In addition to being an island country and geographically isolated, Japan once cut off relationships with the rest of the world in its history.

Under these circumstances, people developed their own ways of expressions in Japanese literature.

And in A.D. 1000, Japanese culture was mature enough to give birth to The Tale of Genji, which consists of more than 1,600,000 letters. It is also surprising that it was written by a female writer.

While numberless masterpieces have been created since then, the Japanese language has changed so much that we would not able to talk with Murasaki Shikibu, who wrote Genji 1000 years ago.

Japanese people today may be as far away from her as people from other countries are.

It is not because we are Japanese that we regard the Tale as a masterpiece. It may be because it has universality that moves people to strong emotions regardless of their backgrounds.

It is, of course, hard or may be even impossible to tell the beauty of Japanese expressions that resemble music and artistic effect of them in other languages. Despite this fact, however, I believe that it will be a great joy to even people from overseas to know the historical backgrounds that gave birth to the story, its unique way of thinking and sophistication of the work. I also believe that The Tale of Genji will give you a fresh surprise and you will find yourself in sympathy with it no matter where you are from, as Japanese people are also moved by literature of other countries, such as works by Homer, Shakespeare or Tolstoy.

I want people all over the world to enjoy Japanese literature. In this century, I believe, it is our duty to introduce it to the world.

I am a pianist and have been playing classical music for a long time.
However, I experienced a strange feeling when I visited the Heian Shrine in Kyoto.
It was winter and there were no plants in the botanical garden. Wind was swinging the name plates of the plants.
Name plates without owners? No, they are not. When spring comes, there will be plants all over the place.
They were just waiting for the time to bud.
Plants will never perish. As if they reincarnated, their lives repeat themselves.

When this idea occurred to me, somehow I felt like a vine had become a long spiral and connected Murasaki Shikibu and me, although she had been so far away from me until then.
When I passed by the large pond and left the shrine, I had already determined to play The Tale of Genji on the piano.

I started to write the script as soon as I came back to Tokyo. Then I established my own fashion, where I recite the script and play music that suits the story on the piano. This is how Piano Drama: Picture Scroll The Tales of Genji was made.
Interpretation has been changed every year since the first performance was done, and I have rewritten the script so many times, too.

I feel fascinated every time I read The Tale of Genji. And as time goes by, I find new ways to appreciate it.