( hikiwakare) and trails off with the mother wonder-
which describes: “a child whose hair has been cut like
ing if she will ever see her daughter again.
a nun’s, tilting her head to one side to see, rather than
Genji is not without guilt for separating the
brushing away the hair from her eyes.” The painting
mother and child, and he attempts to comfort the
in the album puts us in the position of appreciat-
Akashi Lady with a poetic response not included in
ing these thoughts of the Akashi Lady through its
the album leaf:
deliberate depiction of the girl’s amorphous toddler
Oisomeshi
Since its roots go deep
hairstyle. In this and other ways, the painting empha-
Ne mo fukakereba
That long since began to grow,
sizes the bond between the Akashi Lady and her
Takekuma no
The little pine tree
child, excluding Genji from the picture altogether,
Matsu ni komatsu no By the Takekuma pines
though he is present in this scene in the tale.
Chiyo o naraben
For a thousand years shall stand.
The line of prose and single poem in the accom-
cranston, p. 796
panying calligraphy leaf follow suit by containing
only the voices of mother and daughter. The inno-
He refers to legendary twin pines growing at
cent child, unaware that she is about to be separated
Takekuma to suggest that this child born of their
f rom her mother, excitedly demands to enter the
two lineages will lead to a fl ourishing of their
carriage. The text begins in the middle of three hor-
descendants for “a thousand years to come.” The
izontal, slightly diagonally oriented registers, with
Akashi girl, Genji’s only daughter, is of course des-
the “adorable” voice of the little girl, as she tugs at
tined to become Empress and to fulfi ll the prophecy
her mother’s sleeve urging them to ride together,
of the seers who predicted Genji’s future, and to
saying “let’s get in.” In the painting, this eagerness
realize the Akashi Novitiate’s portentous dreams.
is communicated by the girl’s raised hand pointing
In addition to accentuating the emotional
to the carriage. The vehicle has been brought to the
intensity of the scene, the painting in the album
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Lady, mentioned explicitly in the text. White robes
are appropriate for the winter season, but they also
evoke the uniquely achromatic garments tradition-
ally worn by women during childbirth. In this way,
the Akashi Lady’s robe emphasizes her identity as
the girl’s biological mother, especially when viewed
in conjunction with two other prominent motifs in
the painting, the ceremonial dagger, and the doll
( amagatsu), which both rest in the black lacquered box
on the ground. The dagger was a gift sent from Genji
on the fi ftieth day after his daughter’s birth while she
was still in Akashi. The doll would have been hand-
made by the Akashi Lady as a protective talisman
for her child. Although the girl is now three and at
the age when the doll could have been put aside, it
is specifi cally placed in the carriage and taken to
Nijō. The artist paid great attention to the depiction
of these objects, down to the detailed fl oral design
of the red fabric covering the dagger and the white
swaddled doll with its two strands of hair emulating
surrounds the Akashi Lady with imagery associated
that of a newborn. As Kurata Minoru has suggested,
with winter, the season with which she will become
the objects will embody a memory of the rituals
associated, while calling attention to her daughter’s
surrounding the girl’s birth in Akashi and her true
lineage within the Akashi house. In a passage in the
lineage even after her guardianship is relinquished
tale that leads up to the scene depicted in the album,
to Murasaki. Biological and adoptive motherhood
the lady stares out at the frozen edges of the garden
will continue to be represented, as in a later scene
pond at the Ōi villa, while the morning skies darken
when ladies-in-waiting mention Murasaki’s childless-
amid falling snow. She wears robes of soft white silk,
ness, emphasized when Murasaki attempts to soothe
and appears to be, in the opinion of her ladies-in-
the Akashi girl with a breast that has no milk. The
waiting, the equal in beauty of any noblewoman
painting thus refl ects an important theme of the
at court. The painting references that melancholy
tale, namely, the Akashi family’s matrilineal claim to
morning through small but powerful touches, such
the imperial line through the girl, a glory in which
as the bright white edges around the pond that con-
Murasaki will partake, albeit in a limited way, as the
note ice and snow, and the white robes of the Akashi
offi
cial adoptive mother.
