Always intrigued by the possibility of besting Tō
his youthful passion. The young men depicted in
no Chūjō, the story of the mystery woman and her
the album painting are roughly the age Genji was
daughter led to Genji’s own aff air with Yūgao and
when he met Yūgao and provide yet another con-
ultimately his decision to harbor her grown daugh-
nection between past and present. These sons of Tō
ter, Tamakazura, secretly in the summer quarter
no Chūjō know that Genji has a long-lost “daugh-
of the Rokujōin. In this scene, Tō no Chūjō’s sons
ter” living in his estate, but like their father, they are
tell Genji of yet another long-lost daughter of unaware that she is in fact their half sister. Despite their father, a girl living in the provinces whom he
Genji’s attraction to Tamakazura, he knows that he
recently brought to the capital. This new character,
cannot keep her for himself and discusses potential
the “girl f rom Ōmi,” is no Tamakazura, however,
husbands with her, all the while envisioning diff er-
and in fact picks up where Suetsumuhana left off
ent scenarios in his mind and intending to postpone
in the tale as an object of derision. It turns out
her departure as long as possible.
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The fi re of longing
That rises beside these cage-fl ares
Is the one whose smoke,
Now I know it, never dies —
That fl ame of all nights of the world.
cranston, pp. 827–28
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27
Cresset Fires
Kagaribi
Kagaribi ni
Tachisou koi no
Keburi koso
Yo ni wa tae senu
Honō narikere
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The season turns to fall at the start of Chapter the chapters that feature Tamakazura, Genji is f re-Twenty-Seven, the air turns chilly and the atmo-
quently described as stroking her hair, and in this
sphere melancholy, as Tamakazura’s saga continues,
scene, he fi nds it to be elegantly cool to the touch.
with Genji becoming increasingly enthralled by The painting has unfortunately been damaged, leav-her beauty. He f requently goes to her wing of the
ing Genji’s facial features only just visible, but the
northeast residence, where the garden with its nos-
rest of his fi gure is intact. Dressed in an informal
talgia-inducing tachibana tree and fl owers bring
robe and eboshi hat, he reaches his right arm across
back memories of youthful adventures. Episodes
her back, his body enveloping hers. The intimate
f rom the earliest chapters begin to feel distant at
pose is reminiscent of the painting for Chapter
this point in the tale, making the passage of narra-
Two, the only other image in the album that
tive time and Genji’s transition into the next stage
shows Genji in the middle of an embrace. While
of life seem convincing. Genji, all too aware of in the earlier scene Genji was shown placing his how a man of his age and stature should behave,
hand on Utsusemi’s back, the painting for “Cresset
decides against pursuing a sexual relationship with
Fires” depicts the pair lying side by side. In another
Tamakazura, and yet he cannot abstain f rom visit-
nod to the Utsusemi sequence, the folding screen
ing her chambers. His poem to her, included in the
behind Genji and Tamakazura depicts a tall stand of
album’s calligraphy excerpt, speaks of his “smolder-
bright green bamboo. This summer plant reminds
ing passion,” a reference to his pent-up desire. The
the viewer that Tamakazura’s home, the north-
fi rst word of his poem, “kagaribi,” “cresset fi re,” also
east residence, is aligned with the summer season,
the title of this chapter, refers to a fi re in a metal
despite the autumnal f rame of the current scene.
cage (a “cresset”), and is used as a metaphor for
But it also echoes the bamboo screen in Utsusemi’s
Genji’s passion. Genji has just ordered one of his
room f rom Chapter Three in the album, a possible
men to relight a lantern in Tamakazura’s garden
reference to Utsusemi’s resemblance to “supple
that has died out, which inspires his choice of poetic
bamboo” because of her gentle resistance to Genji’s
imagery. In the album painting the servant appears
advances. Tamakazura has managed to fend off
in the upper right corner, using a pair of black tongs
Genji as best she can, while deftly showing him her
to stoke the fi re. The metal cage of the cresset, fi lled
gratitude. Before reciting the poem included in the
with kindling pine, hangs f rom a bent pole beneath
album, Genji remarks how the world has never seen
a spindle tree ( mayumi no ki), f rom which sparks fl y
and fl ames fl icker beyond the confi nes of the cage.
