ing at Rokujō, assessing the extensive damage done
the commotion of the other women, Yūgiri’s eyes
by the storm to each garden. The vision of the once
remain fi xed on Murasaki, and when he sees her
paradisal grounds in ruins prompts Yūgiri to shed a
looking distressed at the damage done to her gar-
tear, which, given the context of the chapter, seems
den, her expression of sentiment entrances him.
to be over his loss of innocence.
Chapter 28 | An Autumn Tempest | 135
This content downloaded from 129.174.21.5 on Tue, 16 Jul 2019 15:25:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SS180121-Genji_061518.indd 135
23/6/2018 1:15 PM
Here on Oshio
Had there ever been an example
Where the ground lies deep in snow
of a Chancellor participating in an
The pheasants start up;
imperial excursion to Ōharano?
Seek, I bid you, the old tracks
washburn, p. 556, modified
Of the bygone hunts today.
cranston, p. 830
136
This content downloaded from 129.174.21.5 on Tue, 16 Jul 2019 15:25:37 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SS180121-Genji_061518.indd 136
23/6/2018 1:15 PM
29
An Imperial
Excursion
Miyuki
Yuki fukaki
Oshio no yama ni
Tatsu kiji no
Furuki ato o mo
Kyō wa tazune yo
Ōkiotodo no, kakaru no no
miyuki ni tsukaumatsuritamaeru
tameshi nado ya ariken.
137
This content downloaded from 129.174.21.5 on Tue, 16 Jul 2019 15:25:37 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SS180121-Genji_061518.indd 137
23/6/2018 1:15 PM
After six successive painting scenes in the album set
The most prestigious carriages are said in the
within the various corners of the Rokujō Estate,
tale to line the immediate approach to the bridge
which together cycled us through the seasons of
for the best view of the imperial procession, and
one year, Chapter Twenty-Nine takes us outside among them is the carriage of Tamakazura. She and onto the streets of the capital during the twelfth
more than anyone has a good reason for wanting to
month. Sightseers in carriages have lined the city
see the Emperor, since Genji has decided to send her
streets as far west as the edge of the Katsura River in
to the imperial palace to assume the coveted posi-
the hopes of catching a glimpse of Emperor Reizei’s
tion of Reizei’s Principal Handmaid. (And with this
procession, the “imperial excursion” of the chapter
act, Genji fi nally reveals Tamakazura’s identity to
title. The party will stop for a hunting expedition on
Tō no Chūjō, claiming that he was ignorant of her
the way to Ōharano Shrine, which is located in the
true origins until he investigated her background
western outskirts of the capital at the base of Mount
in preparation for her role at the palace.) The tale’s
Oshio, and which enshrined the tutelary deity of the
description of the Emperor’s procession, and of his
Fujiwara house and the imperial lineage. The route
physical appearance, is told f rom Tamakazura’s
through the city is congested with onlookers, in
point of view as she sits in her carriage, in a passage
a manner that recalls the “battle of the carriages”
that represents an unusually lengthy indulgence in
episode in Chapter Nine, because the spectacle is
the pleasures of looking by a female character. It is
well worth a wait: the imperial escort consists of
unclear which carriage in the painting belongs to
men f rom the highest levels of the senior nobility
Tamakazura, but one with visible bamboo blinds
to courtiers of the fi fth and sixth ranks, all dressed
seems a likely candidate, especially given the gold
in their fi nest attire, riding impressively caparisoned
cloud fl oating above it, which has drawn attention
horses, while the costumes of princes and other
to the protagonists throughout the album. From her
offi
cials readied for falconry add a colorful fl air to
vantage point Tamakazura observes not only His
the entourage. The album painting captures the Majesty but also her true father, the Palace Minister, moment when snow fl urries begin to fall, said to
Tō no Chūjō, and the various men who have vied
further enhance the elegance of the event. The artist
for her hand, and she critiques their appearance
has sprinkled a dusting of shell white over the image
and demeanors. Although we are not treated to a
to emulate the gentle snowfall, with iridescent fl ecks
depiction of this in the painting, in the tale, she fi nds
appearing especially striking against the rich blue
the Emperor to be “handsome and resolute in his
color of the water. No members of the imperial
crimson cloak.” In fact, the only representation of
entourage are included in the painting — the mak-
a sovereign in the entire album appears in the paint-
ers of the album opting instead to depict a moment
ing for Chapter One, where the Kiritsubo Emperor
pregnant with anticipation before the Emperor has
appears f rom the waist down, his face obscured
reached the banks of the Katsura River. His Majesty’s
by hanging blinds. By the Muromachi period, it
impending arrival and the direction of the proces-
was common to avoid overt representations of the
sion is suggested by the conspicuous empty bridge
Emperor out of deference, and Reizei’s absence in
that spans the water, a temporary, fl oating bridge
this painting may be explained by that deference as
constructed of planks of wood bound together. The
well. At the same time, the artist’s decision to antic-
far edge of the bridge is cropped but seems to extend
ipate his entourage rather than depict it outright
beyond the visible portion of the picture, lending it
lends an emotional intensity to the scene, especially
a mysterious air, especially as it connects the golden
when examined in conjunction with the adjacent
shores. Three attendants dressed in white on the
calligraphy leaf.
