Red and White Tale of Genji, vol. 3a: Autumn Excursion, 1709, Okumura Masanobu, Japanese, 1686 - 1764, 10 1/2 × 7 1/8 × 1/4 in. (26.67 × 18.1 × 0.64 cm), Woodblock printed book; ink on paper, Japan, 18th century, By the early 1700s, when this printed version of The Tale of Genji was published, very few people could understand the complex written language in which the original tale had been written 700 years earlier. For this illustrated and modernized version of the tale, Okumura Masanobu wrote in a manner that reflected Japanese as it was spoken in the early 1700s. The text was rendered freely, placing emphasis on conveying the meaning rather than offering a verbatim presentation of the original tale.