Micole ([info]coffeeandink) wrote in [info]reading_genji,
@ 2005-12-03 20:30:00
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Entry tags:admin, reading_genji icons, ref:general

Introductory post



  1. Background
    It's all [info]rachelmanija's fault.

    This is the world's loosest reading group for The Tale of Genji. We're not all reading the same translation, or reading at the same pace. We're just reporting on it--or any other information which seems useful or relevant--as we read.

  2. Tags
    I suggest we tag with translator, chapter numbers, and any other information that seems relevant.

  3. Format
    Entries may be full posts or links, at the poster's discretion. We recommend lj-cuts for exceptionally long entries.

  4. Spoilers
    Spoiler-cutting is recommended, but left up to the poster's discretion.

  5. Membership
    Right now, anyone can join, watch, or post. We can reconsider if it's a problem.

  6. Idiolect
    G=P "Since effusing about the greatness of Genji is such a frequent feature of the book, it's taking too long for me to write it out every time it happens. From now on, every time a character or the author goes off on a long tangent about how perfect Genji is, I will merely note G=P."--[info]rachelmanija

    Genji is a skank "Genji is such a skank!/I think he's also the world's first Mary Sue too. Or something."--[info]oyceter

  7. Courtesy
    ... Do we need a warning on this? Trolls will be forced to write out a description of one of Genji's outfits four hundred times on a blackboard, then taken outside and shot.

  8. Resources
    Genji online (Seidensticker translation)

    MCEL Genji home page

    A Photographic Guide to The Tale of Genji

    Manga Adaptations of The Tale of Genji

    Royall Tylor on his translation; useful background from the publisher

    The scroll index

    Genji icons from [info]telophase

  9. Other
    Comments?

(Post a new comment)


[info]the_red_shoes
2005-12-04 02:46 am UTC (link)
((bounces))

Some other links maybe --

Royall Tyler on his translation (the whole publisher's website is neat, as it includes the first chapter and his introduction with a lot of helpful background)

the scroll index

Links from www.taleofgenji.org -- this is already linked to as the photographic guide site, but their list of links is good, lengthy and inclusive.

(Reply to this)

[info]kate_nepveu
2005-12-04 03:44 am UTC (link)
If people want to make posts on, say, cultural things to know about, or a list of character appellations, or whatever, they should definitely feel free. =>

I volunteer to help add posts to memories or tag them.

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[info]kate_nepveu
2005-12-04 03:48 am UTC (link)
Oh, and that translation is abridged--you want http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Genji/00000010.htm for the full Seidensticker translation (albeit with typos).

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[info]telophase
2005-12-04 06:36 am UTC (link)
Earlier today I poked aobut online to see what pictures I could find for icons for my Genji posts.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com - Dunno if it's really Genji or not, but the original file was named 'Genji' and the expression just somehoe seemed to fit...
Image hosted by Photobucket.com - An illustration from later, when he has a child.
Image hosted by Photobucket.com - Genji sneaking behind the screens of some lady.
Image hosted by Photobucket.com The lady he's sneaking in to see (or "see," as the case may be).
Image hosted by Photobucket.com And a slightly closer one.

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[info]the_red_shoes
2005-12-04 09:50 am UTC (link)
Oh, very nice!

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[info]thomasyan
2005-12-04 03:56 pm UTC (link)
*thinks* Is Inuyasha's Miroku supposed to be a descendant of Genji's?

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[info]telophase
2005-12-04 04:48 pm UTC (link)
I'm not sure. Poking around the net with Google, using the "-" to get rid of as many Inu-Yasha-related terms as possible, reveals that "Miroku" is the Japanese name for Matreiya, the final Buddha who is to come. I'd think that would have more resonance than Genji's Miroku, but I could be very wrong about that - it would take someone who knows more about it than I do to say.

Inu-Yasha is set approximately 500 years after the time of Genji, I think - there's a reference to Oda Nobunaga in one of the early episodes (where Kagome thinks that this boy they've met is him, and it turns out to be his cousin or something), and his years were 1534-1582. Er, that info was sort of random.

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[info]wintersweet
2005-12-04 07:50 pm UTC (link)
The first one doesn't look like Genji--the hairstyle's too late. It looks like a Kabuki actor to me. Might be named Genji or something.

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[info]telophase
2005-12-04 08:07 pm UTC (link)
Or might it be an illustration for the Tale done by a later artist?

Doesn't really matter, anyway - it's for my "Genji is a skank!" posts. :D

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]wintersweet
2005-12-04 08:15 pm UTC (link)
Most of the art I've seen for Genji has worked pretty hard to maintain the Heian-period look, but who knows. Anyway, yeah, the facial expression is priceless!