far shore, however, bring the bridge motif down
The single poem selected for inclusion on this
to earth and imply another throng of onlookers or
chapter’s calligraphy leaf belongs to Emperor
escorts waiting across the river.
Reizei, who sends the verse to Genji after arriving in
138 | The Tale of Genji
This content downloaded from 129.174.21.5 on Tue, 16 Jul 2019 15:25:37 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SS180121-Genji_061518.indd 138
23/6/2018 1:15 PM
Ōharano. Genji does not attend the festivities that
the intended que
stion being rather, “Why did he not
day, and Reizei deeply regrets his absence. As in the
attend?” It seems like an odd f ragment to include,
poem in the album representing Chapter Eighteen,
but it provides viewers of the album an example
once again the Emperor initiates communication
of the tale’s f requent use of oblique historical ref-
with Genji, his loyal subject and (unbeknownst to
erences to develop the narrative. Reizei’s fi ctional
the world at large) his father, except this time Reizei
hunting excursion equals in scale and atmosphere
knows the truth of his parentage. This particular
one that occurred in 928 under the real Emperor
poem appears slightly later in the chapter than the
Daigo (885–930), while another during the reign
scene depicted in the adjacent painting, but its inclu-
of Emperor Kōkō (830–887) to a diff erent location
sion fl oats the voice of the Emperor over the scene
was indeed attended by the Chancellor at the time,
of the spectators at the bridge, inserting the poi-
Fujiwara no Mototsune (836–891). The historical
gnancy of Reizei’s longing for his absent father into
answer to the narrator’s question seems to be that,
the episode. The composition of the calligraphy is
yes, a Chancellor does attend such events. The ques-
unusual: the fi rst and fi nal lines of fi ve darkly inked
tion suggests that readers reconsider Genji’s motives
and boldly brushed columns extend the full length
for not joining his son-emperor on this occasion. In
of the paper, while the middle three lines occupy
fact, Genji’s absence f rom such events with Reizei
only half the height; fi lling in the space above the
allows him to avoid a public display of obeisance to
shorter lines of the poem are six lines of prose,
his own son. The insertion of the narrator’s voice
consisting of a question posed in the voice of the
takes what could be a straightforward exultation of
narrator. She asks, rhetorically of course, whether
Emperor Reizei and turns it into a more complicated
or not there was a precedent for a Chancellor (Genji)
scene that reminds readers of the ruler’s parentage,
attending an imperial excursion to Ōharano, with
and the false pretense at the heart of Reizei’s reign.
Chapter 29 | An Imperial Excursion | 139
This content downloaded from 129.174.21.5 on Tue, 16 Jul 2019 15:25:37 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SS180121-Genji_061518.indd 139
23/6/2018 1:15 PM
Dew f rom the same fi eld
Has given these purple trousers
Their humbled air;
Bestow your pity on them —
One little moment, I beg.
