EDWARD SEIDENSTICKER G. »^S«?- r^i.'*;t:«*i m^m^mmim JZ' The Author: Edward Seidensticker was born in Colorado. He attended the University of Colorado, and at the outbreak ofthe Pacific War was assigned to the Navy Language School, where he studied Japanese. After further work at Columbia and Harvard, he settled in Japan in 1948, and spent over ten years there, the first two as a diplomat. After aspellofteach- ing atStanford, in 1966 he became professor ofJapanese at the University ofMichigan, and it was during the following years at Ann Arbor that most of The Tale of Genji was translated. He is currently professor of Japanese at Columbia University, teaching for half the year, and living the remaining half in Tokyo and Honolulu. Among his other translations are a number of works by Tanizaki Junichiro, Kawabata Yasunari, and Mishima Yukio. In recognition of his role in the introduction of Japanese literature abroad, Mr. Seidensticker was awarded the third- — class Order of the Rising Sun one of the Japanese govern- ment's highest honors. His latest publication isLow City, High City: TokyofromEdo to the Earthquake (Knopf, 1983). Days Genji EDWARD G. SEIDENSTICKER KODANSHA INTERNATIONAL LTD. Distributed in the United States by Kodansha International/ USA Ltd., through Harper Sl Row, Publishers, Inc., 10 East S3rd Street, New York, New York 10022. Published by Ko- dansha International Ltd., 12-21 Otowa 2-chome, Bunkjo-ku, Tokyo 112 andKodanshaInternational/USA Ltd., 10East S3rd Street, New York, New York 10022 and Hearst Building, 5 Third Street, Suite No. 430, San Francisco, California 94103. Copyright inJapan, 19yj, bj Kodansha International Ltd. All rights reserved. Printed inJapan. Paperback edition, 1983 LCC J6-44IS7 ISBN 0-87011-640-1 (U.S.) ISBN 4-7700-1140-7 (inJapan) Preface I This is a book ofexcerpts froma diary kept continuously since New Year's Day, 1959. They are from the Genji years, or some ofthem, the years when translating The Tale ofGenji was my principal con- cern. Thefirstofthereally earnest Genji years, reference tomydiary tellsme,inanswertoaquestionfrequentlyasked,was 1966-although the first three chapters had been done in rough draft at someearlier time. Considerable excerpts from the late sixties have already been published in Japanese, in the magazines Cbuo Koron andJi/u. About midway through the Genji years there camewhatmightbecalledthe Kawabata interlude, a time ofconcentration upon Kawabataandhis doings and writings. It was the time of the Nobel award and two book-length translations. The Genji was neglected. Entries having to dowithitaresparseforlate 1968 and mostof1969. It is with the commencement ofa new period ofearnestness that these excerpts begin. They are from the last five Genji years, 1970 through 1974 and into 1975. It had been my intention to publish the last ten chapters-the Uji chapters - first, and mostofthe work on them had been done before **the Kawabata interlude.'' Save for a final revision late in 1974, they were completed in the spring of 1971 . It was then decided that the first forty-four chapters must be translated before anything was published. The contractforthe com- plete translationwassigned in April, 1972. A first draft was finished in September, 1973. There is in these entries a great deal ofjumping back and forth among parts of the Genji. To explain each jump would be tedious. It must suffice to say that several things could be going on almost simultaneously: translation in first draft, revision, checking for accuracy against the Waley translation, and readying copy for the lady who checked it against the original. There are also references to seminarsatthe UniversityofMichiganinwhichweread extended ^ portions ofthe Genji. If the jumps back and forth are confusing, at least they will have the merit ofdemonstrating that the translation process was a complex one. It occurred in three settings, Ann Ar- bor, Tokyo, and Honolulu. The excerpts already published in Japanese have to do only with the Genji and the process of translating it. Early discussions with Kodansha editors looked towards something similar. In making transcripts, however, several