Hi, welcome to "Her Power".
"Her Power" will take you to understand the outstanding women in literature, art, politics, science and technology, and try to objectively present the difficulties faced by these outstanding women in different eras and their coping methods, so that you can absorb their wisdom and strength.
Today, I will take you to the Purple Shibu of a famous Japanese female writer who wrote the first novel in human history, The Tale of Genji.
Callicarpa japonica
The date of purple shibu's birth is not clearly recorded, and according to various inferences, it is most commonly said to be in 978 AD, which coincided with the Heian period in Japan.
The Tale of Genji, created by Zi Shibu, is considered the world's first novel, with a total of fifty-four times and nearly one million words, opening up a thousand years of aesthetic consciousness in Japanese literature, and its place in Japanese literature is just as "Dream of the Red Chamber" is to China. Famous writer and Nobel laureate yasunari Kawabata said that in Japan, no work can surpass "The Tale of Genji", which is the top work of Japanese Monogatari literature.
Zi Clan lost her mother at a young age, she showed a high literary talent from an early age, her father has a lot of research on Classical Chinese literature, under the influence of her father, she is not only familiar with Japanese classics, but also familiar with China's "History", "Book of Han" and so on.
Although Shishibu possessed extraordinary talent, she lived in an era when women were "unworthy of having a name" – "Shishibu" was not her real name, her original surname was Fujiwara, "Shibu" was her title during her court service, and "Purple" was taken from the core character of the work "The Tale of Genji".
Japanese history has a long history of neglect of women, and the modern aestheticist literary scholar Junichiro Tanizaki once described it in his essay collection "Yin Yi Praise":
In Japan's ancient genealogical books, from the imperial family to the family, the men's actions are more detailed, and when a woman arrives, it is only written "woman" or "woman", and does not write the date and name of birth and death, which is a common phenomenon. That is to say, our history has had men, but not women.
Despite this era background, in the Tale of Genji, Purple Shibu created a historical scroll centered on the "Hikari Clan",a prince of natural nature," surrounded by many women, such as flowers, and she used the names of hundreds of plants to name her female figures—barnacles, purples, aois, hibiscus, Yuki, Hanazari, and the last flowers.
Her character is also reflected in the corresponding plants. For example, Hibiscus, the "hibiscus" in the name is chaoyan (morning glory) flower, and she herself is like a chaoyan that blooms toward the light, never willing to betray her beliefs, bending down and degenerating, and is a stoic and beautiful female figure. Even the central figure " Light Source" believes that "I have to pay attention at all times, and I dare not be a little arrogant." Such a noble person, I am afraid that she is the only one left in the world today."
Chao Yan - Hibiscus
The Tale of Genji makes extensive use of the literary expression of "material sorrow"—that is, people have different emotions in the face of different seasons and scenes. This technique of the Purple Style Department opened up the later era of "material mourning" in Japanese literature and became a feature of Japanese literature. For example, there is a sentence in the volume of "Copper Kettle": "The sound of insects chirps, causing people to cry."
The Tale of Genji Episode 1: Kirito
Because the Purple Style Department is deeply influenced by Chinese Han culture, classical Chinese poetry can be seen everywhere in this work, Bai Juyi's verses are quoted more than 90 times, and "Tong Ju" is once imitated bai Juyi's "Long Hate Song". In addition, the delicate depiction of the psychology of the characters in the work also exudes a unique artistic charm, and in the process of passing down for thousands of years, it still maintains its unique charm.
Some translators have said that "The Tale of Genji" is a work that has grown up little by little, and when I first learned "The Tale of Genji" when I was young, I didn't know where it was worth reading repeatedly; until I grew older and had the precipitation of the years, and then read "The Tale of Genji", I began to be surprised by the meticulous and vivid portrayal of the human heart, even if it is a thousand years later, I have never had such a good work.
The power that the Purple Clan leaves on every woman is:
Although Zi Shibu said that she was "the author of the female stream, and did not dare to talk about the world's major events", it now seems that she has made herself "immortal" in another way - she has unfolded a picture of women's life in the Heian period with words, pinned on plants, landscapes and women's mourning, passed down for thousands of years, so that future generations can understand what they have experienced. In fact, due to some special political reasons in the Heian period, not only the Purple Style Department, but also a large number of female writers were born in this period, such as Kiyoshi Nayan and Fujiwara Michizuki. The group of female writers represented by the Purple Style Department has created its own unique world in a world where men are the mainstream discourse power, using women's keen talents.
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Today's topic: Which of your favorite characters in The Tale of Genji? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area, thank you.