In the woodblock print above, Genji and
his best friend are peaking through a
latticed fence to spy on the women they admire.
It's been a while since we looked into the story of Genji. Last time we were there, he had just been married at age twelve to a daughter of a high ministry official. He had fallen in love, however, with a different woman, Aoi.
Chapter Two places Genji, who is now around 17, in a room with two of his best friends. It is night, an the three are quietly discussing what makes women from different social classes perfect. In many ways, this reminds me of the stereotypical conversations young men are said to have in locker rooms, or in other places where the opposite sex is not around.
That aside, this conversation also brings us to a large theme clearly found in Genji: What makes a perfect man or a perfect woman? And does social class have anything to do with their being perfect? Thinking back on our conversation about beauty, is it necessary for someone to have a beautiful face or body to be perfect? What about money, education, a sense of humor, or personality?
YOUR TASK:
1) Imagine you are Hikaru Genji, it's 2009, and you are placing a personal ad on http://www.matchmaker.com/. What will his personal profile look like? What will he list as his requirements for the perfect partner? (Feel free to use a template from any current matchmaking web site to complete this assignment, but please keep everything Rated PG.)
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