The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion

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The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion Page 18

by Melissa McCormick


  Flitting f rom tree to tree,

  To its old nest in the valley

  A-calling comes the warbler.

  “And how I have waited for that voice!”

  cranston, p. 817

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  23

  First Song

  of Spring

  Hatsune

  Mezurashi ya

  Hana no negura ni

  Kozutaite

  Tani no furusu o

  Toeru uguisu

  “Koe machiidetaru” nado mo ari.

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  It is New Year’s Day, the start of spring in the lunar

  seasonally appropriate, it also unmistakably regis-

  calendar, and amid the splendor and festivity at the

  ters the Akashi Lady’s sadness about her inability to

  Rokujōin estate, Genji visits all of his women in their

  meet with her daughter. The sent gifts express her

  respective seasonal quarters. The album painting for

  feelings as well, as she switches the warbler’s perch

  Chapter Twenty-Three depicts him that evening in

  f rom its conventional plum, a symbol of spring and

  the winter rooms of the Akashi Lady, where he will

  of the girl’s home with Murasaki, to a fi ve-needled

  spend the night. His progression through the sea-

  pine, a tree of winter, suggesting the Akashi Lady’s

  sons began, however, in Murasaki’s spring quarters

  northern quarters.

  where the garden has just begun to fl ourish. The

  The guilt of separating mother and daughter

  tale relates how the couple exchange verses, taking

  seems to be too much for Genji as he insists that his

  up the motif of the icy pond (as in Chapter Twenty)

  daughter reply to her mother immediately, and then

  but transforming it into an auspicious symbol — a

  personally visits the Akashi Lady’s rooms, where we

  mirror refl ecting their beautiful visages and a har-

  fi nd him in the album painting. White plum blos-

  moniousness that will last for “a thousand years,”

  soms, the quintessential fl ower of spring, fi ll the

  as Murasaki intones. The poetic communication outside space behind Genji and evoke Murasaki’s that occurs on this day, and even the banter between

  garden, which is also her daughter’s “fl owery roost.”

  Genji and his various ladies-in-waiting, references a

  Inside, however, everything points to the Akashi

  long history of ritualistic court poetry that praises

  Lady. An alluring scent wafting from her room beck-

  a benefi cent ruler and off ers wishes for a long-last-

  ons him as he approaches, suggested in the painting

  ing reign. In this way, Genji’s survey of his private

  by the round lacquered incense brazier. In the tale it

  domain resembles a ruler receiving felicitations is described as just lit and smoldering jijū incense, a f rom his subjects. Yet the author never takes this

  mixture of aloeswood, clove, sandalwood, musk, and

  conceit too far, making sure that all of the wom-

  the aromatic resin of the Mediterranean evergreen,

  en’s comments or poetic off erings leave room for

  mingling with the earlier scent of Melia azedarach, or

  other interpretations, including those that even Persian lilac. However, the lady herself is nowhere to make light of Genji’s grandeur. From Murasaki’s

  be seen, and he fi nds only the sensuous presence of

  rooms Genji moves to another wing in the spring

  her things, which seem still animated by her touch. A

  quarter occupied by his daughter, the Akashi girl.

  Chinese-style koto, or kin, with its clearly articulated

  Gifts f rom her biological mother, the Akashi Lady,

  seven strings, rests on a richly pattered silk mat, with

  have just arrived: artfully crafted woven baskets and

  an embroidered border of continental brocade. The

  boxes of delicacies, an artifi cial warbler perched on

  image of the kin calls to mind the instrument’s piv-

  a fabricated pine branch, and a poem f rom which

  otal role in originally bringing the couple together,

  the chapter gets its name.

  the Akashi Lady’s renowned musical skill in a style

  of play passed down from Emperor Daigo, and the

  Toshitsuki o

  Through the months and years,

  seven-stringed koto that Genji brought with him

  Matsu ni hikarete

  Ever drawn to the seedling pine,

  into exile and that he gave to the Akashi Lady on

  Furu hito ni

  Waits the aged one;

  his return to the capital. Scattered around the room

  Kyō uguisu no

  Today permit her to listen

  Genji also fi nds the lady’s writings — sheets of paper

  Hatsune kikase yo

  To the warbler’s fi rst spring song.

