1924 by Tokyosha and featured high-quality art by many members of the manga artistry like Takei Takeo, Takehisa Yumeji and Aso Yutaka. Some of the manga featured speech balloons, where other manga from the previous eras did not use speech balloons and were silent.[78]

Published from May 1935 to January 1941, Manga no Kuni coincided with the period of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). Manga no Kuni featured information on becoming a mangaka and on other comics industries around the world. Manga no Kuni handed its title to Sashie Manga Kenkyū in August 1940.[80]
Dōjinshi
Main article: Dōjinshi

Dōjinshi, produced by small publishers outside of the mainstream commercial market, resemble in their publishing small-press independently published comic books in the United States. Comiket, the largest comic book convention in the world with around 500,000 visitors gathering over three days, is devoted to dōjinshi. While they most often contain original stories, many are parodies of or include characters from popular manga and anime series. Some dōjinshi continue with a series' story or write an entirely new one using its characters, much like fan fiction. In 2007, dōjinshi sales amounted to 27.73 billion yen (US$245 million).[70] In 2006 they represented about a tenth of manga books and magazines sales.[71]
Digital manga

Thanks to the advent of the internet, there have been new ways for aspiring mangaka to upload and sell their manga online. Before, there were two main ways in which a mangaka's work could be published: taking their manga drawn on paper to a publisher themselves, or submitting their work to competitions run by magazines.[81]
Web manga

In recent years, there has been a rise in manga released digitally. Web manga, as it is known in Japan, has seen an increase thanks in part to image hosting websites where anyone can upload pages from their works for free. Although released digitally, almost all web manga sticks to the conventional black-and-white format despite some never getting physical publication. Pixiv is the most popular site where amateur and professional work gets published on the site. It has grown to be the most visited site for artwork in Japan.[82] Twitter has also become a popular place for web manga with many artists releasing pages weekly on their accounts in the hope of their work getting picked up or published professionally. One of the best examples of an amateur work becoming professional is One-Punch Man which was released online and later received a professional remake released digitally and an anime adaptation soon thereafter.[83]

Many of the big print publishers have also released digital only magazines and websites where web manga get published alongside their serialized magazines. Shogakukan for instance has two websites, Sunday Webry and Ura Sunday, that release weekly chapters for web manga and even offer contests for mangaka to submit their work. Both Sunday Webry and Ura Sunday have become one of the top web manga sites in Japan.[84][85] Some have even released apps that teach how to draw professional manga and learn how to create them. Weekly Shōnen Jump released Jump Paint, an app that guides users on how to make their own manga from making storyboards to digitally inking lines. It also offers more than 120 types of pen tips and more than 1,000 screentones for artists to practice.[81] Kodansha has also used the popularity of web manga to launch more series and also offer better distribution of their officially translated works under Kodansha Comics thanks in part to the titles being released digitally first before being published physically.[86]

The rise web manga has also been credited to smartphones and computers as more and more readers read manga on their phones rather than from a print publication. While paper manga has seen a decrease over time, digital manga have been growing in sales each year. The Research Institute for Publications reports that sales of digital manga books excluding magazines jumped 27.1 percent to ¥146 billion in 2016 from the year before while sales of paper manga saw a record year-on-year decline of 7.4 percent to ¥194.7 billion. They have also said that if the digital and paper keep the same growth and drop rates, web manga would exceed their paper counterparts.[87] In 2020 manga sales topped the ¥600 billion mark for the first time in history, beating the 1995 peak due to a fast growth of the digital manga market which rose by ¥82.7 billion from a previous year, surpassing print manga sales which have also increased.[88][89]
Webtoons

While webtoons have caught on in popularity as a new medium for comics in Asia, Japan has been slow to adopt webtoons as the traditional format and print publication still dominate the way manga is created and consumed(although this is beginning to change). Despite this, one of the biggest webtoon publishers in the world, Comico, has had success in the traditional Japanese manga market. Comico was launched by NHN Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of Korean company, NHN Entertainment. As of now[when?], there are only two webtoon publishers that publish Japanese webtoons: Comico and Naver Webtoon (under the name XOY in Japan). Kakao has also had success by offering licensed manga and translated Korean webtoons with their service Piccoma. All three companies credit their success to the webtoon pay model where users can purchase each chapter individually instead of having to buy the whole book while also offering some chapters for free for a period of time allowing anyone to read a whole series for free if they wait long enough.[90] The added benefit of having all of their titles in color and some with special animations and effects have also helped them succeed. Some popular Japanese webtoons have also gotten anime adaptations and print releases, the most notable being ReLIFE and Recovery of an MMO Junkie.[91][92]
International markets
Main article: Manga outside Japan

