2.24.2008

Genji Monogatari Museum


The Genji Monogatari Museum introduces the world of Genji in a three-dimensional representation. The permanent exhibitions in the "Spring Room" exhibit a 1:100 scale model of Genji's Rokujo-In residence where he enjoyed his most glorious and exiting days.



The "Autumn Room" portrays one famous scene from the final 10 chapters, the "Hashi-hime" episode where Kaoru sees the daughthers of the Eighth Prince for the first time and falls in love.


While at the Museum you can watch a screening of the "Ukifune" chapter, the movie has no subtitles but you can get a headset whith english translations at the front desk, you can also purchase the dvd version for about 5000 yen at the museums gift shop.

Uji takes great pride in having been the stage for the last 10 chapters in the Genji Monogatari. In Heian times Uji was a retreat for most aristocrats so its only natural to have been featured in such an important tale.

When in Uji you can visit 10 monuments dedicated to the Tale of Genji and you can get the information and map to locate them at the Museum, I personally couldnt go to take pics of all the monuments because yesterday turned out to be "Haru Ichiban" (the first wind storm of spring)

It was really cold and super windy, reminded me of huricane weather back in my country, so I came back home early, but I took a lot of pics for you guys and uploaded them to my flickr account you can see them at http://flickr.com/photos/54973022@N00 , also if you havent had a change to read the Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari) yet, I found this great ebook with all the chapters in english at http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Genji/00000010.htm

Here's a little vieo I made to show the illustration mural from the Genji Monogatari museum, I thought the illustrations were gorgeous, enjoy!


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