I had never heard of Uji until I finally managed to make it to the last chapters of Murisaki Shikibu’s, “Tale of Gengi.” Worry not, I won’t give away the ending for any who are just about to crack open this masterpiece, considered by many to be the first novel, beating out Cervante’s sad hero by several hundred years, and, it’s even longer than the many chapters of that masterpiece. I’ll give Cervantes credit due. His novel was far more humorous than Murisaki’s.
Uji, specifically, the Uji river, pictured above, plays a very big part in these last chapters. So big a part that they had an evocative influence on me. I knew that if I ever made it to Japan, I needed to cross the Uji river bridge. On this cold day, I did that.
While not the one in the novel, this bridge is apparently based on that original that Lady Murisaki was most certainly familiar with.
I went to the Tale of Gengi museum, which was a big disappointment. I did get a photo of a statue that stands beside the river. It depicts the significant characters in those last chapters. They are setting out in a small boat on the river. There is something sad about it, which is appropriate.
Uji is a train ride south from Kyoto. Only about an hour.
This was a portion of my day in Uji. I will write another post for the other portion since there is no very good way to link them. The “Tale of Gengi” is fiction. The next is part of my very real life and is not made up.
Autumn In Japan 