By 2007, the influence of manga on international comics had grown considerably over the past two decades.[93] "Influence" is used here to refer to effects on the comics markets outside Japan and to aesthetic effects on comics artists internationally.
The reading direction in a traditional manga

Traditionally, manga stories flow from top to bottom and from right to left. Some publishers of translated manga keep to this original format. Other publishers mirror the pages horizontally before printing the translation, changing the reading direction to a more "Western" left to right, so as not to confuse foreign readers or traditional comics-consumers. This practice is known as "flipping".[94] For the most part, criticism suggests that flipping goes against the original intentions of the creator (for example, if a person wears a shirt that reads "MAY" on it, and gets flipped, then the word is altered to "YAM"), who may be ignorant of how awkward it is to read comics when the eyes must flow through the pages and text in opposite directions, resulting in an experience that's quite distinct from reading something that flows homogeneously. If the translation is not adapted to the flipped artwork carefully enough it is also possible for the text to go against the picture, such as a person referring to something on their left in the text while pointing to their right in the graphic. Characters shown writing with their right hands, the majority of them, would become left-handed when a series is flipped. Flipping may also cause oddities with familiar asymmetrical objects or layouts, such as a car being depicted with the gas pedal on the left and the brake on the right, or a shirt with the buttons on the wrong side, however these issues are minor when compared to the unnatural reading flow, and some of them could be solved with an adaptation work that goes beyond just translation and blind flipping.[95]
Asia

Manga has highly influenced the art styles of manhwa and manhua.[96] Manga in Indonesia is published by Elex Media Komputindo, Level Comic, M&C and Gramedia. Manga has influenced Indonesia's original comic industry. Manga in the Philippines were imported from the US and were sold only in specialty stores and in limited copies. The first manga in Filipino language is Doraemon which was published by J-Line Comics and was then followed by Case Closed.[citation needed] In 2015, Boy's Love manga became popular through the introduction of BL manga by printing company BLACKink. Among the first BL titles to be printed were Poster Boy, Tagila, and Sprinters, all were written in Filipino. BL manga have become bestsellers in the top three bookstore companies in the Philippines since their introduction in 2015. During the same year, Boy's Love manga have become a popular mainstream with Thai consumers, leading to television series adapted from BL manga stories since 2016.[citation needed]
Europe

Manga has influenced European cartooning in a way that is somewhat different from in the U.S. Broadcast anime in France and Italy opened the European market to manga during the 1970s.[97] French art has borrowed from Japan since the 19th century (Japonism)[98] and has its own highly developed tradition of bande dessinée cartooning.[99] In France, beginning in the mid-1990s,[100] manga has proven very popular to a wide readership, accounting for about one-third of comics sales in France since 2004.[101] By mid-2021, 75 percent of the €300 value of Culture Pass accounts given to French 18 year-olds was spent on manga.[102] According to the Japan External Trade Organization, sales of manga reached $212.6 million within France and Germany alone in 2006.[97] France represents about 50% of the European market and is the second worldwide market, behind Japan.[20] In 2013, there were 41 publishers of manga in France and, together with other Asian comics, manga represented around 40% of new comics releases in the country,[103] surpassing Franco-Belgian comics for the first time.[104] European publishers marketing manga translated into French include Asuka, Casterman, Glénat, Kana, and Pika Édition, among others.[citation needed] European publishers also translate manga into Dutch, German, Italian, and other languages. In 2007, about 70% of all comics sold in Germany were manga.[105]

Manga publishers based in the United Kingdom include Gollancz and Titan Books.[citation needed] Manga publishers from the United States have a strong marketing presence in the United Kingdom: for example, the Tanoshimi line from Random House.[citation needed] In 2019 The British Museum held a mass exhibition dedicated to manga.[106][107][108]
United States

