Music in "The Tale of Genji"

Author(s): Fredric Lieberman

Source: Asian Music , 1971, Vol. 2, No. 1 (1971), pp. 39-42
Published by: University of Texas Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/833812

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 MUSIC IN THE TALE OF GENJI

Fredric Lieberman

Introduction

The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari) is a novel in six books, written

the first decades of the tenth century by Lady Murasaki, a Japanese noblewoman.
Dealing with the life and times of a certain fictional Prince Genji, the novel is
one of the great works of Japanese literature; its characters are presented with
such forcefullness and skill, however, that it easily transcends the barriers of
time and culture to cecome a member of that comparatively small group of works
which are truly world-literature.

It is the purpose of this essay to examine the references to music found in

the first two books of The Tale of Genji, with an eye toward the inferring of
general cultural values for music in this period of Japanese history.

Page references are keyed to Arthur Waley's translation in the Doubleday

Anchor paperback edition (2 volumes, A55 and A176).

Music and Nature

The wind in the pine-woods, the whispering of innumerable night-insects:

these sounds are as important in The Tale of Genji as are those of human music.
The sounds of nature are an integral part of the novel, and have the effect of
intensifying the emotional timbre of a scene, making it real, sensual.

The absence of anthropomorphic imagery is conspicuous. Nature is never

personalized; its sounds are abstract, definitely non-human, and yet capable of
inspiring human emotion. This is a very sophisticated attitude; one almost
expects the emotional power to be rationalized by some sort of anthropomorphism.
But the preoccupation is with the sound, its quality, and its effect on the hearer.

The majority of references to sounds of nature assign them emotional values

in the range between mournful and utterly depressing. A typical phrase: "The
rustling of the wind, the chirping of an insect would cast him into deepest
melancholy . . . (I, 11).

Natural music and human music cooperate. "The sound of the zithern reached
the house on the hillside nearby, mingled with the sighing of pine-woods and the
restling of summer waves. " (II, 118). The natural music inspires the human
music, and their blending mutually intensifies their effect. Human music was
considered a sophisticated partner of natural music--not an imitation, and
neither superior nor inferior: merely another kind of music, and under human

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control.

A minority of natural sounds serves specifically as a backdrop for human

music. "It is only as a background to music that the sound of the sea is tolerable. "
(II, 131). More frequently, the natural setting itself, particularly a moonlit night,
is seen as a background that cries out for mnusic in order to be complete. "The
waning moon had at last begun to rise. 'It is at times like this,' said the Emperor
sadly, 'that one longs for music. '" (II, 34).

Music was not only considered an arrangement of sounds and silences, but
was more nearly related to the sound itself; tone quality was particularly
important. "True, she was not a great performer; but the instrument was a
particularly fine one and Genji found her playing by no means unpleasant to
listen to. " (I, 149). Music is not associated with divine presence; indeed all
facets of the novel are surprisingly free of the supernatural. This is in direct
contrast to the Chinese musical philosophy which connects the music of man with
the music of heaven in a highly intellectualized way.

Music and Emotion

A major premise of The Tale of Genji is that music and emotion are almost
synonymous. The range of emotions associated with music is limitless: from
joy to fear, from contemplative melancholy to sexual frenzy. For music to be
conceived and perceived in such terms, the listeners would have to be extremely
sensitive and emotional, by normal Western standards. This is somewhat
surprising, considering the stereotype characterization of traditional Japanese
as people able to master their emotions in any situation. Perhaps in the process
of learning to master onets emotions, one's inner sensitivity to them is heightened
to a comparable degree. Certainly, though the range of emotions in The Tale of
Genji is extreme, the characters manage to maintain their outward composure
and objectivity under the most trying conditions--at one point in the narrative
Genji receives a verbal assault, is about to lash back in anger but refrains from
doing so because he realizes that the reprimand was well deserved. And yet (a
seeming inconsistency): "So moving and beautiful was this dance that at the end
of it the Emperor's eyes were wet. " (1, 175).

