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| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-04-13 16:21:02 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/75852-0.txt b/75852-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2c06c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/75852-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9212 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75852 *** + + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + Misspelled words have been corrected. These are identified by + ♦ symbols in the text and are shown immediately below the + paragraph in which they appear. + + Details and other notes may be found at the end of this text. + + + + +A WREATH OF CLOUD + + + + + A WREATH OF CLOUD + + BEING THE THIRD PART OF + ‘THE TALE OF GENJI’ + + By + LADY MURASAKI + + TRANSLATED FROM THE JAPANESE BY + ARTHUR WALEY + + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + The Riverside Press Cambridge + 1927 + + + PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN + + TO + RAYMOND MORTIMER + + + + + PREFACE + + +This is the last volume but one of _The Tale of Genji_ proper. Between +volumes IV and V there is a gap of eight years, during which Genji has +died. Volumes V and VI contain the sequel, ‘the ten Uji chapters,’ +as they are called in Japan, which deal with the fortunes of Genji’s +supposed son Kaoru, and his grandson (the Akashi Princess’s child) +Niou. The name ‘Genji’ (member of the Minamoto clan) applies equally +to his descendants, so that in Japanese the sequel too can be called +_The Tale of Genji_. But in English it needs a new name, and I have +called it _The Tale of Kaoru_. Thus _The Tale of Genji_ itself will +be complete in four volumes, and will be followed by a sequel in two +volumes. + +I wish here to thank Mr. R. C. Trevelyan and Miss Sybil Pye for the +care with which they have read the proofs of the present volume. The +fact that the heroine of the story and the writer of it are both +called Murasaki is somewhat confusing. I will therefore here point out +that the name ‘Murasaki’ was given to the authoress as a nickname, in +allusion to the heroine of her book. Her real name is unknown to us. +For the origin of the nickname, see below, p. 23. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + PAGE + PREFACE 7 + LIST OF MOST IMPORTANT PERSONS 11 + SUMMARY OF VOLUMES I AND II 13 + INTRODUCTION 15 + + CHAPTER + I. A WREATH OF CLOUD 35 + II. ASAGAO 68 + III. THE MAIDEN 91 + IV. TAMAKATSURA 147 + V. THE FIRST SONG OF THE YEAR 200 + VI. THE BUTTERFLIES 218 + VII. THE GLOW-WORM 240 + VIII. A BED OF CARNATIONS 264 + IX. THE FLARES 291 + X. THE TYPHOON 296 + + + + + LIST OF MOST IMPORTANT PERSONS + + (alphabetical) + + + Akashi, Lady of Whom Genji courted during his exile. + + Akashi, Princess from Daughter of the above by Genji. + + Akikonomu, Empress Daughter of Rokujō. + + Aoi Genji’s first wife. + + Asagao, Princess Daughter of Prince Momozono Shikibukyō, + courted by Genji since his boyhood, + without success. + + Ateki Daughter of Tamakatsura’s old nurse. + + Bugo no Suke Brother of the above. + + Chūjō, Lady Tō no Chūjō’s eldest daughter (called + Kōkiden in the original, but this renders + her liable to confusion with Genji’s + step-mother). + + Emperor, The Old Genji’s father. + + Falling Flowers, Lady Sister of one of the Old Emperor's Sister + from the Village of of one of the Old Emperor's Court-ladies + under Genji’s protection. + + Fujitsubo Consort of the Old Emperor; loved by + Genji. + + Genji Son of the Old Emperor by a + lady-in-waiting. + + Higekuro Brother of Suzaku’s consort Lady Jōkyōden. + + Hyōbukyō, Prince Murasaki’s father. + + Kashiwagi Eldest son of Tō no Chūjō. + + Kōbai Brother of the above. + + Kōkiden Consort of the Old Emperor; Genji’s wicked + ‘step-mother.’ + + Koremitsu Genji’s retainer. + + Koremitsu’s Daughter Gosechi dancer, admired by Yūgiri. + + Kumoi Younger daughter of Tō no Chūjō. + + Momozono, Prince. Brother of the Old Emperor. Father of + Asagao. + + Murasaki Second ‘wife’ of Genji (never, technically + speaking, his _kita no kata_ or formal + wife). + + Nyogo, Princess Younger sister of the Old Emperor. + + Oborozuki Consort of the ex-Emperor Suzaku. Loved by + Genji. + + Ōmi, Lady of Bastard of Tō no Chūjō, reclaimed by him + in error while searching for Tamakatsura. + + Ōmiya, Princess Mother of Aoi and Tō no Chūjō. Sister of + the Old Emperor. + + Rokujō Widow of a brother of the Old Emperor. + + Ryōzen, The Emperor Reputed son of the Old Emperor, but really + son of Genji and Fujitsubo. + + Sanjō Yūgao’s maid. + + Shōni Husband of Tamakatsura’s nurse. Father of + Ateki and Bugo no Suke. + + Sochi, Prince Genji’s step-brother. + + Suyetsumu Fantastic lady with red nose, daughter of + Prince Hitachi. + + Suzaku, The Ex-Emperor Genji’s step-brother; son of Kōkiden. + + Tamakatsura Child of Tō no Chūjō by Yūgao. + + Tayū Swashbuckler in Tsukushi. + + Utsusemi Wife of a provincial governor; loved by + Genji. + + Yoshikiyo Faithful retainer of Genji; followed him + into exile. + + Yūgao Loved first by Tō no Chūjō, then by Genji. + Dies in a deserted mansion. + + Yūgiri Genji’s son by Aoi. + + + + + SUMMARY OF VOLUMES I AND II + + +Genji is an illegitimate son of the Emperor. At the age of twelve he +is affianced to Lady Aoi, daughter of the Minister of the Left; but +she is older than he is, and looks down upon him as a mere schoolboy. +Genji falls in love with Rokujō, a widow eight years older than +himself. She is passionately jealous of his wife, and relations with +her become very difficult. Genji turns for consolation to Utsusemi, +wife of a provincial governor: to Yūgao, a discarded mistress of his +friend Tō no Chūjō: to the fantastic Suyetsumu, the ‘lady with the +red nose.’ Utsusemi is carried off to the provinces by her husband; +Yūgao dies, withered by the virulence of Rokujō’s jealousy. Meanwhile +Genji succeeds in establishing better relations with his wife, Aoi, +only to lose her through the operation of the same baleful force that +had destroyed Yūgao. Since his childhood he has passionately admired +Fujitsubo, his father’s second wife. He has a son by her, who is +believed by the public to be the Emperor’s child. + +Genji’s enemies, in particular Kōkiden, who had been his mother’s +rival, are striving to get rid of him. He simplifies matters for them +by starting an intrigue with Oborozuki, a much younger sister of +Kōkiden. + +At the end of Vol. I Genji marries Lady Murasaki, a niece of Fujitsubo; +some years before he had taken her into his house and adopted her. + +In Vol. II, Rokujō leaves the capital and goes to live at Ise, +where her daughter is Vestal Virgin. Genji is caught making love to +Oborozuki, and knowing that his enemies now have him in their grasp he +retires as a voluntary exile to Suma. Here a storm destroys his house, +and the Old Recluse of Akashi (a neighbouring bay) persuades him +to move thither. Here he falls in love with the Recluse’s daughter +(the Lady of Akaski), by whom he has a child (called the Princess from +Akashi). Genji, after three years of exile, is recalled, and wants +to send for the Lady of Akashi to live with him in his palace. But +she fears that her position there will be humiliating, and will not +consent. Finally he instals her in a country house at Ōi, several miles +from the capital. In this volume both Utsusemi (the governor’s wife) +and Rokujō re-appear at the capital. There is also a further encounter, +of a diverting kind, between Genji and the lady with the red nose. + + + + + INTRODUCTION + + +Murasaki + +Murasaki Shikibu was born about 978 A.D. Her father, Tametoki, belonged +to a minor branch of the powerful Fujiwara clan. After holding various +appointments in the Capital he became governor first of Echizen +(probably in 1004); then of a more northerly province, Echigo. In 1016 +he retired and took his vows as a Buddhist priest. + +Of her childhood Murasaki tells us the following anecdote[1]: ‘When my +brother Nobunori[2] (the one who is now in the Board of Rites) was a +boy my father was very anxious to make a good Chinese scholar of him, +and often came himself to hear Nobunori read his lessons. On these +occasions I was always present, and so quick was I at picking up the +language that I was soon able to prompt my brother whenever he got +stuck. At this my father used to sigh and say to me: “If only you were +a boy how proud and happy I should be.” But it was not long before I +repented of having thus distinguished myself; for person after person +assured me that even boys generally become very unpopular if it is +discovered that they are fond of their books. For a girl, of course, it +would be even worse; and after this I was careful to conceal the fact +that I could write a single Chinese character. This meant that I got +very little practice; with the result that to this day I am shockingly +clumsy with my brush.’ + +Between 994 and 998 Murasaki married her kinsman Fujiwara no +Nobutaka, a lieutenant in the Imperial Guard. By him she had two +daughters, one of whom married the Lord Lieutenant of Tsukushi and +is reputed (very doubtfully) to be the authoress of an uninteresting +novel, the _Tale of Sagoromo_. Nobutaka died in 1001, and it was +probably three years later that Murasaki’s father was promised the +governorship of Echizen. Owing to the machinations of an enemy the +appointment was, at the last minute, almost given to some one else. +Tametoki appealed to his kinsman the Prime Minister Fujiwara no +Michinaga, and was eventually nominated for the post. + +Murasaki was now about 26. To have taken her to Echizen would have +ended all hope of a respectable second marriage. Instead Tametoki +arranged that she should enter the service of Michinaga’s daughter, +the very serious minded Empress Akiko, then a girl of about sixteen. +Part of Murasaki’s time was henceforth spent at the Emperor’s Palace. +But, as was customary, Akiko frequently returned for considerable +periods to her father’s house. Of her young mistress Murasaki writes +as follows[3]: ‘The Empress, as is well known to those about her, is +strongly opposed to anything savouring of flirtation; indeed, when +there are men about, it is as well for any one who wants to keep on +good terms with her not to show herself outside her own room.... +I can well imagine that some of our senior ladies, with their air +of almost ecclesiastical severity, must make a rather forbidding +impression upon the world at large. In dress and matters of that kind +we certainly cut a wretched figure, for it is well known that to show +the slightest sign of caring for such things ranks with our Mistress as +an unpardonable fault. But I can see no reason why, even in a society +where young girls are expected to keep their heads and behave +sensibly, appearances should be neglected to the point of comicality; +and I cannot help thinking that her Majesty’s outlook is far too +narrow and uncompromising. But it is easy enough to see how this state +of affairs arose. Her Majesty’s mind was, at the time when she first +came to Court, so entirely innocent and her own conduct so completely +impeccable that, quite apart from the extreme reserve which is natural +to her, she could never herself conceivably have occasion to make even +the most trifling confession. Consequently, whenever she heard one of +us admit to some slight shortcoming, whether of conduct or character, +she henceforward regarded this person as a monster of iniquity. + +‘True, at that period certain incidents occurred which proved that +some of her attendants were, to say the least of it, not very well +suited to occupy so responsible a position. But she would never have +discovered this had not the offenders been incautious enough actually +to boast in her hearing about their trivial irregularities. Being young +and inexperienced she had no notion that such things were of everyday +occurrence, brooded incessantly upon the wickedness of those about her, +and finally consorted only with persons so staid that they could be +relied upon not to cause her a moment’s anxiety. + +‘Thus she has gathered round her a number of very worthy young ladies. +They have the merit of sharing all her opinions, but seem in some +curious way like children who have never grown up. + +‘As the years go by her Majesty is beginning to acquire more experience +of life, and no longer judges others by the same rigid standards as +before; but meanwhile her Court has gained a reputation for extreme +dullness, and is shunned by all who can manage to avoid it. + +‘Her Majesty does indeed still constantly warn us that it is +a great mistake to go too far, “for a single slip may bring very +unpleasant consequences,” and so on, in the old style; but she now +also begs us not to reject advances in such a way as to hurt people’s +feelings. Unfortunately, habits of long standing are not so easily +changed; moreover, now that the Empress’s exceedingly stylish brothers +bring so many of their young courtier-friends to amuse themselves at +her house, we have in self-defence been obliged to become more virtuous +than ever.’ + +There is a type of disappointed undergraduate, who believes that all +his social and academic failures are due to his being, let us say, +at Magdalene instead of at St. John’s. Murasaki, in like manner, had +persuaded herself that all would have been well if her father had +placed her in the highly cultivated and easy-mannered entourage of the +Emperor’s aunt, Princess Senshi.[4] ‘Princess Senshi and her ladies,’ +Murasaki writes, ‘are always going off to see the sunset or the fading +of the moon at dawn, or pursuing some truant nightingale amid the +flowering trees. The Princess herself is a woman of marked character, +who is determined to follow her own tastes, and would contrive to +lead at Court a life as detached as her present existence at the Kamo +Shrine. How different from this place, with its perpetual: “The Empress +has been summoned into the Presence and commands you to attend her,” or +“Prepare to receive his Excellency the Prime Minister, who may arrive +at any moment.” Princess Senshi’s apartments are not subject to the +sudden alarms and incursions from which we suffer. There one could +apply oneself in earnest to anything one cared for and was good at; +there, occupied perhaps in making something really beautiful, one would +have no time for those indiscreet conversations which at our own +Court are the cause of so much trouble. There I should be allowed to +live buried in my own thoughts like a tree-stump in the earth; at the +same time, they would not expect me to hide from every man with whom +I was not already acquainted; and even if I addressed a few remarks +to such a person, I should not be thought lost to all sense of shame. +Indeed, I can imagine myself under such circumstances becoming, after a +certain amount of practice, quite lively and amusing!’ + +While pining for the elegance and freedom of Princess Senshi’s Court, +Murasaki was employed by her earnest young mistress for a purpose that +the world would have considered far more improper than the philandering +of which Akiko so sternly disapproved. The Empress had a secret +desire to learn Chinese. The study of this language was considered at +the time far too rough and strenuous an occupation for women. There +were no grammars or dictionaries, and each horny sentence had to be +grappled and mastered like an untamed steer. That Akiko should wish +to learn Chinese must have been as shocking to Michinaga as it would +have been to Gladstone if one of his daughters had wanted to learn +boxing. Murasaki had, as we have seen, picked up something of the +language by overhearing her brother’s lessons. She did everything in +her power to conceal this knowledge, even pretending (as she tells +us in the _Diary_) that she could not read the Chinese characters on +her mistress’s screen; but somehow or other it leaked out: ‘Since the +summer before last, very secretly, in odd moments when there happened +to be no one about, I have been reading with her Majesty the two +books of “Songs.”[5] There has of course been no question of formal +lessons; her Majesty has merely picked up a little here and there, +as she felt inclined. All the same, I have thought it best to say +nothing about the matter to anybody....’ + +We gather, however, that what in the long run made Akiko’s Court +distasteful to Murasaki was not the seriousness of the women so much +as the coarseness and stupidity of the men. Michinaga, Akiko’s father, +was now forty-two. He had already been Prime Minister for some fourteen +years, and had carried the fortunes of the Fujiwara family to their +apogee. It is evident that he made love to Murasaki, though possibly in +a more or less bantering way. In 1008 she writes: ‘From my room beside +the entrance to the gallery I can see into the garden. The dew still +lies heavy and a faint mist rises from it. His Excellency[6] is walking +in the garden. Now he has summoned one of his attendants and is giving +directions to him about having the moat cleared. In front of the orange +trees there is a bed of lady-flowers (_ominabeshi_) in full bloom. He +plucks a spray and returning to the house hands it to me over the top +of my screen. He looks very magnificent. I remember that I have not yet +powdered my face and feel terribly embarrassed. “Come now,” he cries, +“be quick with your poem, or I shall lose my temper.” This at any +rate gives me a chance to retire from his scrutiny; I go over to the +writing-box and produce the following: “If these beyond other flowers +are fair, ’tis but because the dew hath picked them out and by its +power made them sweeter than the rest.” “That’s right,” he said, taking +the poem. “It did not take you long in the end.” And sending for his +own ink-stone he wrote the answer: “Dew favours not; it is the flower’s +thoughts that flush its cheeks and make it fairer than the rest.”’ + +The next reference to Michinaga’s relations with Murasaki is as +follows: ‘His Excellency the Prime Minister caught sight of _The Tale +of Genji_ in her Majesty’s room, and after making the usual senseless +jokes about it, he handed me the following poem, written on a strip +of paper against which a spray of plum-blossom had been pressed: “How +comes it that, sour as the plum-tree’s fruit, you have contrived to +blossom forth in tale so amorous?” To this I answered: “Who has told +you that the fruit belies the flower? For the fruit you have not +tasted, and the flower you know but by report.”[7] + +‘One night when I was sleeping in a room which opens on to the +corridor, I heard some one tapping. So frightened was I that for the +whole of the rest of the night I lay dead still on my bed, scarcely +daring to breathe. Next morning came the following poem from His +Excellency: “More patient than the water-rail that taps upon the +tree-root all night long, in vain I loitered on the threshold of your +inhospitable room.” To this I answered: “So great was your persistence +that for a water-rail I did indeed mistake you; and lucky am I to have +made this merciful mistake.”’[8] + +Again, in 1010: ‘To-day his Excellency had an audience with the +Emperor; when it was over they came out of the Audience Chamber +together, and banqueted. As usual, his Excellency became very drunk +and, fearing trouble, I tried to keep out of his way. But he noticed +my absence and sent for me, crying out: “Here’s your mistress’s papa +taking dinner with the Emperor; it is not every one who gets the chance +of being present on an occasion like this. You ought to be uncommonly +grateful. Instead of which your one idea seems to be how to escape at +the earliest possible moment. I can’t make you out at all!” + +He went on scolding me for some time, and then said: “Well, now +you are here, you must make a poem. It is one of the days when the +parent’s[9] poem is always made by a substitute. You will do as well +as anybody; so be quick about it....” I was afraid at first that if I +showed myself he would behave in such a way as to make me feel very +uncomfortable. But it turned out that he was not so extraordinarily +drunk after all; indeed, he was in a very charming mood and, in the +light of the great lamp, looked particularly handsome.’ + +It has often been observed that whereas in her commonplace book (the +_Makura no Sōshi_) Sei Shōnagon[10] scarcely so much as mentions the +existence of the other ladies-in-waiting, Murasaki refers constantly +to her companions, and to one of them at least she was evidently +very strongly attached. Her great friend was Lady Saishō. ‘On my way +back from the Empress’s rooms I peeped in at Saishō’s door. I had +forgotten that she had been on duty at night and would now be having +her morning sleep. She had thrown over her couch various dresses with +bright-coloured linings, and on top of them had spread a covering +of beaten silk, lustrous and heavily scented with perfume. Her face +was hidden under the clothes; but as she lay there, her head resting +on a box-shaped writing-case, she looked so pretty that I could not +help thinking of the little princesses in picture-books. I raised +the clothes from her face and said to her: “You are like a girl in a +story.” She turned her head and said sharply: “You lunatic! Could you +not see I was asleep? You are too inconsiderate....” While she was +saying this she half raised herself from her couch and looked up at +me. Her face was flushed. I have never seen her so handsome. So it +often is; even those whom we at all times admire will, upon some +occasion, suddenly seem to us ten times more lovely than ever before.’ + +Saishō is her constant companion and her fellow victim during the +drunken festivities which they both detested. The following is from a +description of an entertainment given on the fiftieth day after the +birth of the Empress Akiko’s first child: ‘The old Minister of the +Right, Lord Akimitsu, came staggering along and banged into the screen +behind which we sat, making a hole in it. What really struck us was +that he is getting far too old[11] for this kind of thing. But I am +sure he did not at all know that this was the impression he was making. +Next followed matching of fans, and noisy jokes, many of which were in +very bad taste. + +‘Presently the General of the Right came and stood near the pillar on +our left. He was looking at us and seemed to be examining our dresses, +but with a very different expression from the rest. He cannot bear +these drunken revels. If only there were more like him! And I say this +despite the fact that his conversation is often very indecent; for +he manages to give a lively and amusing turn to whatever he says. I +noticed that when the great tankard came his way he did not drink out +of it, but passed it on, merely saying the usual words of good omen. At +this Lord Kintō[12] shouted: “The General is on his best behaviour. I +expect little Murasaki is somewhere not far off!” “You’re none of you +in the least like Genji,” I thought to myself, “so what should Murasaki +be doing here?” ... Then the Vice-Councillor began pulling about poor +Lady Hyōbu, and the Prime Minister made comic noises which I found very +disagreeable. It was still quite early, and knowing well what would be +the latter stages of an entertainment which had begun in this way, +I waited till things seemed to have come to a momentary pause and then +plotted with Lady Saishō to slip away and hide. Presently however the +Prime Minister’s sons and other young Courtiers burst into the room; a +fresh hubbub began, and when they heard that two ladies were in hiding +they tracked us down and flung back the screen behind which we had +ensconced ourselves. We were now prisoners....’ + +The _Diary_ contains a series of notes chiefly upon the appearance but +also in a few cases upon the character of other ladies at Court. Her +remarks on Lady Izumi Shikibu, one of the greatest poets whom Japan has +produced, are of interest: ‘Izumi Shikibu is an amusing letter-writer; +but there is something not very satisfactory about her. She has a gift +for dashing off informal compositions in a careless running-hand; but +in poetry she needs either an interesting subject or some classic model +to imitate. Indeed it does not seem to me that in herself she is really +a poet at all. + +‘However, in the impromptus which she recites there is always something +beautiful or striking. But I doubt if she is capable of saying anything +interesting about other people’s verses. She is not intelligent enough. +It is odd; to hear her talk you would certainly think that she had a +touch of the poet in her. Yet she does not seem to produce anything +that one can call serious poetry....’ + +Here, too, is the note on Sei Shōnagon,[13] author of the famous +_Makura no Sōshi_: ‘Sei Shōnagon’s most marked characteristic is +her extraordinary self-satisfaction. But examine the pretentious +compositions in Chinese script which she scatters so liberally over +the Court, and you will find them to be a mere patchwork of +blunders. Her chief pleasure consists in shocking people; and as each +new eccentricity becomes only too painfully familiar, she gets driven +on to more and more outrageous methods of attracting notice. She was +once a person of great taste and refinement; but now she can no longer +restrain herself from indulging, even under the most inappropriate +circumstances, in any outburst that the fancy of the moment suggests. +She will soon have forfeited all claim to be regarded as a serious +character, and what will become of her[14] when she is too old for her +present duties I really cannot imagine.’ + +It was not likely that Murasaki, who passed such biting judgments +on her companions, would herself escape criticism. In her diary she +tells us the following anecdote: ‘There is a certain lady here called +Sayemon no Naishi who has evidently taken a great dislike to me, though +I have only just become aware of it. It seems that behind my back she +is always saying the most unpleasant things. One day when some one had +been reading _The Tale of Genji_ out loud to the Emperor, his Majesty +said: “This lady has certainly been reading the Annals of Japan. She +must be terribly learned.” Upon the strength of this casual remark +Naishi spread a report all over the Court that I prided myself on my +enormous learning, and henceforth I was known as “Dame Annals” wherever +I went.’ + +The most interesting parts of the _Diary_ are those in which Murasaki +describes her own feelings. The following passage refers to the winter +of 1008 A.D.: ‘I love to see the snow here,[15] and was hoping from +day to day that it would begin before Her Majesty went back to Court, +when I was suddenly obliged to go home.