Genji did not seize this excellent opportunity to bring up the matter of the Captain. He decided to spare himself the awkwardness of pressing His Excellency, for he judged that His Excellency had no intention of yielding, while His Excellency for his part felt that it would be excessively forward of him to broach it without some encouraging sign from Genji. On this they therefore remained wary of each other after all.
“It would be proper tonight for me to see you home,” His Excellency said, “but it might only be a burden to you if I were to do so too abruptly. I shall call on you on another occasion to thank you properly for today.”
In reply Genji exacted from him the promise that he would not fail to come on the day Genji had mentioned before,23 since Her Highness's health gave no cause for alarm. Both left in excellent spirits, amid an imposing clatter and commotion.
“Something must have happened,” someone remarked in the escort for His Excellency's sons.
“They hardly ever meet, and now there they are in a merry mood—perhaps His Excellency got something he wanted.” But their wild guesses never hit on what the two had actually discussed.
Comb box
The suddenness of all this aroused His Excellency's suspicions, and he began to worry, but he doubted that he should take the girl on immediately himself and act the part of her father. He considered the circumstances under which Genji must originally have found her and said to himself, No, he cannot be letting her go untouched. Respect for his other, greater ladies has no doubt kept him from flaunting her openly, and the difficulty of pursuing the affair, together with the risk of discovery, must be what has led him to tell me about her. This was hardly a reassuring train of thought. Would anyone ever hold it against her, though? Why should her reputation suffer for it, even if I were the one who encouraged it in the first place? I do not like to imagine the Consort's feelings if he sends her into palace service. So his mind ran on, to arrive nonetheless at the conclusion that at any rate it was not his business to thwart Genji's decision, whatever it might be.
The sixteenth, early in the period of the equinox, was a wholly favorable day. There was no other like it nearby, or so Genji was informed, and since Her Highness was reasonably well, he hastened to begin the preparations. He continued his visits to the young lady, but he told her everything he had disclosed to His Excellency, and he taught her otherwise everything that she would need to know. She was grateful enough to reflect that no father could have done more for her than he had, and she was very happy indeed.
Genji then told the story privately to the Captain as well. How strange all this is! Now I understand! the Captain thought. Now that everything made better sense, he found his treacherous memory supplying him with far more images of her than of the young lady who was his torment. And I never thought of it! he groaned, feeling like a complete fool. However, the way he nonetheless thought better of his impulse and dismissed it as impossible no doubt testified to his rare seriousness of character.
So the day came, and with it a discreet messenger from Sanjō. With very little time Her Highness had still put together a very pretty set of comb boxes and so on. A letter accompanied them. “It would not be right for me to speak to you as I am now, and I have therefore remained at home, but I entertain the hope that you will still be inspired to live as long as I. Perhaps I should forbear to speak of my emotion upon hearing all about you, but if you will allow me,
Whether from one line or again from that other, O lovely comb box,
you will always be to me a treasure I gladly keep.”24
The hand was tremulous and extremely old-fashioned. Genji was there overseeing the arrangements. “This is a letter from out of the past, but, oh, dear,” he said when he saw it, “just look at her writing! Once upon a time she was very good, but the passing years have not treated her kindly. It is painful to see the way her hand trembles!” He looked at the letter again. “She kept very successfully to her ‘pretty comb box,’” he observed with secret mirth. “Very few of the poem's thirty-one letters are unrelated to it, and that is not easy to manage.”
Her Majesty sent the white train, the Chinese jacket, the gowns, the wherewithal for putting up the hair, and so on,25 all of it unusually beautiful, as well as especially deep and rich Chinese incenses in the usual jars. The other ladies sent what clothing they pleased, and even combs and fans for the gentlewomen; and not one of their gifts was unworthy of the rest, for each had been so eager to display her good taste that the results were very pleasing indeed.
The ladies in Genji's eastern pavilion26 heard of these preparations, too, but they were ignoring the news, being of insufficient standing to contribute themselves, when the daughter of His Highness of Hitachi, whose ancient and strangely fastidious ways forbade her to let such an occasion pass, presented exactly what formality required: a long dress in a blue-gray layering, a set of trousers in fallen chestnut or the like, such as people prized in days of yore, and a dress gown in a hail pattern with purple checks, all most decorously wrapped and presented in a handsome clothing chest.27 She had written, “I am reluctant to put myself forward, since I am no one whom you will ever know, but I cannot keep myself from thinking of you on this occasion. These are wholly unworthy, but you might perhaps give them to your women.” She sounded artlessly kind.
Genji read her letter with horror and thought, There she goes again! He blushed. “She is such an impossible relic! Anyone as shy as she is should keep completely to herself, but no, she must embarrass even me!” He went on, “You must answer her—she will be hurt otherwise. I cannot bear the thought of slighting her when I think how much His Highness her father used to love her.”
A sleeve of the dress gown had on it a poem in a familiar vein:
“Alas and alack, such cause have I to complain, robe from far Cathay,
when despair tells me your sleeves will never lie next to mine.”28
As in the past her writing was hopelessly cramped, emphatic, solid, and stiff. Despite his annoyance Genji could not repress his mirth. “Think what this poem must have cost her, especially now, when she has less help than ever!” he exclaimed in sympathy. “No, no, I may be busy, but I am not too busy to answer her myself! Something escapes me, though. Where on earth did she get this idea? She should not have done it!” He wrote in exasperation,
“Robe from far Cathay, robe from far Cathay once more, robe from far Cathay,
over and over again, I hear robe from far Cathay!”
“Seriously, though, I did it only because this is her own favorite ploy.” He showed it to the young lady, who broke into a dazzling smile. “The poor thing!” she said reproachfully. “Why, I believe you are making fun of her!”
But I talk far too much nonsense.
His Excellency had at first taken little interest in the event, but Genji's extraordinary revelation made him look forward to it after all, and he soon arrived. The ceremony went beyond anything one would commonly expect. Genji had made it a wonder. His Excellency was overwhelmed by this evidence of Genji's particular consideration, and he acknowledged the extraordinary quality of what he had done.
He was admitted at the hour of the Boar.29 Genji had had the room itself done up magnificently, quite apart from the usual accessories, and he offered his guest refreshments there. The lamps shone a little more brightly than usual, for he had provided a particularly considerate welcome. His Excellency was extremely anxious to see her, but it was really too soon for that, and when he tied on the train, he seemed only barely to have himself under control.30
“I undertake not to allude to the past this evening,” his host announced, “and I hope that you will not betray any knowledge of it either. Put up a good front for those who do not know, and confine yourself to custom.”
“I hardly know what else to talk about, though!” His Excellency replied. He put the wine cup to his lips and went on, “I readily confess the gratitude I owe you for all your extraordinary kindness, and yet I do not see how I could fail
to resent your having hidden her all this time.
She has been unkind, the seagirl who on her shore remained long concealed,
until the time came at last when she was to don her train!”31
He could not stem the flow of his salt tears.
Overwhelmed by these commanding presences, the young lady could find no reply. Genji answered in her stead,
“The waves cast her up, defenseless and all alone, here upon this shore,
like a plaything of the sea that no fisherman would want.
You are being quite unjust.”
“I understand perfectly,” His Excellency answered as he withdrew. It was really all he could say.
The Princes and the rest were all there. Many suitors were among them, and they had begun to wonder at how long it had been since His Excellency went in. Among his sons, only the Captain and the Controller32 had some inkling of the truth. Both were at once pleased and chagrined to have set their hearts on her.
“I am glad I never said anything,” the Controller whispered.
“His Grace seems to have unusual tastes.”
“I suppose he wants to turn her into someone like Her Majesty.”
Genji overheard them. “Do still be careful a while,” he said to his visitor, “and avoid giving anyone reason to be critical. People in a position to please themselves can always muddle on through their own mistakes, but you and I may suffer for what people have to say about us. It might be preferable to let people become accustomed to the idea slowly, since we have more to lose than others.”
“I leave the handling of all this to you,” His Excellency replied. “The way she came to your attention and found shelter under your superb care suggests a powerful bond between you from lives past.”
The presents for His Excellency, and also the gifts and largesse dispensed to others, naturally had each their customary measure, according to the recipient's rank, but Genji surpassed it to treat everyone magnificently. He dispensed with any extravagant music out of respect for His Excellency's past appeal to Her Highness's illness.
“Now you have nothing further to put in my way,” His Highness of War observed earnestly.
“His Majesty has dropped certain hints,” Genji replied, “and I have declined, but I shall have to decide other claims according to whether or not he returns to the subject.”
His Excellency her father had only glimpsed her, and he longed to see her plainly. The idea that Genji would never have made so much of her if he had noted any flaw only moved him to think of her with impatient affection. He now understood how right that dream of his had been. The Consort was the only one to whom he explained the whole truth.
Genji did his best to ensure that the matter should not be discussed abroad for some time yet, but people love to gossip. The news naturally got out anyway, and it spread little by little until that peculiar young woman heard it as well; whereupon she sallied forth to the Consort at a time when the Captain33 and the Controller Lieutenant were in attendance upon her. “I gather my lord has found himself a daughter,” she brashly declared. “How nice! What can she be like, if both these gentlemen are making such a fuss over her? They say she did not have much of a mother either.” The Consort maintained an outraged silence.
“I am sure there must be some reason she is so well looked after,” the Captain answered. “But who told you this, that you should so heedlessly bring it up here? Just imagine if some gossiping gentlewoman should hear you!”
“Nonsense! Why, everyone knows! She is supposed to be the next Mistress of Staff. That is just the sort of consideration I had in mind when I eagerly entered my lady's service, and that is why I gladly took on jobs no ordinary woman would do! My lady, you are perfectly horrid!”
Her tirade brought smiles to the faces of everyone there.
“I have my eye on that post, if it comes vacant! What nerve, coveting it for yourself!” The speaker was the Captain.
“Oh, no,” she retorted, “a nobody like me has no business among grand lords and ladies like you! Yes, my fine Captain, I have a quarrel with you. You are the busybody who brought me here, and now you are laughing at me! A mere mortal does not belong here! You are awful, just awful!” She slipped backward in retreat, glaring at him, her eyes narrowed in fury, but it was hard really to dislike her. Her speech convinced the Captain that he had indeed made a mistake, and he maintained a serious expression.
“As far as that goes”—the Controller smiled—”I cannot imagine that my lady fails to recognize your great merit. Please calm down. You seem ready to reduce great boulders to powder,34 but I am sure that you will have your wish in due time.
“Would you please confine yourself to the Celestial Rock Cave, though?35 It might be safer.” The Captain rose.
She burst into tears. “Even my brothers turn up their noses at me! My lady, it is only your kindness that keeps me in your service! Put me up for Mistress of Staff! You must, you must!” she insisted—she who ran about so willingly, so conscientiously everywhere, doing tasks no servant or page girl would touch. The Consort, who could not imagine what possessed her to say such things, found not a word to reply.
His Excellency laughed aloud when told of her ambition. “Where are you? Come here, you girl from Ōmi!” he once called when he was at the Consort's.
“Present!” Her voice rang out, and she appeared.
“The way you work, I am sure you would do well in any office,” he said gravely. “Why did you not tell me right off that you want to be Mistress of Staff?”
“I had wanted to talk to you about it, but I allowed myself to trust that her ladyship would naturally do so herself, and now I hear the office is to go to someone else, I feel as though I only dreamed of riches—all I can do is put my hand to my heart.”36 The pace of her tongue was very lively indeed.
His Excellency suppressed a smile. “I do not understand what makes you so reticent. If only you had told me what you wanted, I would have spoken up for you before anyone else. Never mind what claims His Grace's daughter may have, I cannot imagine His Majesty refusing me if I plead a good case. You must immediately compose a loftily worded petition. His Majesty will not disappoint you when he sees how well your long poem37 conveys your desire. He is particularly sensitive to things like that, you know.” His clever joke at her expense was not at all fatherly.
“A poem in Yamato speech, yes, I can put one together, more or less.” She was rubbing her hands. “If you will be kind enough to ask him properly for me, I will add a few words of my own, so to speak, and anticipate his gracious favor.” The gentle-women listening from behind their standing curtains thought they would die. Some were laughing so hard they had to slip out for relief. The Consort blushed profusely and felt utterly mortified.
“When things go wrong, I have only to spend time with that Ōmi girl to feel all is well again,” His Excellency declared. His only use for her was to make him laugh.
“He only torments her because he is so ashamed of her” is the sort of thing other people had to say on the subject.
30
FUJIBAKAMA
Thoroughwort Flowers
Fujibakama (Eupatorium fortunei), here translated “thoroughwort,” is a wildflower closely related to the North American boneset (E. perfoliatum). It puts forth clusters of tiny, light mauve flowers in autumn. The chapter derives its title from the fujibakama mentioned by Yūgiri in a poem addressed to Tamakazura (and tied to a spray of fujibakama in bloom):
“Here is thoroughwort laden with the very dews that soak your own field—
O have pity on me, then, if only just to be kind!”
RELATIONSHIP TO EARLIER CHAPTERS
“The Imperial Progress” went up to the second month of Genji's thirty-seventh year. “Thoroughwort Flowers” covers the eighth and ninth months of the same year.
PERSONS
His Grace, the Chancellor, Genji, age 37
The lady, 23 (Tamakazura)
The Consultant Captain, Genji'
s son, 16 (Yūgiri)
His Excellency, the Palace Minister (Tō no Chüjō)
The Secretary Captain, Tō no Chūjō's eldest son, 21 or 22 (Kashiwagi)
Saishō, Tamakazura's gentlewoman
The Commander, uncle of the Heir Apparent, 32 or 33 (Higekuro)
His wife, Murasaki's elder half sister, 35 or 36 (Higekuro no Kita no Kata)
His Highness of War, Genji's brother (Hotaru Hyōbukyō no Miya)
The Intendant of the Left Watch, Murasaki's half brother
Both gentlemen urged the lady in question1 to accept appointment as Mistress of Staff, but she remained uneasy. There was no telling what she might risk in such company, considering that she had had to remain on guard even against the man she thought of as a father, and if something unfortunate did happen, and Her Majesty and the Consort both held it against her, where would she be then? I am not in a position to claim any real liking from either, she reflected, and my uncertain reputation gives many people reason to doubt me and to be all prepared to hold me up to ridicule. Yes, I have many troubles in store for me, one way or another. Being quite old enough to understand where she stood, she was disturbed and secretly saddened. I am perfectly all right after all as I am now, but His Grace's attentions are unwelcome and distasteful, and I wonder how I will ever escape them and clear up all the conjectures that people must be making about me. My real father defers to his every wish, and he is so unlikely to take a position of his own that I seem certain in any event to suffer from compromising appearances and to start a scandal.
Now that her father knew about her, Genji only dealt with her more shamelessly than ever, and this caused her silent anguish. She had no woman relative to whom to disclose even a few of her worries, let alone all of them, and how could she possibly have brought up any hint of her anxiety to either of the two gentlemen whose splendor she found so forbidding? She looked utterly enchanting as she gazed out from near the veranda at the beautiful twilight sky, contemplating meanwhile all that made her different from those around her.
The Tale of Genji: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Junichiro Breakdown of Genji) Page 65
