The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion

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The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion Page 27

by Melissa McCormick


  an end. The Akashi Lady’s reply, the poem included

  steps on her own, however, to aid her own salvation,

  in the album leaf, expresses her refusal to accept

  including the sponsorship of an elaborate Buddhist

  the idea of Murasaki’s death by transforming the

  ceremony at Nijō — the dedication of one thousand

  “fi rewood’s depletion” ( takigi tsukusu) in Murasaki’s

  copies of the Lotus Sutra, which culminates in off er-

  poem into the “cutting of fi rewood” ( takigi koru),

  ings of music and dance, as depicted in the album

  which, she hopes, Murasaki will continue to do.

  leaf. The expertise with which she arranges every

  The poem is paired in the album with an image

  detail of the ceremony, f rom copying and mount-

  that depicts a dancer performing the bugaku dance

  ing precious sutra scrolls to preparing robes for the

  called “The Masked Warrior King” (Ryōō), which

  many priests offi

  ciating at the event, demonstrates

  occurs at dawn, amid fragrant blossoms bathed in

  a profound knowledge of Buddhist ritual and doc-

  mist and early morning light. The painting positions

  trine. Genji is astounded that “a mere woman” is

  the viewer high above a canopy of ethereal cherry

  able to accomplish all this without his help. The

  trees in Murasaki’s courtyard, looking down on

  tale’s description of the success and beauty of the

  a solitary dancer standing on a gold ground. The

  ceremony is in keeping with observations about

  Murasaki’s character throughout the book, in which

  she is lauded for her good judgment and taste. But

  this fi nal endeavor provides a glimpse of a new

  sense of autonomy on her part; her work on the cer-

  emony is equal to that performed by Genji for the

  dedication of the Third Princess’s chapel in Chapter

  Thirty-Eight, and it aff ords her a sense of agency

  and dignity as she orchestrates her own departure

  f rom the world.

  During the course of the ceremony, Murasaki

  hears the monks chanting a famous verse by

  the priest Gyōki (668–749) that is related to the

  Devadatta chapter of the Lotus Sutra, which praises

  how the Buddha humbled himself in a former life.

  Although an exalted king in that former life, the

  Buddha served a Dharma preacher by “gathering

  fi rewood, picking herbs, and drawing his water.”

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  encircled by decorative wooden fl ame-rimmed

  halos containing images of fi ve-colored clouds and

  pairs of golden dragons. In the larger of the two

  drums the dragons reach for three jewels in the cen-

  ter, while a radiating golden disk fi nial rises f rom

  the drum into the gold clouds. The dragon imag-

  ery on the mask may derive f rom that of the Eight

  Dragon Kings ( hachidai ryūo) in Buddhism, while

  the dragon and jewel motif on the drum references

  the Dragon King beneath the sea, protector of the

  Dharma and owner of the wish-fulfi lling jewel. The

  Dragon King has already been mentioned (Chapter

  Thirteen) in relation to the Akashi Novitiate, who

  resembles this mythical ruler of the sea. The Akashi

  perspective encompasses a vision of the dancer, the

  Lady and the Akashi girl, now an Empress, fi gure

  musicians beneath the tent in the foreground with

  prominently in this chapter: the women share a sig-

  their elaborately decorated drums, and a wing of the

  nifi cant moment alone with Murasaki, the Akashi

  residence. The spectators sit behind drawn bamboo

  Empress holds Murasaki’s hand as she dies, and the

  blinds, and are suggested by the brightly colored

  Empress’s sadness at her foster mother’s death con-

  sleeves that poke out from beneath the blinds in two

  cludes the chapter. The image of the dancer, as an

  bays of the residence.

  old man Dragon King, staring up at the fl aming sun-

  Wherever Murasaki may be, the artist has created

  disk, recalls the Akashi Novitiate and his wishes for

  a composition in which the focus is on the dancer and

  his lineage, which, thanks to Murasaki, have come

  his relationship to the drums in the foreground as he

  to f ruition.

  seems to move in time to the rhythm. The dancer

  The Dragon King imagery is also relevant, how-

  wears a striking costume of bright orange trousers,

  ever, to the Devadatta chapter of the Lotus Sutra,

  a red garment ( hō) cinched at the wrists, a white

  which is alluded to in the poems above. In addition

  fur-lined orange campaign jacket ( ryōtō) with gold

  to depicting a ruler’s subservience to the Dharma,

  stripes and blue and white fl oral medallions, and a

  that chapter was famous for its representation of a

  large, red train that snakes behind him and upward

  young daughter of the Dragon King, who became

  with a fl ourish. He raises a gold baton in his right

  an emblem for female Buddhist salvation in the

  hand and reaches across his body with his left arm

  face of obstacles said to obscure a woman’s path.