[16] Two days after I arrived, +the snow did indeed begin to fall. But here, where everything is so +sordid, it gives me very little pleasure. As, seated once more at the +familiar window, I watch it settling on the copses in front of the +house, how vividly I recall those years[17] of misery and perplexity! +Then I used to sit hour after hour at this same window, and each day +was like the last, save that since yesterday some flower had opened or +fallen, some fresh song-bird arrived or flown away. So I watched the +springs and autumns in their procession, saw the skies change, the moon +rise; saw those same branches white with frost or laden with snow. And +all the while I was asking myself over and over again: “What has the +future in store for me? How will this end?” However, sometimes I used +to read, for in those days I got a certain amount of pleasure out of +quite ordinary romances; I had one or two intimate friends with whom I +used to correspond, and there were several other people, not much more +than acquaintances, with whom I kept up a casual intercourse. So that, +looking back on it now, it seems to me that, one way and another, I had +a good many minor distractions. + +‘Even then I realized that my branch of the family was a very humble +one; but the thought seldom troubled me, and I was in those days far +indeed from the painful consciousness of inferiority which makes life +at Court a continual torment to me. + +‘To-day I picked up a romance which I used to think quite entertaining, +and found to my astonishment that it no longer amused me at all. And +it is the same with my friends. I have a feeling that those with +whom I used to be most intimate would now consider me worldly and +flippant, and I have not even told them that I am here. Others, on +whose discretion I completely relied, I now have reason to suspect of +showing my letters to all and sundry. If they think that I write to +them with that intention they cannot know very much of my character! It +is surely natural under such circumstances that a correspondence should +either cease altogether or become formal and infrequent. Moreover, I +now come here so seldom that in many cases it seems hardly worth while +to renew former friendships, and many of those who wanted to call I +have put off with excuses.... The truth is I now find that I have not +the slightest pleasure in the society of any but a few indispensable +friends. They must be people who really interest me, with whom I can +talk seriously on serious subjects, and with whom I am brought into +contact without effort on my side in the natural course of everyday +existence. I am afraid this sounds very exacting! But stay, there is +Lady Dainagon. She and I used to sleep very close together every night +at the Palace and talk for hours. I see her now as she used to look +during those conversations, and very much wish that she were here. So I +have a little human feeling, after all!’ + +A little later in the same winter Murasaki sees the Gosechi dancers[18] +at the Palace, and wonders how they have reached their present pitch +of forwardness and self-possession: ‘Seeing several officers of the +Sixth Rank coming towards them to take away their fans, the dancers +threw the fans across to them in a manner which was adroit enough, but +which somehow made it difficult to remember that they were women at +all. If I were suddenly called upon to expose myself in that fashion I +should completely lose my head. But already I do a hundred things +which a few years ago I should never have dreamed myself capable of +doing. So strange indeed are the hidden processes which go on in the +heart of man that I shall no doubt continue to part with one scruple +after another till in the end what now appears to me as the most +abandoned shamelessness will seem perfectly proper and natural. Thus +I reflected upon the unreality of all our attitudes and opinions, and +began sketching out to myself the probable course of my development. +So extraordinary were the situations in which I pictured myself that I +became quite confused, and saw very little of the show.’ + +The most direct discussion of her own character comes in a passage +towards the end of the diary: ‘That I am very vain, reserved, +unsociable, wanting always to keep people at a distance—that I am +wrapped up in the study of ancient stories, conceited, living all the +time in a poetical world of my own and scarcely realizing the existence +of other people, save occasionally to make spiteful and depreciatory +comments upon them—such is the opinion of me that most strangers hold, +and they are prepared to dislike me accordingly. But when they get +to know me, they find to their extreme surprise that I am kind and +gentle—in fact, quite a different person from the monster they had +imagined; as indeed many have afterwards confessed. Nevertheless, I +know that I have been definitely set down at Court as an ill-natured +censorious prig. Not that I mind very much, for I am used to it and see +that it is due to things in my nature which I cannot possibly change. +The Empress has often told me that, though I seemed always bent upon +not giving myself away in the royal presence, yet she felt after a time +as if she knew me more intimately than any of the rest.’ + +The _Diary_ closes in 1010. After this we do not know one solitary +fact concerning Murasaki’s life or death; save that in 1025 she was +still in Akiko’s service and in that year took part in the ceremonies +connected with the birth of the future Emperor Go-Ryōzen. + + +The Composition of Genji + +It is generally assumed that the book was written during the three or +at the most four years which elapsed between the death of Murasaki’s +husband and her arrival at Court. Others suggest that it was begun +then, and finished some time before the winter of 1008. This assumption +is based on the three references to _The Tale of Genji_ which occur in +the _Diary_. But none of these allusions seem to me to imply that the +_Tale_ was already complete. From the first reference it is evident +that the book was already so far advanced as to show that Murasaki was +its heroine; the part of the _Tale_ which was read to the Emperor[19] +was obviously the first chapter, which ends with a formula derived +directly from the early annals: ‘Some say that it was the Korean +fortune-teller who gave him the name of Genji the Shining One.’ Such +‘alternative explanations’ are a feature of early annals in most +countries and occur frequently in those of Japan. Lastly, Michinaga’s +joke about the discrepancy between the prudishness of Murasaki’s +conduct and the erotic character of her book implies no more than that +half-a-dozen chapters were in existence. It may be thought odd that +she should have shown it to any one before it was finished. But the +alternative is to believe that it was completed in seven years, half of +which were spent at Court under circumstances which could have given +her very little leisure. It is much more probable, I think, that _The +Tale of Genji_, having been begun in 1001, was carried on slowly +after Murasaki’s arrival at Court, during her holidays and in spare +time at the Palace, and not completed till, say, 1015 or even 1020. +The middle and latter parts certainly give the impression of having +been written by some one of comparatively mature age. In 1022 the book +was undoubtedly complete, for the _Sarashina Diary_ refers to the +‘fifty-odd chapters of _The Tale of Genji_.’ In 1031 Murasaki’s name +is absent from a list where one might expect to find it, and it is +possible that she was then no longer alive.[20] + +The Empress Akiko lived on till 1074, reaching an even riper age than +Queen Victoria, whom in certain ways she so much resembled. + + + + + NOTES + + +On Genji’s Household. + +Polygamy in Japan as elsewhere was confined to the upper classes, who +alone were able to support the expense of so costly an institution. +The actual wife (_kita no kata_, ‘north side’) of a man in Genji’s +position had to be of the same social class as the husband, a condition +fulfilled by Aoi, but not by Murasaki, who was never strictly speaking +a _kita no kata_, but merely a _tai no uye_ (‘lady of the wing’). It +will be remembered that Murasaki’s mother was not of noble birth. +Falling Flowers, Akashi and the rest were theoretically on the same +footing as Murasaki. The number of ladies in an establishment was +limited not by law or religion, but by expense and above all (in a +case such as that of Genji) by the difficulty of dealing with the +emotional situation that arose from large households. Did polygamy +create different emotional situations from those to which we are +accustomed—if, for example, it were so much taken for granted that +jealousy ceased to exist—a novel dealing with a polygamous society +would make very little appeal to us. It is because in _Genji_ the +re-actions of the characters are precisely the same as ours would be +under similar circumstances, that the book holds our attention. + +Another point concerning Genji’s household that perhaps requires +comment is the apparent ability of persons to live years in the same +house without ever having met. But such a thing happens frequently at +English University Colleges, and we must envisage Genji’s palace as +more like a college than a house,—consisting, in fact, of separate +courtyards and cloisters, joined by covered galleries. Hence it +comes about that, in the story, Genji’s various favourites tend to be +isolated from one another in a way which is not always advantageous +to the construction of the book. Later on the authoress realizes the +danger of the tale falling into a series of disconnected episodes, in +which the personality of Genji is the only common factor—and takes +pains to bring her heroines into relation with one another. + + +On the Time-scheme in Genji. + +A pamphleteer has recently shown how complete and elaborate is the +time-scheme that underlies Emily Bronte’s _Wuthering Heights_. It is +obvious that _Genji_ is based upon an equally precise scheme. Here is +no ‘Oriental vagueness’; indeed it is inconceivable that Murasaki had +not prepared for herself some species of chronological chart, which +she kept constantly by her when at work. If it has appeared to any +reader that her sense of time is vague, the fault is entirely mine. In +one case, indeed, I am conscious of having created this impression by +translating inappropriately a phrase about the young Emperor Ryōzen, +whereby I make him seem much older than the chronology warrants. But +there is never a moment in the story at which the authoress has not got +a precise idea about the age of every character in it. + + + [1] _Diary_, Hakubunkwan text, p. 51. + + [2] Died young, perhaps about 1012, while serving on his father’s + staff in Echigo. + + [3] _Diary_, p. 51. + + [4] 963–1035. Vestal at Kamo during five successive reigns. One of + the most important figures of her day; known to history as the + Great Vestal. + + [5] The third and fourth body of Po Chü-i’s poetical works, + including _Magic_, _The Old Man with the Broken Arm_, _The + Prisoner_, _The Two Red Towers_, and _The Dragon of the Pool_, + all of which are translated in my ‘170 Chinese Poems.’ + + [6] Michinaga. + + [7] ‘You have neither read my book nor won my love.’ Both poems + contain a number of double-meanings which it would be tedious + to unravel. + + [8] _Kui-na_ means ‘water-rail’ and ‘regret not.’ + + [9] The parent of the Empress. + + [10] Lady-in-waiting to the Empress Sadako, Akiko’s predecessor. + + [11] He was now 64. + + [12] Fujiwara no Kintō (966–1041), famous poet; cousin of Michinaga. + + [13] See p. 22. Shōnagon was about ten years senior to Murasaki. She + was lady-in-waiting first to the Empress Sadako (died, + 1000 A.D.); then to Sadako’s sister Princess Shigesa (died, + 1002 A.D.); finally to the Empress Akiko. + + [14] Murasaki suggests that Shōnagon will lose Akiko’s confidence and + be dismissed. There is indeed a tradition (_Kojidan_, vol. ii) + that when some courtiers were out walking one day they passed a + dilapidated hovel. One of them mentioned a rumour that Sei + Shōnagon, a wit and beauty of the last reign, was now living in + this place. Whereupon an incredibly lean hag shot her head out + at the door, crying ‘Won’t you buy old bones, old rags and + bones?’ and immediately disappeared again. + + [15] At the Prime Minister’s. + + [16] Her parents’ house. + + [17] After the death of her husband. + + [18] See below, p. 125. + + [19] For the Emperor’s remark, see above, p. 25. + + [20] Murasaki was outlived by her father, so that it is improbable + that she reached any great age. + + + + + A WREATH OF CLOUD + + + + + A WREATH OF CLOUD + + CHAPTER I + + A WREATH OF CLOUD + + +As winter drew on, the Lady of Akashi in her house by the Ōi river +became very dispirited. Formerly the prospect of a visit from Genji +was sufficient to rouse her from her melancholy; but now he found her +always in the same dejected posture morning, noon and night: ‘How much +longer is this to go on?’ he cried impatiently. ‘Do, I beg of you, +make up your mind to come to my palace and use the quarters I have +reserved for you.’ But he could never persuade her that she would not +be thus exposing herself to a hundred indignities and affronts. It +was of course impossible to be quite sure how things would go, and +if, after all his assurances, the move did not turn out well, her +vague resentment against him would henceforth be transformed into a +definite and justified grievance. ‘Do you not feel,’ he said, ‘that it +would be unfair to your child to keep it here with you much longer? +Indeed, knowing as you do what plans[21] I have made for its future, +you must surely see that you are behaving towards it with a lack of +proper respect.... I have constantly discussed this matter with my +wife and she has always shown great interest in the child’s future. +If it is put for a while under her care, she will no doubt be +willing to stand sponsor to it; so that it will be possible to carry +out the Initiation ceremony and other rituals of induction[22] with +full publicity.’ So far from being convinced by his arguments, she saw +herself now being inveigled into doing precisely what she had always +suspected with horror that he would one day ask of her. ‘Take the +child away from me if you like,’ she said at last, ‘and give her to +these grand people to bring up as though she were their own. But just +when you think you have repaired the accident of her birth, some one +will let out the secret, and where will you be then?’ ‘Yes, we must be +careful about that,’ answered Genji. ‘But you need have no fear that +the child will not be properly looked after. As you know, though we +have been married for many years, Lady Murasaki has no children of her +own, and this very much distresses her. She badly needs companionship, +and when at one time there was some question of her adopting Lady +Akikonomu, the former Vestal Virgin, she was obviously delighted at +the prospect, though this lady was already a grown-up person. But +when it comes to a child,—at an age, too, when such creatures have an +irresistible charm—it is quite certain that she will welcome it with +alacrity and henceforward devote all her time to its care. Of that +there is no doubt at all ...’ and he proceeded to a general eulogy +upon Murasaki’s docility and charm. But while he was speaking the Lady +of Akashi recalled the stories of Genji’s adventurous past, and of +numerous other attachments with which rumour credited him. It seemed +on the one hand very unlikely that Lady Murasaki would not ultimately +suffer the fate of her predecessors, and why should her child be +entrusted to a favourite who might soon be forgotten or thrust aside? +If on the other hand Murasaki were indeed endowed with such pre-eminent +qualities that she alone of all her rivals and predecessors was +destined to enjoy permanent favour, then as long as mother and child +remained in their present obscurity there was little danger that this +magnificent lady would regard them as worth a moment’s thought. But +as soon as one or both should make an appearance in the Nijō palace, +Murasaki’s pride would be affronted and her jealousy aroused.... Her +mother, however, was a woman who looked beyond the difficulties of +the moment, and she now said with some severity: ‘You are behaving +very foolishly. It is natural enough that you should dislike parting +with the child; but you must make up your mind to do what will be best +for it. I feel certain that His Highness is perfectly serious in his +intentions concerning its future, and I advise you to entrust it to him +at once. You need have no misgivings. After all, even Royal Princes are +of very varying stock on the mother’s side. I seem to remember that +Prince Genji himself, who is reckoned the greatest gentleman in the +land, could not be put forward as a successor to the Throne because +his mother was so far inferior to the other ladies of the Court; and +indeed, judged from that point of view, he is a mere waiting-woman’s +son. If such disadvantages are not fatal even in the most exalted +spheres, we lesser folk certainly need not trouble ourselves about +them....’ The Lady of Akashi took the advice of several other persons +who had a reputation for sagacity in such matters, and also consulted +various soothsayers and astrologers. In every case the answer was the +same: the child must go to the Capital. In face of such unanimity she +began to waver. Genji, for his part, was still as anxious as ever +that his plan should be carried out. But the subject was evidently +so painful to her that he no longer attempted to broach it, and in +the course of his next letter merely asked what were her wishes +concerning the Initiation ceremony. She answered: ‘I see now that, +being what I am, I cannot keep the child with me without injuring its +prospects. I am ready to part with it; but I still fear that amid +such surroundings....’ He was very sorry for her; but all the same he +ordered his clerks to search the calendar for a suitable day, and began +secretly to make preparations for the child’s arrival. + +To hand over her own child to another woman’s keeping was indeed a +bitter trial; but she kept on repeating to herself that, for its own +sake, this sacrifice must sooner or later be made. The nurse whom Genji +had originally sent to Akashi would of course go to take charge of it +at the palace, and the prospect of losing this lady, to whom she had +long confided all her sorrows, finding in her society the one solace +of her monotonous and unhappy existence, added greatly to her present +distress. ‘Madam,’ the nurse would say to her, ‘I shall never forget +your kindness to me ever since the day when, so unexpectedly, yet as +I think not without the intervention of some kind fate, it fell to my +lot to serve you. You may be sure that I shall all the while be longing +to have you with me. But I shall never regard our separation as more +than an expedient of the moment. In the end I am convinced that all +will come right. Meanwhile, do not think that I look forward with any +pleasant anticipations to a life that will take me so far from your +side.’ She wept; and thus day after day was spent in sad forebodings +and preparations till the twelfth month was already come. + +Storms of snow and hail now made the situation at Ōi more than ever +depressing and uncomfortable. It appalled the Lady of Akashi to +discover what manifold varieties of suffering one can be called upon +to endure at one and the same time. She now spent every moment of the +day in tending and caressing her little girl. One morning when the +fast-falling snow was piling up high on every side she sat with the +child in her arms, again and again going back in her mind over all the +miseries of the past, and picturing to herself the yet more desolate +days that were to come. It was long since she had gone into the front +of the house. But this morning there was ice on the moat, and she +went to the window to look. She was clad in many wraps of some soft, +white, fluttering stuff, and as she stood gazing before her with hands +clasped behind her head, those within the room thought that, prince’s +daughter though her rival was, she could scarce be more lovely in poise +and gesture than their lady in her snowy dress. Raising her sleeve to +catch the tears that had now begun to fall the Lady of Akashi turned to +the nurse and said: ‘If it were upon a day such as this,[23] I do not +think that I could bear it....’ And she recited the poem: ‘If country +roads be deep in snow, and clouds return, tread thou the written path, +and though thyself thou comest not, vouchsafe a sign.’[24] To comfort +her the nurse answered through her tears: ‘Though the snow-drifts of +Yoshino were heaped across his path, doubt not that whither his heart +is set, his footsteps shall tread out their way.’ The snow was now +falling a little less fast. Suddenly Genji appeared at the door. The +moments during which she waited to receive him put her always into a +state of painful agitation. To-day guessing as she did the purpose +of his visit, his arrival threw her immediately into an agonizing +conflict. Why had she consented? There was still time. If she refused +to part with the child, would he snatch it from her? No, indeed; that +was unthinkable. But stay! She had consented; and should she now +change her mind, she would lose his confidence forever. At one moment +she was ready to obey; a moment afterwards, she had decided to resist +by every means in her power. + +She sat by the window, holding the little girl in her arms. He thought +the child very beautiful, and felt at once that her birth was one of +the most important things that had happened in his life. Since last +spring her hair had been allowed to grow[25] and it was now an inch +or two long, falling in delicate waves about her ears like that of a +little novice at a convent. Her skin too was of exquisite whiteness +and purity, and she had the most delightful eyes. To part with such +a creature, to send her away into strange hands,—he understood well +enough what this must mean, and suddenly it seemed to him that it was +impossible even to suggest such a sacrifice. The whole matter was +re-opened, and a discussion followed which lasted the better part of +the day. ‘Whether it is worth while depends on you,’ she said at last. +‘It is in your power to make amends to the child for the disadvantages +of its birth. And if I thought that you meant to do so ...’ she was +worn out by the long discussion, and now burst into tears. It was +terrible to witness such distress. But the child, heedless of what was +going on about it, was lustily demanding ‘a ride in the nice carriage.’ +The mother picked it up and carried it in her own arms to the end of +the drive. When she had set it down, it caught at her sleeve and in +the prettiest, baby voice imaginable begged her to ‘come for a ride +too.’ There framed themselves in the lady’s heart the lines: ‘Were +all my prayers in vain, or shall I live to see the two-leaved pine +from which to-day I part spread mighty shadows on the earth?’; but she +could scarce speak the words, and seeing her now weeping wildly Genji +strove to comfort her with the verse: ‘Like the little pine-tree +that at Takekuma from the big one grows, grafted to my deep roots long +shall this stripling thrive secure.’ ‘Wait patiently,’ he added. She +strove hard to persuade herself that he was right, that all was for the +best. But now the carriages were moving away.... + +With the child rode the nurse and also a gentlewoman of good family +called Shōshō, holding on their knees the Sword, the Heavenly +Children[26] and other emblems of royalty. In the next carriage +followed a band of youths and little girls whom he had brought to form +the child’s escort on the homeward way. All the time they were driving +to the Capital Genji was haunted by the image of the sorrow-stricken +figure that had watched their departure. Small blame to her if at the +moment she was feeling bitterly towards him! + +It was quite dark when they arrived. So soon as the carriages had +been drawn in, Shōshō and the nurse began looking about them at +the splendours amid which they were now destined to reside. They +felt indeed (coming as they did from rural and quite unpretentious +surroundings) somewhat awestruck and ill at ease. But when they were +shown the apartments which had been set aside for the new arrival, +with a tiny bed, screens-of-state, and everything which a little lady +could require, all beautifully set out and arranged, they began to take +heart. The nurse’s own room was in the corridor leading to the western +wing, on the north side of the passage. + +The child had fallen asleep during the journey and while she was +carried into the house had not cried or seemed at all put out. She was +taken straight to Murasaki’s room and there given her supper. After +a while she began to look round her. + +She evidently wondered why her mother was nowhere to be seen, and after +a further search her little lips began to tremble. The nurse was sent +for and soon succeeded in distracting her attention. If only, thought +Genji, who had witnessed this scene—if only the mother in that slow +country home could be as easily comforted! But now there was no way to +make amends to her, save to see to it that never in one jot should the +child’s care and upbringing fall short of what its mother might in her +wildest dream have craved for it. For the moment indeed he accounted +it a blessing that Murasaki had not borne him a child of her own, and +was thus free to devote herself to the reparation of the wrong which +he had inflicted upon this little newcomer by the circumstances of its +birth. For some days the child continued occasionally to ask for its +mother or some other person whom it had been used to see daily at Ōi, +and when they could not be produced it would have a fit of screaming +or of tears. But it was by nature a contented, happy little thing, and +soon struck up a friendship with its new mother, who for her part was +delighted to take charge of a creature so graceful and confiding. She +insisted on carrying it about in her own arms, attended herself to all +its wants and joined in all its games. Gradually the nurse became a +personal attendant upon Lady Murasaki rather than the under-servant +she had been before. Meanwhile a lady of irreproachable birth happened +to become available as a wet-nurse and was accordingly added to the +establishment. The ceremony of her Initiation did not involve any +very elaborate preparations, but the child’s little companions were +naturally aware that something was afoot. Her outfit, so tiny that +it looked as though it came out of a doll’s-house, was a charming +sight. So many people came in and out of the house all day even at +ordinary times that they hardly noticed the guests who had assembled in +their little mistress’s honour. It was only when she raised her arms +for the Binding of the Sleeves that the unwonted gesture caught their +attention; they had never seen her in so pretty a pose before. + +Meanwhile the mother at Ōi was all the more wretched because she +now felt that her misery was self-inflicted. Had she been firm, the +child might still be with her and life in some measure endurable. She +could not believe that so extreme a course could really have been +indispensable to its interests and bitterly repented of her docility. +Even the grandmother, who had been foremost in urging the sacrifice, +missed the baby sadly and went about the house with tears in her eyes. +But news had reached them of the pains which Genji was bestowing upon +its upbringing, and she felt no doubt that she had advised for the best. + +A peculiar compunction prevented the Lady of Akashi from sending +any gift or message to the child which was no longer hers, but she +took immense pains in contriving presents for all its companions and +attendants from the nurse downwards, and would spend hours in the +matching of colours and the choosing of stuffs. + +Genji did not at all want her to think that, now she had parted with +the child, his visits were going to become any the less frequent, and +though it was very difficult to arrange, he made a point of going out +to Ōi before the turn of the year. It must at the best of times, he +thought, be an uninteresting place to live in; but at any rate she had +had the child to look after, and (what with getting it up and putting +it to bed) that seemed to occupy a good deal of time. How she managed +to get through the day now he could not imagine, and coming away from +this visit with a heavy heart he henceforward wrote to her almost +daily. Fortunately Murasaki no longer showed any jealousy on this +score, feeling, as it seemed, that the surrender of so exquisite a +child needed whatever recompense Genji found it in his heart to bestow. + +The New Year[27] was ushered in by a spell of bright, clear weather. At +the Nijō-in everything seemed to be going particularly well and, now +that all the improvements were completed, an unusually large number of +guests was entertained during the period of festivities. The older, +married visitors came, as is customary, on the seventh day, bringing +with them their children to assist in the ceremonies of congratulation; +and these young visitors all seemed to be in excellent health and +spirits. Even the lesser gentlemen and retainers who came to pay their +respects, though no doubt many of them had worries and troubles enough +of their own, managed to keep up, during these few days at any rate, an +outward appearance of jollity. + +The lady from the Village of Falling Flowers, who was now installed +in the new eastern wing, seemed completely satisfied by her new +surroundings. She had her work cut out for her in keeping up to the +mark all the writing-women and young girls whom Genji had allotted to +her service. Nor could she feel that she had gained nothing by her +present proximity; for whenever he had a few moments to spare, he would +come round and sit with her. He did not however visit her by previous +appointment or stay at all late at night in her apartments. Happily she +was by nature extremely unexacting. If what she wanted did not come her +way, she at once assumed that this particular thing was not ‘in her +destiny,’ and ceased to worry about it. This habit of mind made her +quite unusually easy to handle, and he for his part lost no opportunity +of publicly showing by his manner towards her that he regarded her as +of scarcely less consequence than Murasaki; with the result that +those who came to the house felt they would be displeasing him if +they did not pay their respects to her as well as to his wife; while +stewards and servants saw that she was a person whom it would not +be advisable to neglect. Thus everything seemed to be working very +smoothly, and Genji felt that the arrangement was going to be a great +success. + +He thought constantly of the country house at Ōi and of the dull +hours which the Lady of Akashi must be passing there at this season +of festivity. So soon as the New Year celebrations both at his own +house and in the Palace were drawing to a close, he determined to pay +her another visit, and with this object in view he put on his finest +clothes, wearing under his cherry-coloured cloak a matchless vesture +of deep saffron hue, steeped in the perfumes of the scented box where +it had lain. Thus clad he went to take his leave of Murasaki, and as +he stood in the full rays of the setting sun, his appearance was so +magnificent that she gazed at him with even greater admiration than +was her wont. The little princess grabbed at the ends of his long +wide trousers with her baby hands, as though she did not want him to +go. When he reached the door of the women’s apartments she was still +clinging to him and he was obliged to halt for a moment in order to +disentangle himself. Having at last coaxed her into releasing him, +he hurried down the corridor humming to himself as he did so the +peasant-song ‘To-morrow I will come again.’