源氏物語 / The Tales of Genji

この画は「Tuttle Publishing」のウェブサイトからダウンロードしました。
This image was downloaded from the website of Tuttle Publishing.

僕はいつも「源氏物語」の内容と「平家物語」の内容が同じと思っています。しかし、実はその二つの本の内容は全然違います。
「源氏物語」の主人公は「光源氏」と光源氏の家族です。*
「平家物語」の主人公は「平家」です。^
実は、昔でたくさん本を読むとき、「源氏物語」が連続的に御薦めしています。だから、この本を読んで決めました。
しかし、この本の日本語レベルはちょっと高いので、英語の翻訳バージョンを読みました。

I always thought that the story of "The Tales of Genji" was similar to the story of "The Tales of the Heike", but I was wrong. The story of both books were completely different.
The story of "The Tales of Genji" revolve around Prince Genji and his family.*
As for the story of "The Tales of Heike", the story revolve around the family members of the Heike family.^
Actually, when I was reading a lot of books back then, "The Tales of Genji" had been continuously recommended. Therefore, I decided to read the book.
However, as the level of Japanese language used for writing the book was too high, I had to read a English translated version of the book, which makes it easier for me to understand the story.

私の気持ちは、本の内容に応じて変化していました。
例えば：
主人公は、そんなの優しいし、美しい妻がいます。羨ましいなああああ！！！僕も欲しいです。
主人公は、そんなの優しいし、美しい妻がいるなのに、満足しませんでした。許さない。主人公が殺されます！！！

When I was reading the book, my emotions towards the book had also changed as the contents of the book changes.
For example:
I am jealous of the main character of the book for having such a gentle and beautiful wife.
I couldn't forgive the main character for the fact that he was not satisfied with the fact that he has such a good wife. (I wanted to kill the main character...)


この本を読んだ後、全然信じられないよ。この本の女性作家は千年以上前の紫式部です。
その時代で、そんなおしゃれな本を書くために、勇気が一番大切です。
この本と18世紀の中国の「紅楼夢」のタイプが大体同じです。** しかし、全然比べません。
二つの本の時代と作家の性別が全然違います。

皆さんはたくさん時間を持っている場合、皆さんも是非この本を読むことをお勧めします。

After I had completed reading the book, I couldn't believe that the author of the book was a lady that had existed in Japan more than a thousand years ago.
And she probably needs to have a lot of courage in order to write such a fashionable book during that period of time.
Despite of the fact that the theme of this book is similar to the book "Dream of the Red Chamber" written by a Chinese writer in the 18th century, both books were incomparable.**
This is because both authors existed in a different period of time and their gender were completely different.

If you have a lot of time, I would highly recommend you to read the book "Tales of Genji".


* これは「源氏物語」の資料です。
^ これは「平家物語」の資料です。
** これは「紅楼夢」の資料です。

* Click here for more information about [The Tales of Genji].
^ Click here for more information about [The Tales of Heike].
** Click here for more information about [Dream of the Red Chamber].