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Secondary sourceBook1654

The Tale of Genji: A Sequel

1654

A later-written sequel volume bound with a 1654 printed edition of Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji.

This sequel, bound with Murasaki Shikibu's novel, shows the lasting pull of her story on later writers.

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Cover of a Japanese woodblock-printed book bound in blue-grey paper, with a cream label on the front bearing two lines of handwritten black Japanese characters running vertically. Gold thread binding is visible on the right edge.
The Tale of Genji: A Sequel, bound with 1654 printed edition. Library of Congress.

About this source

What it is

This volume is part of a complete 1654 woodblock-printed edition of The Tale of Genji, produced in Kyoto and held by the Library of Congress. It contains a sequel to the novel written by a later author, bound together with Murasaki Shikibu's original text.

Why it matters

That later writers added their own sequel shows how much Murasaki Shikibu's story captured imaginations long after her death, inspiring new writing centuries later during the Edo period.

Look closer

  • Why might someone write a sequel to a story that was already centuries old?
  • What does bundling a sequel with the original text suggest about how readers saw the story continuing?
  • How might a sequel by another author differ from Murasaki Shikibu's own writing?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Murasaki Shikibu on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Fragment of a decorated handscroll page with black calligraphic Japanese script running in vertical columns on gold-flecked paper with dark green and gold scattered patches and faint grass-like brushstrokes. A printed caption in the lower right reads in Japanese.Book

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The Tale of Genji

Murasaki Shikibu · c. 1010

Open double-page spread of a Japanese manuscript with gold and silver flecks scattered on brown-orange and dark mauve paper. Black cursive kana calligraphy runs in vertical columns on both pages.Book

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Kokin Wakashū

Ki no Tsurayuki and compilers · c. 905-920

Diary entry

Primary source

The Diary of Lady Murasaki

Murasaki Shikibu · c. 1008–1010

Scan of a page of handwritten Japanese cursive calligraphy in brown ink on pale paper, written in vertical columns. This is the final part of the Tosa Nikki diary, copied by Fujiwara no Teika in the 13th century.Diary entry

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Tosa Nikki

Ki no Tsurayuki · 935 (copy 13th century)

Photograph of the front cover of a Japanese book bound in pale green-grey paper. A vertical cream label on the cover bears brush-written Japanese characters and a small seal-like stamp appears at lower left. A color calibration chart and a metric ruler are along the edges of the image.Book

Secondary source

Eiri Genji Monogatari

Yamamoto Shunshō · 1650

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