by Ukifune, composed as she steels herself and
bids farewell to Niou, her mother, and the world.
Furimidare
Sooner than the snow
Her suicide attempt goes unrepresented in the tale,
Migiwa ni kōru
Blown in fl urries but to f reeze
and the reader is left instead with a description of
Yuki yori mo
By the riverbank
Ukifune lying with her sleeves pressed to her face,
Nakazora nite zo
Shall I vanish — still aloft
silently plotting to depart the villa and head to the
Ware wa kenubeki
In the midair of my falling.
riverbank as soon as her watchful women have
cranston, p. 956
fallen asleep. Her fi nal parting poem is intended for
Refl ecting her persona as someone adrift and with-
her mother:
out a permanent home, the poem has her hovering
Kane no oto no
Joining my own cry
in “midair” ( nakazora) as she begins to articulate her
Tayuru hibiki ni
To the dying echoes
desire to disappear. The desire to end it all becomes
Ne o soete
Of the sounding bell,
overwhelming after she is exposed to cautionary
Wa ga yo tsukinu to Tell her my life has ended
tales f rom her nurse about romantic triangles end-
Kimi ni tsutae yo
In this world of endless night.
ing in murder and exile, and after she overhears her
cranston, p. 961
own mother, who is unaware of the relationship
Chapter 51 | A Boat Cast Adrift | 227
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She had changed into a single white
robe of sheer gauze and was holding
a piece of ice in her hand, smiling
faintly at the fuss her women were
making. Her features were beautiful
beyond description.
washburn, p. 1242
228
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52
Ephemerids
Kagerō
Shiroki usumono no
onzo kitamaeru hito no, te
ni hi o mochinagara, kaku
arasō o sukoshi emitamaeru
onkao, iwan kata naku
utsukushige nari.
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Chapter Fifty-Two begins with the entire Uji villa in
entranced and believes the other ladies pale in com-
an uproar after it has been discovered that Ukifune
parison, although one other stands out, a woman
has vanished without a trace, and with Ukon and
named Kosaishō with whom he has been intimate.
Jijū convinced that she has thrown herself into the
She is said to be wearing a diaphanous yellow sin-
river. They, along with Ukifune’s mother, quickly
glet and an apron of pale purple and sits fanning
arrange a funeral and faux cremation without a herself. The other ladies take the broken ice chips body, fearing that rumors of suicide would ruin and apply them to their foreheads and chests, in the young lady’s reputation postmortem, as peo-an unseemly manner, thinks Kaoru. But the First
ple would infer that her suicide was the result of a
Princess does not take the piece of ice presented
scandalous aff air. The women hide the truth f rom
to her by Kosaishō, and instead holds out a dainty
both Niou and Kaoru, who mourn her death, but
little hand and has it wiped by her ladies. Kaoru
who are not without doubts concerning her sudden
is enchanted. So much so that the next day he
demise, and who at fi rst suspect each other of hid-
attempts to recreate the identical tableau with his
ing her away. Their respective expressions of grief
wife the Second Princess. He goes so far as to have
prove all too real, suspicions are allayed, and the
the ladies prepare a gossamer singlet for his wife,
two men together grapple with the loss of Ukifune.
which he puts on her himself, and bring in a block of
Unlike their literary predecessors, however, they do
ice, a piece of which he off ers to the Princess. The
not follow their lover in death, but move on with
simulation ultimately disappoints, however, as the
their lives, which in this chapter means beginning a
Second Princess fails in Kaoru’s opinion to live up to
series of liaisons with female attendants and ladies-
the standard set by her half sister. In the end Kaoru
in-waiting. Kaoru also becomes fi xated on the First
fi nds himself f rustrated and pondering the myste-
Princess, who is Niou’s older sister and the Akashi
rious blessings of the Akashi Bay, realizing that the
Empress’s fi rstborn daughter. The First Princess First Princess with her Akashi lineage will remain has always intrigued Kaoru, and in this chapter, unattainable to him and more admired than his own he begins indulging his fantasy, as depicted in the
Second Princess.
