In its lengthy form, the ancient Japanese court novel The Tale of Genji ( Genji monogatari 源氏物語) famously features more than 400 characters in a realistically constructed setting that reflects the court life and the Heian aristocracy. Although the main narrative centers around the Shining Prince Genji’s adventures and intricate love affairs, it also gives place to interconnected side stories, shifting the main focus from Genji to the female characters. In one of these stories, Yūgao’s daughter, Tamakazura, appears as the heroine of ten consecutive chapters. Tamakazura’s character arc illustrates how her relationship with Genji and others forms a network of dialogic interactions, in which she is shaped, perceived, and defined. This article examines the foundations of Tamakazura’s character formation and growth by drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of exotopy (‘outsidedness’) and unfinished character through her internal monologues, self-composed poems, and interaction with other characters. In addition, James Phelan and Peter Rabinowitz’s tripartite character model—comprising a mimetic (realistic), synthetic (artificial), and thematic (conceptual) dimension— is applied to analyze Tamakazura’s function within The Tale of Genji. Ultimately, the article raises questions about agency and liminal character features by highlighting how fixed narrative roles are challenged in the Ten Tamakazura Chapters ( Tamakazura jūjō 玉鬘十帖).
Berfu Şengün (Mon,) studied this question.