  as he lifts his bent left leg, revealing the underside of

  The story of the dragon girl was the section of the

  his white shoe. The distinctive dragon-headed mask

  Lotus Sutra most commonly read at women’s funer-

  used in this particular dance alludes to the story of

  als and inscribed on their grave markers. Taken

  the Chinese king of Lanling, who entered battle

  together, the poem and painting in the album can

  wearing a dragon mask and long beard in order to

  therefore be seen as representing both halves of the

  hide his own features, which were too handsome to

  Devadatta chapter and refl ecting the tale’s empha-

  intimidate his adversaries. In Mitsunobu’s painting,

  sis on Murasaki’s noble death. Her passing occurs

  the headdress includes the neck of the dragon and

  in autumn, marked by a series of three touching

  part of a ribbed wing, while the mask itself has red-

  poems by her, Genji, and the Akashi Empress, which

  rimmed eyes, a long nose, and a white beard. The

  all liken her to the f ragile dew drop and lament the

  dancer turns his body toward two spectacular drums

  ephemerality of life.

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  Spring may come too late

  His Holiness responded,

  For a life one cannot know —

  Let us see this fl ower

  Amid snow today

  In springtime for a thousand years,

  Let u
s fi nd the time to deck

  I make my prayer;

  Our brows with the reddening plum.

  Mine is the body fallen

  With snow in the drifts of age.

  cranston, pp. 901–2

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  41

  Spirit

  Summoner

  Maboroshi

  Haru made no

  Onkaeshi

  Inochi mo shirazu

  Chiyo no haru

  Yuki no uchi ni

  Mirubeki hana to

  Irozuku ume o

  Inoriokite

  Kyō kazashiten

  Wa ga mi zo yuki to

  Tomo ni furinuru

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  It is the spring after Murasaki’s death and Genji’s

  Buddhas of the past, present, and future would have

  grief is all-consuming. The Maboroshi chapter been intoned by an assembly of priests. The rite depicts the twelve months after Murasaki’s death

  included the confession of sins committed during

  and beyond, accounting for every stage of Genji’s

  the past year ( sange) as well as prayers for longevity.

  grief and self-refl ection after his loss. He lingers

  At the end of the ceremony, as the participants are

  on at Nijō immediately after Murasaki’s death, leaving, Genji spots the main offi ciant, a monk he

  and then he visits the women at Rokujō; they are

  has known for many years, off ers him wine and del-

  plain by comparison and give him no comfort and

  icacies, and bestows on him the gifts that protocol

  only depressingly remind him of Murasaki’s per-

  dictated priests receive, which Genji makes unex-

  fection. He withdraws f rom society, has no visitors

  pectedly grand. The two men sit across f rom each

  aside f rom members of his immediate circle, and

  other in the painting, with the priest depicted on

  sleeps alone, seemingly on the verge of renounc-

  the right in the regal robes of an abbot, patterned

  ing the world to focus on Buddhist prayer and his

  in gold with a pointed hood, and a surplice ( kesa)

  own rebirth. Things always arise to prevent him

  draped across his body. He appears in profi le with

  f rom taking religious vows, however, f rom a sup-

  a tall tray of dishes before him containing food and

  posedly deep attachment to his grandchildren at

  wine, the attendant in black having already used the

  one point, to an obligation to others who rely on

  golden sake ewer to fi ll the priest’s cup. Genji sits

  him at another. Eventually Genji admits to him-

  opposite the priest looking as imposing as ever, in

  self that he is simply not strong enough to do it.

  voluminous white robes and trousers, physically

  That self-refl ection is expressed within a chapter

  larger than the other two fi gures. He sits on a mat

  structured in a unique manner as twelve months

  with a gold screen behind him, in a manner appro-

  pass in rapid succession. Each month brings a new

  priate for a man with the status of retired emperor.

  revelation and stage of mourning in tune with

  The painting shows Genji with his full cup raised

  seasonal markers and calendrical events. Within as if capturing the very moment when the fi rst that compressed year we see the microcosm of an

  entire life lived, as a fl ood of memories sparked by

  seasonal change interweave the past with the pres-

  ent in Genji’s mind. Much of this is accomplished

  through the chapter’s abundant poetry — nineteen

  poems by Genji, twelve of them lamentations

  for Murasaki expressed as soliloquies. As the year

  comes to a close, Genji gathers all of Murasaki’s let-

  ters and examines them, startled by the emotional

  power of seeing her handwriting, and then instructs

  her women to burn every one of them. As if it is a

  symbolic re-cremation with utterly fi nal eff ect, the

  destruction of this last trace of Murasaki seems to

  purge Genji of her memory and to f ree him to exit

  the world and the story.

