42nd Chapter: The Tale of Genji

29/March/2023 in Tokyo

More than 1 month has passed since I started "The Tale of Genji", the oldest novel

It consists of 54 chapters

Just finished 41st, but 42nd chapter is left blank, a title only ("Vanished into the Clouds")


It was written in 11th Century
Apparently no print machine or techniques back then

People made a hand-written copy for a long time

Some parts were wrongly written, or missed out

Some say this 42nd chapter was missing
Some say it's intentional, didn't exists from the beginning
Nobody knows