The lantern hangs directly over the garden stream
( yarimizu), where the water’s refl ection will max-
imize its light. Once the fi res are relit, the garden
is bathed in a beautiful light, as is Tamakazura in
Genji’s eyes, reminiscent of her illumination by fi re-
fl y light in Chapter Twenty-Five.
Turning to the album painting’s depiction of
the interior of the residence, we fi nd Genji and
Tamakazura in one of the most intimate scenes in
the album. The two lie together, just as described in
the tale, with a “koto as a pillow” ( on koto wo mak-
ura nite), meaning that the instrument rests near
their heads. Tamakazura is depicted with her back
to the viewer to highlight the beauty of her abun-
dant hair as it falls over her garment. Throughout
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a relationship such as theirs, meaning a relationship
northeast quadrant, Genji hears music being played
in which two people so close do nothing more phys-
by these young men calling on Genji’s son Yūgiri.
ical than lie together. The description also refers to
The young courtiers join Genji on Tamakazura’s
their pseudo-father-daughter relationship, a facade
veranda, and after Genji briefl y plays the seven-string
that Genji insists on maintaini
ng but that he per-
koto, the very “pillow” seen in the painting, he turns
haps realizes cannot go on forever. The unusual
the instrument over to Kashiwagi, Tō no Chūjō’s
situation creates an atmosphere of narrative ten-
son, as though passing the baton. Kashiwagi plays
sion, as readers wonder, along with Genji, how he
with liveliness and remarkable skill, and within
will ever admit to Tō no Chūjō that the woman he
the earshot of Tamakazura, whom all the men are
has been harboring is in fact his daughter.
trying to impress. Of course, the scenario Genji
The fi nal paragraphs of Chapter Twenty-Seven
has staged is perverse, since he hastens the devel-
continue ushering in the next generation of char-
opment of Kashiwagi’s infatuation with a woman
acters, such as young men whose enthusiastic but
who, unbeknownst to the young man, is his own
superfi cial passions are juxtaposed with Genji’s pro-
half sister. Kashiwagi’s misguided fascination fore-
fessed depth of feeling, among them Tō no Chūjō’s
shadows the future romantic hardships that are in
sons. While visiting Tamakazura’s rooms in the store for him.
Chapter 27 | Cresset Fires | 131
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There could be no mistaking the
person seated in the room off the
corridor. Her refi ned grace and
radiant beauty put him in mind of
a mountain cherry tree, its wild
profusion of blossoms dimly visible
through the mists of a spring dawn.
washburn, p. 543, modified
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28
An Autumn
Tempest
Nowaki
Hisashi no omashi ni itamaeru hito,
mono ni magirubeku mo arazu,
kedakaku kiyora ni, sa to uchiniou
kokochishite, haru no akebono no
kasumi no ma yori, omoshiroki
kabazakura no sakimidaretaru o
miru kokochisu.
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Chapter Twenty-Eight marks the midpoint of the
exposed. As Yūgiri approaches his father’s rooms, he
tale, and for the fi rst time in the album the lone
stops on the covered walkway connecting the east
male fi gure highlighted in the painting is not Genji,
wing to the main hall and is presented with a view
but his fi fteen-year-old son, Yūgiri, who is the pro-
of several women inside Murasaki’s chambers. At
tagonist of this chapter. The narration of this that moment he notices one woman separate f rom episode seems to provide us with unfettered access
the others sitting in the corridor ( hisashi) and real-
to Yūgiri’s inner thoughts, a kind of interiority izes that it is none other than Murasaki, as refl ected common to scenes of kaimami, in which the hero
in the album’s text excerpt. To heighten the sense
of the tale steals a glimpse of a woman who sup-
of interiority, the passage eliminates the use of hon-
posedly is unaware that she is being observed. Such
orifi cs, which normally indicate deference by the
scenes are characterized by long prose passages that
narrator toward characters of high rank and sig-
describe the object of the gaze f rom the voyeur’s
nal that the character is being observed f rom the
perspective, and this chapter includes three of them,
outside. Without the honorifi cs and the distancing
with Yūgiri either gazing on or visiting nearly every
eff ect they create, the reader gets the sense of being
woman residing at Rokujō. To the extent that acts
in the mind of the male character as he scrutinizes
of looking are linked with desire, and that within
the woman before him. Yūgiri likens Murasaki’s
