ANONYMOUS (18TH CENTURY)

The Tale of Genji is a long, romantic novel in fifty-four chapters, written about the year 1000 by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady-in-waiting to the empress. It is set in the tenth century, Japan's golden age, when great wealth and power were concentrated in the hands of a small group of highly cultivated aristocrats. Scenes from the novel are recurring themes in Japanese art, for there has rarely been a time when the educated elite was not nostalgic for the charms of Prince Genji, the amorous hero.