times bulkier than this volume, I presently found myself adding material not related to the Genji such material as dreams, withwhich the diary is studded; and so the entries gathered here are conglomerates, Genji matters mixed in with others, as they are in the original diary. Since the original is reasonably faithful to the name diary in the literal sense, a daily record, it of course contains far more entries than have been collected here. Many ofthe entries here, moreover, areabbreviationsoflonger ones. Theoriginal contains a great many words which must once have seemed worth setting down, but do no longer. Sometimes abridgement was so considerable as to leave an entry lookingfractured. To avoidthatunpleasantappearance, Ihave some- times joined one entry to another. Aside from abbreviation and selection, amalgamation has been the most radical device reshaping the original. At no time, however, has it been allowed to give an appearance of prescience or clairvoyance. It would not have been difficult, by combining two entries, to make one of them look un- commonly foresighted, but I hope that nothing ofthe sort has been allowed to happen. For the rest, revision has been minimal. Nothing has been added save very brief explanation, and changes, all of them minor, have been in the interests of fluency. Once a great sheafofentries from the Genji years had been tran- scribed, theproblemofwheretobegin the final selection asked solu- tion, and it proved troublesome. Had there been a moment ofgreat resolve (**On this day, dear diary, I did undertake to translate The Tale ofGenji'*), that would obviously have been it. But there was none. The undertaking was sidled into. The beginning, early in 1970, oftheyearsofcontinuous engrossment seemed as goodatime as any. The chapter titles presented another problem. In the original diary they are in Japanese, with few exceptions. To render them immediately into English seemed like the worst sort of cheating, the sort that is easilyfound out. The process ofrenderingtheminto English, sometimes slow and painful, is itselfapparent in these ex- cerpts. Save at the very end, therefore, they have been left in Jap- anese. A list with my translations will be found below. 1. KiRiTSUBO - **The Paulownia Court'* 2. Hahakigi - **The Broom Tree" 3. Utsusemi - **The Shell ofthe Locust*' 4. YuGAO - **Evening Faces" 5. Wakamurasaki - **Lavender** 6. SuETsuMUHANA - **The Safflower** 7. MoMiji NO GA - **An Autumn Excursion** 8. Hana no en - **The Festival ofthe Cherry Blossoms** 9. Aoi - **Heartvine** 10. Sakaki - '*The Sacred Tree** 11. HANAcmRusATo - **The Orange Blossoms** 12. SuMA - **Suma** 13. Akashi - **Akashi** 14. MiOTsuKUSHi - '*Channel Buoys'* 15. YoMOGiu - **The Wormwood Patch** 16. Sekiya - **The Gatehouse" 17. Eawase - **A Picture Contest'* 18. Matsukaze - **The Wind in the Pines** 19. UsuGUMO - **A Rack ofCloud** 20. AsAGAO - **The Morning Glory** 21. Otome - *'The Maiden" 22. Tamakazura - *'The Jeweled Chaplet" 23. Hatsune - ''The First Warbler" 24. KocHO - "Butterflies" 25. HoTARU - *'Fireflies*' 26. ToKONATSu - "Wild Carnations** 27. Kagaribi - **Flares** 28. NowAKi - "The Typhoon** 29. MiYUKi - "The Royal Outing** 30. FujiBAKAMA - "Purple Trousers** 31. Makibashira - "The Cypress Pillar** 32. Umegae - "A Branch ofPlum** 33. Fuji no uraba - "Wisteria Leaves** 34. Wakana jo - **New Herbs: Part One** 35. Wakana ge - "New Herbs: Part Two** 36. Kashiwagi - "The Oak Tree** 37. Yokobue - "The Flute** 38. SuzuMusHi - "The Bell Cricket*' 39. YuGiRi - "Evening Mist** 40. MiNORi - "The Rites** 41. Maboroshi - "The Wizard** 42. NiouMiYA - "His Perfumed Highness** 43. KOBAi - "The Rose Plum" 44. Takekawa - "Bamboo River** 45. Hashihime - "The Lady at the Bridge'* 46. Shiigamoto - "Beneath the Oak** 47. Agemaki - "Trefoil Knots** 48. Sawarabi - "Early Ferns** 49. Yadorigi - "The Ivy** 50. AzuMAYA - "The Eastern Cottage** 51. Ukifune - "A Boat upon the Waters*' 52. KagerO - "The Drake Fly" 53. Tenarai - "At Writing Practice** 54. YuME NO UKiHASHi - "The Floating Bridge ofDreams" N.B. The numbers immediatelyfollowingchapter titles in the diary refer to this list.