INTRODUCTION

It was already Yasunari Kawabata, who said that “The Tale of Genji in particular is the highest pinnacle of Japanese literature. Even down to our day there has not been a piece of fiction to compare with it. That such a modern work should have been written in the 11th century is a miracle, and as a miracle the work is widely known abroad.” The aim of this paper is to present and analyse the portrait of the main protagonist of The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (c. 978–c. 1026). The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari, Jpn. 源氏物語3) is often considered to be the first novel in the world, but it also remains a particularly abundant source of knowledge about the Heian period (794‒1185), during which it came into existence. The novel concentrates on the character of Prince Hikaru Genji (also called “The Shining Prince”, Japanese hikaru, 光る, means “to shine”), the son of the Emperor and the most flawless hero of all. It tells the story of his life – filled with numerous affairs – and also depicts the customs of aristocracy of the Heian period within political and sociological context (especially intrigues at the court) with remarkable descriptive realism.

In this paper we will present Genji as a popular culture hero and analyse not only the novel in which he appears for the first time, but also other texts from Heian period, as we intend to trace the reception of the protagonist in social and cultural context.