by Samantha White
Northwest Asia Weekly
William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Charlotte and Emily Bronte – writers many people may know. Their classics have been passed down through generations in classrooms across the country.
But there is one canon – while ubiquitous in Japanese schools – that is not widely taught in the US, but it predates all of them. Written in the early 11th century (more than 500 years before Shakespeare’s birth), The Tale of Genji by Japanese court lady Shikibu Murasaki is widely regarded as the world’s first novel. From film and theatrical performances to anime and opera, the story – which chronicles the life of Hikaru Genji, son of the ancient Japanese emperor, and describes the life of the nobility at the time – has been adapted into various forms.
Sean Michael Wilson
In the latest adaptation, this classic Japanese story is told through a popular Japanese medium: manga. While it’s not the first time that “The Tale of Shirasaki-san’s Genji” has been adapted into a manga, this Sean Michael Wilson adaptation and illustrated by Eiko Takida is the first time the story has been adapted into English from the original. The book was published on June 4.
Iniko Takita Ai
equal democratic cooperation
Adapting the novel took about a year. Wilson would write the script for several chapters and send them to the editor, and once he made the necessary revisions, he would send the chapters to Takita for illustration. Wilson explained that a script is a breakdown of the story, detailing how each panel will look—for example, whether it should be a wide-angle shot of a scene or a close-up of a character. While he waited for Takita’s illustrations, Wilson would write the next few chapters to be ready for her after she finished the previous batch. There will be more back and forth between writers and illustrators before things are finalized.
Wilson likens the relationship between a writer and illustrator in a graphic novel to the relationship between a director, writer and actor in a movie scene. It’s just that he cooperates with illustrators, more of an equal and democratic cooperation, and on the set, the director has the final say on the story. Wilson, who describes himself as a writer with “moderate flexibility”, leaves room for illustrators to do things their own way and add their own ideas to the artwork.
“Genji” is Wilson’s third collaboration with Takita, and he said one thing he wants readers to appreciate is the beauty of Takita’s art, calling “Genji” his most visually beautiful book in Japan. The book’s story structure doesn’t follow the typical beginning-middle-end structure of modern storytelling. Instead, it’s more of a slice of life, recounting more than 50 years of Genji’s life. Wilson says Takita uses visual themes and themes throughout the manga to tie things together.
1,000 page challenge
One of Wilson’s challenges was figuring out how to condense the story into a more manageable length. He felt responsible for adapting Genji in a way that still contained key parts of the story, such as romance, gender relations and court politics.
“How can we get these thousands of pages down so much less?” he said, who has lived in Japan for more than 10 years, in an interview with Northwest Asia Weekly. Wilson and Takita’s adaptation is less than 200 pages long.
“It’s a tall order.”
In taking on the daunting challenge of adapting a story well known in Japan, Wilson knew not everyone would be happy with his version—he expected some criticism. Having said that, adapting “Genji” into a manga is a way to continue telling the classic story in a modern way and make it more accessible to a wider audience.
A classic story with modern issues
Wilson grew up on comic books and graphic novels – discovering them at age 12 and growing up in Scotland. He wrote his own comic book at the time with his friends who dreamed of continuing to write comics when they grew up.
“I’m the only one stupid [follow through],” Wilson said with a smile.
Wilson’s first book was published in December 2003, and he now has more than 40 books to his name. While some of his books focus on Japan and China (less than half), Wilson also enjoys writing about history and culture, sociology and politics.
“When I do, I can learn (about different things),” he said.
Wilson’s book topics range from 47 Ronin (the legendary true story of a group of samurai warriors who avenge the death of their deceased master in 1702) to the Minamata disaster that poisoned the waters of the city of the same name in the 1950s.
“The comic books we do are well researched,” Wilson said. For his non-fiction work, this research includes meeting primary sources from the era and/or event (if possible), as well as reading original texts and other source material. He will also fact-check his work in collaboration with experts on relevant topics to ensure accuracy.
For “Genji,” Wilson knew the story before he started the project, but didn’t read it until he took over the task. He stayed away from other adaptations and did not want them to affect his work.
Instead, he read several different translations of the story—the original was written in the Japanese of the time, which is very different from modern Japanese. Each version Wilson reads highlights a different aspect of the story, which he says is interesting, adding that the issues in the story are issues that society is still dealing with today, which is what makes “Genji” relevant to this day.
Samantha is available at info@nwasianweekly.com.