  with jottings of calligraphy, and notebooks of her

  cranston, p. 816

  poetry. The painting depicts four notebooks, all with

  The Akashi Lady writes beneath her poem the decorative covers in striking diagonal color blocks phrase, “In this village where no warbler sings,”

  that anticipate book design of the early seventeenth

  making clear that the bird represents her little girl,

  century. Genji holds one volume in his hands, entirely

  whose voice she no longer hears. Although the let-

  absorbed, seemingly intoxicated by the atmosphere,

  ter is kept carefully within the confi nes of what is

  and unaware of himself. He reads a poem written

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  by the Akashi Lady, the same one included in the

  viding him with his only daughter. The enchanting

  album’s calligraphy, which is a personal response to

  atmosphere in the Akashi Lady’s quarters, and the

  the letter and poem she has just received from her

  subtle demand for recognition encoded in its trap-

  daughter. As elsewhere in the album, the calligraphy

  pings, compels Genji to spend the fi rst night of the

  captures the words or thoughts of a fi gure absent

  year with her rather than with Murasaki, a decision

  from the painting and has the eff ect of voice-over

  for which he will have to endure Murasaki’s resent-

  narration for the viewer.

  ment. The gesture acknowledges the Akashi Lady’s

  The Akashi Lady does, however, appear as an

  role as the future Empress’s biological mother, as

  “absent presence” in this scene, not only through

  well as Genji’s deep connection to the Akashi family.

  the depiction of possessions that are unmistak-

  Despite the sadness of living apart f rom her daugh-

  ab
ly hers but also through motifs that suggest her

  ter, in a “village where no warbler sings,” the Akashi

  impending return. The sliding door on the right

  Lady’s sacrifi ce ensures the recuperation of her

  side of the composition, for example, stands open

  family line and Genji’s success in redeeming his own

  just enough to reveal the adjacent room, which con-

  matriline. It was perhaps for this reason, in part, that

  tains a gold and black lacquered stand supporting a

  the verse cited above, and the pictorial symbols of

  fabric curtain. In the tale, the lady discreetly enters

  Chapter Twenty-Three — the warbler, the plum, the

  the room only moments after the scene depicted

  pine — were emblazoned on the luxurious lacquer

  in the album painting, so that the curtain suggests

  sets of bridal trousseaus in the early modern period.

  her off stage presence, and perhaps even a deliberate

  The auspiciousness of the New Year, the scenes

  contrivance of the tableau that Genji discovers. The

  of Genji’s prosperity at the Rokujōin estate, and

  room is full of elements that elicit Genji’s memories

  the lessons contained in the moral fortitude of the

  of Akashi, including the Chinese touches of the sur-

  Akashi Lady made for a powerful combination, use-

  roundings that are similar to those of the Novitiate’s

  ful for instructing young brides, and for expressing

  residence, which must remind him of the Akashi

  their families’ wishes for powerful and successful

  family’s wealth and crucial role in his success by pro-

  marital unions.

  Chapter 23 | First Song of Spring | 115

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  Not for me the mountain

  On a bright spring day

  Mounted on the turtle’s back;

  All across the bay the boat

  No, I shall stay

  Moves to the pole,

  Here in our boat and leave behind

  And the droplets scattering

  A name for never aging.

  Are blossoms in the shining sun.

  cranston, p. 818

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  24

  Butterfl ies

  Kochō

  Kame no ue no

  Haru no hi no

  Yama mo tazuneji

  Urara ni sashite

  Fune no uchi ni

  Yuku fune wa

  Oi senu na o ba

  Sao no shizuku mo

  Koko ni nokosan

  Hana zo chirikeru

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  Although it is now late spring, the cherry blossoms

  leaves. The conspicuous fl ower appears in two of

  in Murasaki’s garden that should have waned con-

  four total poems by the ladies-in-waiting composed

  tinue to fl ourish, just like the fl owers that defi ed

  aboard the boats, but not included in the album

  the season in the northern mountains where calligraphy text. In one, Murasaki’s kerria becomes Genji fi rst discovered the “little purple gromwell”

  the famous “Cape of Yamabuki” (Yamabukinosaki)

  in Chapter Five. That earlier description signaled

  in nearby Ōmi Province, which seems to have

  Genji’s entry into an otherworldly realm in the hills

  informed Mitsunobu’s depiction of the fl ower

  above the capital, and in the “Butterfl ies” chapter,

  paired with a craggy rock. In another poem, a yel-

  the Rokujōin is similarly marked as it is likened to

  low blossom on the banks of the Ide River lends its

  paradise (a “land of living Buddhas”). In the fi rst

  golden hue to the water when the wind scatters its

  poem included with this chapter’s album painting,

  petals on the surface. In juxtaposing the blossoms

  the estate is said to rival even “the mountain on

  directly over the dark blue pond with its swirling

  the turtle’s back,” that is, the immortal realm of

  waves delineated in black ink, the painter seems to

  Mount Hōrai. The speaker of the poem is one of

  have responded to this poetic image as well. The

  the several ladies-in-waiting f rom the Umetsubo conceit of the water’s surface as a place of magical Empress’s autumn quarters whom Genji has invited

