About This Site
OdGenji: Olfactory Database of The Tale of Genji
This database collects and organizes scent expressions appearing in The Tale of Genji.
Project Overview
This database is part of the results of the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL) collaborative research project "Creating Educational Materials and Building LOD Using the Japanese Classical Text Database and Its Text Data - Through Classroom Practice in Schools and International Collaboration" (Principal Investigator: Masaki Oi, Research Period: 2025-2026, Collaborative Research Number: K454082526).
About the Data
This database contains 140 olfactory descriptions extracted from all 54 volumes of The Tale of Genji.
Source Text:
- Uses TEI-XML formatted texts from Kōi Genji Monogatari
Data Extraction Method:
- Automatically extracted from TEI-XML formatted Tale of Genji texts using AI (Google Gemini 2.5 Pro)
- Strictly extracts only olfactory smell descriptions (excluding visual uses of "nioi" etc.)
- Includes original text, modern Japanese translation, English translation, plus metadata such as smell quality, location, perceiver, and circumstances
For more details, see the Smell Extraction Guide.
Main Features
- Smell Search: Search for scent expressions appearing in The Tale of Genji using various criteria
- Detailed Information: View original text, modern Japanese translation, and English translation for each scent expression
- Faceted Search: Filter by volume, smell words, quality, location, perceiver, time, and other conditions
Technical Documentation
We provide technical documentation used in building this database:
- Smell Extraction Guide - How to extract smell information from XML texts
- Smell Image Generation Guide - How to generate images using DALL-E 3
- Data Structure - RDF/XML data structure based on CIDOC-CRM and OdEuropa ontologies
Open Data
All data is available in RDF/XML format compatible with Semantic Web standards:
- Download Complete RDF Data (140 smell descriptions across 33 volumes, 989KB)
Related Links
- Odeuropa - Project on scents in Europe
- Digital Tale of Genji - The University of Tokyo's Digital Tale of Genji
Contact
For questions or comments about this database, please contact the principal investigator.