The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion
Page 24
while Murasaki is moved into the eastern wing. The
harmony that had once characterized the Rokujōin
is in jeopardy, but Murasaki refuses to display any
signs of jealousy, only acting supportive, even
during the new couple’s three nights of wedding fes-
tivities. Genji is soon disappointed in his new bride,
fi nding her not only immature but also lacking in
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the Third Princess, who is characterized by similar
qualities. The painting depicts the young woman
in a standing pose, which tends to signal an unruly
woman, as it did in the case of the ash-dumping
wife of Higekuro in Chapter Thirty-One. The cat
breaks f ree f rom the blinds and Kashiwagi picks it
up. He smells the young woman’s perfume perme-
ating its fur and fantasizes that he is caressing the
Princess as it purrs pleasantly, beginning a strange
attachment between him and the feline. The com-
position of the painting allows the viewer to see
inside and outside at once, positioning the principal
fi gures so that they are engaged in a mutual face-
to-face encounter. The woman, and the cat for that
matter, look directly at the young man, connoting
Kashiwagi’s belief that their relationship was some-
how meant to be. From this point on, Kashiwagi
becomes obsessed with the Princess and begins jus-
tifying to himself his desire for Genji’s wife while
the stairs to the veranda, the album painting shows
regularly entreating her lady-in-waiting Kojijū to
all the men still in the middle of play, attending to
arrange a meeting. He will eventually fi nd a way
the ball suspended in the air. As Kashiwagi turns
into her chambers in Genji’s absence and force him-
his head to gaze at the women’s sleeves poking out
self on the Princess in the next chapter. Before these
f rom beneath the blinds, suddenly one of the panels
events, however, he bides his time and contrives to
fl oats upward, revealing the women’s rooms on the
take possession of the cat; he has it brought to the
other side. A kitten is to blame, lifting the blind as it
palace for the Crown Prince to admire and then
dashes out to the veranda fl eeing a larger cat (which
leaves with it himself. He keeps it as a memento of
is not depicted in the painting). The kitten’s long red
the Princess and willfully refuses to return it when
leash, said to have been tangled in the blinds, leads
requested. It even appears in Kashiwagi’s dreams,
directly to the Third Princess, who stands in the gap
the meaning of which he will not be able to deci-
left open. In the album painting, both the cat and
pher until several other tragic events unfold.
the Princess look toward Kashiwagi, the one court-
ier in the group looking at them directly. Kashiwagi
realizes that the woman in the interior must be
the Princess, as she stands out in the casualness
of her dress: a long white outer robe of patterned
silk in the cherry blossom style, over multicolored
robes. As in other examples of kaimami, it is when
the woman makes an interesting facial expression
that the voyeur becomes truly moved, and here
Kashiwagi is said to be touched by her expression
when she hears the cat mewing in discomfort, still
caught in the cords.
The Chinese cat ( kara neko) is untamed, and
prone to trouble, and it becomes a metaphor for
Chapter 34 | Early Spring Greens: Part 1 | 159
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Before the dew dries
Bind we by an oath:
That has clung to the lotus —
Let us be as two dewdrops
O f ragile fortune —
On one lotus leaf;
Surely it would be foolish
Do not let us be apart,
To think I shall not be gone,
Dear heart, though not in this world.
cranston, p. 870
Murasaki said.
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35
Early Spring
Greens:
Part Two
Wakana ge
Kietomaru
Chigiriokan
Hodo ya wa fubeki
Kono yo narade mo
Tamasaka ni
Hachisuba ni
Hachisu no tsuyu no
Tama iru tsuyu no
Kakaru bakari o
Kokoro hedatsu na
to notamau.