album painting, in which he gazes on the lady
The album painting corresponds to the scene
during a particularly unguarded moment.
described in the calligraphy, but it is a replacement
The scene takes place at the Rokujō estate, painting by an unknown artist. At fi rst glance the where the Akashi Empress resides during a tempo-image approximates the others in the album, with
rary leave f rom the palace, and where she sponsors
its gold clouds and gold ground, its composition
the Eight Lectures on the Lotus Sutra, an elaborate
and perspective, and its inclusion of the typical voy-
fi ve-day ceremony. On an intensely warm summer
eur fi gure in the lower right corner. The pristine
morning, after the ceremonies have concluded, condition of the leaf, however, stands out f rom Kaoru is prowling around the estate, seeking the
the others, which almost always reveal something
ref reshing breezes of the fi shing pavilion, when he
of the paper and sketching below the pigments,
notices an open door near the First Princess’s quar-
because of fl aking and the more transparent quality
ters. Peeking in, he observes a group of women
of Mitsunobu’s pigments. The architectural features
who have removed their outermost layers of cloth-
diff er as well — Mitsunobu never constructs a box as
ing as they chip away at a block of ice brought in
explicit as the one shown here, but instead tends to
to alleviate the heat. Kaoru is surprised to see even
use gold clouds to mask corners and connections in
the Princess wearing only a gauzy white singlet as
/>
order to create more suggestive architectural spaces.
she holds a piece of ice in her hand, looking incom-
The artist of the replacement leaf has also mistak-
parably beautiful, as the calligraphy text says. Her
enly included the eave end of a brown cypress roof
thick hair has been gathered to one side because of
in the middle of the interior space, perhaps indi-
the heat, giving Kaoru a full view of her face. He is
cating a misunderstanding of the architecture seen
230 | The Tale of Genji
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in the other leaves. Given Mitsunobu’s interest in
over the garden at Rokujō. Seeing ephemerids, or
small details, the absence of the ice block, surely
dayfl ies ( kagerō), fl itting about in the twilight, he
something he would have included, is also a glaring
composes a poem to himself that gives the chapter
omission. Kosaishō, however, does appear with her
its title:
fan, as does the seasonal fl ower of the summer, the
Ari to mite
There — you can see them,
iris, outside, although it is not mentioned in the cor-
Te ni wa torarezu
But not catch them in your hand,
responding passage in the tale.
Mireba mata
And when you look again
Kaoru engages in various fl irtations in this chap-
Yukusue mo shirazu They have vanished, who knows where,
ter, but in the end his thoughts return to the women
Kieshi
kagerō
These ephemerids of dusk.
at Uji and the too-brief time he had with Ukifune.
cranston, p. 965
He ponders the ephemerality of it all and gazes out
Chapter 52 | Ephemerids | 231
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On the darkening hills,
As always, she wrote this down
On the wild fi elds lost in snow,
while practicing calligraphy, which
I gaze today
served as a diversion for her during
And know again a sadness
the breaks between her devotions.
For things buried long ago.
washburn, p. 1301
cranston, pp. 972–73
232
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53
Practicing
Calligraphy
Tenarai
Kakikurasu
Noyama no yuki o
Nagamete
mo
Furinishi koto zo
Kyō mo kanashiki
Nado, rei no, nagusame no
tenarai o, okonai no hima
ni wa shitamau.
