Genji Monogatari

[Mulan]

Hi,
i have a 2000-Yen-banknote - and that is really beautiful. It is perhaps the only one with a part of classical litterature on it.
according to wikipedia it is the Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Prince Genji). I have found some URL with online texts and images as well (the original source obviousely is in the Gotoh Museum). But unfortunately it is not allowed to me yet to list the URL's here. I found them simply by google or wikipedia.

... but, I cannot find in the online texts the part of the text shown on the bank note and under the wiki page.
Can anybody tell me which part of the tale is shown on the banknote. Or is there another source in the WWW?
Many thanks!
Mulan

 

[undrentide]

It's 38 jou (Chapter No. 38) Suzumushi (Bell Cricket).

List of Chapters (Wikipedia)
The Tale of Genji - Wikipedia

The Texts of Genji Mongatari (Original, Modernized, Romanji)
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/genji/index.html

Synopsis (in Japanese)
スズムシ - Wikipedia

 

[Mulan]

Hi,
thank you for your reply. Except the Japanese Wikipedia source I have found this and some more already (but I was not allowed to set the links here).
but my problem is, that I cannot find the citation on the bank note. The Gotoh museum image shows unfortunately an image which is not so clear, even the transcription is not so clear. some parts I can see - I tried them in the online texts to find the text part - but without success.
So I hope that you and others can tell me more details about the text shown on the 2000 Yen note and from what chapter etc. exactly this is.
By the way: I love the way it is spelled. The style is very elegant and beautiful. I love the Japanese calligraphy, even oif I do not speak Japanese at all except some very few phrases. But the calligraphy is my passion anyhow (and if I look into my sosho jitens I can see the great variation of writing).
Thanks a lot!
Mulan

 

[undrentide]

According to this webpage, the following letters marked in red out of the text are printed on the bank note:

「すゝむし
十五夜農（の）遊（ゆ）ふくれ二(に)佛の於(お)まへ
二（に）宮於（お）盤（は）して八（は）しちかくなかめ
堂（た）万（ま）ひつゝ念珠し堂(た)まふわ可(か)き
あ万（ま）支（き)三（み）多（た）ち二三人盤(は)那(な)たてま
徒（つ）るとてなら須（す）あかつきの於(お)と三(み)つ
のけ者(は)ひなときこゆ佐(さ)ま可(か)はりたる
いと那（な)三（み）にい所（そ）支（き）あへるいとあはれな
流（る)二(に）連（れ）いのわ多(た)利(り)多(た)万(ま)ひて無(む)しの年(ね)
いとしけくみ堂(た)流(る)ゝゆふへかなと
てわ連(れ)裳(も)しの飛(ひ)憂(う)ち念珠した」

The original text slightly differs from the above quoted text:
十五夜の夕暮に、仏の御前
に宮おはして、端近う眺め
たまひつつ念誦したまふ。若き
尼君たち二、三人、花奉
るとて鳴らす閼伽、坏の音、水
のけはひなど聞こゆる、さま変はりたる
いとなみに、そそきあへる、いとあはれな
るに、例の渡りたまひて、「虫の音
いとしげう乱るる夕べかな」 と
て、われも忍びてうち誦じたまふ
(Line break is made to match the above quoted text for comparison)

 

[Mulan]

Thank you so much for your great support. I cannot say how much you impressed me. i am very happy that you have brought me the answers I was looking for. Before you I also have found the chapter due to some Hiragana+Kanji groups - but I could not find the right spellings even when i found it, and so I thought, that there must be variantions. and now i see it clear, that you have given me the correct knowledge about it. ... So it is not possible to make an understandable translation of the text shown on the bank note, because it is just a piece of the text broken out due to the image. ... But the bank note is still very beautiful - I love it.

Thank you so much for your great support and your kindness and patience as well.

Yours faithfully

Mulan
from overseas and far far away Germany

 

[undrentide]

Gern geschehen!

So it is not possible to make an understandable translation of the text shown on the bank note, because it is just a piece of the text broken out due to the image. ... But the bank note is still very beautiful - I love it.

Yes, your understanding is correct - the design is just like a piece of the story cut out from the whole text and the sentences are incomplete.
Nevertheless, it is good that you really like the bank note.

 

[Elizabeth]

I remember when it first came out that the scene on the note was taken from a picture scroll designated as a national treasure. And even if the sentences were complete in archaic Japanese, the original novel is comparable to Old English and thus equally impossible to read in any popular sense. ☝

 

[caster51]

Genji monogatari




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