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The setting is the Nijō villa, where Murasaki fi rst
In the painting, Genji faces toward the viewer
lived with Genji and which she still considers her
while looking directly at Murasaki; he is positioned
true home. Genji has moved her there, away from
at an angle slightly above her, wearing an informal
Rokujō, to care for her during a sudden and severe
hat and a russet-colored robe with a phoenix pattern
illness. In the scene depicted in the album, she has
in gold, seen before in the leaf for Chapter Twenty,
improved just slightly after several months of pre-
another tableau of domestic intimacy between the
carious health, battling fevers and seizures, even a
two. As in the previous painting, Genji gazes at
cessation of breathing that led to premature rumors
her with great aff ection. Here, however, her back
of her passing. The onset of Murasaki’s illness is turned toward the viewer, appropriately, given occurs midway in Chapter Thirty-Five, after she has
the emphasis on her hair in this passage in the tale,
played her role in one of the tale’s most important
where it is described as just washed, lustrous, and
subplots: the rise of the Akashi house. The Akashi
perfectly combed as it spreads out behind her to
girl, now an Imperial Consort, has given birth to
dry. The painting represents her black hair falling
a son who has been appointed Crown Prince, the
in undulating waves down the back of her bright
fi rst of many royal off spring to come. As her fos-
yellow robe, in long striations, with slight parts
ter mother, Murasaki occupies a position of honor
between strands, and shorter sidelocks that fan over
when the Akashi women and Genji perform a pil-
her shoulders. The hair defi nes Murasaki’s
beauty,
grimage to the Sumiyoshi Shrine. In doing so, they
as does her porcelain pale skin and her fi gure,
fulfi ll a sacred vow made by the Akashi Novitiate,
described in the tale as especially delicate and f rail
whose portentous dream in which he grasped in
f rom illness. Murasaki has already requested multi-
his hand Mount Sumeru, the axis mundi of the ple times Genji’s permission to become a Buddhist Buddhist cosmos, has seemingly come to fruition.
nun, an act that entails cutting the beautiful locks
Murasaki is still well enough to perform at another
seen in the painting. Genji fi nally agrees, but only
event that occurs in Chapter Thirty-Five, a musi-
to a partial tonsure. A small portion of her hair is
cal concert at Rokujō — a rehearsal for Emperor cut f rom the top of her head, and she is adminis-Suzaku’s fi ftieth-year celebration. Four of Genji’s tered the “fi ve precepts” rather than the full ten.
women play together in harmony: Murasaki on Genji’s acquiescence results f rom his f rightening the six-string koto, the Akashi Lady on the biwa, the
vision of Rokujō’s spirit; no longer the “living spirit”
Akashi Consort on the thirteen-string koto, and the
that attacked his wife Aoi, the one he encounters
Third Princess on the seven-string koto. In a postcon-
this time is hideous in death. His reaction mimics
cert conversation with Murasaki about the various
women in his life, echoing the scene in the Asagao
chapter, Genji makes the mistake of invoking the
deceased Rokujō Lady in less than fl attering terms.
Murasaki’s fever then quickly returns, and her illness
intensifi es, prompting Genji to commission Buddhist
rites and prayers, and exorcisms. Finally, in a chilling
scene, a possessing spirit moves into the body of a
page girl at Murasaki’s bedside and reveals herself
as Lady Rokujō, now suff ering the torments of the
afterworld. She pleads for Buddhist prayers to be said
on her behalf, and Genji complies, ordering a full
reading of the Lotus Sutra by the capital’s most skill-
ful orator-priests. During the sixth month, the height
of summer, Murasaki fi nally begins to improve.
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the Buddhist practice of meditating on a decaying
Its use in this scene is perfectly in keeping with the
corpse, used by monks and layman as a means to
tale’s overall language of fl owers, and the fl oral
spur an awareness of the illusive nature of reality.
metaphors of Buddhist literature. Genji’s poem and
Genji mentions the sin and contamination of the
the composition of the painting also evoke images
female body ( onna no mi wa mina onaji tsumi fukaki),
of pious believers being reborn by emerging f rom
declares that sex between men and women is repug-
lotus fl owers before the Buddha in paradise. The
nant, and then allows Murasaki to take Buddhist
lotus plants in the painting teem with life. The pink
vows. As though taking Genji with her on a path
fl owers, outlined and tipped in darker red, include
toward contemplation of the afterlife, they both call
both blossoms about to open fully and closed pink
the Buddha’s name together “with one heart” and
buds. Thin black lines represent ripples in the
commission the recitation of the entire Lotus Sutra.
water, and as they are painted over the green stems
The album painting depicts a moment of peace-
of the plants, give viewers the sensation that they
fulness after Murasaki has received the precepts,
are looking at stems beneath the water’s surface.