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Having recounted the various reactions to Ukifune’s
disappearance in the previous chapter, Chapter Fifty-
Three takes the reader back in time to explain the
course of events from another perspective, begin-
ning with the discovery of Ukifune, on the night
of her attempted suicide in Uji, by a Tendai prelate,
the Bishop of Yokawa. The priest is in Uji preparing
an empty villa there as a temporary rest stop for his
ailing mother, an old nun, who is on her way home
from a pilgrimage to Hasedera. He instructs a group
of torch-wielding monks to investigate the grounds,
hood, as is evident f rom her newly cropped hair with
and they soon happen on a weeping Ukifune lying
its blunt edges that just skim the tops of her shoul-
amid a copse near the river. After much hesitation
ders. To take the tonsure signaled a social death and
and suspecting that she may be a shape-shifting an end to sexual activity. With the cutting of her demon, they eventually bring her inside, where the
hair, Ukifune fi nally reaches, at least temporarily,
Bishop’s sister, a nun in her fi fties who is mourn-
an equilibrium, by bringing her physical appearance
ing the loss of an adult daughter of her own, helps
into alignment with her psychological detachment
nurse Ukifune back to health and grows attached to
f rom the secular world. The short hair in the image,
the young woman. The nuns take Ukifune to their
the fi rst time such a drastic “nun’s cut” is depicted in
residence in Ono, in the foothills of the Bishop’s
the album, is particularly striking given the empha-
temple, Enryakuji, on Mount Hiei. Ukifune pro-
sis that Ukifune’s long black tresses received until
fesses amnesia, but her internal monologue provides
this point. The allure of her hair, extending the
to the reader fuller insight into her recollections, as
length of her body in the boat scene with Niou, for
she remembers wishing to drown in the river, and
example, has captivated her suitors and delighted
being led away by a radiant “prince,” with the narra-
the women around her. In contemplating its loss
tion evoking images of Niou. What is consistent in
Ukifune laments that her mother will never see it
her story as told to us and to the nun is her fervent
long again, alluding in her words to an earlier poem
desire to leave the mundane world, which now, in the
in which an old monk poet imagines his mother
company of the Bishop and his mother and sister,
stroking his pitch-black hair as a child, never think-
she hopes to realize by becoming a nun. Although
ing that the same head would one day be the shaven
the Bishop’s sister is a nun herself, she discourages
head of a Buddhist priest. The beauty of Ukifune’s
Ukifune from casting the world aside, seeing the
hair even causes the Bishop to hesitate before he
young woman as a means to fulfi ll her own long-
administers her vows, having been persuaded by her
ings. She aims to match Ukifune with her deceased
to perform the ceremony hastily during his sister’s
daughter’s husband, a man who is more than eager
absence. In a show of resolve, Ukifune picks up the
to court the beautiful mystery woman. The son-in-
scissors herself and hands them to the Bishop. Her
law’s increasingly ardent overtures, facilitated by the
thick hair proves diffi
cult to cut, but when the deed
nuns at Ono, become yet another distressing obstacle
is done, Ukifune feels a joyous release and no longer
&
nbsp; to Ukifune’s goal of renunciation. This time, though,
burdened by concerns about the future.
Ukifune holds her ground, refusing to engage with
As with many of the main characters who pre-
the man, hoping meanwhile to take the full religious
ceded her in taking the tonsure, Ukifune’s thoughts
vows that she believes will fi nally allow her to rid her
about her momentous decision are complicated,
mind of thoughts and regrets about the past.
and as she grapples with her new identity and
The album painting for Chapter Fifty-Three tries to let go of her past, she turns to her writing depicts Ukifune having achieved her goal of nun-practice ( tenarai), the activity that gives its name
234 | The Tale of Genji
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to this chapter, to sort out her emotions. In addi-
watareru mizu no oto senu) trigger a fl ashback to
tion to the copying of old poems in order to train
the snowy nighttime journey across the river and
the calligraphic hand, “writing practice” included
the intimate days Ukifune spent with Niou in Uji.
composing new poems, which were not intended
Before composing the poem, she cites a line, “I am
to be sent, or necessarily seen by someone else, but
lost in you, my love,” f rom a verse by Niou featured
to be written as a means of airing one’s innermost
in that episode in Chapter Fifty-One:
thoughts, working out ideas, or developing a poetic
Mine no yuki
Snow on the mountain
voice, all the time gaining practice in the allusive sys-
Migiwa no kōri
Ice along the riverbank —
tem of waka. In Chapter Fifty-Three Ukifune uses
Fumiwakete
I trudge through all:
writing practice as a means of self-expression; six of
Kimi ni zo madou
I am lost in you, my love,
her twelve poems in this chapter are composed in
The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion Page 33
