Ambassador terms “The Tale of Genji” an excellent gift for Pakistani readers to understand Japanese culture
The 1,000-year-old ‘The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari)’, a masterpiece of Japanese literature, has now been translated into the Urdu language. The Japanese epic is considered by many as the world’s first novel.
Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan Matsuda Kuninori appreciated and extended his congratulations to Khurram Sohail, President of Pakistan-Japan Literature Forum (PJLF), for publishing the Urdu translation of the classic Japanese novel, written one thousand years ago by a famous female novelist Murasaki Shikibu.
The ambassador attended the introductory session of the book held on October 14 at his official residence in Islamabad and attended by a limited number of guests as a precaution against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Commending the tireless efforts of Sohail and the late Baqar Naqvi for making this project a reality over a 5-year project, the ambassador stated that translation of such a classic Japanese novel must have been a challenging task for the duo but it eventually turned out to be “an excellent gift for the Pakistani readers to understand the Japanese culture and aristocratic society through this literary masterpiece.”
Appreciating the rich literary and cultural heritage of both Japan and Pakistan, Ambassador Matsuda said literature is significant as they help us understand each other, respect each other and we all need to work together to pass on this rich heritage and literature to our future generations.
Khurram Sohail, President PJLF, expressed his gratitude to the Ambassador for sparing his precious time to host this introductory session of the book at his residence.
He hoped that the Urdu translation of this Japanese novel will prove to be a milestone in further promoting Pakistan-Japan’s cultural and literary relations in future.
He informed that during his visits to Japan he was delighted to see that the Japanese scholars and researchers had translated the works of icons like Ghalib, Faiz, Munto and Iqbal into Japanese language and that gave him the motivation to translate classic Japanese novel “Genji Monogatari-The Tale of Genji” into Urdu language.
Sadia Rashid, President of Pakistan-Japan Cultural Association Sindh, appreciated the efforts and hard work of Khurram Sohail underscored the need of more collaboration between Pakistan and Japan in the field of literature in order to make the people of two countries understand each other’s culture and literary achievements.