while the calligraphy records the poems exchanged
The curling edges of the lotus leaves in diff erent
by the couple as they sit near the cool garden pond
shades of dark and light green allow us to see both
with its abundant summer lotus fl owers. Murasaki
surfaces and undersides of the plants, while deli-
initiates the poetic exchange, with a poem that cate lines of gold limn the veins of the broad leaves, expresses her acceptance of a short life, which she
suggesting an otherworldly constitution. Even the
likens to the f ragile dew on the lotus leaf. In his
gems of dew ( tama iru tsuyu) glistening on the lotus
verse, Genji resists the idea of their separation, leaves in Genji’s poem are included, rendered by using the trope of two dew drops on the same
tiny dots of silver, now oxidized, that would have
lotus to pledge an eternal vow of love. The lotus,
made the pond sparkle, evoking the jeweled, gilt
which emerges f rom murky waters to reveal exqui-
atmosphere of paradise imagined and articulated
site blossoms, is the most sacred plant in Buddhism.
in Buddhist sutras.
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Though in the oak tree
The god the guardian of leaves
No longer dwells,
Do its branches trail so low
That strangers may fi nd rest thereon?
cranston, p. 875
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36
The Oak
Tree
Kashiwagi
Kashiwagi ni
Hamori no kami wa
Masazu to mo
Hito narasubeki
Yado no kozue ka
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At the start of Chapter Thirty-Six, both Kashiwagi
the sight of two trees in the garden, an oak ( kashiwa)
and the Third Princess are tormented by feelings of
and a maple ( kaede), with intertwined branches,
guilt over their transgression against Genji: in the pre-
inspires him to send a poem to the Princess:
vious chapter, while Genji cared for Murasaki at Nijō,
Koto naraba
Pray let it please you
Kashiwagi, abetted by Kojijū, fi nally slept with the
Narashi no eda ni
That these branches rest amidst
Third Princess. Not only is the Third Princess now
Narasanamu
Those welcoming boughs,
carrying Kashiwagi’s child (a pregnancy foretold by
Hamori no kami no Remembering his consent who was
Kashiwagi’s dream of a cat), but it has also become
Yurushi ariki to
The god the guardian of leaves.
clear to both of them that Genji knows of the a
ff air.
Kashiwagi’s health deteriorates as a result of his
This fencing me off outside your blinds — I do fi nd
guilt, shame, and continued longing for the Princess.
cause for resentment.
Despite the prayers commissioned by his father, Tō
cranston, p. 875
no Chūjō, Kashiwagi succumbs to his illness soon
after hearing that the Third Princess has safely deliv-
Yūgiri uses the trope of intertwining branches to
ered a son. The Third Princess insists on becoming a
suggest that he take the place of Ochiba’s husband,
nun, and her father, Retired Emperor Suzaku, having
and that she, like the bright green leaves, emerge
taken vows himself, administers the rites.
f rom the somber colors of mourning. He makes his
Before Kashiwagi passes away, he requests two
case by saying that the “deity who guards the leaves”
favors f rom his f riend and brother-in-law, Yūgiri: to
( hamori no kami), a homonym for the title that her
convey his remorse to Genji (for a sin Yūgiri does
husband held, has given his consent.
not understand), and to look after his offi
cial wife,
Ochiba responds to Yūgiri with the poem
the Retired Emperor Suzaku’s other daughter, the
included in the album leaf, which is spoken to him
Second Princess, a character known as Ochiba. by the lady-in-waiting Shōshō no kimi, who faces The album painting depicts Yūgiri seated on the
him on the veranda. The white pleated apron
veranda of the villa at Ichijō Avenue where the trailing behind her signals her status as a serving Second Princess lives with her mother. It is late woman. Yūgiri is seated cross-legged with his back spring, and Yūgiri has already visited several times
to the outer post of the building, as described in the
since Kashiwagi’s death. Ochiba’s mother, a lower
tale. The blinds have been partially raised in one bay
ranking consort of the Retired Emperor, ever mind-
of the building, but a white curtain blocks Yūgiri’s
ful of her daughter’s status as an imperial princess,
view of the interior. Inside the residence, Ochiba sits
opposed the marriage to Kashiwagi, a commoner.