It contains no military adventures nor epic journeys. Yet "The Tale of Genji" is in every way Japan's equivalent of Homer's "Iliad". First mentioned in a diary exactly 1,000 years ago, in late 1008, it has over the centuries been subject to changes, adaptations, mutations and translations (not to mention being remade as a manga comic), all of which have helped it not just survive, but flourish. Today this account of the amorous escapades of an aristocratic aesthete is widely regarded as the first modern or psychological novel.

The book's success lies in its broad appeal. Right-wing Japanese commentators point to "The Tale of Genji" and take great pride in emphasising how much more sophisticated civilisation was in Japan in the 11th century compared with Europe at that time. For middle-aged Japanese, reading the book at study groups in adult-education centres is as popular, and as quintessentially Japanese, as flower-arranging or the tea ceremony. Feminists rejoice that the author, Murasaki Shikibu, was a woman, even if writing fiction was generally regarded as frivolous and lowbrow; not an activity for men.

The book's 1,000th anniversary is being celebrated in Japan with lectures, symposia, plays, conferences and concerts. A line of Genji tea and Genji sweets is already on the market and the CD of a newly composed Genji symphony goes on sale this month.

Ruthlessly summarised, the book's storyline goes like this. The "dazzlingly lovely" Genji, son of the emperor and one of his lower-grade consorts, is irresistible to women. He enjoys a string of affairs as a young man, even abducting a ten-year-old girl so he can mould her into the perfect life-companion. But sleeping with the daughter of the leader of the opposing political faction is one indiscretion too many and Genji is forced into exile. Recalled eventually to the capital, he builds himself a mansion with a different woman in each of its four wings. Honours are heaped upon him and he is offered the retired emperor's daughter as a wife. But Genji's royal bride betrays him with another man and when his beloved mistress dies after a long illness, our heartbroken hero follows her swiftly to the grave.

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