Skip to main content

Secondary sourceBook1654

The Tale of Genji: Commentary on Key Words and Phrases

1654

Volumes of commentary accompanying a 1654 printed edition of Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji, helping Edo-period readers understand her text.

This commentary explains Murasaki Shikibu's novel, showing how later readers needed help understanding her centuries-old text.

Ask Murasaki Shikibu about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Cover of a Japanese woodblock-printed book with dark blue paper wrapping, worn and stained, with a cream label on the front bearing black brush-written Japanese characters and a small kana reading. The book is bound with gold-colored cord along the right edge.
The Tale of Genji: Commentary on Key Words and Phrases, 1654 printed edition. Library of Congress.

About this source

What it is

This is part of a complete 1654 woodblock-printed edition of The Tale of Genji, produced in Kyoto, now held by the Library of Congress. These particular volumes are commentary explaining key words and phrases in the novel written by Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century.

Why it matters

The novel, about Prince Genji and his court, is often called the first great novel in world literature. By the 1600s readers needed explanations to understand its old language, showing how much Japanese court culture had changed since Murasaki Shikibu's lifetime and how seriously later scholars studied her work.

Look closer

  • Why would a novel need a separate commentary volume centuries after it was written?
  • What does the survival of a complete printed set tell you about the book's importance?
  • What is lost or changed when a story is explained rather than read directly?

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.

More Murasaki Shikibu sources

Meet the AI Murasaki Shikibu →
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

Primary source

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

Primary source

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

Primary source

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

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Murasaki Shikibu now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions