The Tale of Genji: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Junichiro Breakdown of Genji)

by Murasaki Shikibu

  “He has made the temple very large and handsome, they tell me, and the hall for the Perpetual Calling of the Name is particularly impressive. Last autumn he seems to have begun going there more often than before. Some of his servants were saying in confidence that he has a woman hidden there—someone he must certainly be quite keen on. All the men on his estates thereabouts have orders to place themselves at her disposal, act as guards, and so on, and he secretly sends her whatever she may need from the City as well. Just this twelfth month past they were wondering who the lucky woman could be and talking about how lonely it must be for her there even so; or so I was told.”

  Well, thought His Highness, I am glad I asked! “You have not heard clearly who she is, have you? There has always been a nun living there, and I gather that he visits her.”

  “No, Your Highness, the nun lives in the gallery. The person they mean has the new main house, where she is quite respectably installed with a number of rather nice gentlewomen.”

  “This is fascinating. But why does he have her there, and who can she be? There really is something quite curious about him—he is just not like other people. I hear His Excellency of the Right complains how frivolous it is of him to be caught up in religion to the point even of spending the occasional night in a mountain temple, and indeed, I myself have wondered why he must be so devoted in private to following the path of the Buddha. His heart is still there in that village, they say, but then this is what it was all about! Well, well! The man who makes himself out to be worthier than anyone else turns out to be just the one with the completely unsuspected secret!” He was absolutely delighted. The Chief Clerk was the son-in-law of one of the Commander's closest retainers, and he presumably heard even things that the Commander wished to hide.

  How am I to go about seeing for myself whether or not she is the one I happened on that time? His Highness wondered. She must have a good deal more to offer than just any attractive girl, if he is keeping her there that carefully. And how does she come to be close to my wife? It particularly annoyed him that his wife and the Commander had obviously conspired to hide her from him.

  For the moment that was all he could think about. Once the New Year archery contest and the privy banquet were over and he had more leisure—since the announcement of the appointments list,7 vital to the interests of so many, did not concern him—he spent all his time devising a secret trip to Uji. The Chief Clerk, who had certain hopes of his own, was then eager to do anything to please His Highness, day or night, and His Highness made more intimate use of him than usual.

  “Are you prepared to carry out any task that I may set you, no matter how difficult?” The Chief Clerk respectfully signified that he was at His Highness's disposal. “It pains me very much to say this,” His Highness went on, “but I have reason to believe that that woman now living in Uji is one who disappeared after I myself had come to know her a little, and that it is the Commander who made off with her. I cannot be certain, though, and I should therefore like to get a look at her so as to be able to tell whether or not it is really she. How can I be quite sure of evading discovery?”

  That is difficult! the Chief Clerk said to himself. “The way there involves a very difficult passage through the hills, my lord,” he nonetheless replied, “but the journey is not especially long. You could leave at nightfall and be there by the hour of the Boar or the Rat.8 You should then be able to return just before dawn. Only the men who actually accompany you need know, and there is no reason why even they should have any real idea what you are doing.”

  “Exactly. I have been there myself once or twice. Anyone as likely to be criticized for thoughtless behavior as I am, though, is bound to feel nervous about what people may make of it.” In fact he knew all too well that he most certainly should not do it, but now that he had already said that much, he could not give up the idea.

  He chose his most intimate retainers to accompany him, including two or three men who had taken him there of old, the Chief Clerk, and, in addition, his own young foster brother, a Chamberlain who had been given a promotion to the fifth rank. Upon setting out this way, after ascertaining through the Chief Clerk that there was no chance of the Commander going there himself that day or the next, he thought back to times gone by. What a thing to do to the man who had then always taken him there in a spirit of extraordinarily close friendship! His every movement even within the City was of course likely to be noted, and he knew that the journey was not for such as he to make, but he still set out, despite fear and guilt, on horseback and in disguise.9 The farther they advanced into the hills, the more his heart beat as he wondered, Will I ever get there? How will it go? And what a miserable disappointment if I have to go back again without really meeting her! A carriage took him to the vicinity of Hōshōji, but after that he rode.

  He hastened on and arrived late in the evening. The Chief Clerk had found out all he needed to know from people at the Commander's residence who were familiar with the Uji house, so that he was able to evade the guards. He slipped in through the reed fence that screened off the west side, damaging it very little in the process. He did not quite know how to go farther, since he had never been there before, but he found that there were few people about, and on the south side of the main house he noted the glow of a lamp and heard the rustling of silks.

  He went back to His Highness. “They seem still to be up, my lord,” he reported. “You need only enter through here.”10 He led His Highness in.

  His Highness stepped up silently and found a lattice shutter with a crack, though the Iyo blind rattled alarmingly when he went up to it. The house was certainly new and handsome, but it was not after all perfectly finished, for there were gaps here and there that they had done nothing to fill; no doubt they assumed that no one would ever approach and wish to peer in. The cloth panel of the standing curtain was draped over the crosspiece. Three or four women sat sewing by the lamp's brightest light, and a pretty page girl was spinning. He recognized the girl's face: yes, he had seen it before at home, also by lamplight. Not that a first glance may not be deceptive; but there was the young woman they had called Ukon. The girl herself was lying with her head on her arm, gazing at the lamp. Her eyes and forehead, with her hair spilling over them, had a wonderfully elegant beauty. She looked very like the lady in his wing at Nijō.

  Ukon was preparing to sew a hem. “If you do go, though, my lady,” she said, “it will be some time before you return. His lordship is supposed definitely to come on the first, after the business of the appointments list is over. A messenger told us yesterday. What did he say in his letter?”

  The girl seemed thoroughly dispirited and did not answer.

  “Just think how bad it would look if you appeared just to have gone off to hide!” Ukon continued.

  “You should at least write to him, to let him know you have gone,” the woman sitting across from Ukon added. “How could you allow yourself to disappear without a word? And you must come straight back when you are done with your pilgrimage. I know that you are not happy here, but you are used to being as quiet and comfortable as you could wish, and I expect it will soon be at your mother's that you feel away from home.”

  “It would look better and be much easier if you were to wait a little longer for his lordship to come,” another ventured. “You can see your mother as much as you like once he has taken you to the City. Your nurse, with all due respect, is awfully hasty, and she was much too quick to persuade your mother that this was a good idea. It has always been true, and it still is, that patience and caution prevail in the end.”

  “I wonder why you do not keep Nanny11 here. Old people can make so much trouble!” Ukon seemed to have it in for anyone like the nurse. His Highness heartily agreed when he looked back on that evening, and he felt as though he must have dreamed it all.

  After more talk of the same painfully private nature, one of the women remarked, “Her Highness at Nijō has been remarkably fortunate, though. His Excellency of the Rig
ht may be ever so impressive, but despite all that grand fuss of his, she is the one who has done extraordinarily well ever since the young Prince was born. She has no one pestering her with bright ideas. Apparently she can live in peace and give due thought to whatever she does.”

  “You will do just as well, though, if his lordship goes on being this attentive!”

  The girl sat up a little. “I will not listen to such talk! You are welcome to compare me to complete strangers in whatever way you like, but I would appreciate it if you did not discuss Her Highness that way. It would be mortifying if she were to hear of it.”

  How are the two of them related? he wondered. She looks so like her. Still, the lady at Nijō far outdid the girl before him in distinction and noble grace. This one was certainly attractive in all sorts of ways, but no more. In any case, now that he had recognized her as the one who had been so continually on his mind, he was in no mood to give up even if he noted a discordant trait or two and a touch of the commonplace; in fact, after getting so full a view of her, he just went on staring, frantic to find a way to possess her.

  “I am so sleepy!” said Ukon. “For some reason I slept badly last night. I shall finish this sewing first thing in the morning. Even if your mother comes as fast as she can, her carriage will not get here until the sun is high.” She gathered up all the things she had been working on, hung them over the crosspiece of the standing curtain, and lay down in a corner as though for a nap. Her mistress moved to lie down farther back in the room. Ukon went briefly to the north aisle, came back again, and stretched out at her mistress's feet.

  The sleepy Ukon dropped off immediately—that much His Highness could tell. Not knowing what else to do, he rapped softly on the shutter. Ukon heard him. “Who is it?” she asked. She gathered from the dignity of his voice when he

  Bedclothes

  cleared his throat that the Commander must have arrived, and she rose and came toward him.

  “Please open this,” he said.

  “But this is strange! We were not expecting you at all! And it must be so late!”

  “Nakanobu said your mistress is going on a pilgrimage, and the shock brought me here straightaway. I had an awful journey. Anyhow, open up!” He spoke so low and mimicked the Commander's voice so expertly that the truth never occurred to her. She unlocked the shutter and swung it open.

  “I had a very frightening experience on the way—that is why I am dressed like this. Dim the lamp.”

  “Oh, how dreadful!” Ukon removed it, all aflutter.

  “Do not let anyone see me. And do not get people up just because I am here.” He cleverly managed to make his voice, which slightly resembled the Commander's anyway, sound exactly like it. In he came. Something awful had happened to him, he said. Ukon wondered with sympathy how he was dressed, and she peered at him discreetly. His costume was very soft and fine, and his fragrance was as delicious as always.

  He went straight to the girl, undressed, and lay down beside her as though it were the most natural thing in the world. “Surely you would prefer your usual room, my lord,” Ukon offered, but he did not reply, so she drew the covers over him and got the women to move off a little before going back to sleep. They were not accustomed to entertaining his escort in any case.

  “How remarkable of him to come like this in the middle of the night!” the women murmured. “She has no idea how strongly he feels about her!”

  “Hush! Be quiet! Whispering is especially tiresome at night!” Ukon silenced them before she lay down, too.

  The young woman beside him realized with utter horror that he was not who he claimed to be, but he stopped her crying out. The outrage was worthy of someone capable of almost anything, even in a place that required him to be on his best behavior. She might have been able to resist him if she had known from the start that he was someone else, but by now she felt she was dreaming, and meanwhile, little by little, he told her how painful it had been for him that time and how he had continued to think of her ever since, until she soon understood that it was His Highness. Transfixed with shame, she thought of his wife and wept copiously, being quite unable to do anything else. His Highness himself was more upset than elated, and he, too, wept to think how impossible it might be for him ever to be with her again.

  Daybreak came, and the light grew. His men came around, clearing their throats. Ukon heard them and prepared to wait upon her mistress. His Highness, who had not the slightest wish to go, longed only for more time with her, and he was so afraid of being unable ever to return that he decided instead to spend the day exactly where he was. Bother them if they are rushing about in the City looking for me, he thought, I might as well enjoy life while it lasts! The very idea of going back now made him feel as though he really was going to die.

  He therefore summoned Ukon. “You may think me mad, but I do not plan to leave today. Have my men disappear somewhere nearby. Tokikata is to go to the City and give out some plausible story that I am on secret retreat at a mountain temple.”

  Ukon, aghast, fought to master the panic that threatened to engulf her as she contemplated her error of the evening before. There is no point in making a great thing of it now, she assured herself, and besides, that would only give offense. If she came to mean this much to him during that strange encounter, it was obviously a matter of inevitable destiny for both. Nobody in particular had anything to do with it.

  “It appears that her mother is to come for her today, Your Highness,” she said. “May I ask what you propose to do? It is too late to inform her of the destiny that has overtaken her daughter. This is the wrong moment, to say the least. Perhaps I might suggest that you leave today and return at your leisure if you still wish to do so.”

  Well spoken! he thought, and he continued aloud, “I have been thinking about her lately until I hardly know what I am doing, and people's gossip and complaints mean nothing to me anymore. I am a desperate man. Would anyone like me undertake such a journey if he had any concern for himself? Answer her mother that, for example, she has to remain in seclusion today. Just think up something to spare her and me having anyone else find out about this. You may save yourself making any other suggestion.” His enchantment seemed almost to have obliterated any concern for criticism.

  Ukon went out and spoke to the men who had been hoping to rouse His Highness. “Those are His Highness's wishes,” she said, “but please remind him how very bad this looks. Surely his escort can discourage completely outrageous behavior, even if he himself means to pursue it. How can you possibly have brought him here like children? What if a peasant were to insult him?” The Chief Clerk stood there thinking how thoroughly unfortunate it indeed was.

  “And which of you is Tokikata? Well, then, this is what you are to do.” She passed on His Highness's orders.

  “I shall be off, then, in fear of your wrath, whether he himself wishes it or not!” Tokikata laughed. “Seriously, though, we risked a good deal to accompany him when we saw how set he was on her. But enough—I hear the guards getting up.” He hurried away.

  Ukon had not the faintest idea how to prevent everyone from finding out what was going on. “For certain reasons his lordship wishes to remain completely unseen,” she told the women when they arose. “What I gather of his appearance suggests that he had a serious misadventure on the way here. He has ordered new clothes to be brought from the City tonight.”

  “How awful!” the older ones exclaimed. “They say the Kohata hills are quite terrifying! I suppose he came in disguise, as usual, without anyone to clear his path. Oh, dear, oh, dear!”

  “Quiet, quiet! It will be a calamity if the servants and so on ever catch wind of this.” She trembled at the very thought. And what would she say if, horror of horrors, a messenger were to arrive from his lordship himself? “O Kannon of Hatsuse,” she prayed from the bottom of her heart, “get me safely through this day!”

  The mother of Ukon's mistress was to come and fetch her daughter that day for a pilgrimage to Ishiyam
a,12 and all the gentlewomen, too, had fasted and gone through purification. “Well, then,” they said, “she will not be able to go today. That is a shame!”

  The sun was up, the shutters were raised, and Ukon waited intimately on the couple. She had the blinds of the chamber lowered and the words IN SECLUSION posted on them. She also devised a story about threatening dreams in case her mistress's mother should come in person. As for the washing water, she presented it to His Highness as she always did to the Commander, but he was shocked when her mistress moved to assist her.

  “You might wash first, darling,” he said; and she, accustomed by now to someone so nice and so gentlemanly, supposed that a man sufficiently ardent to believe he would die if torn an instant from her must be what people called “deeply in love.” She could hardly believe what had happened. Oh, what will people think when they hear about this? Her thoughts went first to Her Highness at Nijō; but he, who knew nothing of what was passing through her mind, insisted, “You are so cruel—please, please just tell me who you are! Never mind if you are a complete nobody—I shall only love you better for it!” She did not answer that, but on other matters she gave the most delightfully affectionate replies, and he found her perfectly enchanting.

  The sun was high when the party arrived to fetch her. There were two carriages, seven or eight rough men on horseback as usual, and a large number of attendants, all chattering away in their uncouth jargon; and in they came, to the women's dismay. “Go and tell his lordship to keep out of sight!” they warned. Ukon hardly knew what to do. I could say his lordship is here, she reflected, but if someone that important were absent from the City, the news would certainly have got about, and everyone would know.