Book - The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

Not speaking is the wiser part,
And words are sometimes vain,
But to completely close the heart
In silence, gives me pain

- Prince Genji, in The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji (Japanese: Genji Monogatari) by Murasaki Shikibu written during the late 10th century AD and finished in its present form by 1021 tells the tale of Prince Genji, the son of the emperor and his favourite concubine, Kiritsubo. Following the death of his mother, the emperor makes him a commoner, assigning him membership of the non-royal Genji clan.

As Genji grows up to become an uncommonly handsome and gifted young man, admired by all but feared by Lady Kokiden, mother of the heir-apparent and her family, The tale follows the amorous exploits with a variety of ladies, friendships, exile from royal court and then re-instatement of his position within the royal household.

The Tale of Genji - Suma

The complete story covers 54 chapters, all of which have been translated by Arthur Waley.

I have read the version indicated at the top of this page, translated by Kencho Suematsu, an abridged version originally published in Persian and Japanese Literature, by Colonial Press, London and New York, in 1900. Whilst it doesn’t contain the entire story (the last chapter is number 17 entitled Competitive Show of Pictures (E Awase)) it still has the rich poetry, narrative, dialogue, art criticism, romantic fantasy and jealously of the complete version. (Paraphrased from Terrence Barrow Ph.D.)

The Tale of Genji - Wakamurasaki (note the difference from this and the top image, it was generally the case that the pictures and accompanying text stayed the same on each wall scroll with littler variation

There are many available resources on internet the Tale of Genji, some of the best in my opinion are indicated below.

A more complete summary of the tale from Robert Tyler

Wikipedia article on the Tale of Genji

A travel guide to the real places featured in the story at taleofgenji.org

The UNESCO Tale of Genji resource that features an abstract of each chapter alongside the wood cuts of Harumasa Yamamoto (1610 - 82).

http://webworld.unesco.org/genji/en/away.pdf
A link to the PDF version of the UNESCO resource

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/genji/index.html
The original and modernised Japanese versions as well as the romanji version of the story can be found here

http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Genji/00000010.htm
A easier to read ebook version of the story can be read here but I would definitely recommend that you buy the story as well.

“The Picture Scroll of the Tale of Genji” located at the Tokugawa Museum
A pictorial account of the Tale of Genji

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~arth17/Genji.index.html
Another picture scroll of a much later origin contains the first 16 chapters. Images are borrowed without permission from this site.