Manga made their way only gradually into U.S. markets, first in association with anime and then independently.[109] Some U.S. fans became aware of manga in the 1970s and early 1980s.[110] However, anime was initially more accessible than manga to U.S. fans,[111] many of whom were college-age young people who found it easier to obtain, subtitle, and exhibit video tapes of anime than translate, reproduce, and distribute tankōbon-style manga books.[112] One of the first manga translated into English and marketed in the U.S. was Keiji Nakazawa's Barefoot Gen, an autobiographical story of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima issued by Leonard Rifas and Educomics (1980–1982).[113] More manga were translated between the mid-1980s and 1990s, including Golgo 13 in 1986, Lone Wolf and Cub from First Comics in 1987, and Kamui, Area 88, and Mai the Psychic Girl, also in 1987 and all from Viz Media-Eclipse Comics.[114] Others soon followed, including Akira from Marvel Comics' Epic Comics imprint, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind from Viz Media, and Appleseed from Eclipse Comics in 1988, and later Iczer-1 (Antarctic Press, 1994) and Ippongi Bang's F-111 Bandit (Antarctic Press, 1995).

In the 1980s to the mid-1990s, Japanese animation, like Akira, Dragon Ball, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Pokémon, made a bigger impact on the fan experience and in the market than manga.[115] Matters changed when translator-entrepreneur Toren Smith founded Studio Proteus in 1986. Smith and Studio Proteus acted as an agent and translator of many Japanese manga, including Masamune Shirow's Appleseed and Kōsuke Fujishima's Oh My Goddess!, for Dark Horse and Eros Comix, eliminating the need for these publishers to seek their own contacts in Japan.[116] Simultaneously, the Japanese publisher Shogakukan opened a U.S. market initiative with their U.S. subsidiary Viz, enabling Viz to draw directly on Shogakukan's catalogue and translation skills.[94]
A young boy reading Black Cat

Japanese publishers began pursuing a U.S. market in the mid-1990s due to a stagnation in the domestic market for manga.[117] The U.S. manga market took an upturn with mid-1990s anime and manga versions of Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell (translated by Frederik L. Schodt and Toren Smith) becoming very popular among fans.[118] An extremely successful manga and anime translated and dubbed in English in the mid-1990s was Sailor Moon.[119] By 1995–1998, the Sailor Moon manga had been exported to over 23 countries, including China, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, North America and most of Europe.[120] In 1997, Mixx Entertainment began publishing Sailor Moon, along with CLAMP's Magic Knight Rayearth, Hitoshi Iwaaki's Parasyte and Tsutomu Takahashi's Ice Blade in the monthly manga magazine MixxZine. Mixx Entertainment, later renamed Tokyopop, also published manga in trade paperbacks and, like Viz, began aggressive marketing of manga to both young male and young female demographics.[121]

During this period, Dark Horse Manga was a major publisher of translated manga. In addition to Oh My Goddess!, the company published Akira, Astro Boy, Berserk, Blade of the Immortal, Ghost in the Shell, Lone Wolf and Cub, Yasuhiro Nightow's Trigun and Blood Blockade Battlefront, Gantz, Kouta Hirano's Hellsing and Drifters, Blood+, Multiple Personality Detective Psycho, FLCL, Mob Psycho 100, and Oreimo. The company received 13 Eisner Award nominations for its manga titles, and three of the four manga creators admitted to The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame — Osamu Tezuka, Kazuo Koike, and Goseki Kojima — were published in Dark Horse translations.[122]

