In Search of Prince Genji

The name of the protagonist in the thousand-year-old literary classic, Genji Monogatari, is always accompanied in Japanese by the sobriquet “hikaru”, which means ’to shine’, ’to sparkle’. The epithet refers not only to Prince Genji’s ethereal beauty, but also to his unparalleled intellect and his refined tastes and manners. This physical and mental perfection has elevated his figure to the status of the most iconic character in Japanese cultural history. His time and the realm of the eleventh-century imperial court in Heian-kyō, today’s Kyoto are regarded as the cradle of classical Japanese culture.

ISBN 978-615-5304-48-4
Editors: Mirjam Dénes, Györgyi Fajcsák
Publisher: Museum of Fine Arts - Hopp Ferenc Museum of Asitaic Art, Budapest
Published: 2015
Pages: 265 pages with illustrations
Language: English