the genre of the courtly romance, surreptitious appearance to a mountain cherry tree ( kabazak-observation can lead to sexual possession, this chap-
ura), a kind of weeping rosebud cherry, which
ter uses the trope of kaimami to represent Yūgiri’s
recalls imagery the album employed for Genji’s
coming of age. Indeed, kaimami scenes that even-
fi rst glimpse of young Murasaki in the northern
tually result in romantic conquests have already hills in Chapter Five, where she is shown f ramed been depicted in the album, as in Chapters Three
between two cherry trees teeming with white blos-
and Five, where Genji was the voyeur. But Yūgiri is
soms. At that time Genji referred to Murasaki as a
a serious and fi lial young man, consigned to a life
mountain cherry ( yamazakura) and likened himself
of commoner status and regular offi
cialdom by his
to the spring mist wishing to cling to its fl owers. In
father, and unlike Genji, he does not consummate
this scene, now eighteen years later, Yūgiri glimpses
his voyeuristic adventures. And so rather than an
the same beauty that captivated his father, describ-
initiation into the amorous lifestyle of Genji, the
ing his experience as like “seeing a fl owering cherry
chapter represents Yūgiri’s emotional maturation through a gap in the spring mists.” In the painting, and self-refl ection alongside a growing awareness of
Murasaki sits on the green tatami of a room adja-
the oddities and uniqueness of his father’s relation-
ships with women.
The fi rst and most pivotal of Yūgiri’s kaimami
episodes is the one depicted in the album painting,
in which he views for the fi rst time his father’s most
beloved companion, Lady Murasaki. The accidental
glimpse is occasioned by a violent autumn storm,
a typhoon ( nowaki) that wreaks havoc on each of
the seasonal gardens at Rokujō and that serves as a
master metaphor for the inner turmoil Yūgiri expe-
riences. Amid the chaos brought on by the storm,
the outer wooden doors and sliding panels of
Murasaki’s rooms have been left open, and the fold-
ing screens and fabric curtains that would normally
obstruct the view have been stored away, leaving her
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cent to the corridor, f ramed for the young voyeur
The image of her beauty is imprinted in his mind
between sliding panels left wide open. Each sliding
and torments him when he realizes the powerful
panel bears paintings of verdant green hills and t
rees
feelings he has for his father’s wife. The predicament
ringed with gold mists as though creating a land-
parallels Genji’s own attraction to his father’s con-
scape setting for Murasaki the mountain blossom.
sort Fujitsubo, but history does not repeat itself as
Yūgiri is depicted as having a direct f rontal view
Yūgiri chastises himself for his infatuation and chan-
of Murasaki’s face as he stands at the outer thresh-
nels his energies into longing for a wife who might
old of the residence on the veranda connected to
approach Murasaki’s perfection.
the walkway. He hides his body behind one of the
Although Yūgiri’s kaimami of Murasaki may
large wooden exterior doors ( tsumado) as he extends
have started out as accidental, he indulges in several
his head into the gap left open by the other. A bam-
more deliberate acts of voyeurism in the rest of the
boo blind hangs on the inside of the door, allowing
chapter, beginning with an extended observation of
him to go undetected. The emphatic gold cloud
his father interacting with Murasaki, where he sees
that usually punctuates Genji’s presence in these
a scene of laughter and domestic marital content-
paintings hovers over Yūgiri and extends toward ment. He then goes on to witness his father with Murasaki as if linking the two fi gures. Outside a
Tamakazura, an episode that upends his understand-
disordered profusion of yellow maiden fl owers
ing of the world, when he sees Genji engaged in
( ominaeshi), mistfl owers ( fujibakama), and pink behavior entirely inappropriate for a father toward a blossoms signify the beauty of Murasaki’s garden
daughter. Still believing that Tamakazura is Genji’s
now in disarray. As described in the passage in the
daughter, Yūgiri can only conclude that they have
tale, a number of attractive ladies-in-waiting pop-
an incestuous relationship, which repulses him, try
ulate Murasaki’s quarters, and here three do battle
as he might to rationalize what he sees. By the end
against the raging wind as they attempt to secure
of the chapter Yūgiri, either on his own initiative or
the blinds and curtains billowing inward, their small
shadowing his father, has visited every woman liv-
white hands outstretched toward the fabric. Despite
The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion Page 20