In the following years, manga became increasingly popular, and new publishers entered the field while the established publishers greatly expanded their catalogues.[123] The Pokémon manga Electric Tale of Pikachu issue #1 sold over 1 million copies in the United States, making it the best-selling single comic book in the United States since 1993.[124] By 2008, the U.S. and Canadian manga market generated $175 million in annual sales.[125] Simultaneously, mainstream U.S. media began to discuss manga, with articles in The New York Times, Time magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired magazine.[126] As of 2017, manga distributor Viz Media is the largest publisher of graphic novels and comic books in the United States, with a 23% share of the market.[127] BookScan sales show that manga is one of the fastest-growing areas of the comic book and narrative fiction markets. From January 2019 to May 2019, the manga market grew 16%, compared to the overall comic book market's 5% growth. The NPD Group noted that, compared to other comic book readers, manga readers are younger (76% under 30) and more diverse, including a higher female readership (16% higher than other comic books).[128] As of January 2020 manga is the second largest category in the US comic book and graphic novel market, accounting for 27% of the entire market share.[129] During the the American bookseller Barnes & Noble saw up to a 500% profit from graphic novel and manga sales due to the younger generations showing a high interest in the medium.[130] Sales of print manga titles in the U.S. increased by 3.6 million units in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020.[131]
Localized manga
Main articles: Manfra and Original English-language manga

A number of artists in the United States have drawn comics and cartoons influenced by manga. As an early example, Vernon Grant drew manga-influenced comics while living in Japan in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[132] Others include Frank Miller's mid-1980s Ronin, Adam Warren and Toren Smith's 1988 The Dirty Pair,[133] Ben Dunn's 1987 Ninja High School and Manga Shi 2000 from Crusade Comics (1997).

By the 21st century several U.S. manga publishers had begun to produce work by U.S. artists under the broad marketing-label of manga.[134] In 2002 I.C. Entertainment, formerly Studio Ironcat and now out of business, launched a series of manga by U.S. artists called Amerimanga.[135] In 2004 eigoMANGA launched the Rumble Pak and Sakura Pakk anthology series. Seven Seas Entertainment followed suit with World Manga.[136] Simultaneously, TokyoPop introduced original English-language manga (OEL manga) later renamed Global Manga.[137]

Francophone artists have also developed their own versions of manga (manfra), like Frédéric Boilet's la nouvelle manga. Boilet has worked in France and in Japan, sometimes collaborating with Japanese artists." (wikipedia.org)

"A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often oddly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture; when assembled, they produce a complete picture.

In the 18th century, jigsaw puzzles were created by painting a picture on a flat, rectangular piece of wood, then cut into small pieces. Despite the name, a jigsaw was never used. John Spilsbury, a London cartographer and engraver, is credited with commercialising jigsaw puzzles around 1760.[1] They have since come to be made primarily of cardboard.

Typical images on jigsaw puzzles include scenes from nature, buildings, and repetitive designs—castles and mountains are common, as well as other traditional subjects. However, any picture can be used. Artisan puzzle-makers and companies using technologies for one-off and small print-run puzzles utilize a wide range of subject matter, including optical illusions, unusual art, and personal photographs. In addition to traditional flat, two-dimensional puzzles, three-dimensional puzzles have entered large-scale production, including spherical puzzles and architectural recreations.

A range of jigsaw puzzle accessories including boards, cases, frames, and roll-up mats has become available to assist jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts. While most assembled puzzles are disassembled for reuse, they can also be attached to a backing with adhesive and displayed as art....

History
John Spilsbury's "Europe divided into its kingdoms, etc." (1766). He created the jigsaw puzzle for educational purposes, and called them "Dissected Maps".[2][3]

John Spilsbury is believed to have produced the first jigsaw puzzle around 1760, using a marquetry saw.[1]

Early puzzles, known as dissections, were produced by mounting maps on sheets of hardwood and cutting along national boundaries, creating a puzzle useful for teaching geography.[1] Royal governess Lady Charlotte Finch used such "dissected maps" to teach the children of King George III and Queen Charlotte[4][5] Cardboard jigsaw puzzles appeared in the late 1800s, but were slow to replace wooden ones because manufacturers felt that cardboard puzzles would be perceived as low-quality, and because profit margins on wooden jigsaws were larger.[1]
British printed puzzle from 1874.