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The poor withered plants in the
garden were sagging beneath the
weight of the snow, the burbling of
the garden stream sounded as if it
were sobbing in grief, and the ice on
the pond was indescribably desolate.
Genji sent the page girls out into
the garden to roll snowballs.
washburn, p. 420
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20
Bellfl owers
Asagao
Shioretaru senzai no kage
kokorogurushiu, yarimizu mo
itau musebite, ike no kōri mo e
mo iwazu sugoki ni, warawabe
oroshite yuki marobashi
sesasetamau.
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On a moonlit evening in Genji’s thirty-second year,
he and Murasaki lie near the veranda of the Nijō
residence looking out over a snow-laden garden in a
scene of domestic serenity. In the tale, the narrator
describes the perfection of the couple and the aus-
tere winter beauty of the evening as so ideal that it
should be captured in a painting. Tosa Mitsunobu
rises to the occasion and depicts the pair
dressed in
informally elegant, gold-patterned robes, indicating
the luxury of their daily existence. The intimacy of
the moment is emphasized by the absence of any
watchful attendant fi gures and a tight f rame around
the couple made up of columns and a blind above,
which Genji has just raised, allowing moonlight to
fl ood the room. The source of the light appears in
the upper right corner of the composition, a silvery
moon with its illusory refl ection fl oating on the
pond below. Bright white snow covers the ground
and weighs down the bamboo and the reeds at the
water’s edge, while soft fl urries scatter across the
gold clouds. Pale blue paint limning the otherwise
dark blue water represents the ice just beginning to
form on the edges of the pond, creating the sense of
a chilly exterior in contrast to a warm interior occu-
pied by the couple. Inside, Genji focuses intently
on Murasaki as he turns toward her, aff ectionately
scrutinizing her features, as described in the tale.
The gold cloud that so often hovers above Genji’s
fi gure in the album as if to mark his status as the
protagonist here fl oats over the two of them, edg-
ing closer to Murasaki. The lady’s attention is not
on Genji, however, but on the page girls outside,
ostensibly about the f rozen pond, indicates feelings
whose dark hair juxtaposed against their white of profound discontent:
robes and the glistening snow is said in the tale to be
Kōri toji
Locked in by ice,
mesmerizing. The girls have rolled a snowball too
Ishima no mizu wa
The water in between the stones
large to push any farther, as suggested by the fi gure
Yukinayami
Runs but poorly now;
who leans her elbow on the orb as though resting in
Sora sumu tsuki no
It is the clear moon, sky-dwelling,
defeat. Another page seems eager to keep rolling,
Kage zo nagaruru
That fl ows in a shining stream.
while a third girl enters f rom the left gesturing with
cranston, p. 803
her hands to off er advice.
The pictorial motifs depicted in the garden, The anxiety expressed in the poem derives f rom which at fi rst seem merely to embellish the elegant
Murasaki’s knowledge that Genji has been pursu-
atmosphere, when read in conjunction with the ing the former Kamo Priestess, his cousin known chapter’s poetry, refl ect the restless thoughts of the
as Princess Asagao. Genji fi rst courted this woman
characters looking out at them. Murasaki’s poem,
when he was a young man in Chapter Two; with
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her royal pedigree, she represents a unique threat
to Murasaki.
Although Genji has never been presented as a
fl awless hero, in this chapter the author begins to
depict him in middle age and to complicate his por-
trayal in new ways. He continues to be politically
ascendant, but the text criticizes his attempts to
relive the amorous adventures of his youth in ways
both subtle and humorous. Elderly female char-
acters from Genji’s past are reintroduced, such as
Naishi, his father’s handmaid, whose presence calls
attention to the passage of time and Genji’s own
aging. Even Princess Asagao is not a young woman,
but Genji’s contemporary; he likens her in a poem
to a bellfl ower (giving the chapter its name) past its
prime. At the same time, Asagao’s steadfast rejection
of Genji’s advances implies that his amatory powers
Kakitsumete
Over snow the past
may be in decline. In the scene depicted in the album,
Mukashi koishiki
Longings now gathered together
Genji has returned home after being rebuff ed by
Yuki mo yo ni
In tonight’s raking . . .
