Book Read Free

The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion

Page 21

by Melissa McCormick


  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-

 

‹ Prev