The work does not make use of a plot instead, much as in real life, events just happen and characters evolve simply by growing older. Genji, as the work is commonly called, was written for the women of the aristocracy (the yokibito) and has many elements found in a modern novel: a central protagonist and a very large number of major and minor characters, well-developed characterization of all the major characters, and a sequence of events happening over a period of time during the protagonist's lifetime and beyond. The work also contains many references to obscure tanka poems which were well-known during the Heian period. Heian court etiquette did not allow the use of proper names, so characters are referred to by their title, relation to another character, or even the color of their clothing, and different names are used in different chapters. Translation of the book into modern Japanese and other languages presents a number of challenges. The book is written in Heian court language, in the Japanese alphabet traditionally used by noblewomen. Its 54 chapters recount the life and romantic entanglements of Genji, the handsome son of an emperor and a low-ranking concubine. The work is generally considered the world's first novel. The Tale of Genji ( 源氏物語, Genji Monogatari) is a masterpiece of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early eleventh century, around the peak of the Heian Period. Ilustration of chapter 20-朝顔 Asagao ("The Bluebell").
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