The symbiotic relationship between music and emotion is particularly important

because The Tale of Genji is primarily a novel of emotions and personal rela-
tionships, as opposed to a novel of ideas. Almost all the time, Genji is involved
in a love affair of one kind or another. And Genji, like Tristan and other familiar
tragic heroes, invariably loves most intensely precisely that woman who is the
least obtainable. Small wonder, then, that emotional imagery is paramount
throughout the novel, and that the emotions of frustration and melancholy are
most prominent.

Music and Society

Everybody who was anybody played at least one instrument well; preferably
two or more. We are informed that Genji had mastered no less than four instruments

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(II, 239), and that he was a top-ranking zithern player. Children were taught
music as part of their serious studies beginning around age eight; and they
learned by rote. Everyone thus knew enough music so that a friendly impromptu
concert was likely to develop whenever people gathered socially: like singing
madrigals or playing bridge. Women were often quite skillful, and it was not
considered improper for a female virtuoso to join a normally all-male professional
orchestra on occasion.

It is somewhat remarkable that every important woman in Genji's love-life

is represented as a virtuoso on either zithern or lute. One possible explanation
for this is simply that only the most refined and cultured woman should be capable
of attracting a refined and cultured prince--thus implying a moral lesson for
readers: to catch a prince, study hard. Though there is probably some truth
in this, it seems more likely that Lady Murasaki, in plotting the multitude of
affairs indulged in by her libidinous hero, felt it necessary to rationalize Genji's
limitless sex-urge in terms of something more intellectual. Thus, having seen
a woman once--from a distance--Genji would be likely to conceive a violent
passion for her, but would not actually seduce her until he has been entranced
by the music of her zithern.

Music and Musicales

The main musical reference in The Tale of Tenji tells of a no

held at the home of an old nobleman-turned-recluse-priest, who had offered
hospitality during Genji's exile from court (II, 118-121). Almost all facets of
Japanese music previously mentioned in this essay can be found in this musicale,
but that of musical style stands out.

Genji begins the proceedings by playing a Chinese tune. This is obviously a

somewhat sophisticated, somewhat passe style as the author uses the opportunity
to comment that the playing was so fine that the local peasantry was attracted,
even though the "strange musik" was beyond the pale of their experience. Perhaps
Genji was not merely being esoteric, but was consciously attempting to compliment
his host, who, having cultivated and cherished the traditions of a long-gone court,
would feel more at home with "Chinese music. " This is clarified when the old
man plays; he uses a "discarded" Chinese technique. The difference between the
so-called Chinese style and the style of the day was not too great, as it was easy
for Genji to join in singing as the old man played. From this and other references
it can be inferred that musically the Age of Genji was one of transition from a
classic, intellectual, "Chinese" tradition, to a more lyric, romantic, and even
passionate tradition.

But the artist is always several jumps ahead of society, no matter what period
he finds himself in. "She clattered at the strings with all the frenzy that fashion
now demands. It was a fine performance, no doubt, but I cannot say that it made
a very agreeable impression on me. " (I, 36).

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Musical Instruments

Most prominent among the musical instruments mentioned in The Tale of

Genji is the zithern koto, which existed in various styles and sizes. Other
important instruments are the lute biwa, various flutes, the mouth-organ sho,
the reed pipe hichiriki, drums, and bells. Except for flutes, drums, bells,
and the five-string zithern wagon, the musical instruments of tenth-century
Japan were of Chinese origin.

One scene in the novel describes a formal orchestral concert, and this is
a somewhat unusual concert, being part of a large festival during which "forty
men stood circlewise with their flutes. " (I, 177). Most of the ensembles are
"pick-up groups" which are formed according to who is in the mood to play,
or whoever happens to be around. Although there is no description of a formal
court concert by the Imperial Orchestra, several references are made to the
existence of such a group, which no doubt made up the conservative element
in the musical life of the court, preserving the old, Chinese traditions as it
does up to the present time.

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