  metamorphosis appears throughout this passage in

  to view Murasaki’s garden. The women will act as

  the tale; it is likened to a brocade in which the rip-

  surrogates for the Empress, since her elevated posi-

  ples made by paddling ducks weave new patterns, or

  tion precludes a visit merely to view the garden and

  as in the second poem featured in the album’s callig-

  enjoy its delights. The women travel in Chinese-

  raphy, to a place where concentric circles made by

  style wooden boats that Genji has constructed to

  the dipping of the rowers’ oars become blossoming

  navigate the vast pond that connects the autumn

  fl owers ( sao no shizuku mo, hana zo chirikeru).

  and spring quarters (see Chapter 21) — the prow of

  The passage in the tale presents Murasaki’s

  each boat has been carved in the shape of a diff er-

  garden as it is seen through the eyes of the ladies-

  ent mythical animal, a large water bird ( geki), and

  in-waiting, but the painting takes a diff erent vantage

  a dragon ( ryū), associated respectively with the ele-

  point, that of the occupant of the building in the

  ments of wind and water. Setting out for the spring,

  foreground, an implied Murasaki, gazing out f rom

  they row beyond a rocky promontory that divides

  behind lowered bamboo blinds toward the spectacle

  the two residences to behold a f resh new vista, as

  on the water. Motifs are stacked and staggered to

  though they had entered a foreign land.

  suggest recession into the distance across the pond,

  The ladies dock at an islet in the center of the

  and the vividly painted dragon and bird-headed

  pond and view Murasaki’s grounds f rom a dis-

  boats, touches of gold paint on their eyes for enliv-

  tance, glimpsing the cherries through veils of thick

  enment, appear to fl oat back and forth. The page

  spring mist and noting the purple wisteria wrapping

  girls make “water blossoms” with their oars as men-

  around the covered walkways. The purple blossoms

  tioned above, stirring up white cherry petals that

  appear in the lower left corner of the painting, with

  fi ve clusters of the pendulous fl owers hanging over

  the roofed corridor. The other emblematic fl ower

  of Murasaki’s garden is the kerria ( yamabuki), the


  deep yellow fl ower of late spring. In the painting,

  it occupies a place in the center of the composition,

  poking out f rom behind a green rock on the edge

  of the pond. Layers of shell white, yellow pigment,

  and gold paint make up the blossoms, while thin

  gold lines defi ne the veins of the plant’s bright green

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  fl oat on the water. The girls are dressed like boys,

  worldy and appropriately tuned to the Buddhist

  with their tresses tied into loops in the Chinese style,

  ceremony, as the cry of the kalavinka in paradise is

  like Genji wore his hair before he came of age in the

  said to give voice to the dharma. The pretense for

  fi rst leaf of the album. The women will disembark

  the visit is to off er fl owers to the Buddha, and in the

  f rom their boats and enter the mansion through the

  tale the silver and gold vessels of cherry blossoms

  fi shing pavilion of the southeastern abode. There

  and kerria brought by the girls are dutifully placed

  they will be treated to music and dance, which will

  on the altar.

  continue until early morning.

  The scene is magical and participates in the

  The next day, Murasaki sends her own messen-

  overall eff ect of these middle chapters, which is to

  gers across the pond, off ering the Empress a hint at

  present the Rokujōin as a site that rivals the impe-

  the splendors of her spring realm. The Empress has

  rial palace. At the same time, the private nature of

  sponsored a grand sutra reading that day attended

  Genji’s estate allows the mistresses of the seasons to

  by the entire court and offi

  ciated by numerous

  act as the protagonists of these events. But not all

  Buddhist priests. Murasaki uses the exotic boats is peaceful in this paradise. The spring season has docked in her pond to transport eight page girls to

  aroused memories in Genji of his youth, his aff air

  the ceremony spectacularly costumed as the para-

  with Yūgao, and a longing for Yūgao’s daughter

  disal kalavinka birds and butterfl ies of court bugaku

 

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