The name "jigsaw" came to be associated with the puzzle around 1880 when fretsaws became the tool of choice for cutting the shapes. Since fretsaws are distinct from jigsaws, the name appears to be a misnomer.[1]
Wooden jigsaw pieces, cut by hand

Jigsaw puzzles soared in popularity during the Great Depression, as they provided a cheap, long-lasting, recyclable form of entertainment.[1][6] It was around this time that jigsaws evolved to become more complex and appealing to adults.[1] They were also given away in product promotions and used in advertising, with customers completing an image of the promoted product.[1][6]

Sales of wooden puzzles fell after World War II as improved wages led to price increases, while improvements in manufacturing processes made paperboard jigsaws more attractive.[6]

Demand for jigsaw puzzles saw a surge, comparable to that of the Great Depression,.[7][8]
Modern construction
Paperboard jigsaw pieces

Most modern jigsaw puzzles are made of paperboard as they are easier and cheaper to mass-produce. An enlarged photograph or printed reproduction of a painting or other two-dimensional artwork is glued to cardboard, which is then fed into a press. The press forces a set of hardened steel blades of the desired pattern, called a puzzle die, through the board until fully cut.

The puzzle die is a flat board, often made from plywood, with slots cut or burned in the same shape as the knives that are used. The knives are set into the slots and covered in a compressible material, typically foam rubber, which ejects the cut puzzle pieces.

The cutting process is similar to making shaped cookies with a cookie cutter. However, the forces involved are tremendously greater: A typical 1000-piece puzzle requires upwards of 700 tons of force to push the die through the board.

Beginning in the 1930s, jigsaw puzzles were cut using large hydraulic presses that now cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The precise cuts gave a snug fit, but the cost limited jigsaw puzzle production to large corporations. Recent roller-press methods achieve the same results at a lower cost.[citation needed]

New technology has also enabled laser-cutting of wooden or acrylic jigsaw puzzles. The advantage is that the puzzle can be custom-cut to any size or shape, with any number or average size of pieces. Many museums have laser-cut acrylic puzzles made of some of their art so visiting children can assemble puzzles of the images on display. Acrylic pieces are very durable, waterproof, and can withstand continued use without the image degrading. Also, because the print and cut patterns are computer-based, missing pieces can easily be remade.

By the early 1960s, Tower Press was the world's largest jigsaw puzzle maker; it was acquired by Waddingtons in 1969.[9] Numerous smaller-scale puzzle makers work in artisanal styles, handcrafting and handcutting their creations.[10][11][12][13]
Variations
Jigsaw puzzle software allowing rotation of pieces
A three-dimensional puzzle composed of several two-dimensional puzzles stacked on top of one another
A puzzle without a picture

Jigsaw puzzles come in a variety of sizes. Among those marketed to adults, 300-, 500- and 750-piece puzzles are considered "smaller". More sophisticated, but still common, puzzles come in sizes of 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000, 7,500, 8,000, 9,000, 13,200, 18,000, 24,000, 32,000 and 40,000 pieces.

Jigsaw puzzles geared towards children typically have many fewer pieces and are typically much larger. For very young children, puzzles with as few as 4 to 9 large pieces (so as not to be a choking hazard) are standard. They are usually made of wood or plastic for durability and can be cleaned without damage.

The most common layout for a thousand-piece puzzle is 38 pieces by 27 pieces, for an actual total of 1,026 pieces. Most 500-piece puzzles are 27 pieces by 19 pieces. A few puzzles are double-sided so they can be solved from either side—adding complexity, as the enthusiast must determine if they are looking at the right side of each piece.

"Family puzzles" of 100–550 pieces use an assortment of small, medium and large pieces, with each size going in one direction or towards the middle of the puzzle. This allows a family of different skill levels and hand sizes to work on the puzzle together. Companies like Springbok, Cobble Hill, Ravensburger and Suns Out make this type of specialty puzzle.

There are also three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles. Many are made of wood or styrofoam and require the puzzle to be solved in a particular order, as some pieces will not fit if others are already in place. One type of 3-D jigsaw puzzle is a puzzle globe, often made of plastic. Like 2-D puzzles, the assembled pieces form a single layer, but the final form is three-dimensional. Most globe puzzles have designs representing spherical shapes such as the Earth, the Moon, and historical globes of the Earth.

Also common are puzzle boxes, simple three-dimensional puzzles with a small drawer or box in the center for storage.

