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Secondary sourceBook1654

The Tale of Genji: Index

1654

An index volume from a 1654 printed edition of Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji, made to help readers locate passages.

This index helped readers navigate Murasaki Shikibu's lengthy novel, showing its scholarly importance.

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Front cover of a Japanese woodblock-printed book with dark blue patterned paper covering, a vertical cream-colored title label bearing brush-written Japanese characters, and yellowed binding threads along the right edge.
The Tale of Genji: Index, 1654 printed edition. Library of Congress.

About this source

What it is

This index 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 helps readers find specific passages within the novel written by Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century.

Why it matters

The need for an index shows how long and intricate the novel is, and how later scholars and readers organized tools to study it closely, treating Murasaki Shikibu's work as a serious subject of study.

Look closer

  • Why would a novel need an index like a reference book?
  • What does this tell you about how the novel was read and studied centuries later?
  • What kind of reader would have used this volume?

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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