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[info]kappamaki
2005-12-06 09:25 pm UTC (link)
The first one is actually a woodblock print of a kabuki actor by the artist Toshusai Sharaku, from the 1790's or so.

Yay for esoteric geeky knowledge!

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[info]telophase
2005-12-07 12:57 am UTC (link)
All knowledge can be found in fandom! XD

Thanks. :) (I still love his expression XD)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]rachelmanija
2005-12-04 06:59 am UTC (link)
So, what do we do with the posts we've already written? it would be nice to have them all here. Should we put them in, but backdated to the dates they were originally posted?

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[info]telophase
2005-12-04 07:23 am UTC (link)
I was thinking about just putting links to the ones on my LJ that I've got so far, because the comments are intersting, and if I repost the summaries here, that'll end up dissociating the comments from the second post. The next ones I can post here.

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[info]the_red_shoes
2005-12-04 09:51 am UTC (link)
I think that's a good idea -- I like being able to see comments on the original LJ, too.

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[info]oyceter
2005-12-04 07:06 am UTC (link)
Yay! Thanks for setting this up!

There's also a Genji anime movie somewhere that I watched once; interesting b/c the art is all Heian-style as opposed to anime style, but I fell asleep during it -_-;;.

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[info]tekalynn
2005-12-04 10:38 am UTC (link)
I enjoyed it for the artwork and the "Holy shit, *that's* To no Chujo? Rowr!" moments...but it does move very, verrrry slowly, as befits its source. I also spent the two and a half hours wishing that they'd cast Shiozawa Kaneto as Genji, but that's just me. I thought the character designs were spot on--when I saw the Rokujo Lady, I said YESSS!

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[info]kate_nepveu
2005-12-04 02:19 pm UTC (link)
There are extraneous spaces (or %20 ) in the Taylor links that are causing them to 404.

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[info]kate_nepveu
2005-12-04 03:42 pm UTC (link)
Here's a list of the different names chapters are given in the translations; I didn't quite know if it was worth another post.

http://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/~pmjs/resources/genji/genjichapters.html

For that matter, if the character names is better put here, do so and I'll delete my post.

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[info]kate_nepveu
2005-12-04 04:02 pm UTC (link)
WRT #2: you can see a list of tags we've defined by going here:

http://www.livejournal.com/community/reading_genji/tag/

(I'm never sure how many people know this hack.)

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[info]the_red_shoes
2005-12-04 10:05 pm UTC (link)
Oh, awesome -- I didn't.

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[info]kate_nepveu
2005-12-04 11:10 pm UTC (link)
There's also the drop-down list if you edit the post after, of course, but if someone prefers to put them in first, or see the system we've set up (such as it is--I'm still not really happy about "book general"), there is it.

(Reply to this)(Parent)
thanks
[info]toastykitten
2005-12-04 05:48 pm UTC (link)
Thanks for setting this up; I quit reading around chapter five because I couldn't take it anymore. I'll have to start again!

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[info]wintersweet
2005-12-04 08:05 pm UTC (link)
1) Even though you don't know me, can I pimp it to my f'list?
2) There's a space inside the link to the UCLA page on Genji manga that results in an error. (Great article, though! I can't believe I hadn't read it. I have one beautiful Genji manga, that I can't read yet ...)
3) There was a(nother) film adaptation a couple years ago that I really want to get my hands on. It was titled "Sennen no koi hikaru genji monogatari" and it starred as Genji, delightfully enough, a former Takarazuka (all-female revue) male-role specialist. Of course, I think Takarazuka has covered Genji at least once themselves.
4) Yay!

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[info]wintersweet
2005-12-04 08:18 pm UTC (link)
2) Sorry, it's a ", not a space. :)

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[info]rachelmanija
2005-12-05 03:56 am UTC (link)
1) Of course! Pimp away!

3) There is something so strangely appropriate about the idea of an all-female Genji. Maybe because despite the male hero and the misogyny, it was written by a woman for, I believe, a female audience, and has the same "female space" feel to it (to me) that a lot of slash does.

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[info]wintersweet
2005-12-05 04:35 am UTC (link)
Exactly!

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[info]tharain
2005-12-06 04:56 am UTC (link)
I've been following this on [info]rachelmanija's LJ, and thought I'd come over and see the community.

I love this stuff.

However:

... Do we need a warning on this? Trolls will be forced to write out a description of one of Genji's outfits four hundred times on a blackboard, then taken outside and shot.

Made me howl.

I read Genji a couple of years ago, you see, so I know how dire a threat this is.

And, now that I think about it, it seems you all are readin' Genji pretty clearly.

Thank you for all the amusement and interest!

(Reply to this)

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