Jigsaw puzzles can vary significantly in price depending on their complexity, number of pieces, and brand. In the US, children's puzzles can start around $5, while larger ones can be closer to $50. The most expensive puzzle to date was sold for $US27,000 in 2005 at a charity auction for The Golden Retriever Foundation.[14]

Several word-puzzle games use pieces similar to those in jigsaw puzzles. Examples include Alfa-Lek, Jigsaw Words, Nab-It!, Puzzlage, Typ-Dom, Word Jigsaw, and Yottsugo.[15][citation needed]
Puzzle pieces
A "whimsy" piece in a wooden jigsaw puzzle
A 3D jigsaw puzzle

Many puzzles are termed "fully interlocking", which means that adjacent pieces are connected so that they stay attached when one is turned. Sometimes the connection is tight enough to pick up a solved part by holding one piece.

Some fully interlocking puzzles have pieces of a similar shape, with rounded tabs (interjambs) on opposite ends and corresponding indentations—called blanks—on the other two sides to receive the tabs. Other fully interlocking puzzles may have tabs and blanks variously arranged on each piece; but they usually have four sides, and the numbers of tabs and blanks thus add up to four. Uniformly shaped fully interlocking puzzles, sometimes called "Japanese Style", are the most difficult because the differences in the pieces' shapes are most subtle.[citation needed]

Most jigsaw puzzles are square, rectangular or round, with edge pieces with one straight or smoothly curved side, plus four corner pieces (if the puzzle is square or rectangular). However, some puzzles have edge, and corner pieces cut like the rest, with no straight sides, making it more challenging to identify them. Other puzzles utilize more complex edge pieces to form unique shapes when assembled, such as profiles of animals.

The pieces of spherical jigsaw, like immersive panorama jigsaw, can be triangular-shaped, according to the rules of tessellation of the geoid primitive.

Designer Yuu Asaka created "Jigsaw Puzzle 29". Instead of four corner pieces, it has five. The puzzle is made from pale blue acrylic without a picture.[16] It was awarded the Jury Honorable Mention of 2018 Puzzle Design Competition.[17] Because many puzzlers had solved it easily, he created "Jigsaw Puzzle 19" which composed only with corner pieces as revenge.[18] It was made with transparent green acrylic pieces without a picture.[19]
Calculating the number of edge pieces

Jigsaw puzzlers often want to know in advance how many border pieces they are looking for to verify they have found all of them. Puzzle sizes are typically listed on commercially distributed puzzles but usually include the total number of pieces in the puzzle and do not list the count of edge or interior pieces.

Puzzlers, therefore, calculate the number of border pieces. To calculate B (border pieces) from P (the total piece count), follow this method:

    List the prime factors of P.

        For a 513-piece jigsaw, the prime factorization tree is 3×3×3×19=513

    Take the square root of P and round off.

        √513 ≈ 22.6
        round to 23

    Look for numbers in the prime factor list within ±20% of the square root of P.
        Calculate 20% of the rounded square root of P.

            1⁄5 × 23 = 4.6

        Develop the range, ±20%, from the rounded square root of P.

            23 ±4.6 = 18.4 to 27.6

        Compare the range with the factor list. Define this as E1.

            The factor list shows 19 in the range.

    Determine the horizontal / vertical dimensions.
        Divide P (the total number of pieces) by E1 to determine the horizontal / vertical dimensions, E1xE2.

            513 / 19 = 27
            This is probably a 19×27 puzzle.

        Alternative method: take the remaining numbers from the prime factorization tree.

            3x3x3 = 27

    Add the four sides and subtract 4 to correct for the corner pieces, which would otherwise be counted in both the horizontal and vertical.

        27 × 2 + 19 × 2 - 4 = 88

These 88 border pieces include 4 corners, 17 pieces between corners on the short sides, and 25 between corners on the long sides.