Asagao and lavishes attention on Murasaki, attempt-
Aware o souru
A new note of sadness fl oats
ing to console her. But his words quickly turn into a
Oshi no ukine ka
In the pond ducks’ restless cry.
disquisition on the qualities of the various women
he has known, Murasaki among them, giving her yet
cranston, p. 803
another reason to compose the poem above with its
The mandarin duck, usually a symbol of auspicious
metaphor of the ice-locked pond.
marital fi delity, cries out over the snows that evoke
For Genji, the image of the page girls playing in
the past. In the lines that follow, Genji falls asleep
the snow triggers a memory of his greatest love,
and dreams of Fujitsubo, who chastises him for
the recently deceased Fujitsubo, who had long ago
exposing their secret aff air while revealing that she
staged a similar scene with a snow mountain. Once
has been suff ering in the afterworld. Genji awakens
Genji makes the association, thoughts of Fujitsubo
to Murasaki beside him, who has heard him crying
preoccupy him, and he notices anew Murasaki’s out in his sleep. The chapter concludes with Genji uncanny resemblance to her aunt, and her beauty.
commissioning sutra readings for his deceased
He recalls the purple roots of the gromwell, love’s tormented soul. While the brightly painted Murasaki’s namesake fl ower, which had always pair of mandarin ducks in the album leaf echoes the been a metaphor for her affi
nity with the Fujitsubo
apparent harmony of the couple inside, the scene
Consort, and the purple wisteria to which that is only superfi cially joyous. Beneath the surface of name refers. At that moment, he composes a poem
the picture’s hibernal beauty is a melancholic, even
that refl ects the joining of the two women and the
ominous tone, with the shadow of Fujitsubo loom-
merging of past and present in his mind:
ing over the perfect couple.
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May the fl ower garden
That awaits with all its heart
The coming of spring
Still regard our crimson leaves
At least as off erings of the wind.
cranston, p. 810
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21
Maidens of
the Dance
Otome
Kokoro kara
Haru matsu sono wa
Wa ga yado no
Momiji o kaze no
Tsute ni dani miyo
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In his thirty-fi fth year Genji acquires four square
to her daughter, although convention still prevents
parcels of land in the capital and unites them to
them f rom meeting directly. The Akashi Lady
construct a grand estate with separate structures
resides in the northeast corner, which boasts an ele-
in each quadrant to house his various women. The
gant winter garden with hills and pines that promise
residence is known as the Rokujō estate (Rokujōin),
a picturesque snow scene when the season arrives.
named for its location on Rokujō, or Sixth Avenue,
Her quadrant is the only one without its own lake,
on land inherited by the Umetsubo Consort, daugh-
and her residence consists of merely two small struc-
ter of the late Rokujō Lady. The fi nished estate is an
tures that resemble the adjacent wings ( tai no ya) of
architectural marvel in scale and design, arranged
a main hall ( shinden) without the central hall itself,
according to geomantic principles with each quad-
as found in the structures of the other ladies. Such
rant aligned with one of the four seasons. Genji has
disparity in the opulence of her accommodations
the grounds excavated, installs lakes and hills, and
results f rom the Akashi Lady’s lower status as the
orders plantings to ensure each designated season
daughter of a provincial governor. And yet her role
is perfectly expressed in its respective quadrant. The
as mother to a future empress is quietly suggested
Umetsubo Consort, named Empress in this chapter,
in other ways, by the conspicuous chrysanthemum
occupies the southwest quadrant when home f rom
in her garden, which has long been associated with
her duties at the palace. Her garden fl ourishes in
imperial off spring, and by its position in the north-
autumn, earning her the nickname “Akikonomu,”
ern half of the estate, as the northern direction is
The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion Page 16