  The album painting depicts Genji with the year

  of mourning behind him, making his fi nal appear-

  ance before the world of the court. It is the twelfth

  month and time for the annual chanting of The

  Sutra on the Names of the Buddhas ( Butsumyō kyō), a

  ceremony in which the names of three thousand

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  was this particular scene emphasized in the album

  painting? One clue may be the way in which this

  chapter mimics in lyrical form the structure of the

  third volume of a Heian-period Buddhist text that

  predates The Tale of Genji known as The Three Jewels

  ( Sanbōe). The third volume of that work concerns

  the Buddhist clergy and presents an entire year of

  Buddhist rites and ceremonies, beginning with the

  fi rst month and ending, like the Maboroshi chap-

  ter, with the ceremony for intoning The Sutra on the

  Names of the Buddhas in the twelfth month. Among

  other things the description of the ceremony

  explains that “When you hear the names of the

  Buddhas . . . the sins you have accumulated in count-

  less kalpas will be erased” (Kamens, p. 366). And it

  poem in the accompanying calligraphy leaf is spo-

  ends intriguingly by citing a poem by Bai Juyi:

  ken. The verse expresses Genji’s doubt that he will

  With but one burner for incense and one lone candle,

  live long enough into the spring to see the plum

  The white-haired monk passes each night, worshipping

  blossoms fl ower again, and it records his content-

  The Sutra of the Buddhas’ Names.

  ment to settle instead for a simple appreciation of

  kamens, p. 367

  their reddening buds amid the snow. No plum trees

  appear in the painting, but the artist made sure to

  The similarities with the ending of the Maboroshi

  include a slight blush of color in the men’s wine

  chapter are striking, down to the inclusion of

  cups. Genji notices how the priest has aged over

  poems that pun on the white hair of an old monk.

  the years, observing that the tint of his shaved head

  The monthly “rites and ceremonies” depicted in the

  has turned white. The red plum and white snow

  Maboroshi chapter are not the Buddhist ones of The

  in Genji’s poem play on the trope of two old men

  Three Jewels but romantic equivalents that eulogize

  whose heads have gone white while they have been

  Murasaki and touch on the events and themes of the<
br />
  enjoying their wine. While Genji’s hair remains tale. By alluding to the words and structure of The dark in the image, for the fi rst time in twenty-fi ve

  Three Jewels, the author sums up the story of Genji

  depictions of the protagonist in the album, the artist

  in a way that asserts her tale’s identity as a work of

  has included wrinkle lines on either side of his mus-

  literature infused with Buddhist spirituality. Having

  tache to show his age. The priest in his poem refuses

  absolved Genji of his sins, the author ends the chap-

  to accept Genji’s prediction of his impending death

  ter with the shouts of his grandson, the six-year-old

  and prays instead for a thousand more years for

  Niou, chasing out demons, and with Genji prepar-

  Genji while likening his own aged self to the drifts

  ing for the New Year, positing a recurring cycle of

  of snow around them. The artist uses motifs such

  life. Genji’s fi nal poem lets the reader know that the

  as the tufts of pine tree branches capped with snow,

  cycle will continue, but without Genji himself.

  the icy pond rimmed with f rozen reeds, the bam-

  Mono omou to

  One thing on my mind,

  boo in snow depicted on the wooden door to the

  Suguru tsukihi mo

  I never knew the passing

  residence, and the falling snow outside to create a

  Shiranu ma ni

  Of the months and days,

  withered wintry scene.

  Toshi mo wa ga yo mo But now it seems today at last

  Why did Murasaki Shikibu make this exchange

  Kyō ya tsukinuru

  The year and my time are over.

  between Genji and an unnamed priest her protag-

  cranston, p. 902

  onist’s fi nal poetic exchange in the tale, and why

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  The procession included several of

  some time. A light snow was falling

  the Minister’s sons — the Commander

  along the way, and the twilight had a

  of the Guards, the Acting Middle

  fabulous glow.

  Counselor, the Major Controller of

  washburn, p. 891, modified

 

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