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A Lost Chapter Of The World’s First Novel Discovered In A Japanese Home

It's one of 54 chapters from a transcription of The Tale of Genji, written in the 11th century.

By Natasha Ishak

allthatsinteresting.com/tale-o…

The Tale Of Genji at PG:
gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?q…

#books #literature

Portrait-Icon of Murasaki Shikibu (Murasaki Shikibu zu), 17th century, by Tosa Mitsuoki. Murasaki Shikibu appears poised to begin writing her tale, pausing as if in mid-thought. Her head tilts away from her desk, while her trancelike stare is directed slightly upward, toward the calligraphy sheets in the upper portion of the painting. The inscriptions list the four stages of Tendai Buddhist contemplation (shimon) that Murasaki was said to have mastered, along with two of her waka (thirty-one-syllable poems) that speak to life’s impermanence (mujōkan). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Genji#/media/File:Tosa_Mitsuoki%E2%80%94Portrait_of_Murasaki_Shikibu.jpg

Lost Chapter Of 'The Tale Of Genji,' The World's First Novel, Discovered

Written in 1010 by a medieval Japanese woman, a poet transcribed the novel 200 years later — and now, we have one of those long-lost chapters.
Natasha Ishak (All That's Interesting)
#books #literature
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