cranston, p. 834
140
This content downloaded from 129.174.21.5 on Tue, 16 Jul 2019 15:25:39 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SS180121-Genji_061518.indd 140
23/6/2018 1:15 PM
30
Mistfl owers
Fujibakama
Onaji no no
Tsuyu ni yatsururu
Fujibakama
Aware wa kake yo
Kagoto bakari mo
141
This content downloaded from 129.174.21.5 on Tue, 16 Jul 2019 15:25:39 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SS180121-Genji_061518.indd 141
23/6/2018 1:15 PM
At the start of Chapter Thirty, Princess Ōmiya, his feelings of aff ection for her, which have become mother of Tō no Chūjō and Aoi and so grandmother
more than brotherly. Just before he does so, the tale
to both Tamakazura (Tō no Chūjō’s daughter) and
describes Yūgiri remembering the erotic encounter
Yūgiri (son of Aoi and Genji), has passed away, and
between Genji and Tamakazura that he witnessed
Tamakazura and Yūgiri are in mourning. Princess
taking place in these very rooms in the Autumn
Ōmiya, a sister of the Kiritsubo Emperor and thus
Tempest chapter, an image that seems imprinted on
a member of Genji’s royal house, always seemed to
his mind. As if taking a cue f rom the sexual aggres-
bear an allegiance to her blood relations despite her
siveness he observed on the part of his father, he
marriage to the Fujiwara Minister of the Left. After
makes an overture to Tamakazura. Taking a branch
the death of her daughter Aoi in childbirth, she took
of mistfl ower ( fujibakama), literally “wisteria” or
care of Yūgiri and raised him in the Minister of the
“purple trousers,” f rom the garden, he pushes the
Left’s household. There Yūgiri grew up in close plant beneath her blinds, stating that it demon-proximity to his uncle Tō no Chūjō, and Yūgiri’s
strates their deep bond. By this he means their
many cousins. Ōmiya’s death is thus especially sig-
shared gray robes and grief for Princess Ōmiya,
nifi cant to Yūgiri. As an expression of his grief, he
and their Fujiwara lineage through their common
wears the deepest-hue variety of mourning robe
grandfather, the late Minister of the Left, Princess
and does so for longer than is necessary following
Ōmiya’s husband and father of Tō no Chūjō. But
the death of a maternal relative. Newly aware that
the off ering also becomes a lure when Yūgiri grasps
Tamakazura is not his half sister, but his cousin and
at Tamakazura’s sleeve as soon as she reaches for
a grandchild of Ōmiya, he sees their mutual loss as
the fl owers. At that moment, he speaks the poem
the basis of a new potential bond between them.
included in the calligraphy leaf, which on the surface
In the painting depicted in the album for Chapter
seems innocent enough. Tamakazura has been edu-
Thirty, Yūgiri arrives at Tamakazura’s quarters at
cated well, however, and recognizes immediately the
Rokujō to deliver a message concerning her new
poetic allusions that give his verse a romantic double
appointment as Handmaid (Naishi) to Emperor entendre. The phrase “one little bit” ( kagoto bakari) Reizei. It is a task that the responsible young man,
in Yūgiri’s poem alludes to an ancient love poem
now sixteen and a Consultant in the Council of
f rom the Kokin rokujō (5:3 360) that refers to the two
State (Saishō no chūjō), should be able to carry sashes of prospective mates being ceremonially tied out without diffi
culty. The painting depicts him in
together in hopes of marriage. The allusion to sashes
a plain steel-blue garment meant to represent the
is clever in the context of mourning robes, a fl ower
dark gray robes of mourning, also known as “pur-
with “trousers” in its name ( fujibakama), and the
ple robes,” or “wisteria robes” ( fujigoromo), named
idea of a shared Fujiwara lineage, but Tamakazura
after the lavender-dyed threads with which they is not swayed and rejects the overture immediately.
were woven. Tamakazura wears robes of a lig
hter
Her poetic reply is decisive:
gray, having only recently been in contact with her
Tazunuru ni
If on inquiry
grandmother, and perhaps wishing to avoid declar-
Harukeki nobe no
The dewdrop has turned out to be
ing her connection to her Fujiwara family out of
Tsuyu naraba
One f rom a distant fi eld,
deference to her “foster father,” Genji. In the pic-
Usumurasaki ya
This pale purple must surely
ture, her robes are the same color as those worn
Kagoto naramashi
Color some deeper design
by Yūgiri, although they also feature a honeycomb
cranston, p. 834
design and a zigzagging pattern on the sleeves, and
she wears red trousers outlined in gold as well.
She correctly interprets his poem about their deep
Although Yūgiri should strictly convey the familial bond as a pretense for ulterior romantic message dictated by Reizei and Genji about Tama-motives, stating that the plant is a “pale purple”
kazura’s new post, instead he ends up confessing
( usumurasaki) and thinly veils a “deeper design,”
142 | The Tale of Genji
This content downloaded from 129.174.21.5 on Tue, 16 Jul 2019 15:25:39 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SS180121-Genji_061518.indd 142
23/6/2018 1:15 PM
or kagoto, which as Edwin Cranston points out, with her after the appointment by maintaining her can mean “an excuse.” Having fended off Genji’s
quarters at Rokujō. As the day of her departure for
advances for close to two years, Tamakazura knows
the Palace approaches, missives f rom the various
how to escape f rom this encounter, which she does
suitors intensify, with three men in particular plead-
by feigning illness, leaving the young Yūgiri to regret
ing their case: Genji’s brother Prince Sochinomiya
his attempt to become one of her suitors.
(commonly known as Prince Hotaru), a Major
All of those suitors are still in engaged in a heated
Captain nicknamed Higekuro or “Blackbeard” for
competition to win her over, and Yūgiri had hoped
his distinctive facial hair, and a Commander of the
to take the place of Kashiwagi, now out of the run-
The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion Page 21