Common puzzle dimensions:

    1000 piece puzzle: 1026 pieces, 126 border pieces (38x27)[20]

World records
Largest commercially available jigsaw puzzles
Pieces     Name of puzzle     Company     Year     Size [cm]     Area [m2]
54,000     Travel by Art     Grafika     2020     864 × 204     17.65
52,110     (No title: collage of animals)     MartinPuzzle     2018     696 × 202     14.06
51,300     27 Wonders from Around the World     Kodak     2019     869 × 191     16.60
48,000     Around the World     Grafika     2017     768 × 204     15.67
42,000     La vuelta al Mundo     Educa Borras     2017     749 × 157     11.76
40,320     Making Mickey Magic     Ravensburger     2018     680 × 192     13.06
40,320     Memorable Disney Moments     Ravensburger     2016     680 × 192     13.06
33,600     Wild Life     Educa Borras     2014     570 × 157     8.95
32,000     New York City Window     Ravensburger     2014     544 × 192     10.45
32,000     Double Retrospect     Ravensburger     2010     544 × 192     10.45
24,000     Life, The greatest puzzle     Educa Borras     2007     428 × 157     6.72
Largest-sized jigsaw puzzles

The world's largest-sized jigsaw puzzle measured 5,428.8 m2 (58,435 sq ft) with 21,600 pieces, each measuring a Guinness World Records maximum size of 50 cm by 50 cm. It was assembled on 3 November 2002 by 777 people at the former Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong.[21]
Largest jigsaw puzzle – most pieces
The Guinness record of CYM Group in 2011 with 551,232 pieces

The jigsaw with the greatest number of pieces had 551,232 pieces and measured 14.85 × 23.20 m (48 ft 8.64 in × 76 ft 1.38 in). It was assembled on 25 September 2011 at Phú Thọ Indoor Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, by students of the University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City. It is listed by the Guinness World Records for the "Largest Jigsaw Puzzle – most pieces", but as the intact jigsaw had been divided into 3,132 sections, each containing 176 pieces, which were reassembled and then connected, the claim is controversial.[22][23]
Society

The logo of Wikipedia is a globe made out of jigsaw pieces. The incomplete sphere symbolizes the room to add new knowledge.[citation needed]

In the logo of the Colombian Office of the Attorney General appears a jigsaw puzzle piece in the foreground. They named it "The Key Piece": "The piece of a puzzle is the proper symbol to visually represent the Office of the Attorney General because it includes the concepts of search, solution and answers that the entity pursues through the investigative activity."[24]
Art and entertainment

The central antagonist in the Saw film franchise is named Jigsaw.[25]

In the 1933 Laurel and Hardy short Me and My Pal, several characters attempt to complete a large jigsaw puzzle.[26]

Lost in Translation is a poem about a child putting together a jigsaw puzzle, as well as an interpretive puzzle itself.

Life: A User's Manual, Georges Perec's most famous novel, tells as pieces of a puzzle a story about a jigsaw puzzle maker.

Jigsaw Puzzle (song), sometimes spelled "Jig-Saw Puzzle" is a song by the rock and roll band The Rolling Stones, featured on their 1968 album Beggars Banquet.

In ‘‘Citizen Kane‘’ Susan Alexander Kane (Dorothy Comingore) is reduced to spending her days completing jigsaws after the failure of her operatic career. After Kane’s death when ‘’Xanadu’’ is emptied, hundreds of jigsaw puzzles are discovered in the cellar.
Mental health

According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, doing jigsaw puzzles is one of many activities that can help keep the brain active and may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.[27]
An "autism awareness" ribbon, featuring red, blue, and yellow jigsaw pieces

Jigsaw puzzle pieces were first used as a symbol for autism in 1963 by the United Kingdom's National Autistic Society.[28] The organization chose jigsaw pieces for their logo to represent the "puzzling" nature of autism and the inability to "fit in" due to social differences, and also because jigsaw pieces were recognizable and otherwise unused.[29] Puzzle pieces have since been incorporated into the logos and promotional materials of many organizations, including the Autism Society of America and Autism Speaks.

Proponents of the autism rights movement oppose the jigsaw puzzle iconography, stating that metaphors such as "puzzling" and "incomplete" are harmful to autistic people. Critics of the puzzle piece symbol instead advocate for a rainbow-colored infinity symbol representing diversity.[30] In 2017, the journal Autism concluded that the use of the jigsaw puzzle evoked negative public perception towards autistic individuals. They removed the puzzle piece from their cover in February 2018." (wikipedia.org)

"