[28] At the door he met +one of Murasaki’s ladies and by her he sent back just that message, +‘To-morrow I will come again.’ She instantly recognized whence the +words came and answered with the poem: ‘Were there on the far +shore no person to detain your boat, then might I indeed believe that +to-morrow you will come again.’ This was brought to him before he drove +away, and smiling at her readiness of wit he answered: ‘In truth I +will but look to my business and come back again; come back to-morrow, +though she across the waters chide me as she will.’ The little girl did +not of course understand a word of all this; but she saw that there +was a joke, and was cutting the strangest capers. As usual the sight +of her antics disarmed all Murasaki’s resentment, and though she would +much rather there had been no ‘lady on the far shore,’ she no longer +felt any hostility towards her. Through what misery the mother must +be passing, Murasaki was now in a position to judge for herself. She +continually imagined what her own feelings would be if the child were +taken from her, never for an instant let it go out of her sight, and +again and again pressed it to her bosom, putting her lovely teats to +its mouth, and caressing it for hours together. + +‘What a pity that she has never had one of her own!’ her ladies +whispered; ‘To be sure if this were hers, she could not wish it +different....’ + +Meanwhile the Lady of Akashi was setting herself to face with resolute +calm the dullness and monotony of country life. The house had a curious +charm of its own, which appealed very much to Genji during his visits, +and as for its occupant,—he was astonished at the continual improvement +in her looks. Indeed, had not that queer father of hers taken such +extraordinary pains to prevent her ever mixing with the world, he +believed there was no reason why she should not have done extremely +well for herself. Yes, all she had needed was an ordinary father; +even a rather shabby one would not have mattered. For such beauty and +intelligence as hers, if once given the chance, could not have failed +to pull her through. Each visit left him restless and unsatisfied, +and he found himself spending his time in continual goings and comings, +his life ‘a tremulous causeway linking dream to dream.’ + +Sometimes he would send for a zithern and remembering the exquisite +music with which she had beguiled those nights at Akashi, he begged +her to play to him upon her lute. She would not now play alone; but +she sometimes consented to accompany him, doing so with a mastery he +could not imagine how she had contrived to acquire. The rest of the +time was generally spent in minute recital of the little princess’s +sayings and doings. Often he had come over on business connected with +his new oratory at Saga or his estate at Katsura; and then there would +perhaps be only time enough to eat a little fruit and dried rice with +her at Ōi before he hurried back to town. On such occasions there was +not time for intimacies of any kind; but the mere fact that he snatched +at every chance of seeing her and that he did so without any attempt +at concealment, marked her as one who held a not inconsiderable place +in his affections. She was quite aware of this; but she never presumed +upon it, and without any tiresome display of humility she obeyed his +orders and in general gave him as little trouble as possible. By all +that she could hear, there was not one of the great ladies at Court +with whom he was on so intimate a footing as with herself; indeed, he +was said to be somewhat stand-offish and difficult of approach. Were +she to live closer at hand he would perhaps grow weary of her, and in +any case there would certainly be unpleasant rivalries and jealousies. +Thus or in some such way may we suppose the Lady of Akashi to have +reconciled herself to these brief and accidental visits. Her father, +despite his disavowal of all worldly interests, was extremely anxious +to hear how Genji was behaving towards his daughter and constantly sent +messengers to Ōi to pick up what news they could. Much of what he +heard distressed and disappointed him; but frequently too there were +signs and indications of a more encouraging kind, and he would grow +quite elated. + +About this time Lady Aoi’s father died. His name had carried great +weight in the country and his death was a heavy loss to the present +government. It so happened that the period during which he took part +in public life had been marked by much disorder and unrest. A renewal +of these upheavals was now expected and general depression prevailed. +Genji too was much distressed, both for personal reasons and because +he had been in the habit of delegating to the old Minister most of +the public business which fell to his lot. He had thus managed to +secure a reasonable amount of leisure. He saw himself henceforward +perpetually immersed in a multiplicity of tiresome affairs, and the +prospect greatly depressed him. The Emperor, though still only twelve +years old, was extremely forward for his age both in body and mind, and +although it was not to be expected that he should act alone, the task +of supervising his work was not a difficult one. But for some years +such supervision would still be needed, and unfortunately there was no +one else to whom Genji could possibly entrust such a task. Thus the +prospect of being able to lead the retired life which alone appealed to +him was still remote, and he frequently became very discontented. + +For some while he was occupied with the celebration of rituals and +services on behalf of the dead man’s soul; these he carried out even +more elaborately than did the sons and grandsons of the deceased. This +year, as had been predicted, was marked by a number of disorders and +calamities. The Palace was frequently visited by the most disagreeable +and alarming apparitions, the motions of the planets, sun and moon were +irregular and unaccountable, and clouds of baleful and significant +shape were repeatedly observed. Learned men of every school sent in +elaborate addresses to the Throne, in which they attempted to account +for these strange manifestations. But they were obliged to confess that +many of the reported happenings were unique, and of a very baffling +character. While speculation thus reigned on every side, Genji held +in his heart a guilty secret[29] which might well be the key to these +distressing portents. + +Lady Fujitsubo had fallen ill at the beginning of the year and since +the third month her malady had taken a serious turn. The August visit +of the Emperor to her bedside and other unusual ceremonies had already +taken place. He was a mere child when she relinquished the care of him, +and he had grown up without any very strong feelings towards her. But +he now looked so solemn as he stood by the bedside that she herself +began to feel quite sad. ‘I have for some while felt certain,’ she said +to him calmly, ‘that this would be the last year of my life. But as +long as my illness did not prevent me from going about as usual, I gave +no hint to those around me that I knew my end was near; for I dreaded +the fuss and outcry that such a confession would have produced. Nor +did I alter in any way my daily prayers and observances. I longed to +visit you at the Palace and talk with you quietly about old days. But I +seldom felt equal to so great an exertion.... And now it is too late.’ + +She spoke in a very low, feeble voice. She was thirty-seven years +old, but seemed much younger. The Emperor, as he looked at her, was +overwhelmed by pity and regret. That just as she was reaching an age +when she would need his care, she should, unknown to him, have +passed through months of continual suffering, without once having +recourse to those sacred expedients which alone might have saved +her—this thought made the most painful impression upon him; and now, +in a last attempt to rescue her from death, he set in motion every +conceivable sort of ritual and spell. Genji too was dismayed at the +discovery that for months past she had been worn out by constant pain, +and now sought desperately to find some remedy for her condition. But +it was apparent that the end was at hand; the Emperor’s visits became +more and more frequent and many affecting scenes were witnessed. +Fujitsubo was in great pain and seldom attempted to speak at any +length. But lying there and looking back over the whole course of her +career, she thought that while in the outward circumstances of life few +women could have been more fortunate than herself, inwardly scarce one +in all history had been more continually apprehensive and wretched. The +young Emperor was of course still wholly ignorant of the secret of his +birth. In not acquainting him with it she felt that she had failed in +the discharge of an essential duty, and the one matter after her death +in which she felt any interest was the repair of this omission. + +Merely in his position as head of the government it was natural that +Genji should be gravely concerned by the approaching loss to his +faction of so distinguished a supporter, coming, as it seemed likely +to, not many months after the death of the old Grand Minister. This +public concern could indeed be openly displayed. But concealed from all +those about him there was in his inmost heart a measureless sorrow, to +which he dared give vent only in perpetual supplication and prayer. +That it was no longer possible to renew even such casual and colourless +intercourse as had been theirs in recent years was very painful to him. +He hurried to her bedside at the first news of the serious turn +which her condition had taken. + +To his surprise she did, in a faint and halting manner, contrive to +speak a few words to him when she realized that he was near. First +she thanked him for carrying out so scrupulously the late Emperor’s +wishes with regard to the surveillance of his present Majesty. Much +had happened in the last years for which she had cause to be grateful +to him, and she had often meant to tell him how sensible she was of +his kindness. And there was another matter of which she had meant +for some time to speak ... to the Emperor himself. She was sorry she +had never.... Here her voice became inaudible, and tears for a while +prevented him from making a reply. He feared that this display of +emotion would arouse comment among those who were standing by; but +indeed any one who had known her as she used to be might well have been +overcome with grief to see her in so woeful a condition. Suddenly he +looked up. No thought or prayer of his could now recall her; and in +unspeakable anguish, not knowing whether she heard him or no, he began +to address her: ‘In spite of the difficulties into which I myself have +sometimes fallen, I have tried to do my best for His Majesty, or at any +rate, what then seemed to me best. But since the death of the old Grand +Minister, everything has gone wrong; and with you lying ill like this +I do not know which way to turn. Were you now to die, I think I should +soon follow you....’ He paused, but there was no reply; for she had +died suddenly like a candle blown out by the wind, and he was left in +bewilderment and misery. + +She was, of all the great ladies about the Court at that time, the most +tender-hearted and universally considerate. Women of her class do not +as a rule expect to compass their own ends without causing considerable +inconvenience to ordinary people. Fujitsubo on the contrary +invariably released even her servants and retainers from any duty which +she felt to be an undue infringement of their liberty. + +She was devout; but unlike many religious persons she did not display +her piety by impressive benefactions paid for out of funds which other +people had collected. Her charities (and they were considerable) +were made at the expense of her own exchequer. The ranks, titles +and benefices which were at her disposal she distributed with great +intelligence and care, and so many were her individual acts of +generosity that there was scarcely a poor ignorant mountain-priest in +all the land who had not reason to lament her loss. Seldom had the +obsequies of any public person provoked so heart-felt and universal a +sorrow. At Court no colour but black was anywhere to be seen; and the +last weeks of spring lacked all their usual brilliance and gaiety. + +Standing one day before the great cherry-tree which grew in front of +the Nijō-in Genji suddenly remembered that this was the season when, +under ordinary circumstances, the Flower Feast would have been held at +the Emperor’s Palace. ‘This year should’st thou have blossomed with +black flowers,’[30] he murmured and, to hide the sudden access of grief +that had overwhelmed him, rushed into his chapel and remained there +weeping bitterly till it began to grow dark. Issuing at last, he found +a flaming sun about to sink beneath the horizon. Against this vivid +glow the trees upon the hill stood out with marvellous clearness, +every branch, nay every twig distinct. But across the hill there +presently drifted a thin filament of cloud, draping the summit with a +band of grey. He was in no mood that day to notice sunsets or pretty +cloud-effects; but in this half-curtained sky there seemed to him to be +a strange significance, and none being by to hear him he recited +the verse: ‘Across the sunset hill there hangs a wreath of cloud that +garbs the evening as with the dark folds of a mourner’s dress.’ + +There was a certain priest who had for generations served as chaplain +in Lady Fujitsubo’s family. Her mother had placed extraordinary +confidence in him, and she herself had instilled the young Emperor +Ryōzen with deep veneration for this old man, who was indeed known +throughout the land for the sanctity of his life and the unfailing +efficacy of his prayers. He was now over seventy and had for some +time been living in retirement, intent upon his final devotions. But +recently the occasion of Lady Fujitsubo’s death had called him back to +the Court, and the Emperor had more than once summoned him to his side. +An urgent message, conveyed by Prince Genji, now reached him. The night +was already far advanced, and the old man at first protested that these +nocturnal errands were no longer within his capacity. But in the end +he promised, out of respect for His Majesty, to make a great effort to +appear, and at the calm of dawn, at a moment when, as it so happened, +many of the courtiers were absent and those on duty had all withdrawn +from the Presence, the old man stepped into Ryōzen’s room. After +talking for a while in his aged, croaking voice about various matters +of public interest, he said at last: ‘There is one very difficult +matter which I wish to discuss with you. I fear I may not have the +courage to embark upon it, and I am still more afraid that if I succeed +in broaching this topic I may give you great offence. But it concerns +something which it would be very wrong to conceal; a secret indeed such +as makes me fear the eye of Heaven. What use is there, now that I am +so near my end, in locking it up so tightly in my heart? I fear that +Buddha himself might cast me out should I approach him defiled by this +unholy concealment.’ He began trying to tell the Emperor something; +but he seemed unable to come to the point. It was strange that there +should be any worldly matter concerning which the old priest retained +such violent emotions. Perhaps, despite his reputation, he had once +secretly pursued some hideous vendetta, had caused an innocent person +to be entrapped, done away with ... a thousand monstrous possibilities +crowded to the Emperor’s mind. ‘Reverend Father,’ he said at last, ‘you +have known me since I was a baby, and I have never once hidden anything +from you. And now I learn that there is something which you have for +a long time past been concealing from me. I confess, I am surprised.’ +‘There is nothing that I have kept from you,’ the old man cried +indignantly. ‘Have I not made you master of my most secret spells, of +the inner doctrines that Buddha forbids us to reveal? Do you think that +I, who in these holy matters reposed so great a confidence in your +Majesty, would have concealed from you any dealing of my own? + +‘The matter of which I speak is one that has had grave results already +and may possibly in the future entail worse consequences still. The +reputations concerned are those of your late august Mother and of some +one who now holds a prominent place in the government of our country +... it is to Prince Genji that I refer. It is for their sake, and lest +some distorted account of the affair should ultimately reach you from +other sources, that I have undertaken this painful task. I am an old +man and a priest; I therefore have little to lose and, even should this +revelation win me your displeasure, I shall never repent of having made +it; for Buddha and the Gods of Heaven showed me by unmistakable signs +that it was my duty to speak. + +‘You must know, then, that from the time of your Majesty’s conception +the late Empress your mother was in evident distress concerning +the prospect of your birth. She told me indeed that there were reasons +which made the expected child particularly in need of my prayers; +but what these reasons were she did not say; and I, being without +experience in such matters, could form no conjecture. Soon after your +birth there followed a species of convulsion in the state; Prince Genji +was in disgrace and later in exile. Meanwhile your august Mother seemed +to grow every day more uneasy about your future, and again and again I +was asked to offer fresh prayers on your behalf. Strangest of all, so +long as Prince Genji was at the Capital he too seemed to be acquainted +with the instructions I had received; for on every occasion he at once +sent round a message bidding me add by so much to the prayers that had +been ordered and make this or that fresh expenditure on some service or +ritual....’ + +The disclosure[31] was astonishing, thrilling, terrifying. Indeed so +many conflicting emotions struggled for the upper hand that he was +unable to make any comment or reply. The old priest misunderstood this +silence and, grieved that he should have incurred Ryōzen’s displeasure +by a revelation which had been made in His Majesty’s own interest, he +bowed and withdrew from the Presence. The Emperor immediately ordered +him to return. ‘I am glad that you have told me of this,’ said Ryōzen. +‘Had I gone on living in ignorance of it I see that a kind of contempt +would have been attached for ever to my name; for in the end such +things are bound to be known. I am only sorry that you should have +concealed this from me for so long; and tremble to think of the things +that in my ignorance I may have said or done....[32] Tell me, does +anyone besides yourself know of this, ... any one who is likely to +have let out the secret?’ ‘Besides myself and your mother’s maid Ōmyōbu +there is no one who has an inkling of the matter,’ the priest hastened +to assure him. ‘Nevertheless the existence of such a secret causes me +grave misgivings. Upheavals of nature, earthquakes, drought and storm, +have become alarmingly frequent; and in the State, we have had constant +disorder and unrest. All these things may be due to the existence of +this secret. So long as your Majesty was a helpless infant Heaven took +pity on your innocence; but now that you are grown to your full stature +and have reached years of understanding and discretion, the Powers +Above are manifesting their displeasure; for, as you have been taught, +it frequently happens that the sins of one generation are visited upon +the next. I saw plainly that you did not know to what cause our present +troubles and disorders are due, and that is why I at last determined +to reveal a secret which I hoped need never pass my lips.’ The old man +spoke with difficulty, tears frequently interrupted his discourse, and +it was already broad daylight when he finally left the Palace. + +No sooner had he realized the full significance of this astonishing +revelation than a medley of conflicting thoughts began to harass +Ryōzen’s mind. First and foremost, he felt indignant on behalf of the +old Emperor, whom he had always been taught to regard as his father; +but he also felt strangely uncomfortable at the idea that Genji, who +had a much better right to the Throne than he, should have been cast +out of the Imperial family, to become a Minister, a mere servant of +the State. Viewed from whatever standpoint, the new situation was +extremely painful to him, and overcome by shock and bewilderment he +lay in his room long after the sun was high. Learning that his Majesty +had not risen, Genji assumed that he was indisposed and at once +called to enquire. The Emperor was in tears, and utterly unable to +control himself even in the presence of a visitor. But this was after +all perhaps not so very surprising. The young man had only a few +weeks ago lost his mother, and it was natural that he should still +be somewhat upset. Unfortunately it was Genji’s duty that morning to +announce to his Majesty the decease of Prince Momozono.[33] It seemed +to Ryōzen as though the whole world, with all its familiar landmarks +and connections, were crumbling about him. During the first weeks of +mourning Genji spent all his time at the Palace and paid an early +visit to the Emperor every day. They had many long, uninterrupted +conversations, during the course of which Ryōzen on one occasion said: +‘I do not think that my reign is going to last much longer. Never +have I had so strong a foreboding that calamity of some stupendous +kind was at hand; and quite apart from this presentiment, the unrest +which is now troubling the whole land is already enough to keep me +in a continual state of agitation and alarm. Ever since this began +I have had great thoughts of withdrawing from the Throne; but while +my mother was alive I did not wish to distress her by doing so. Now, +however, I consider that I am free to do as I choose, and I intend +before long to seek some quieter mode of life....’ ‘I sincerely hope +you will do nothing of the kind,’ said Genji. ‘The present unrest casts +no reflection upon you or your government. Difficulties of this kind +sometimes arise during the rule of the most enlightened government, +as is proved by the history of China as well as by that of our own +country. Nor must you allow yourself to be unduly depressed by the +demise of persons such as your respected uncle, who had, after all, +reached a time of life when we could not reasonably expect ...’ +Thus Genji managed, by arguments which for fear of wearying you I will +not repeat, to coax the Emperor into a slightly less desperate state of +mind. Both were dressed in the simplest style and in the same sombre +hue. For years past it had struck the Emperor, on looking at himself +in the mirror, that he was extraordinarily like Prince Genji. Since +the revelation of his true parentage, he had more frequently than ever +examined his own features. Why, of course! There was no mistaking +such a likeness! But if he was Genji’s son, Genji too must be aware +of the fact, and it was absurd that the relationship should not be +acknowledged between them. Again and again he tried to find some way of +introducing the subject. But to Genji, he supposed, the whole matter +must be a very painful one. He often felt that it was impossible to +refer to such a thing at all, and conversation after conversation went +by without any but the most general topics being discussed; though it +was noticeable that Ryōzen’s manner was even more friendly and charming +than usual. Genji who was extremely sensitive to such changes did not +fail to notice that there was something new in the young Emperor’s +attitude towards him—an air of added respect, almost of deference. +But it never occurred to him that Ryōzen could by any possibility be +in possession of the whole terrible secret. At first the Emperor had +thought of discussing the matter with the maid Ōmyōbu and asking her +for a fuller account of his birth and all that had led up to it. But +at the last moment he felt that it was better she should continue to +think herself the only inheritor of the secret, and he decided not +to discuss the matter with any one. But he longed, without actually +letting out that he knew, to get some further information from Genji +himself. Among other things he wanted to know whether what had happened +with regard to his birth was wholly unexampled, or whether it was +in point of fact far more common than one would suppose. But he could +never find the right way to introduce such a subject. It was clear that +he must get his knowledge from other sources, and he threw himself +with fresh ardour into the study of history, reading every book with +the sole object of discovering other cases like his own. In China, he +soon found, irregularities of descent have not only in many cases been +successfully concealed till long afterwards, but have often been known +and tolerated from the beginning. In Japan he could discover no such +instance; but he knew that if things of this kind occurred, they would +probably not be recorded, so that their absence from native history +might only mean that in our country such matters are hushed up more +successfully than elsewhere. + +The more he thought about it, the more Genji regretted that Ryōzen +should have discovered (as from His Majesty’s repeated offers of +abdication he now felt certain to be the case) the real facts +concerning his birth. Fujitsubo, Genji was sure, would have given +anything rather than that the boy should know; it could not have been +by her instructions that the secret had been divulged. Who then had +betrayed him? Naturally his thoughts turned towards Ōmyōbu. She had +moved into the apartments which had been made out of the old offices of +the Lady of the Bedchamber. Here she had been given official quarters +and was to reside permanently in the Palace. Discussing the matter with +her one day, Genji said: ‘Are you sure that you yourself, in the course +of some conversation with his Majesty, may not by accident have put +this idea into his head?’ ‘It is out of the question,’ she replied. ‘I +know too well how determined my Lady was that he should never discover +... indeed, the fear that he might one day stumble upon the facts for +himself was her constant torment And this despite the dangers into +which she knew that ignorance might lead him.’[34] And they fell to +talking of Lady Fujitsubo’s scrupulous respect for propriety, and how +the fear of scandals and exposures which another woman would in the +long run have grown to regard with indifference, had embittered her +whole life. + +For Lady Akikonomu he had done all and more than all that he led her to +expect, and she had already become a prominent figure at Court. During +the autumn, having been granted leave of absence from the Palace, she +came to stay for a while at the Nijō-in. She was given the Main Hall, +and found everything decked with the gayest colours in honour of her +arrival. She assumed in the household the place of a favourite elder +daughter, and it was entirely in this spirit that Genji entertained +and amused her. One day when the autumn rain was falling steadily and +the dripping flowers in the garden seemed to be washed to one dull +tinge of grey, memories of long forgotten things came crowding one +after another to Genji’s mind, and with eyes full of tears he betook +himself to Lady Akikonomu’s rooms. Not a touch of colour relieved the +dark of his mourner’s dress, and on pretext of doing penance for the +sins of the nation during the recent disorders he carried a rosary +under his cloak; yet he contrived to wear even this dour, penitential +garb with perfect elegance and grace, and it was with a fine sweep of +the cloak that he now entered the curtained alcove where she sat. He +came straight to her side and, with only a thin latticed screen between +them, began to address her without waiting to be announced: ‘What an +unfortunate year this is! It is too bad that we should get weather +like this just when everything in the garden is at its best. Look at +the flowers. Are not you sorry for them? They came when it was +their turn, and this is the way they are welcomed.’ He leant upon the +pillar of her seat, the evening light falling upon him as he turned +towards her. They had many memories in common; did she still recall, he +asked, that terrible morning when he came to visit her mother at the +Palace-in-the-fields? ‘Too much my thoughts frequent those vanished +days,’ she quoted,[35] and her eyes filled with tears. Already he was +thinking her handsome and interesting, when for some reason she rose +and shifted her position, using her limbs with a subtle grace that made +him long to see her show them to better advantage.... But stay! Ought +such thoughts to be occurring to him? ‘Years ago,’ he said, ‘at a time +when I might have been far more happily employed, I became involved, +entirely through my own fault, in a number of attachments, all of the +most unfortunate kind, with the result that I never knew an instant’s +peace of mind. Among these affairs there were two which were not +only, while they lasted, far more distressing than the rest, but also +both ended under a dark cloud of uncharitableness and obstinacy. The +first was with Lady Rokujō, your mother. The fact that she died still +harbouring against me feelings of the intensest bitterness will cast a +shadow over my whole life, and my one consolation is that in accordance +with her wishes, I have been able to do something towards helping _you_ +in the world. But that by any act of mine the flame of her love should +thus forever have been stifled will remain the greatest sorrow of my +life.’ He had mentioned two affairs; but he decided to leave the other +part of his tale untold and continued: ‘During the period when my +fortunes were in eclipse I had plenty of time to think over all these +things and worked out a new plan which I hoped would make every one +satisfied and happy. It was in pursuance of this plan that I induced +the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers to take up residence in +the new eastern wing. Her own resources are quite inadequate, and I +used to feel very uncomfortable about her; it is a great relief to know +that she is getting all she needs. Fortunately she is very easy to +deal with, we understand each other perfectly and there is (or at any +rate I hope so) complete satisfaction on both sides. Soon after I came +back a great deal of my time began to be taken up in looking after the +young Emperor and helping him to conduct the business of the State. I +am not particularly interested in that sort of thing, but I was glad +to be of use. It was only when it came to filling his Household that I +found myself confronted with a task that was definitely uncongenial. +I wonder whether you realize what very strong impulses of my own I +had to overcome before I surrendered you to the Palace? You might at +least tell me that you feel for me and are grateful; then I should no +longer think that this sacrifice was made quite in vain....’ She was +vexed. Why must he needs start talking in that strain? She made no +reply. ‘Forgive me,’ he said; ‘I see that I have displeased you ...,’ +and he began hastily to talk of other matters: ‘How much I should like +to retire to some quiet place,—to know that for the rest of my life +on earth I should have no more anxieties or cares and could devote +myself for as long as I liked each day to preparation for the life to +come. But of course all this would be very dull if one had nothing +interesting to look back upon. There are many things to be thought +of first. For example, I have young children, whose place in the +world is very insecure; it will be a long time before I can establish +them satisfactorily. And here you can be of great use to me; for +should you—forgive me for speaking of such a thing— one day bring +increase to his Majesty’s house, it would be in your power to render +considerable services to my children, even though I should chance no +longer to be with you.... It was evident that this sort of conversation +was far more to her liking. She did not indeed say more than a word or +two at a time; but her manner was friendly and encouraging, and they +were still immersed in these domestic projects when darkness began +to fall. ‘And when all these weighty matters are off my hands,’ said +Genji at last, ‘I hope I shall have a little time left for things which +I really enjoy—flowers, autumn leaves, the sky, all those day-to-day +changes and wonders that a single year bring forth; that is what I +looked forward to. Forests of flowering trees in Spring, the open +country in Autumn.... Which do you prefer? It is of course useless to +argue on such a subject, as has so often been done. It is a question +of temperament. Each person is born with “his season” and is bound +to prefer it. No one, you may be sure, has ever yet succeeded in +convincing any one else on such a subject. In China it has always been +the Spring-time with its “broidery of flowers” that has won the highest +praise; here however the brooding melancholy of Autumn seems always to +have moved our poets more deeply. For my own part I find it impossible +to reach a decision; for much as I enjoy the music of birds and the +beauty of flowers, I confess I seldom remember at what season I have +seen a particular flower, heard this or that bird sing. But in this +I am to blame; for even within the narrow compass of my own walls, I +might well have learnt what sights and sounds distinguish each season +of the year, having as you see not only provided for the springtime +by a profusion of flowering trees, but also planted in my garden many +varieties of autumn grass and shrub, brought in, root and all, from +the countryside. Why, I have even carried hither whole tribes of +insects that were wasting their shrill song in the solitude of lanes +and fields. All this I did that I might be able to enjoy these things +in the company of my friends, among whom you are one. Pray tell me +then, to which season do you find that your preference inclines?’ She +thought this a very difficult form of conversation; but politeness +demanded some sort of reply and she said timidly: ‘But you have just +said you can never yourself remember when it was you saw or heard the +thing that pleased you most. How can you expect me to have a better +memory? However, difficult as it is to decide, I think I agree with +the poet[36] who found the dusk of an autumn evening “strangest and +loveliest thing of all.” Perhaps I am more easily moved at such moments +because, you know, it was at just such a time ...’ Her voice died away, +and knowing well indeed what was in her mind Genji answered tenderly +with the verse: ‘The world knows it not; but to you, oh Autumn, I +confess it: your wind at night-fall stabs deep into my heart.’[37] +‘Sometimes I am near to thinking that I can hold out no longer,’ he +added. To such words as these she was by no means bound to reply and +even thought it best to pretend that she had not understood. This +however had the effect of leading him on to be a little more explicit; +and matters would surely have come a good deal further had she not at +once shown in the most unmistakable manner her horror at the sentiments +which he was beginning to profess. Suddenly he pulled himself up. He +had been behaving with a childish lack of restraint. How fortunate that +she at least had shown some sense! He felt very much cast down; but +neither his sighs nor his languishing airs had any effect upon her. He +saw that she was making as though to steal quietly and unobtrusively +from the room, and holding her back he said: ‘I see that you are +terribly offended; well, I do not deny that you have good cause. I +ought not to be so impetuous; I know that it is wrong. But, granted I +spoke far too suddenly—it is all over now. Do not, I beg of you, go +on being angry with me; for if you are unkind....’[38] And with that +he retired to his own quarters. Even the scent of his richly perfumed +garments had become unendurable to her; she summoned her maids and +bade them open the window and door. ‘Just come over here and smell +the cushion that his Highness was sitting on!’ one of them called to +another. ‘What an exquisite fragrance! How he contrives to get hold of +such scents I simply cannot imagine. “If the willow-tree had but the +fragrance of the plum and the petals of the cherry!” So the old poet +wished, and surely Prince Genji must be the answer to his prayer, for +it seems that in him every perfection is combined.’ + +He went to the western wing; but instead of going straight into +Murasaki’s room, he flung himself down upon a couch in the vestibule. +Above the partition he could see the far-off flicker of a lamp; there +Murasaki was sitting with her ladies, one of whom was reading her +a story. He began to think about what had just occurred. It was a +sad disappointment to discover that he was still by no means immune +from a tendency which had already played such havoc with his own and +other people’s happiness. Upon what more inappropriate object could +his affections possibly have lighted? True, his chief offence in old +days had been of far greater magnitude. But then he had the excuse +of youth and ignorance, and it was possible that, taking this into +consideration, Heaven might by this time have forgiven the offence. But +on this occasion he could hardly plead inexperience; indeed, as +he ruefully admitted to himself, he ought by now to have learnt every +lesson which repeated failure can teach. + +Lady Akikonomu now bitterly repented of having confessed her partiality +for the autumn. It would have been so easy not to reply at all, and +this one answer of hers seemed somehow to have opened up the way for +the distressing incident that followed. She told no one of what had +occurred, but was for a time very much scared and distressed. Soon +however the extreme stiffness and formality of address which Genji +henceforth adopted began somewhat to restore her confidence. + +On entering Murasaki’s room at a later hour in the day of the incident, +he said to her: ‘Lady Akikonomu has been telling me that she likes +Autumn best. It is a taste which I can quite understand, but all the +same, I am not surprised that you should prefer, as you have often +told me that you do, the early morning in Spring. How I wish that I +were able to spend more time with you! We would pass many hours in the +gardens at all seasons of the year, deciding which trees and flowers we +liked the best. There is nothing which I more detest than having all my +time taken up by this endless succession of business. You know indeed +that if I had only myself to consider I should long ago have thrown up +everything and retired to some temple in the hills....’ + +But there was the Lady of Akashi; she too must be considered. He +wondered constantly how she was faring; but it seemed to become every +day more impossible for him to go beyond the walls of his palace. What +a pity she had got it into her head that she would be miserable at +Court! If only she would put a little more confidence in him and trust +herself under his roof as any one else would do, he would prove to her +that she had no reason for all these reservations and precautions. +Presently one of his accustomed excursions to the oratory at Saga +gave him an excuse for a visit to Ōi. ‘What a lonely place to live in +always!’ he thought as he approached the house, and even if the people +living there had been quite unknown to him he would have felt a certain +concern on their behalf. But when he thought how she must wait for him +day after day and how seldom her hopes could ever be fulfilled, he +suddenly felt and showed an overwhelming compassion towards her. This +however had only the effect of making her more than ever inconsolable. +Seeking for some means of distracting her mind, he noticed that behind +a tangle of close-set trees points of flame were gleaming—the flares +of the cormorant-fishers at work on Ōi River; and with these lights, +sometimes hardly distinguishable from them, blended the fireflies that +hovered above the moat. ‘It is wonderful here,’ said Genji; ‘you too +would feel so, were not one’s pleasure always spoiled by familiarity.’ +‘Those lights on the water!’ she murmured. ‘Often I think that I am +still at Akashi. “As the fisher’s flare that follows close astern, so +in those days and in these has misery clung to my tossing bark, and +followed me from home to home.”’ ‘My love,’ he answered, ‘is like the +secret flame that burns brightly because it is hidden from sight; yours +is like the fisherman’s torch, that flares up in the wind and presently +is spent. No, no; you are right,’ he said after a pause; ‘life (yours +and mine alike) is indeed a wretched business.’ It happened to be a +time at which he was somewhat less tied and harassed than of late, and +he was able to devote himself more wholeheartedly than usual to the +proceedings at his oratory. This kept him in the district for several +days on end, a circumstance which did not often occur and which he +hoped would, for the moment at any rate, make her feel a little less +neglected. + + [21] Genji had promised in due course to marry the child to the Heir + Apparent, son of the Emperor Ryōzen. + + [22] Buddhist ceremonies corresponding to the Christian + ‘Confirmation.’ + + [23] That Genji fetched the child. + + [24] There is a play on words: _fumi_ = ‘letter’; also ‘treading.’ + _Ato_ = ‘the tracks of feet,’ but also ‘tracks of the pen,’ + σήματα. + + [25] Babies’ heads were shaved, save for two tufts. + + [26] The sword was the emblem of the child’s royal blood. The + Heavenly Children were dolls which were intended to attract + evil influences and so save the child from harm. + + [27] Genji must now have been 30. + + [28] ‘Stop your boat, oh cherry-man! I must sow the ten-rood island + field. Then I will come again. To-morrow I will come again!’ + The lady answers: ‘To-morrow, forsooth! Those are but words. + You keep a girl upon the other side, and to-morrow you will not + come, no, not to-morrow will you come.’ + + [29] The secret that the Emperor was his son. The safety of the + State depended upon the cult of ancestors. This could only be + performed by their true descendants. Moreover the occupation of + the throne by one who was not by birth entitled to it would + arouse the wrath of the Sun, from whom the Emperor of Japan + claims descent. + + [30] Quoting a poem of Uyeno Mine-o’s upon the death of Fujiwara no + Mototsune, 891 A.D. + + [31] That Ryōzen was in reality Genji’s son. + + [32] See above, note on p. 49, and below note on p. 60. + + [33] Prince Momozono Shikibukyō, brother of the old Emperor and + father of Princess Asagao. + + [34] Into performing ceremonies at the grave of his supposed father + which unless performed by a true son, were sacrilegious and + criminal. + + [35] From a poem by Ono no Komachi’s sister, say the commentaries; + but such a poem is not to be found in her surviving works. + + [36] Anon, in _Kokinshū_, No. 546. + + [37] He identifies Akikonomu with the Autumn. + + [38] ‘If you are unkind, I too by unkindness will teach you the pain + that unkindness can inflict.’ Anonymous poem. + + + + + CHAPTER II + + ASAGAO + + +The death of Prince Momozono meant, of course, the return to Court +of the Kamo Vestal, Lady Asagao; and Genji followed up his letter +of welcome by numerous other notes and messages. For it was, as I +have said before, a peculiarity of his character that if he had once +become fond of any one, neither separation nor lapse of time could +ever obliterate his affection. But Asagao remembered only too well the +difficulty that she had before experienced in keeping him at arm’s +length, and she was careful to answer in the most formal and guarded +terms. He found these decorous replies exceedingly irritating. In +the ninth month he heard that she had moved into her father’s old +residence, the Momozono Palace, which was at that time occupied by +Princess Nyogo, a younger sister of the old Emperor.[39] Here was an +opening; for it was perfectly natural and proper that Genji should +visit this princess, who had been his father’s favourite sister and +with whom he had himself always remained on excellent terms. He found +that the two ladies were living in opposite wings of the Palace, +separated by the great central hall. Though old Prince Momozono had so +recently passed away the place had already assumed a rather decayed +and depressing air. Princess Nyogo received him immediately. He +noticed at once that she had aged very rapidly since he last saw her. +She was indeed quite decrepit, and it was difficult to believe that +she was really younger than Aoi’s mother, who seemed to him never to +have changed since he had known her; whereas in the quavering accents +and palsied gait of the aged lady who now greeted him it was well nigh +impossible to recognize the princess of former days. + +‘Everything has been in a wretched way since the old Emperor, your +poor father, was taken from us, and as the years go by the outlook +seems to grow blacker and blacker; I confess, I never have an easy +moment. And now even my brother Prince Momozono has left me! I go on, +I go on; but it hardly seems like being alive, except when I get a +visit like yours to-day, and then I forget all my troubles....’ ‘Poor +thing,’ thought Genji, ‘how terribly she has gone to pieces!’ But he +answered very politely: ‘For me too the world has been in many ways a +different place since my father died. First, as you know, came this +unexpected attack upon me, followed by my exile to a remote district. +Then came my restoration to rank and privilege, bringing with it all +manner of ties and distractions. All this time I have been longing to +have a talk with you, and regret immensely that there has never before +been an opportunity....’ ‘Oh, the changes, the changes,’ she broke in; +‘such terrible destruction I have seen on every side. Nothing seems +safe from it, and often I feel as though I would give anything to +have died before all this began. But I do assure you I am glad I have +lived long enough to witness your return. To die while you were still +in such trouble, not knowing how it was all going to end—that would +indeed have been a melancholy business.’ She paused for a while and +then went on in her quavering, thin voice: ‘You know, you have grown to +be a very handsome man. But I remember that the first time I saw +you, when you were only a little boy, I was astonished at you, really +I was. I could never have believed that such loveliness would be seen +shining in the face of any mortal child! And every time I see you I +always feel just as I did then. They say that his present Majesty, the +Emperor Ryōzen, is the image of you; but I don’t believe a word of it. +He may be just a little like; but no one is going to persuade me that +he is half as handsome as you.’ So she rambled on. Coming from any one +else such flattery would have very much embarrassed him. But at this +strange old lady’s out-pourings one could only be amused. ‘Since my +exile I have quite lost whatever good looks I may once have possessed,’ +he said; ‘one cannot live for years on end under those depressing +conditions without its changing one very much. As for the Emperor, I +assure you that his is a beauty of an altogether different order. I +should doubt if a better-looking young man has ever existed, and to +assert that he is less handsome than me is, if you will forgive my +saying so, quite ridiculous.’ ‘If only you came to see me every day I +believe I should go on living for ever,’ she burst out. ‘I am suddenly +beginning to feel quite young, and I am not at all sure that the world +is half so bad a place as I made out just now.’ Nevertheless it was not +long before she was again wailing and weeping. ‘How I envy my sister +Princess Ōmiya,’[40] she cried; ‘no doubt, being your mother-in-law, +she sees a great deal of you. I only wish I were in that position. +You know, I expect, that my poor brother often talked of affiancing +his daughter to you and was very sorry afterwards that he did not do +so.’ At this Genji pricked up his ears. ‘I desired nothing better,’ +said he, ‘than to be connected on close terms with your family, and +it would still give me great pleasure to be on a more intimate +footing in this house. But I cannot say that I have hitherto received +much encouragement....’ He was vexed that he had not discovered this +at the time. He looked towards the other wing of the house. The garden +under the younger princess’s windows was carefully tended. He scanned +those borders of late autumn flowers, and then the rooms behind; he +pictured her sitting not far from the window, her eyes fixed upon +these same swiftly-fading petals. Yes, he must certainly contrive to +see her; and bowing to Princess Nyogo he said: ‘I naturally intend to +pay my respects to your niece to-day; indeed, I should not like her to +regard my visit as a mere afterthought, and for that reason I shall, +with your permission, approach her apartments by way of the garden +instead of going along the corridor and through the hall.’ Skirting +the side of the house he came at length to her window. Although it was +now almost dark, he could see, behind grey curtains, the outline of a +black screen-of-state. He was soon observed, and Asagao’s servants, +scandalized that he should have been left standing even for a moment +in the verandah, hurried him into the guest-room at the back of the +house. Here a gentlewoman came to enquire what was his pleasure, and he +handed to her the following note: ‘How this carries me back to the days +of our youth—this sending in of notes and waiting in ante-chambers! I +had hoped, I confess, that my reticence during the years of your sacred +calling would have won for me, still your ardent admirer, the right +to a somewhat less formal reception.’ It would be hard indeed if she +gave him no more encouragement than this! Her answer was brought by +word of mouth: ‘To come back to this house and find my father no longer +here, is so strange an experience that it is difficult to believe those +old days were not a mere dream from which I now awake to a fleeting +prospect of the most comfortless realities. But in a world where +all is change, it would, I confess, be ungracious not to cherish and +encourage a devotion so undeviating as that which you have described.’ + +She need not, he thought, remind him of life’s uncertainties. For who +had in every circumstance great and small more grievously experienced +them than he? In reply he sent the poem: ‘Have I not manfully held +back and kept cold silence year on year, till the Gods gave me leave?’ +‘Madam,’ he added, ‘you are a Vestal no longer and cannot plead that +any sanctity now hedges you about. Since last we met I have experienced +many strange vicissitudes. If you would but let me tell you a little +part of all that I have seen and suffered....’ The gentlewoman who took +his answer noticed that his badges and decorations were somewhat more +dazzling than in old days; but though he was now a good deal older, his +honours still far out-stripped his years. + +‘Though it were but to tell me of your trials and sorrows that you +have made this visit, yet even such tidings the Gods, my masters till +of late, forbid me to receive.’ This was too bad! ‘Tell your lady,’ he +cried peevishly, ‘that I have long ago cast my offence[41] of old days +to the winds of Shinado; or does she think perhaps that the Gods did +not accept my vows?’[42] The messenger saw that though he sought to +turn off the matter with these allusions and jests he was in reality +very much put about, and she was vexed on his behalf. She had for years +past been watching her mistress become more and more aloof from the +common interests and distractions of life, and it had long distressed +her to see Prince Genji’s letters so often left unanswered. ‘I did ill +to call at so late an hour,’ he said; ‘I can see that the purpose +of my visit has been wholly misunderstood.’ And sighing heavily he +turned to go, saying as he did so: ‘This is the way one is treated +when one begins to grow old.... It is useless, I know, after what has +passed, even to suggest that her Highness should come to the window for +a moment to see me start ...’ and with that he left the house, watched +by a bevy of ladies who made all the usual comments and appraisements. +Not only was it delightful weather, but at this moment the wind was +making a most agreeable music in the neighbouring trees, and these +ladies soon fell to talking of the old days when Prince Momozono was +alive; particularly of Genji’s visits long ago and the many signs he +had given of a deep and unaltering attachment to their mistress. + +After his return from this unsuccessful expedition, Genji felt in no +mood for sleep, and soon he jumped up and threw open his casement. +The morning mist lay thick over the garden of flowers, which, at the +season’s close, looked very battered and wan. Among them, its blossoms +shimmering vaguely, was here and there a Morning Glory,[43] growing +mixed in among the other flowers. Choosing one that was even more +wilted and autumnal than the rest, he sent it to the Momozono palace, +with the note: ‘The poor reception which you gave me last night has +left a most humiliating and painful impression upon me. Indeed, I can +only imagine it was with feelings of relief that you so soon saw my +back turned upon your house, though I am loth to think that things can +even now have come to such a pass: “Can it be that the Morning Glory, +once seen by me and ever since remembered in its beauty, is now a dry +and withered flower?” Does it count with you for nothing that I have +admired you unrequited, year in year out, for so great a stretch of +time? That at least might be put to my credit....’ She could not +leave so mannerly an appeal quite unheeded, and when her people pressed +round her with ink-stone and brush, she yielded to their persuasion so +far as to write the poem: ‘Autumn is over, and now with ghostly flower +the Morning Glory withers on the mist-bound hedge.’ ‘Your comparison,’ +she added, ‘is so just that the arrival of your note has brought +fresh dewdrops to the petals of the flower to whom this reminder was +addressed.’ That was all, and it was in truth not very interesting +or ingenious. But for some reason he read the poem many times over, +and during the course of the day found himself continually looking at +it. Perhaps what fascinated him was the effect of her faint, sinuous +ink-strokes on the blue-grey writing-paper which her mourning dictated. +For it often happens that a letter, its value enhanced to us either by +the quality of the writer or by the beauty of the penmanship, appears +at the time to be faultless. But when it is copied out and put into a +book something seems to have gone wrong.... Efforts are made to improve +the sense or style, and in the end the original effect is altogether +lost. + +He realized the impropriety of the letters with which he had in old +days assailed her and did not intend to return to so unrestrained a +method of address. His new style had indeed met with a certain measure +of success; for whereas she had formerly seldom vouchsafed any answer +at all, he had now received a not unfriendly reply. But even this +reply was far from being such as to satisfy him, and he was unable to +resist the temptation of trying to improve upon so meagre a success. +He wrote again, this time in much less cautious terms, and posting +himself in the eastern wing[44] of his palace he sent a carriage to +fetch one of Asagao’s ladies, and presently sent her back again with +the letter. Her gentlewomen would themselves never have dreamed +of discouraging far less distinguished attentions, let alone those of +such a personage as Prince Genji, and they now urged his claims upon +their mistress as one ‘for whose sake a little virtue was surely worth +sacrificing.’ But after all her efforts in the past to keep free of +such an entanglement, this was hardly the moment to give in; for she +felt that both he and she had now reached an age when such things +are best put aside. She feared that even her inevitable allusions to +the flowers and trees of the season might easily be misinterpreted, +and even if Genji himself was under no misapprehension, there are +always those who made a business of getting hold of such things and +turning them to mischief, and in consequence she was careful to avoid +the slightest hint of anything intimate or sentimental. About this +time a rumour ran through the Court to the effect that Genji was in +active correspondence with the former Vestal, abetted and encouraged +by Princess Nyogo and the lady’s other relatives. The pair seemed +very well suited to one another and no one expressed any surprise at +the existence of such an attachment. The story eventually reached +Murasaki’s ears. At first she refused to credit it, making sure that +if he were indeed carrying on any such intrigue it would be scarcely +possible for him to conceal it from her. But observing him with this +tale in her mind she thought that he seemed unusually abstracted and +depressed. What if this affair, which he had always passed off as a +mere joke between himself and his cousin, were to turn out after all +to be something important—the beginning of what she dreaded day and +night? In rank and in accomplishments perhaps there was little to +choose between Asagao and herself. But he had begun to admire and court +this princess long, long ago; and if an affection grounded so far back +in the past were now to resume its sway over him, Murasaki knew +that she must be prepared for the worst. It was not easy to face what +she now believed to threaten her. For years past she had held, beyond +challenge or doubt, the first place in Genji’s affections—had been the +centre of all his plans and contrivings. To see herself ousted by a +stranger from a place which long use had taught her to regard as her +own by inalienable right—such was the ordeal for which she now began +silently to prepare herself. He would not, of course, abandon her +altogether; of that she was sure. But the very fact that they had for +so many years lived together on terms of daily intimacy and shared so +many trifling experiences made her, she felt, in a way less interesting +to him. So she speculated, sometimes thinking that all was indeed lost, +sometimes that the whole thing was her fancy and nothing whatever was +amiss. In his general conduct towards her there was not anything of +which she could reasonably complain. But there were from time to time +certain vague indications that he was not in the best of tempers, and +these were enough whenever they occurred to convince her that she was +undone for good and all,—though she showed no outward sign of the +despair which had now settled upon her. Genji, meanwhile, spent much of +his time in the front[45] of the house and was also frequently at the +Emperor’s Palace. His leisure was employed in writing endless letters. +Murasaki wondered how she could have ever doubted the rumours that were +now rampant throughout the Court. If only he would tell, give even the +slightest hint of what was in these days passing through his mind! + +Winter drew on, and at last the eleventh month came round. But +this year there were none of the usual religious festivals and +processions[46] to distract him, and Genji became more and more +restless. One evening when the delicate twilight was sprinkled with +a few thin flakes of snow, he determined to set out for the Momozono +palace. All day he had been more than usually preoccupied with thoughts +of its occupant, and somehow he could not help feeling that she too +would on this occasion prove less unyielding. Before starting, he +came to take leave of Murasaki in the western wing. ‘I am sorry to +say Princess Nyogo is very unwell,’ he said; ‘I must go and offer her +my sympathy.’ She did not even look round, but went on playing with +her little foster-child as though determined not to be interrupted. +Evidently there was going to be trouble. ‘There has been something +very strange in your manner lately,’ he said. ‘I am not conscious +of having done anything to offend you. I thought we understood one +another well enough for me to be able to spend a day or two now and +then at the Emperor’s Palace without your taking offence. But perhaps +it is something else?’ ‘I certainly understand you well enough,’ she +answered, ‘to know that I must expect to put up with a great deal of +suffering ...’ and she sank back upon the divan, her face turned away +from him. He could never bear to leave her thus, and knew he would be +wretched every step of the way to Princess Nyogo’s house. But the hour +was already late, and as he had promised beforehand that he would call +there that evening, it was impossible to defer his departure. + +Murasaki meanwhile lay on her couch, continually debating within +herself whether this affair might not really have been going on for +years past—perhaps ever since his return—without her having any +suspicion of it. She went to the window. He was still dressed chiefly +in grey; but the few touches of colour which his mourning permitted +showed up all the more brightly, and as she watched his handsome +figure moving against a background of glittering snow, the thought +that she might be losing him, that soon, very soon perhaps, he would +vanish never to return, was more than she could endure. His cortège +consisted only of a few favourite outriders, to whom he said: ‘I am +not feeling inclined just now to go about paying calls; indeed, you +will have noticed that apart from a few necessary visits to Court, I +have hardly left home at all. But my friends at the Momozono palace are +passing through a very trying time. Her Highness has for years relied +upon her brother’s aid and, now that he is taken from her, the least +I can do is to help her occasionally with a little encouragement and +advice....’ But his gentlemen were not so easily deceived and whispered +among themselves as they rode along: ‘Come, come, that will not do. +Unless he has very much changed his ways it is not to chatter with old +ladies that his Highness sets out at this hour of a winter night. There +is more here than meets the eye,’ and they shook their heads over his +incurable frivolity. + +The main gate of the palace was on the north side; but here there was +usually a great deal of traffic, and not wishing to attract attention +he drove up to a side-entrance, the one which Prince Momozono himself +commonly used, and sent in a servant to announce his arrival. As he +had promised to appear at a much earlier hour Princess Nyogo had by +now quite given up expecting him, and, much put about by this untimely +visit, she bade her people send the porter to the western gate. The man +made his appearance a moment later, looking wretchedly pinched and cold +as he hastened through the snow with the key in his hand. Unfortunately +the lock would not work, and when he went back to look for help no +other manservant could anywhere be found. ‘It’s very rusty,’ said +the old porter dolefully, fumbling all the while with the lock, that +grated with an unpleasant sound but would not turn. ‘There’s nothing +else wrong with it, but it’s terribly rusty. No one uses this gate now.’ + +The words, ordinary enough in themselves, filled Genji with an +unaccountable depression. How swiftly the locks rust, the hinges grow +stiff on doors that close behind us! ‘I am more than thirty,’ he +thought; and it seemed to him impossible to go on doing things just +as though they would last ... as though people would remember. ‘And +yet,’ he said to himself, ‘I know that even at this moment the sight +of something very beautiful, were it only some common flower or tree, +might in an instant make life again seem full of meaning and reality.’ + +At last the key turned and with a great deal of pushing and pulling the +gate was gradually forced open. Soon he was in the Princess’s room, +listening to her usual discourses and lamentations. She began telling +a series of very involved and rambling stories about things all of +which seemed to have happened a great while ago. His attention began +to wander; it was all he could do to keep awake. Before very long the +Princess herself broke off and said with a yawn: ‘It’s no good; I can’t +tell things properly at this time of night, it all gets mixed up....’ + +Then suddenly he heard a loud and peculiar noise. Where did it come +from? What could it be? His eye fell upon the Princess. Yes; it was +from her that these strange sounds proceeded; for she was now fast +asleep and snoring with a resonance such as he would never have +conceived to be possible. + +Delighted at this opportunity of escape he was just about to slip out +of the room when he heard a loud ‘Ahem,’ also uttered in a very aged +and husky voice, and perceived that some one had just entered the +room. ‘There! What a shame! I’ve startled you. And I made sure you +heard me come in. But I see you don’t know who in the world I am. Well, +your poor father, the old Emperor, who loved his joke, used to call me +the Grandam. Perhaps that will help you to remember....’ Could this +be.... Yes, surely it was that same elderly Lady of the Bedchamber +who had flirted with him so outrageously years ago, at the time of +the Feast of Red Leaves.[47] He seemed to remember hearing that she +had joined some lay order and become a pensioner in the late prince’s +household. But it had not occurred to him that she could possibly still +be in existence, and this sudden encounter was something of a shock. ‘I +am distressed to find,’ he answered, ‘that those old days are becoming +very dim in my mind, and anything that recalls them to me is therefore +very precious. I am delighted to hear your voice again. Pray remember +that, like the traveller whom Prince Shōtoku[48] found lying at the +wayside, I have ‘no parent to succour me’ and must therefore look to +old friends such as you for shelter from the world’s unkindness.’ It +was extraordinary how little she had changed in appearance, and her +manner was certainly as arch and coquettish as ever. Her utterance, +indeed, suggested that she now had very few teeth left in her head; +but she still managed to impart to her words the same insinuating and +caressing tone as of old. It amused him that she spoke of herself +as though she had been a mere girl when they first met and that she +continually apologized for the changes which he must now be noticing in +her. He was amused, but also saddened. For he could not help thinking +that of all the gentlewomen who had been this lady’s rivals scarce one +was now left at Court. Most were dead; others had fallen into disgrace +and were eking out a miserable existence no one knew where. Or +again, that a creature such as Lady Fujitsubo should vanish so soon, +while this absurd grandam, even in her younger days totally devoid +of charm or intelligence, should be left behind! And judging by her +appearance, there was every prospect that she would go on happily +pottering about and telling her rosary for another twenty years. No; +there was no sense, no purpose in all this. + +She saw that thoughts which moved him deeply were passing through his +mind and at once assumed that he was recalling the details of what +she was pleased to think of as their ‘love affair’; and now in her +most playful voice she recited the poem: ‘Though your father called me +Granny, I am not so old but that you and I were sweethearts long ago.’ +He felt somewhat embarrassed but he answered kindly: ‘Such motherly +care as yours not in this life only but in all lives to come none save +a scapegrace would forget.’ ‘We must meet again at a more convenient +time and have a good talk,’ he said; and with that he hastened towards +the western wing. The blinds were drawn and everything was shut up for +the night, save that at one window she[49] had left a lattice half +unclosed, feeling that to show no light at all on the evening of his +visit would be too pointedly uncivil. The moon had risen and its rays +blended with the glitter of the newly-fallen snow. It was indeed a most +charming night. ‘An old woman in love and the moon at mid-winter’: he +remembered the saying that these are the two most dismal things in the +world; but to-night he felt this collocation to be very unjust. He +sent in an urgent letter: if despite her scruples she intended ever to +admit him for a few moments to her presence, why not take advantage of +this excellent opportunity and not subject him to the irritation of +purposeless delays? + +She did not doubt the reality of his feelings; but if at a time +when they were both young enough to be forgiven a few indiscretions, +when moreover her father was actually seeking to promote an alliance +between them, she had without a moment’s hesitation refused to yield +herself to him—what sense could there be, now that they were both +past the age to which such irresponsible gallantries by right belong, +what sense (she asked herself) could there be in parleying with him, +indeed, in admitting him into her presence at all? He saw that she was +absolutely unmoved by his appeal, and was both astonished and hurt. She +meanwhile disliked intensely this frigid interchange of messages and +notes, but for the moment saw no way of bringing it to a close. It was +now getting late, a fierce wind had begun to blow and Genji, feeling +a very real disappointment and distress, was about to make his way +homeward, flinging out as he did so the parting verse: + +‘No penance can your hard heart find save such as you long since have +taught me to endure.’ As usual her gentlewomen insisted that she must +send a reply, and reluctantly she wrote the verse; ‘Is it for me to +change, for me who hear on every wind some tale that proves you, though +the years go by, not other than you were?’ + +He burst into a great rage when he received her note, but a moment +afterwards felt that he was behaving very childishly, and said to the +gentlewoman who had brought it: ‘I would not for the world have any +one know how I have been treated to-night. Promise me, I beg of you, +that you will speak of it to no one; stay, you had best even deny that +I was here at all....’ He whispered this in a very low voice; but some +servants who were hanging about near by noticed the aside, and one of +them said to another: ‘Look at that now! Poor gentleman! You can see +she has sent him a very stinging reply. Even if she does not fancy +him, she might at least treat him with common civility. For he does not +look at all the kind of gentleman who would take advantage of a little +kindness....’ + +As a matter of fact, she had no distaste for him whatever. His beauty +delighted her and she was sure that she would have found him a most +charming companion. But she was convinced that from the moment she +betrayed this liking he would class her among the common ruck of his +admirers and imagine that she would put up with such treatment as they +were apparently content to endure. A position so humiliating she knew +that she could never tolerate. She was resolute, therefore, in her +determination never to allow the slightest intimacy to grow up between +them. But at the same time she was now careful always to answer his +letters fully and courteously, and she allowed him to converse with her +at second hand whenever he felt inclined. It was hardly conceivable +that, submitted to this treatment, he would not soon grow weary of +the whole affair. For her part she wished to devote herself to the +expiation of the many offences against her own religion[50] that her +residence at Kamo had involved. Ultimately she meant to take orders; +but any sudden step of that kind would certainly be attributed to an +unfortunate love-affair and so give colour to the rumours which already +connected her name with his. Indeed, she had seen enough of the world +to know that in few people is discretion stronger than the desire to +tell a good story, and she therefore took no one into her confidence, +not even the gentlewoman who waited daily upon her. Meanwhile she +devoted herself more and more ardently to preparation for the mode of +life which she hoped soon to embrace. + +She had several brothers; but they were the children of Prince +♦Zembō’s first wife[51] and she knew very little of them. Other visitors +at the Momozono palace became increasingly rare; but the fact that no +less a person than Genji was known to be Princess Asagao’s admirer +aroused a widespread curiosity concerning her. + +♦ “Zembo’s” replaced with “Zembō’s” + +As a matter of fact, he was not very desperately in love with her; but +her apparent indifference had piqued him and he was determined to go +on till he had gained his point. He had recently gathered from several +sources of information, including persons of every rank in society, but +all of them in a position to know what they were talking about, that +his own reputation now stood very high in the country. He felt indeed +that his insight into affairs had very greatly improved since old days, +and it would certainly be a pity if a scandal once more deprived him of +popular confidence. Nevertheless, if gossip were to concern itself with +the matter at all, he could not help feeling he should prefer to figure +in the story as having succeeded than as having been ignominiously +repulsed. + +Meanwhile his frequent absences from the Nijō-in had already convinced +Murasaki that the affair was as serious as it could possibly be. She +tried to conceal her agitation, but there were times when it was +evident that she had been secretly weeping, and Genji said to her one +day: ‘What has come over you lately? I cannot imagine any reason why +you should be so depressed’; and as he gently stroked the hair back +from her forehead they looked such a pair as you might put straight +into a picture. + +‘Since his mother’s death,’ Genji went on presently, ‘the Emperor +Ryōzen has been in very low spirits and I have felt bound to spend a +good deal of time at the Palace. But that is not the only thing which +takes up my time in these days; you must remember that I have now to +attend personally to a mass of business which the old Minister of +the Left used formerly to take off my hands. I am as sorry as you are +that we see so much less of one another; but I do my best, and you must +really try henceforward to bear with me more patiently. You are no +longer a child; yet you make as little effort to enter into my feelings +and see my point of view as if you were still in the nursery.’ And with +that, just as though she were indeed a small child, he put back in +its place a lock of her hair that had become disordered while she was +weeping. + +But still she turned away from him and would not speak a word. ‘This +is quite new,’ he said; ‘who has been teaching you these pettish airs +and graces?’ He spoke lightly; but how long, he wondered, was this +going to last, how much time were they going to spend in this dismal +fashion, while at any moment one of those countless horrors that +life perpetually holds over us might suddenly descend upon them and +reconciliation be no longer possible? Determined to bring the matter to +a head, he said at last: ‘I think you have perhaps been misled by very +foolish rumours concerning my friendship with the former Vestal. As a +matter of fact, it is of the most distant kind, as in the end you will +yourself probably realize. She has always, since I first got to know +her years ago, treated me with an exaggerated coldness. This hurts me, +and I have more than once remonstrated with her on the subject. As very +little now goes on at the Momozono palace, she has a good deal of time +on her hands and it amuses her to keep up a desultory correspondence. +This is all that has happened between us; and even you will surely +admit that is not worth crying about! If it is really this affair that +has been on your mind, I assure you that there is no cause whatever +for anxiety....’ He spent the whole day in trying to win back her +confidence, and his patience was at last rewarded. + +By this time the snow was lying very deep, and it was still +falling, though now very lightly. So far from obliterating the +shapes of pine-tree and bamboo, the heavy covering of snow seemed +only to accentuate their varying forms, which stood out with strange +distinctness in the evening light. ‘We decided the other day,’ said +Genji to Murasaki, ‘that Lady Akikonomu’s season is Autumn, and yours +Spring. This evening I am more sure than ever that mine is Winter. +What could be more lovely than a winter night such as this, when the +moon shines out of a cloudless sky upon the glittering, fresh-fallen +snow? Beauty without colour seems somehow to belong to another world. +At any rate, I find such a scene as this infinitely more lovely and +moving than any other in the whole year. How little do I agree with the +proverb that calls the moon in winter a dismal sight!’ So saying he +raised the window-blind, and they looked out. The moon was now fully +risen, covering the whole garden with its steady, even light. The +withered flower-beds showed, in these cold rays, with painful clearness +the ravages of wind and frost. And look, the river was half-choked +with ice, while the pond, frozen all over, was unutterably strange +and lonesome under its coat of snow. Near it some children had been +allowed to make a monster snow-ball. They looked very pretty as they +tripped about in the moonlight. Several of the older girls had taken +off their coats and set to in a very business-like way, showing all +sorts of strange under-garments; while their brothers, coming straight +from their tasks as page-boys and what not, had merely loosened their +belts, and there was now a sight of smart coat-tails flapping and long +hair falling forwards till its ends brushed the white garden floor—an +effect both singular and delightful. Some of the very little ones were +quite wild with joy and rushed about dropping all their fans and other +belongings in their mad excitement. + +The glee imprinted on these small faces was charming to behold. The +children made so big a snow-ball that when it came to rolling it along +the ground they could not make it budge an inch, and the sight of their +frantic endeavours to get it moving provoked much jeering and laughter +from another party of children which had just made its appearance at +the eastern door. + +‘I remember,’ said Genji, ‘that one year Lady Fujitsubo had a +snow-mountain built in front of her palace. It is a common enough +amusement in winter time; but she had the art of making the most +ordinary things striking and interesting. What countless reasons I +have to regret her at every moment! I was during the greater part of +her life not at all intimate with her and had little opportunity of +studying her at close quarters. But during her residence at the Palace, +she often allowed me to be of service to her in various small ways, +and I frequently had occasion to use her good offices. In this way we +were constantly discussing one piece of business or another, and I +discovered that though she had no obvious or showy talents, she had the +most extraordinary capacity for carrying through even quite unimportant +and trivial affairs with a perfection of taste and management that has +surely never been equalled. At the same time she was of a rather timid +disposition and often took things too much to heart. Though you and she +both spring from the same stem and necessarily have much in common, I +have noticed that you are a good deal less even in temperament than she. + +‘Lady Asagao, now, has a quite different nature. If in an idle moment I +address to her some trifling fancy she replies with such spirit that I +have hard work not to be left lagging. I know no one else at Court to +compare with her in this respect.’ + +‘I have always heard,’ said Murasaki, ‘that Lady Oborozuki is +extremely accomplished and quick-witted. I should have thought, too, +from all I know of her that she was very sensible and discreet; and +that makes me all the more surprised at certain stories that I have +heard repeated....’ + +‘You are quite right,’ said Genji. ‘Among all the ladies now at Court +she is the one I should pick out both for liveliness and beauty. As +to the rumours you speak of—I know quite well what you are referring +to. I bitterly regret what happened; as indeed I regret much else that +belongs to that part of my life. And what quantities of things most +people must begin to repent of, as the years go by! For compared with +almost any of my friends, I have led a very quiet and decorous life.’ +He paused for a moment; the mention of Oborozuki seemed to have moved +him deeply. Presently he continued: ‘I have a feeling that you look +down upon country people such as the Lady of Akashi. I assure you that, +unlike most women in that station of life, she is extremely cultivated +and intelligent; though of course people of her class are bound in many +ways to be very different from us, and I admit she has certain strained +and exaggerated ideas, of which I cannot approve. + +‘About women of the common sort I know nothing; but among our own +people it has always seemed to me that few indeed were in any way +remarkable or interesting. An exception however is our guest in the +new wing[52]; she remains charming as ever. But though such beauty and +intelligence are very rare, she has never cared to parade them; and +since the time when I first realized her gifts and hastened to make her +acquaintance, she has always continued to show the same indifference to +the worldly conquests which she might so easily have secured. We have +now been friends for so long that I do not think we are ever likely +to part; I at any rate should be very sorry if she were to leave my +house.’ While he thus talked of one thing and another, it grew very +late. The moon shone brighter and brighter, and a stillness now reigned +that, after the recent wintry storms, was very agreeable. Murasaki +recited the verse: ‘The frozen waters are at rest; but now with waves +of light the moon-beam ebbs and flows.’ She was looking out at the +window, her head a little to one side, and both the expression of her +face and the way her hair fell reminded him, as so often before, of her +whom he had lost. Suddenly his affections, which for many weeks past +had to some small extent been divided, were once more hers, and hers +alone. + +Just then a love-bird[53] cried, and he recited the verse: ‘Does it +not move you strangely, the love-bird’s cry, to-night when, like the +drifting snow, memory piles up on memory?’ Long after he and Murasaki +had retired to rest, recollections of Lady Fujitsubo continued to crowd +into his mind, and when at last he fell asleep, a vision of her at once +appeared to him, saying in tones of deep reproach: ‘It may be that +you on earth have kept our secret; but in the land of the dead shame +cannot be hid, and I am paying dearly for what you made me do....’ He +tried to answer, but fear choked his voice, and Murasaki, hearing him +suddenly give a strange muffled cry, said rather peevishly: ‘What are +you doing that for? You frightened me!’ The sound of her voice roused +him. He woke in a terrible state of grief and agitation, his eyes full +of tears which he at once made violent efforts to control. But soon he +was weeping bitterly, to the bewilderment of Murasaki, who nevertheless +lay all the time stock still at his side. He was now too miserable +and distracted to think of sleep, and slipping out of bed presently +began writing notes to various temples in the district, directing that +certain texts and spells should be recited; he did not however dare +to state on whose behalf these things were to be done. + +Small wonder that in the dream she turned upon him so bitter and +reproachful a gaze, feeling (as by her words he judged she did) that +this one sin had robbed her of salvation. He remembered her constant +devotions; never since that fatal day had she omitted one single +prayer, penance or charity that might serve as atonement for her guilt. +Yet all had been in vain, and even in the world beyond, this one crime +clung to her like a stain that could not be washed away. In the past +he had never thought clearly about such things; but now they lived +in his mind with a terrible vividness and certainty. Were there but +some spell, some magic that could enable him to seek her out in the +obscure region where her soul was dwelling, and suffer in her stead +the penalties of his own offence! Yet the truth was that he could not +so much as have a few poor Masses said for her soul; for, had he named +her, the suspicions of the Court would at once have been aroused. + +Concerning the Emperor, too, Genji’s conscience was very uneasy; for +had Ryōzen indeed discovered the true story of his birth, he must now +be living in a state of continual apprehension. It was at about this +time that Genji put himself under the especial protection of Amida, +Buddha of Boundless Light, beseeching the Blessed One that in due time +his soul and that of the lady whom he had undone might spring from the +same lotus in His holy Paradise. But of such an issue he had little +hope, and often he would disconsolately recite the verse: ‘Fain would I +follow her, could I but hope to thread my way among the sunless Rivers +of the World Below.’[54] + + [39] Consequently an aunt both of Asagao and Genji, who were first + cousins; Prince Momozono, Asagao’s father, being a brother of + Genji’s father, the old Emperor. Asagao was the one lady whom + Genji had courted in vain. See vol. i, p. 68. + + [40] Aoi’s mother. + + [41] I.e. making love to her. + + [42] Allusion to the poem: ‘By the River of Cleansing I tied + prayer-strips inscribed “I will love no more”; but it seems + that the Gods would not accept my vow.’ + + [43] Asagao. + + [44] Where Murasaki would not be likely to come. + + [45] In the men’s quarters. + + [46] During the 10th month the Gods withdraw themselves and cannot + hear our prayers; their return in the 11th month is celebrated + with rejoicing; but this year, owing to the National Mourning + for Fujitsubo’s death, these ceremonies were omitted. + + [47] See vol. i, p. 229. + + [48] 572–621 A.D. + + [49] Asagao. + + [50] Buddhism. She had been Vestal in the Shintō temple at Kamo, + where no Buddhist prayers or observances were allowed. + + [51] Rokujō was his second. + + [52] The lady from the Village of Falling Flowers. + + [53] Generally called by the ugly name ‘Mandarin Duck.’ + + [54] Through each of the Three Evil Realms (of Animals, Hungry + Ghosts and Demons) runs a meandering river. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + THE MAIDEN + + +In the spring of the next year[55] the National Mourning for Lady +Fujitsubo came to an end. Gay colours began to appear once more at +Court, and when the time for summer dresses came round it was seen +that the fashions were smarter than ever; moreover, the weather was +unusually agreeable and there was every prospect of a fine spell +for the Kamo Festival.[56] Lady Asagao gave no outward sign of what +reflections passed through her mind while she witnessed the ceremonies +in which she herself had a few years ago taken the leading part. But +she gazed fixedly at the laurel tree[57] in front of her window; and +though there was much beauty in those lank branches, swept to and fro +by the roving winds, yet it seemed as if it must be for some other +cause that again and again her eyes returned to it. In her ladies, at +any rate, the sight of this tree aroused a host of reminiscences and +suitable reflections. + +From Genji came a note in which he said: ‘Does it not give you a +strange feeling to witness a Day of Cleansing in which you take no +part?’ And remembering that she was still in mourning for her father, +he added the poem: ‘Little thought I that, like a wave in the swirl of +the flood, you would come back so soon, a dark-robed mourner swept +along time’s hurrying stream.’ + +It was written on purple paper in a bold script, and a spray of +wistaria[58] was attached to it. Moved by all that was going on around +her she replied: ‘It seems but yesterday that I first wore my sombre +dress; but now the pool of days has grown into a flood wherein I soon +shall wash my grief away.’[59] The poem was sent without explanation +or comment and constituted, indeed, a meagre reply; but, as usual, he +found himself constantly holding it in front of him and gazing at it as +though it had been much more than a few poor lines of verse. + +When the end of the mourning actually came, the lady who acted as +messenger and intermediary in general was overwhelmed by the number +of packages[60] from the Nijō-in which now began to arrive. Lady +Asagao expressed great displeasure at this lavishness and, if the +presents had been accompanied by letters or poems of at all a familiar +or impertinent kind, she would at once have put a stop to these +attentions. But for a year past there had been nothing in his conduct +to complain of. From time to time he came to the house and enquired +after her, but always quite openly. His letters were frequent and +affectionate, but he took no liberties, and what nowadays troubled her +chiefly was the difficulty of inventing anything to say in reply. + +To Princess Nyogo, too, Genji sent good wishes on the occasion of her +coming out of mourning. This delighted her, and the old lady observed +to her maids, whilst reading the letter: ‘How strange it is to get this +very nice letter from Prince Genji! Why, it seems only yesterday +that he was a baby-in-arms, and here he is, writing such a sensible, +manly letter! I had heard that he had grown up very good-looking; +but what pleases me is that he evidently has a quite exceptionally +nice disposition.’ These outbursts of praise were always greeted with +laughter by the younger ladies-in-waiting, among whom Princess Nyogo’s +weakness for Genji was a standing joke. + +The old lady next bustled off to her niece’s rooms. ‘What do you +say to this?’ she asked, holding out the letter; ‘could anything be +more friendly and considerate? But he has always regarded this house +as a second home. I have often told you that your poor father was +bitterly disappointed that the circumstances of your birth made it +impossible for him to offer your hand to this Prince. It was indeed +definitely arranged that he should do so, and it was with the greatest +reluctance that he consented to your departure. He talked to me about +this constantly in after years, and it was obvious that he bitterly +regretted not having arranged the marriage at a much earlier period in +your life. What held him back from doing so was that my sister Princess +Ōmiya had already arranged for the marriage of her daughter, Lady Aoi, +to Prince Genji and, frightened of giving offence, he let time slip by +without doing anything towards the accomplishment of this favourite +project. But Lady Aoi’s death has removed the one insurmountable +obstacle which before made it out of the question that any person of +consequence should offer to this Prince his daughter’s hand. For though +there are now several ladies in his household, none of them is of the +highest rank. Such a person as yourself, for example, would necessarily +assume the foremost place, and I confess I cannot see why, if an offer +came your way, it would be such a bad thing for you to accept it. At +any rate, that is how I feel. He must be very fond of you, or he +certainly would not have started writing again directly you came back +from Kamo....’ + +Princess Asagao thought her aunt’s way of looking at things very old +fashioned and mistaken: ‘Having held out for so long against the +reproaches of my father, who was, as you will remember, by no means +used to being gainsaid, it would be a strange thing if I were now to +yield, after all that has happened since, to your or any one else’s +friendly persuasions.’ She looked so reluctant to discuss the subject +further that her aunt did not proceed. The whole staff of the Palace, +from dames-of-honour down to kitchen-maids, being all of them more or +less in love with Genji themselves, watched with great interest to see +how he would fare at Princess Asagao’s hands, the majority prophesying +for him a heavy discomfiture. But Genji himself firmly believed that +if only he went on quietly displaying his devotion, sooner or later +there would come some sign that she was ready to yield. He had long +ago realized that she was not a person who could ever be hustled into +acting against her own better judgment and inclination. + +It was high time to be thinking about the Initiation of Yūgiri, Aoi’s +son, who was now twelve years old. It would in many ways have been +better that the ceremony should be performed in Genji’s palace. But it +was natural that the boy’s grandmother should be anxious to witness +it, and in the end it was decided that it should be performed at the +Great Hall. Here the boy had the support of his uncle Tō no Chūjō +and of Aoi’s other brothers, all of whom were now in influential +positions, and as the function was to take place under their own roof +they were additionally ready to do whatever they could to help in +making the occasion a success. It was an event which aroused very wide +interest throughout the country, and what with visitors pouring in from +all sides and a mass of preparations to be made for the actual +ceremony, there was hardly room to turn round for days beforehand. + +He had thought at first of placing Yūgiri in the Fourth Rank; but +he was afraid that this would be considered an abuse of power, and +there was indeed no hurry; for the boy was still very immature, and +affairs being now entirely in Genji’s hands he could easily promote +him by small steps, till within a comparatively short time it would +be possible to put him in the Fourth Rank without attracting an undue +amount of attention. When, however, Yūgiri made his appearance at the +Great Hall in the light blue decorations of the Sixth Rank, this was +more than his grandmother Princess Ōmiya could bear. Genji fortunately +realized that she would very likely be somewhat upset. When he went +to call upon her she at once began voicing her grievance. ‘You must +remember,’ replied Genji, ‘that he is far too young to begin his public +career. I would not indeed have performed his Initiation so early save +that I designed to make a scholar of him. This will give him profitable +employment during two or three years which might otherwise have been +completely thrown away. As soon as he is old enough to take public +office, he is certain to come quickly to the fore. + +‘I myself was brought up at the Palace in complete ignorance of the +outside world. Living as I did continually at my father the Emperor’s +side I could not but pick up a certain vague familiarity with writing +and books; it was, however, of the most meagre kind. For I could not +at the best learn more than he chanced himself to have picked up in +the same casual way, so that in every subject I only knew disconnected +scraps and had no notion of how they ought to be fitted together. This +was the case particularly as regards literature; but even in music my +knowledge was hopelessly incomplete, and I acquired no real command +over either zithern or flute. It may turn out that he is quicker +than I; but on the whole it seems far commoner for children to have +less natural aptitude than their parents; and I determined that this +child of mine should be educated in a far more thorough way. For if I +merely handed on to him the scraps of information which I in my day had +picked up from the old Emperor I feared that knowledge might reach him +in so attenuated a form as would stand him in very poor stead for the +future. + +‘I have noticed that children of good families, assured of such +titles and emoluments as they desire, and used to receive the homage +of the world however little they do to deserve it, see no advantage +in fatiguing themselves by arduous and exacting studies. Having then +in due time been raised to offices for which they have qualified +themselves only by a long course of frolics and indiscretions, they +are helped out of all their difficulties by a set of time-servers (who +are all the while laughing at them behind their backs), and they soon +imagine themselves to be the most accomplished statesmen on earth. But +however influential such a one may be, the death of some relative or +a change in the government may easily work his undoing, and he will +soon discover with surprise how poor an opinion of him the world really +has. It is _then_ that he feels the disadvantages of the desultory +education which I have described. For the truth is, that without a +solid foundation of book-learning this “Japanese spirit” of which one +hears so much is not of any great use in the world. + +‘So you see that, though at the present moment I may seem to be doing +less for him than I ought, it is my wish that he may one day be fit to +bear the highest charges in the State, and be capable of so doing even +if I am no longer here to direct him. For the moment, though you think +that I do not adequately use my influence on his behalf, I will at +any rate see to it that he is not looked down upon as a mere starveling +aspirant of the Schools.’ But the Princess would not part with her +grievance: ‘I am sure you have thought it all out very carefully,’ +she said; ‘but his uncles and most other people will not understand a +word of this, and will merely think he is being badly treated; and I +am sure the poor boy himself is very disappointed. He has always been +brought up with the idea that Tō no Chūjō’s children and his other +little cousins are in some way inferior to him, and now he sees them +all going steadily upwards in rank, while he is treated like this.... +I assure you he found it very painful wearing that light blue dress, +and my heart went out to him.’ Genji could not help laughing: ‘You must +not take these things so seriously,’ he said. ‘What does it all matter? +Please remember that you are talking about a child of twelve years old. +You may be sure he understands nothing whatever of all this business. +When he has been at his studies for a little while, you will see how +much improved he is and be angry with me no longer.’ + +The ceremony of bestowing the School-name took place in the new part +of the Nijō-in palace, a portion of the eastern wing being set aside +for the purpose. As such a function seldom takes place in the houses +of the great, the occasion was one of great interest, and Princes and +Courtiers of every degree vied with one another for the best seats; the +professors who had come to conduct the proceedings were not expecting +so large and distinguished an audience, and they were evidently very +much put out. ‘Gentlemen,’ said Genji, addressing them, ‘I want you +to perform this ceremony in all its rigour, omitting no detail, +and above all not in any way altering the prescribed usages either +in deference to the company here assembled or out of consideration +for the pupil whom you are about to admit into your craft.’ The +professors did their best to look business-like and unconcerned. Many +of them were dressed in gowns which they had hired for the occasion; +but fortunately they had no idea how absurd they looked in these +old-fashioned and ill-fitting clothes; which saved them from a great +deal of embarrassment. Their grimaces and odd turns of speech, both +combined with a certain mincing affability which they thought suitable +to the occasion—even the strange forms and ceremonies that had to be +gone through before any one of them could so much as sit down in his +seat—all this was so queer that Yūgiri’s cousins, who had never seen +anything of the sort in their lives before, could not refrain from +smiling. It was therefore as well that, as actual participators in the +ceremony, only the older and steadier among the princes of the Great +Hall had been selected. They at least could be relied upon to control +their laughter, and all was going smoothly, when it fell to the lot +of Tō no Chūjō and his friend Prince Mimbuykō to fill goblets out of +the great wine-flagon and present them to their learned guests. Being +both of them entirely unversed in these academic rites they paused +for a moment, as though not quite certain whether they were really +expected to perform this task with their own hands. So at any rate +the professors interpreted their hesitation, and at once broke out +into indignant expostulations: ‘The whole proceeding is in the highest +degree irregular,’[61] they cried. ‘These gentlemen possess no academic +qualifications and ought not to be here at all. They must be made to +understand that we know nothing of the distinctions and privileges +which prevail at Court. They must be told to mend their manners....’ At +this some one in the audience ventured to titter, and the professors +again expostulated: ‘These proceedings cannot continue,’ they +said, ‘unless absolute silence is preserved. Interruptions are in the +highest degree irregular, and if they occur again we shall be obliged +to leave our seats.’ Several more testy speeches followed, and the +audience was vastly entertained; for those who had never witnessed +such performances before were naturally carried away by so diverting +a novelty; while the few who were familiar with the proceedings had +now the satisfaction of smiling indulgently at the crude amazement of +their companions. It was long indeed since Learning had received so +signal a mark of encouragement, and for the first time its partisans +felt themselves to be people of real weight and consequence. Not a +single word might any one in the audience so much as whisper to his +neighbour without calling down upon himself an angry expostulation, and +excited cries of ‘disgraceful behaviour!’ were provoked by the mildest +signs of restlessness in the crowd. For some time the ceremony had +been proceeding in darkness, and now when the torches were suddenly +lit, revealing those aged faces contorted with censoriousness and +self-importance, Genji could not help thinking of the Sarugaku[62] +mountebanks with their burlesque postures and grimaces. ‘Truly,’ he +thought, looking at the professors, ‘truly in more ways than one an +extraordinary and unaccountable profession!’ ‘I think it is rather +fun,’ he said, ‘to see every one being kept in order by these crabbed +old people,’ and hid himself well behind his curtains-of-state, lest +his comments too should be heard and rebuked. + +Not nearly enough accommodation had been provided, and many of the +young students from the college had been turned away for lack of +room. Hearing this, Genji sent after them with apologies and had them +brought back to the Summer House where they were entertained with food +and drink. Some of the professors and doctors whose own part in +the ceremony was over had also left the palace, and Genji now brought +them back and made them compose poem after poem. He also detained such +of the courtiers and princes as he knew to care most for poetry; the +professors were called upon to compose complete poems[63] while the +company, from Genji downwards, tried their hands at quatrains, Teachers +of Literature being asked to choose the themes. The summer night was so +short that before the time came to read out the poems it was already +broad daylight. The reading was done by the Under-secretary to the +Council, who, besides being a man of fine appearance, had a remarkably +strong and impressive voice, so that his recitations gave every one +great pleasure. + +That mere enthusiasm should lead young men of high birth, who might so +easily have contented themselves with the life of brilliant gaieties +to which their position entitled them, to study ‘by the light of the +glow-worm at the window or the glimmer of snow on the bough,’[64] +was highly gratifying; and such a number of ingenious fancies and +comparisons pervaded the minds of the competitors that any one of these +compositions might well have been carried to the Land Beyond the Sea +without fear of bringing our country into contempt. But women are not +supposed to know anything about Chinese literature, and I will not +shock your sense of propriety by quoting any of the poems—even that by +which Genji so deeply moved his hearers. + +Hard upon the ceremony of giving the School Name came that of actual +admittance to the College, and finally Yūgiri took up residence in the +rooms which had been prepared for him at the Nijō-in. Here he was put +in charge of the most learned masters that could be procured, and +his education began in earnest. At first he was not allowed to visit +his grandmother at all; for Genji had noticed that she spoiled him +shockingly, treating him, indeed, as though he were still a little +child, and there seemed a much better chance that he would settle +down to his new life if it were not interrupted by constant treats +and cossettings at the Great Hall. But Princess Ōmiya took the boy’s +absence so much to heart that in the end three visits a month were +allowed. + +Yūgiri found this sudden restriction of liberty very depressing, and +he thought it unkind of his father to inflict these labours upon him, +when he might so easily have allowed him to amuse himself for a little +while longer and then go straight into some high post. Did Genji think +him so very stupid as to need, before he could work for the Government, +a training with which every one else seemed able to dispense? But he +was a sensible, good-natured boy, who took life rather seriously, and +seeing that he was not going to be allowed to mix in the world or +start upon his career till he had read his books, he determined to get +through the business as quickly as possible. The consequence was that +in the space of four or five months he had read not only the whole of +the _Historical Records_,[65] but many other books as well. When the +time came for his Examinations, Genji determined to put him to the test +privately a little while beforehand. He was assisted by Tō no Chūjō, +by the Chief Secretary of Council, the Clerk of the Board of Rites +and a few other friends. The chief tutor was now sent for, and asked +to select passages from the _Historical Records_.[66] He went through +every chapter, picking out the most difficult paragraphs—just +such parts indeed as the College Examiners were likely to hit upon and +made his pupil read them out loud. Yūgiri not only read without the +slightest stumbling or hesitation but showed clearly in every doubtful +or misleading passage that he understood the sense of what he was +reading. Every one present was astonished at his proficiency and it +was generally agreed that he had the makings of a first-rate scholar. +‘If only his poor grandfather could see him!’ said Tō no Chūjō with +a sigh; and Genji, unable to restrain his feelings, exclaimed with +tears in his eyes: ‘All this makes me feel very old! Before it has +always been other people over whom one shook one’s head, saying that +they were “getting on in life” or “not so active as they were.” But +now that I have a grown-up child of my own, I feel (though I am still +fortunately some way off my second childhood) that henceforward he +will every day grow more intelligent, and I more stupid.’ The tutor +listened attentively to this speech and felt much comforted by it. Tō +no Chūjō had been helping him liberally to wine, and the learned man’s +gaunt, rugged features were now suffused with smiles of joy and pride. +He was a very unpractical man and his worldly success had never been +proportionate to his great attainments. At the time when Genji first +came across him he was without patronage or any means of subsistence. +Then came this sudden stroke of good fortune; he of all people was +singled out and summoned to this all-important task. Ever since his +arrival he had enjoyed a degree of consideration far in excess of +what, in his capacity of tutor, he had any right to expect, and now +that the diligence of his pupil had procured for him this fresh ground +for Genji’s esteem, he looked forward at last to a distinguished and +prosperous career. + +On the day of the actual examination the College courtyards were +crammed to overflowing with fashionable equipages; it seemed indeed +as though the whole world had turned out to witness the ceremony, and +the princely candidate’s entry at the College gates wore the air of a +triumphal procession. He looked very unfit to mingle with the crowd +(shabby and uncouth as such lads generally are) among whom he now had +to take his place, sitting right at the end of the bench, for he was +the youngest scholar present; and it was small wonder that he came near +to wincing as he took his place amid his uncouth class-mates. + +On this occasion also the presence of so large and profane an audience +sorely tried the nerves of the academic authorities, and it was to the +accompaniment of constant appeals for silence and good manners that +Yūgiri read his portion. But he did not feel in the least put out and +performed his task with complete success. + +This occasion had an important effect upon the fortunes of the College. +It began to recover much of its old prestige, and henceforward the +students were drawn not only from the lower and middle, but also to +a considerable degree from the upper classes, and it became more and +more frequent for the holders of high office to have received a certain +amount of education. It was found that the possession of Degrees, such +as that of Doctor of Letters or even Bachelor, was now an advantage in +after life and frequently led to more rapid promotion. This incited +both masters and pupils to unprecedented efforts. At Genji’s palace +too the making of Chinese poems became frequent; both scholars and +professors were often his guests, and learning of every kind was +encouraged and esteemed in a manner seldom before witnessed at Court. + +The question of appointing an Empress now became urgent. + +The claims of Akikonomu were considerable, since it was the dying +wish of Fujitsubo, the Emperor’s mother, that her son should be guided +by this lady’s counsel; and in urging her claims Genji was able to +plead this excuse. The great disadvantage of such a choice was that +Akikonomu, like Fujitsubo before her, was closely connected with the +reigning family, and such alliances are very unpopular in the country. +Lady Chūjō[67] had the merit of priority, and to her partisans it +appeared that there could be no question of any one else being called +upon to share the Throne. But there were many supporters of Lady +Akikonomu who were equally indignant that her claims should for an +instant be questioned. + +Prince Hyōbukyō[68] had now succeeded to the post of President of the +Board of Rites, previously held by Asagao’s father; he had become a +figure of considerable importance at Court and it was no longer deemed +politic that his daughter should be refused admittance to the Imperial +Household. + +This lady, like Akikonomu, had the disadvantage of a close connection +with the ruling House; but on the other hand her elevation to the +Throne was just as likely to have been supported by the Emperor’s +late mother as that of Akikonomu, for the new-comer was her brother’s +child, and it was thought by many people not to be unreasonable that +this elder cousin should be called upon to take Fujitsubo’s place, as +far as watching over the health and happiness of the young Emperor was +concerned. The claims, then, were pretty equally divided, and after +some hesitation Genji followed his own inclinations by appointing +Akikonomu to share the Throne. How strange that in the end this lady +should have risen to an even higher position than her celebrated +mother! Such was the comment of the world, and in the country at large +some surprise was felt at the announcement of her good fortune, for +little was known of her outside the Court. + +About this time Tō no Chūjō became Palace Minister and Genji began to +hand over to him most of the business of state. Chūjō had a vigorous +and rapid mind, his judgment tended to be very sound, and his natural +intelligence was backed by considerable learning. Thus, though it will +be remembered that at the game of ‘covering rhymes’[69] he was badly +defeated, in public affairs he carried all before him. By his various +wives[70] he had some ten children, who were now all grown-up and +taking their places very creditably in the world. Besides the daughter +whom he had given in marriage to the Emperor there was another, Lady +Kumoi by name, who was a child of a certain princess with whom he had +at one time carried on an intrigue. This lady then was not, as far +as birth went, in any way her sister’s inferior; but the mother had +subsequently married a Provincial Inspector who already had a large +number of children. It seemed a pity to allow the girl to be brought +up by a step-father among this promiscuous herd of youngsters, and Tō +no Chūjō had obtained leave to have her at the Great Hall and put her +under his mother Princess Ōmiya’s keeping. He took far less interest +in her, it is true, than he did in Lady Chūjō; but both in beauty and +intelligence she was generally considered to be at least her sister’s +equal. She had during her childhood naturally been brought much into +contact with Yūgiri. When each of them was about ten years old they +began to live in separate quarters of the house. She was still +very much attached to him; but one day her father told her that he did +not like her to make great friends with little boys, and the next time +they met she was careful to be very distant towards him. He was old +enough to feel puzzled and hurt; and often when she was in the garden +admiring the flowers or autumn leaves or giving her dolls an airing he +would follow her about, entreating to be allowed to play with her. At +such times she could not bring herself to drive him away, for the truth +was that she cared for him quite as much as he for her. Her nurses +noticed her changed manner towards him, and could not understand how +it was that two children who for years had seemed to be inseparable +companions should suddenly begin to behave as though they were almost +strangers to one another. The girl was so young that the relationship +certainly had no particular meaning for her; but Yūgiri was a couple of +years older, and it was quite possible (they thought) that he had tried +to give too grown-up a turn to the friendship. Meanwhile the boy’s +studies began, and opportunities for meeting were rarer than ever. They +exchanged letters written in an odd childish scrawl which nevertheless +in both cases showed great promise for the future. As was natural with +such juvenile correspondents they were continually losing these letters +and leaving them about, so that among the servants in both houses +there was soon a pretty shrewd idea of what was going on. But there +was nothing to be gained by giving information and, having read these +notes, the finders hastened to put them somewhere out of sight. + +After the various feasts of congratulation were over things became +very quiet at Court. Rain set in, and one night when a dank wind was +blowing through the tips of the sedges, Tō no Chūjō, finding himself +quite at leisure, went to call upon his mother, and sending for Lady +Kumoi asked her to play to them on her zithern. Princess Ōmiya +herself performed excellently on several instruments and had taught all +she knew to her granddaughter. ‘The lute,’ said Tō no Chūjō, ‘seems +to be the one instrument which women can never master successfully; +yet it is the very one that I long to hear properly played. It seems +as though the real art of playing were now entirely lost. True, there +is Prince So-and-so, and Genji....’ And he began to enumerate the +few living persons whom he considered to have any inkling of this +art. ‘Among women-players I believe the best is that girl whom Prince +Genji has settled in the country near Ōi. They say that she inherits +her method of playing straight from the Emperor Engi, from whom it +was handed on to her father. But considering that she has lived by +herself in the depths of the country for years on end, it is indeed +extraordinary that she should have attained to any great degree of +skill. Genji has constantly spoken to me of her playing and, according +to him, it is absolutely unsurpassed. Progress in music more than in +any other subject depends upon securing a variety of companions with +whom to study and rehearse. For any one living in isolation to obtain +mastery over an instrument is most unusual and must imply a prodigious +talent.’ He then tried to persuade the old princess to play a little. +‘I am terribly stiff in the fingers,’ she said; ‘I can’t manage the +“stopping” at all.’ But she played very nicely. ‘The Lady of Akashi,’ +said Tō no Chūjō presently, ‘must, as I have said, be exceptionally +gifted; but she has also had great luck. To have given my cousin Genji +a daughter when he had waited for one so long was a singular stroke +of good fortune. She seems moreover to be a curiously self-effacing +and obliging person; for I hear that she has resigned all claim to +the child and allows her betters to bring it up as though it were +their own.’ And he told the whole story, so far as the facts +were known to him. ‘Women,’ he went on, ‘are odd creatures; it is no +use trying to advance them in the world unless they have exactly the +right temperament.’ After naming several examples, he referred to +the failure of his own daughter. Lady Chūjō: ‘She is by no means bad +looking,’ he said, ‘and she has had every possible advantage. Yet now +she has managed things so badly that she is thrust aside in favour of +some one[71] who seemed to have no chance at all. I sometimes feel that +it is quite useless to make these family plans. I hope indeed that I +shall be able to do better for this little lady[72]; and there did at +one time seem to be a chance that so soon as the Crown Prince[73] was +almost old enough for his Initiation I might be able to do something +for her in that direction. But now I hear that the little girl from +Akashi is being spoken of as the future Empress Presumptive, and if +that is so I fear that no one else has any chance.’ ‘How can you say +such a thing?’ asked the Princess indignantly. ‘You have far too low +an opinion of your own family. The late Minister, your father, always +believed firmly that we should one day have the credit of supplying +a partner to the Throne, and he took immense pains to get this child +of yours accepted in the Imperial Household at the earliest possible +moment. If only he were alive, things would never have gone wrong like +this.’ It was evident, from what she went on to say, that she felt very +indignant at Genji’s conduct in the matter. + +It was a very pretty sight to see little Lady Kumoi playing her +mother’s great thirteen-stringed zithern. Her hair fell forward across +her face with a charming effect as she bent over her instrument. Chūjō +was just thinking how graceful and distinguished the child’s appearance +was when, feeling that she was being watched, Lady Kumoi shyly +turned away, showing for a moment as she did so a profile of particular +beauty. The poise of her left hand, as with small fingers she depressed +the heavy strings, was such as one sees in Buddhist carvings. Even her +grandmother, who had watched her at her lessons day by day, could not +hold back a murmur of admiration. + +When they had played several duets the big zithern was removed, and +Tō no Chūjō played a few pieces on his six-stringed Japanese zithern, +using the harsh ‘major’[74] tuning which was appropriate to the season. +Played not too solemnly and by so skilful a hand as Chūjō’s, this +somewhat strident mode was very agreeable. On the boughs outside the +window only a few ragged leaves were left; while within several groups +of aged gentlewomen clustering with their heads together behind this +or that curtain-of-state, moved by Chūjō’s playing were shedding the +tears that people at that time of life are only too ready to let fall +upon any provocation. ‘It needs but a light wind to strip the autumn +boughs,’ quoted Chūjō, and continuing the quotation, he added: ‘“It +cannot be the music of my zithern that has moved them. Though they know +it not, it is the sad beauty of this autumn evening that has provoked +their sudden tears.” But come, let us have more music before we part.’ +Upon this Princess Ōmiya and her daughter played _The Autumn Wind_ and +Tō no Chūjō sang the words with so delightful an effect that every one +present was just thinking how much his presence added to the amenity of +any gathering, when yet another visitor arrived. Yūgiri thinking that +such an evening was wasted if not spent in agreeable company, had come +over from Genji’s palace to the Great Hall. ‘Here she is,’ said +Tō no Chūjō, leading the boy towards the curtain-of-state behind which +Kumoi was now sitting. ‘You see she is a little shy of you and has +taken refuge behind her curtains.’ And then looking at Yūgiri: ‘I don’t +believe all this reading is suiting you. Your father himself agrees +with me; I know that learning easily becomes a useless and tedious +thing if pushed beyond a reasonable point. However, in your case he +must have had some particular reason for supposing that academic +honours would be useful. I do not know what was in his mind, but be +that as it may, I am sure it is bad for you to be bending all day over +your books!’ And again: ‘I am sure that you ought sometimes to have a +change. Come now, play a tune on my flute. Your masters can have no +objection to that, for is not the flute itself the subject of a hundred +antique and learned stories?’ Yūgiri took the flute and played a tune +or two with a certain boyish faltering, but with very agreeable effect. +The zitherns were laid aside and while Chūjō beat the measure softly +with his hands, Yūgiri sang to them the old ballad ‘Shall I wear my +flowered dress?’ ‘This is just the sort of concert that Genji so much +enjoys,' said Tō no Chūjō, ‘and that is why he is always trying to get +free from the ties of business. Nor do I blame him; for the world is an +unpleasant place at best, and surely one might as well spend one’s time +doing what one likes, instead of toiling day after day at things that +do not interest one in the least.’ + +He passed round the wine-flagon, and as it was now getting dark, the +great lamp was brought in, soon followed by supper. When the meal was +over, Tō no Chūjō sent Lady Kumoi back to her room. It did not escape +the notice of Princess Ōmiya’s gentlewomen that Chūjō was anxious to +keep Yūgiri and his little daughter as far as possible apart. ‘Why, +he has sent her away,’ they whispered, ‘because he does not want +her to hear the little gentleman play on the zithern. There will be +a sad awakening for him one day, if he goes on treating them like +that.... When Tō no Chūjō at length withdrew, he remembered that he had +not given certain instructions to one of the Princess’s ladies, and +stealing back into the room he delivered his message as quietly as +possible and was on his way out of the room again, when he caught the +sound of his own name. A group of ancient gentlewomen at the far end of +the apartment had not noticed his return and their whispering had gone +on uninterrupted. He stood still and, listening intently, heard the +words: ‘He is supposed to be a very clever man. But people are always +fools when it comes to dealing with their own children. I could never +see any sense at all in that proverb—you know the one I mean—“No one +knows a child but its parents.” All nonsense, I say,’ and she nudged +her neighbour expressively. This was a shock to Chūjō. It meant, he +realized as he hurried from the room, that the friendship between +these two children, which he had hoped to keep within bounds, had +already, in the eyes of the household, taken on a romantic tinge. The +old ladies within suddenly heard the sharp cry of Chūjō’s outriders. +‘Well! What do you think of that?’ they said. ‘He’s only just starting! +Where has he been hiding all this time? I’ll tell you what. He’s up +to some of his old tricks again, you mark my words!’ And another: ‘I +thought a fresh puff of scent blew this way; but little Prince Yūgiri +has got some just like it, and I fancied it was his. Do you think His +Excellency was anywhere round here? It would be a terrible thing for +all of us if he heard what we said after we thought he had gone away. +He’s got a hasty temper....’ ‘Well, after all, there is really nothing +to worry about,’ thought Tō no Chūjō, as he drove to the Palace. ‘It +is perfectly natural that they should have made friends.’ But it +really would be very galling if after the failure of Lady Chūjō to +get herself made Empress, Lady Kumoi should through this boy-and-girl +affair lose her chance of becoming Empress Presumptive. + +Now as always, he was really on very good terms with Genji; but, just +as in old days, their interests sometimes clashed, and Chūjō lay awake +a long while calling to mind their boyish rivalry and later jealousies. +The old princess saw all that was going on; but Yūgiri was her +favourite grand-child, and whatever he did she accepted as perfectly +justified. But she too was very much irritated by various conversations +that she overheard, and henceforward watched over the situation with +all the concentration of which her vigorous and somewhat acrid nature +was capable. + +Only two days later Tō no Chūjō came to his mother’s rooms again. The +princess was extremely flattered and pleased; it was seldom that he +honoured her with two visits in such rapid succession. Before receiving +him she had her hair set to rights and sent for her best gown; for +though he was her own child he had become so important that she never +felt quite sure of herself in his presence, and was as anxious to make +a good impression as if he had been a complete stranger. It was soon +evident on this occasion that he was in a very bad temper: ‘I hesitated +to come again so soon,’ he said; ‘I am afraid your servants must think +it very strange. I know I am not so competent as my father and cannot +look after you as he did; but we have always seen a great deal of one +another and, I hope, always shall. Look back over all that time, and +I do not think you will be able to recall one occasion upon which +there has been any sort of breach or misunderstanding between us. It +never occurred to me as possible that I should ever come here with the +express purpose of scolding you, least of all about an affair of this +particular sort; but that is why I am here..'. The old princess +opened her eyes very wide and, under all the powder and paint that +she had hurriedly applied when she heard of his coming, she visibly +changed colour. ‘To what are you alluding?’ she asked. ‘It would indeed +be surprising if you suddenly insisted upon picking a quarrel with a +woman of my age. I should like to hear what it is all about.’ He quite +agreed; it would be lamentable if after so many years of unbroken +affection a difference should arise between them. Nevertheless he +proceeded: ‘The matter is quite simple. I entrusted to your care a +child from whom I myself had unfortunately been separated during her +early years. I was at the time very much occupied with the future of my +other daughter and was much exercised in mind to discover that, despite +all my efforts, I could not do for her all that I had planned. But I +had absolute confidence that this other child at any rate could be +coming to no harm: I now find that quite the opposite is the case, and +I think I have every right to complain. You will tell me, I know, that +the young gentleman in question is a very fine scholar. He may for all +I know be on his way to becoming the most learned man in the world; but +that does not alter the fact that these two are first-cousins and have +been brought up together. Should it become known that they are carrying +on an intrigue, it would look as though very lax standards prevailed +in your house. Such a thing would be considered scandalous even in any +ordinary family.... I am thinking of Yūgiri’s future quite as much +as that of my own child. What both of them need is a connection with +quite new people; they would in the end find such an alliance as this +too obvious and uninteresting. And if I on my side object to the match +on these grounds, you may be sure that Genji, when he hears of it, +will insist upon the boy looking further afield. If you could yourself +do nothing to forestall this attachment, you might at least +have informed me of its existence. I could then have had a chance of +arranging the match, despite all its disadvantages, before the matter +became the talk of the whole town. You could not have done worse than +to leave these young people to their own devices.’ + +That the matter was so serious as this had never occurred to Princess +Ōmiya at all, and she was horrified. ‘I entirely agree with you’; +she said. ‘But how could I possibly know what was going on all the +while in the minds of these two children? I am sure I am very sorry +it has happened; indeed I have quite as much reason to lament over it +as you have. But I think it is the young pair themselves, and not I, +who ought to bear the blame for what has happened. You have no idea +of all that I have done for this girl since you first sent her to me. +She has had advantages such as it would never have occurred to you to +suggest, and if, through a blindness very natural in a grandmother, I +have too long regarded the boy’s friendship for her as a matter of no +particular consequence, what reason is there to think that any harm has +as yet been done? All your information on the subject is founded on +the chatter of good-for-nothings who take a pleasure in damaging the +reputations of every one round them. If you were to look into these +stories you would probably find they were pure inventions, and stupid +inventions at that!’ ‘Not at all!’ said Tō no Chūjō hotly. ‘It is not +a question of slanders or lies. The way in which these two carry on +together is a common matter for jest among your own ladies-in-waiting. +It is a most disagreeable situation and I am worried about it’; and +with that he left the room. + +The news of all this rumpus soon went the round of the aged servants at +the Great Hall and there was much wringing of hands. In particular the +ladies whose conversation had been overheard felt that, without +meaning any harm, they had done irreparable damage, and could not +imagine how they could have been so rash as to begin discussing such a +subject directly His Excellency left the room. + +Tō no Chūjō next looked in upon the young lady herself, and could +not help being somewhat melted by her innocent and appealing air. He +therefore passed on and went to look for her nurse. ‘I understood when +I engaged you,’ he said, ‘that you were young; but one can be young +without being infantile, and I supposed you had your wits about you +like other people. I seem to have made a great mistake....’ To these +sarcastic remarks it was impossible to make any reply; but the nurse +said afterwards to one of her assistants: ‘How is one expected to +prevent these things? Just the same might have happened if she had +been the Emperor’s favourite daughter! In old stories the lovers are +generally brought together by some go-between, but we certainly cannot +be accused of having played any such part as that, for these two have +been allowed to be together as much as they chose for years past; and +if my Lady thought they were so young that there was no harm in it, +what reason was there for us to interfere? But they have been seeing +much less of each other for some while past, and the last thing in the +world I should have suspected was that anything wrong could possibly +have been going on. Why, the little gentleman looks quite a child; I +can’t believe such things have ever entered his head.’ + +So the nurse afterwards declared. But while she was actually being +scolded she merely hung her head, and Tō no Chūjō said at last: ‘That +will do. I am not going to mention this business to anyone else at +present. I am afraid a good many people must have heard about it, but +you might at least contradict any rumours that you hear going +about.... As for the young lady, I intend to have her moved to my +palace as soon as I can arrange it. I think my mother has acted very +imprudently; but she could not possibly have foreseen that you nurses +would behave with such imbecility.’ + +So they were all going to move to the Prime Minister’s palace! Such +was the young nurse’s first thought, and she found this prospect so +attractive that, though she knew the loss of Lady Kumoi would be +a sad blow to the old princess, she could not feel otherwise than +elated. ‘There now, only think of it!’ she said, harping back to Tō no +Chūjō’s injunction to secrecy. ‘And I had half a mind to go round to +the Inspector’s house and tell the little lady’s mama! I should have +thought this Prince Yūgiri was good enough for anyone; but of course +he does not count as a member of the Royal Family, and they say Lady +Kumoi’s mama has very grand ideas indeed.’ It was clearly no use saying +any more to such a featherhead as this, and Kumoi herself was so young +that it would be mere waste of breath to lecture her. + +The old princess was upset by the affair; but she was fond of both her +grand-children, perhaps especially of Yūgiri, and at the bottom of her +heart she was extremely gratified at their having taken such a fancy +to each other. On reflection it seemed to her that Tō no Chūjō had +been very heartless about the matter and had also treated it far more +seriously than it deserved. After all he had taken very little trouble +about this girl himself, and had never once indicated that he had any +ambitious plans for the future. Indeed, it really seemed as though +the idea of offering her to the Imperial Household never occurred to +him till this trouble arose, and had been invented, thought the old +Princess indignantly, merely in order to furnish Tō no Chūjō with a +colourable grievance. He had certainly never really counted on +this Palace plan; and granted that it was only an afterthought, he +must often have contemplated the possibility of the child marrying +a commoner. If so, where could a better match be found? Yūgiri was +certainly, as regards birth and general advantages, more than the equal +of Kumoi; indeed, she could not conceive that any lady would not feel +proud to have him as her husband. This no doubt was due to a certain +grandmotherly partiality on Ōmiya’s part; but be that as it may, she +felt very cross with Tō no Chūjō. She was however determined not to let +him know it, lest he should become even further incensed against the +young people. + +Quite unconscious of all the fuss that had been going on at the Great +Hall, Yūgiri a few days afterwards again presented himself at his +grandmother’s apartments. On the last occasion there had been so many +people about that he had not managed to get a word in private with Lady +Kumoi, and he now arrived very late in the evening, hoping that things +would be quieter at such an hour. Old Lady Ōmiya was usually delighted +to see him, and full of jokes and nonsense. But to-day she was terribly +grave. ‘I am very much upset,’ she said at last, after talking stiffly +of various indifferent matters, ‘because your uncle is displeased with +you. It is unkind of you to take advantage of us all like this, because +naturally I get the blame just as much as you. But that is not why I am +talking about it. I mention the matter because you might not otherwise +discover that you are in disgrace....’ The affair was so much on his +mind already that after she had spoken two words he guessed all that +was coming. The colour mounted to his cheeks: ‘I don’t know what he +means,’ he said. ‘Since I began my lessons I have been shut up all the +time and have scarcely seen anyone. Certainly nothing has happened that +my uncle could possibly object to....’ It went to her heart to see +what pain it cost him to discuss the subject with her. ‘There, there,’ +she said kindly. ‘Be careful for the future that is all I ask,’ and she +turned the conversation on to other matters. + +Since in the last month he had done little more than exchange notes +with his sweetheart, Yūgiri supposed that even this was considered +improper and was very depressed. Supper was served, but he would not +eat, and presently it seemed that he had fallen asleep. But in truth +he was very wide awake indeed, listening with all his ears till the +last sounds of people retiring and settling down for the night had +everywhere ceased. Then he stole softly to the door of Lady Kumoi’s +room, which was usually fastened on a latch, but not bolted or barred. +To-night it would not yield an inch. No sound was audible within. +With beating heart he leant close up against the door. Despite his +care, he had made a certain amount of noise, and this woke her. But +now, as she lay listening, she could hear no other sound save that of +the wind rustling among the bamboos, and very faint and far away, the +mournful cry of wild-geese overhead. Perhaps because, young though she +was, the events of the last few weeks had left her far more unhappy +than her elders knew, there now came into her head the lines:[75] +‘The wild-geese that with sorrowful cry ...,’ and thinking that no +one could hear her, she repeated the poem to herself aloud, causing +Yūgiri’s heart to beat yet more wildly than before. By what stratagem +could he prevail upon her to open the door? ‘I am Kojijū,’ he said in +a feigned childish voice. ‘Do let me in!’ This Kojijū was the child +of Kumoi’s old wet-nurse; so desperate was he that any ruse seemed +justifiable if he could but bring her to the door. But now all was +silent, for Kumoi, ashamed that he should have heard her speaking +to herself, lay with her face pressed deep into the pillows. His ruse +had not deceived her, and it was misery to picture him standing behind +the bolted door. Presently some of the servants in an adjoining room +began moving about, and for a moment both he, standing without, and she +on her bed within remained rigidly motionless. Soon however all was +quiet again and he made his way back to his own bedroom. As he passed +by Princess Ōmiya’s apartments he heard the noise of some one sighing +heavily. Evidently she was still awake; most likely indeed she had +heard all that had happened! He crept past the door with the utmost +caution and it was with feelings of intense shame and guilt that he at +last reached his room. He rose early and wrote a letter to Kumoi which +he hoped to convey to her by the hand of that same Kojijū whose voice +he had counterfeited in the night. But the child was nowhere to be +seen, and Yūgiri left the house in great distress. + +What Kumoi on her side could not endure was being scolded by her father +and grandmother, and she did all she could to avoid it. But she had +not the least idea what they meant when they talked about her ‘future’ +or her ‘reputation.’ To be whispered about by nurses and servants +flattered her vanity and was in itself far from acting as a deterrent. +One thing about which her guardians made terrible scenes, seemed to +her most harmless of all; this was the writing of letters and poems. +But though she had no idea why they forbade it, she saw that it led to +scoldings, and henceforward Yūgiri did not receive a single line from +her. Had she been a little older she would have found out some way of +circumventing these restrictions; and Yūgiri, who already possessed far +more capacity to shift for himself, was bitterly disappointed by her +tame surrender. + +To Princess Ōmiya’s great distress Tō no Chūjō no longer paid +his customary visits to the Great Hall. Nor did he ever discuss the +matter with his wife,[76] who was only able to guess, from his general +ill-humour and irritability, that something had gone amiss. He did +however one day allude to his disappointment concerning their own +daughter, Lady Chūjō: ‘I think,’ he said, ‘that during the ceremonies +of Investiture[77] it would be better that our daughter should not be +at Court. A quiet time at home would not do her any harm; and although +she has been passed over on this occasion she really stands very well +with the Emperor. Indeed, she is in such constant attendance upon him +that it is a great strain on her gentlewomen who are kept running +about at every hour of the day and night ...’; and he applied for +her release. The Emperor Ryōzen was extremely loth to part with her +and at first refused. But Tō no Chūjō seemed to attach such extreme +importance to the matter that in the end he agreed to let her spend a +short holiday at home. ‘I am afraid it will be rather dull for you,’ he +said to his daughter when she arrived; ‘but I have arranged for Kumoi +to visit us, so you will have someone to play with. They have been +very good to her at her grandmother’s; but I find that the house is +frequented by a certain rather undesirably precocious child, with whom, +as was inevitable, she has struck up a great friendship. She is far too +young for that kind of thing....’ And he began at once to arrange for +Lady Kumoi’s removal from the Great Hall. + +Princess Ōmiya whose one consolation, since the death of her daughter +Aoi, had been the arrival of Lady Kumoi, was appalled at this sudden +loss. No hint had been given to her that it was not final, and she saw +herself deprived at a stroke of the one happiness which promised to +alleviate the miseries of old age and decay. And added to all this +was the fact that her own son had taken sides against her and become +quite indifferent to her sufferings. She charged him with this, but +he hotly denied it. ‘No, no,’ he said, ‘it is nonsense to say that I +have turned against you. I think that you have behaved foolishly in one +particular matter, and shall continue to think so. Lady Chūjō is going +through rather a difficult time at Court just now and I have thought it +best to withdraw her for a little while. It is very dull at my house +and it is a great comfort for her to have a young companion. This is +only a temporary measure ...’ and he added: ‘Do not think that I am +ungrateful for all your kindness to the child. I know that I can never +thank you enough....’ + +Such speeches did little to re-assure her. But it was evident that +he was determined to part the two children and it was no use arguing +about that. ‘How heartless men are!’ she said. ‘Whatever may have been +your reasons for acting like this, the chief result has been that I +have lost the confidence of both these children. Perhaps that has not +occurred to you? Besides, even if Kumoi is no longer here, Prince +Genji, though he is far from being an unreasonable man, is certain to +feel that my house is no safe place for young people, and now that he +has got Yūgiri at the Nijō-in, he will keep him there permanently.’ + +Soon afterwards Yūgiri called again at the Great Hall. He was +far exceeding the number of visits for which his grandmother had +stipulated; but he still hoped that by some accident he might get +the chance of speaking a word or two to the playmate who had been so +cruelly wrested from him. To his disgust the first thing he saw when he +approached the Great Hall was Tō no Chūjō’s carriage. He stole away to +his old room, which was still kept in readiness for him, and remained +in hiding for some while. Not only Tō no Chūjō but all his sons +were there—Kashiwagi, Kōbai, and the rest, but Princess Ōmiya would not +receive any of them behind her curtains-of-state. Sayemon no Kami and +Gon Chūnagon, who were not her own children but had been born to the +late Minister of the Left by another wife, were also in the habit of +calling, out of respect to their father’s memory, and on this occasion, +thinking to please and interest their step-mother, they had brought +their little sons with them. But the only result was that, comparing +them in her mind with her favourite Yūgiri, she thought them very +ugly, unattractive little boys. Yūgiri and Kumoi, these were the only +grandchildren for whom she really cared. And now the little girl who +had been her delight, upon whom she had lavished so much tenderness and +care,—Kumoi, who for all these years had never left her side, was to be +taken from her and put into a stranger’s hands. + +‘I have to go to the Palace now,’ said Tō no Chūjō quickly. ‘I will +come back towards nightfall and fetch Kumoi away.’ + +He had thought the matter out very carefully and decided that even +if it should afterwards prove necessary for him to consent to this +match, it was not one which he would ever be able to regard with any +satisfaction. However, when Yūgiri had begun his career it would +be possible to see of what stuff he was made and also to judge the +strength of his feeling for Kumoi. If the boy still remained anxious +to marry her the betrothal could be announced in a proper way and the +whole affair be carried through without discredit to anybody. But so +long as they were allowed to frequent the same house, however much +they were scolded and watched, it was, considering their age, only to +be expected that they would get into a scrape. He could not put it +like this to his mother, because to do so would have hurt her +feelings; and wishing to avoid any suggestion that Princess Ōmiya had +been to blame, he used both at the Great Hall and at his own house the +convenient excuse that Lady Chūjō was at home and needed a companion. + +Soon after Tō no Chūjō left, Kumoi received a note from Princess +Ōmiya: ‘Your father is going to take you home with him this evening. +I hope you understand that this is entirely his doing. Nothing that +happens will ever change my feelings towards you.... Come and see me at +once....’ + +The child presented herself immediately. She was dressed in her +smartest clothes and, though only eleven and still undeveloped, she had +quite the gracious air of a little lady paying a farewell call. She +felt very uncomfortable while Princess Ōmiya told her how lonely she +would be without any one to play with, and how (though the houses were +not far apart) it would seem as though she had gone to live a long, +long way off. All this trouble, the child felt dimly, as she listened +to the recital of Ōmiya’s woe, came from having made friends with that +little boy, and hanging her head, she began to weep bitterly. At this +moment Yūgiri’s old nurse happened to come in. ‘Well, I _am_ sorry you +are going away from us!’ she said to Kumoi. ‘I always thought of you +as _my_ lady, just as much as Prince Yūgiri was _my_ little gentleman. +We all know what his Excellency means by taking you away like this; +but don't you let him down you!’ The girl felt all the more wretched +and ashamed, but did not know how to reply. ‘Don’t say such things to +the child!’ cried Princess Ōmiya. ‘It may all come right in the end, +without any need to upset the poor little thing like that!’ ‘The truth +is,’ answered the nurse indignantly, ‘that all of you think my young +gentleman is not good enough for her. You and his Excellency may take +it from me that Yūgiri is going to be the finest gentleman in the +land....’ Just as the outraged nurse was voicing this opinion +Yūgiri entered the room. He at once recognized the figure of Kumoi +behind her curtains-of-state; but there seemed only a very remote +chance of getting any conversation with her, and he stood upon the +threshold looking so disconsolate that his old nurse could not bear it. +A long, whispered consultation took place. At last Ōmiya yielded and +under cover of a fading light, at a moment when the movements of the +other guests created a useful division, Yūgiri was smuggled behind the +little princess’s curtains-of-state. They sat looking at one another +with nothing to say; they felt very shy and the eyes of both of them +began to fill with tears. ‘Listen,’ said Yūgiri at last. ‘Your father +thinks that by taking you away from me he can make me stop caring for +you. But by all his cruelty he has only made me love you far more than +before. Why have I not seen you for so many weeks? Surely we could have +found some way....’ He spoke childishly; but there was a passion in his +voice that strangely stirred her. ‘Darling, I wanted to see you,’ was +all she could say in reply. ‘Then you still love me?’ She answered with +a quick, childish nod. + +But now the great lamp was brought in, and a moment afterwards there +was a shouting and clatter of hoofs in the courtyard outside. ‘There +are the outriders, he’ll be here in a minute!’ cried one of the maids +in great alarm, and Kumoi shuddered from head to foot. She attempted +indeed to rush from the room; but Yūgiri held her fast. The nurse, who +was to go with her to the Prime Minister’s Palace, now came to fetch +her and to her dismay saw the outline of a boy’s figure behind the +curtains-of-state. What folly to allow this kind of thing at the last +moment! The old princess must suddenly have taken leave of her wits! +‘Well, you ought to be ashamed of yourself,’ she muttered to Yūgiri as +she dived behind the curtains to fetch her charge away. ‘I don’t +know what your uncle would say if he knew this. I have half a mind in +any case to tell Madam Inspector,[78] and you’ll catch it then. You may +be Prince Genji’s boy and I don’t know what else, but you are only in +the Sixth Rank, and have no right to meddle with such a little lady as +this!’ It was true enough. He had been kept back, while every one else +was promoted; and awakening suddenly to an intense indignation against +the powers which had put this affront upon him, he recited the lines: +‘Pale was the robe they made me wear; but tears of blood long since +have stained it to a hue no tongue should dare deride.’ ‘Hard driven as +we are and thwarted at every hour, how can our love spring upward and +put on a deeper hue?’ So Kumoi answered; but she had scarcely said the +lines when some one announced that His Excellency was waiting, and the +nurse bustled her out of the room. There were three coaches altogether +to carry away Tō no Chūjō, the little girl and her belongings. Yūgiri +heard them start one after another. Princess Ōmiya presently sent for +him to come to her, but he pretended to be asleep. All night he lay +sobbing bitterly, and very early next morning, through a world white +with frost, he hurried back to the Nijō-in. His eyes were swollen with +weeping and he feared that if he stayed longer at the Great Hall his +grandmother would insist upon seeing him. All the way home the most +melancholy ideas came one after another into his mind. Thick clouds +covered the sky and it was still quite dark: ‘Unbroken is my misery as +this dull sky that day on day has bound the waters of the earth in ice +and snow.’ + +It fell to Genji’s lot to supply a dancer for the Gosechi Festival, +and though he was merely supposed to choose the girl from among the +children of his retainers and leave the rest to her parents, he went +much further than this, taking a great interest even in the +costumes of the little girls who were to wait upon the dancer and +hurrying on the seamstresses when he found that they were leaving +things to the last moment. The Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers +was put in charge of the dresses of those who were to be present at +the Early Levee before the ceremony. Genji determined that the dancer +supplied by his household should make a brave show, and he equipped her +with a body of pages and attendants such as the Empress herself might +well have been proud of. Last year, owing to the National Mourning for +Fujitsubo, there had been no public festivals or amusements of any +kind, so that people looked forward to the coming occasion with an +unusual zest, and the families whose turn it was to supply a dancer +vied with one another in the pains they took over her training and +equipment. One came from the household of the Inspector, one from that +of Tō no Chūjō’s step-brother Sayemon no Kami, and one from Yoshikiyo, +who was now Governor of Ōmi. This year the Emperor had expressed a +desire to retain all the dancers in his service at the Palace, and +consequently both these gentlemen had chosen daughters of their own +to send to the Festival. The dancer from Genji’s household was the +daughter of Koremitsu, who had now become Governor of the province +of Tsu. She had the reputation of being a particularly lively and +good-looking child. When Genji first suggested it, Koremitsu did not +at all take to the idea, feeling that his family had no claim to such +an honour. But every one pointed out to him that the Inspector had +shown no hesitation, though he was only offering a bastard daughter; +and in the end Koremitsu reluctantly consented, believing like the +others that it would give his daughter a chance of permanent service +at the Palace. He trained the girl at home, taking endless trouble in +teaching her dance-steps and also in selecting the attendants +who were to look after her, and on the night before the ceremony +he took her to the Nijō-in himself. Meanwhile Genji was inspecting +the little train-bearers and pages. They had been chosen from among +the prettiest children in the service of the various ladies in his +household, and seldom can so engaging a troupe have been collected. +His next business was to teach them the curtsey which they would have +to make when they were presented to the Emperor, and each one of them +showed such readiness and perfect grace in executing the unaccustomed +movements that Genji said, laughing: ‘We should have no difficulty in +producing a second dancer from this household, if one were wanted!’ +There were still however more of them than were actually required for +the ceremony, and since all seemed equally good-looking and equally +intelligent, he was obliged to select them according to the rank of +their parents. + +All this while Yūgiri sat hour after hour in his room, giving no heed +to what was going on in this busy house. He was too depressed to work +at his books, and lay all day on his couch staring blankly in front of +him. But at last he grew tired of doing nothing, and thinking that a +little company might distract him, he strolled out to join the throngs +who filled the palace. + +He was well-born, handsome, and, in a subdued way, very agreeable in +his manners. The gentlewomen of the household took no small interest in +him, but he remained somewhat of a mystery to them. With Murasaki he +had few dealings and was indeed barely acquainted with her. Why it was +that he held aloof from her he would have been at a loss to explain. +Was it that some dim instinct warned him against a repetition of his +father’s disastrous entanglements?[79] + +The Gosechi dancer had already arrived and a space had been screened +up for her to rest in while she was waiting for her rehearsal. +Yūgiri sauntered towards the screens and peeped to see what was behind +them. There she lay or rather crouched in her corner, looking very +miserable. She seemed about the same age as Kumoi but rather taller, +and was indeed far more obviously good-looking. It was growing dark and +he could not see her features very clearly, but there was certainly +something about her which reminded him of the girl he loved. The +resemblance was not enough to make him feel in any way drawn towards +her; but his curiosity was aroused, and to attract her attention he +rustled the train of her skirt. She looked up startled and on the spur +of the moment he recited the lines: ‘Though you become a servant of +Princess Hill-Eternal[80] who dwells above the skies, forget not that +to-night I waited at your door.’ She heard that he had a pleasant +voice, and evidently he was young. But she had not the least idea who +he was, and was beginning to feel somewhat nervous when her attendants +came bustling along with her dancing-clothes, and as there were now +several other people in the room, Yūgiri was obliged to slip away as +unobtrusively as he could. He did not like to show himself at the +Festival in that wretched blue dress and was feeling very disconsolate +at the prospect of being left all alone, when he heard that by Imperial +permission cloaks of any colour might be worn at to-day’s ceremony, and +set off to the Palace. He had no need to hide; for he had a charming +young figure upon which, slender though he was, his man’s dress sat +very well indeed, and every one from the Emperor downwards noticed him +on this occasion with particular pleasure and admiration. + +At the ceremony of Presentation the dancers all acquitted themselves +very creditably and there was little to choose between the +children in any way, though Koremitsu’s and the Inspector’s were +generally voted to have the best of it as regards good looks. But +pretty as they all were, none of the others was handsome to anything +like the same degree as the girl from Genji’s household.[81] She +had been brought up in a far humbler way than the others and at any +ordinary gathering would have been quite eclipsed by them. But now, +when all were dressed for the same part, her real superiority became +evident. They were all a little older than the Gosechi dancers usually +are, which gave to this year’s ceremony a character of its own. Genji +was present at the ceremony of Introduction, and the spectacle at once +recalled to his mind that occasion, years ago, when he had so much +admired one of the Gosechi maidens,—the daughter of the Provincial +Secretary.[82] And now on the evening of the Festival Day he sent +a messenger to her house with the poem: ‘Be thankful that upon the +maidens of the Sky time leaves no mark; for upon me, to whom long since +you waved your dancing-sleeve, age and its evils creep apace.’ + +She began to count the years. What a long time ago it had all happened! +She knew that this letter did but betoken a brief moment of reminiscent +tenderness; but it gave her pleasure that he had succumbed to this +feeling, and she answered: ‘It needed but your word to bring them +back, those winter days; though long since faded is the wreath that +crowned them with delight.’ Her answer was written on a blue diapered +paper in a boldly varied hand, heavy and light strokes being dashed in +with an almost cursive sweep,—a somewhat mixed style but, considering +the writer’s position in life, highly creditable, thought Genji as he +examined the note. + +Meanwhile with _his_ Gosechi dancer Yūgiri made no further +progress, though he thought a good deal about her and would have +cultivated her acquaintance, had it been possible to do so without +attracting attention. Unfortunately she seemed as a rule to be under +extremely close surveillance and he was as yet wholly inexperienced in +the art of circumventing such precautions. But he had certainly taken a +great fancy to her; and though no one could replace Kumoi, a friendship +with this girl might, he felt, do something towards distracting him +from his misery. + +All four dancers were to be retained at the Palace; but for the +moment they had to retire from Court in order to perform the ceremony +of Purification. Yoshikiyo’s daughter was taken off to Karasaki, +Koremitsu’s to Naniwa, and soon the dancers had all left Court. A +post in the Lady of the Bedchamber’s office was vacant, and when the +Emperor suggested that Koremitsu’s daughter might care to take it Genji +naturally accepted for her with alacrity. This was bad news for Yūgiri. +Young and unimportant as he was, he could not possibly try to restrain +her from accepting such a post; but it would be too bad if she never +even found out who it was that had made friends with her that evening +at the Nijō-in; and though Kumoi still occupied the chief place in +his thoughts, there were times when this subsidiary failure weighed +heavily upon him. The girl had a brother who was a page at Court and +had also often waited upon Yūgiri at Genji’s palace. ‘When is your +sister going into residence at Court?’ he asked the page one day, after +making conversation with him for some time. ‘I do not know; some time +this year, I suppose,’ the boy answered. ‘She has an extraordinarily +beautiful face,’ said Yūgiri. ‘I envy you for seeing her so constantly. +I wish you would arrange for me to meet her again.’ ‘How can I?’ said +the boy. ‘I am much younger than she. We have not been brought up +together, and I do not myself see her except on special occasions. +I have no chance of introducing her to gentlemen such as you....’ ‘But +a letter, surely you could manage a letter?’ and Yūgiri handed him a +note. The boy had been brought up to consider this kind of thing very +underhand; but Yūgiri was so insistent that, much against his will, +he at last consented. The girl had more taste in such matters than is +usual at her age, and the appearance of the note greatly delighted her. +It was on a greenish paper, very thin and fine, laid down on a stout +backing. The hand was naturally still somewhat unformed; but it did not +promise ill for the future. With the letter was a poem: ‘Hidden though +I was, surely the Maid of Heaven perceived with what enthralment I +witnessed the waving of her feathery sleeves?’ + +Brother and sister were reading the note together when Koremitsu +suddenly entered the room and snatched it out of their hands. The girl +sat motionless, while the blood rushed to her cheeks. But her brother, +indignant at Koremitsu’s high-handed manner of dealing with the +situation, strode angrily out of the room. ‘Who sent this?’ Koremitsu +called after him. ‘Prince Genji’s son,’ the boy answered, turning +back; ‘the one who is studying for the College. At any rate it was he +who gave me the note and asked me to bring it here.’ Koremitsu, who +regarded Yūgiri as a mere child, burst into a hearty laugh. ‘Well, you +have chosen a pretty little prince for your sweetheart,’ he said; ‘I +thought this letter came from some grown-up person. Of course there +can be no harm in fun of that sort ...’, and showing the letter to his +wife he proceeded to tell her what a nice child Yūgiri was. ‘If it ever +should happen,’ he said to her in an aside, ‘that one of these young +princes took a fancy to our daughter, we should do much better for her +that way than by keeping her at the Palace, where she can never play +more than a very humble part. There’s this comfort about it, that +if Prince Yūgiri is anything like his father he will continue to show +an interest in her when he grows up. You know I have always told you +that once Prince Genji takes a fancy to people, he never forgets them, +come what may. Look at what he has done for that girl from Akashi.’ +Nevertheless they hurried on the preparations for their daughter’s +departure to Court. + +After this brief diversion Yūgiri became more than ever pre-occupied +with his main misfortune. To Kumoi it was impossible even to send a +letter, and all his time was now spent in endless speculations as to +where and how he should ever see her again. He no longer visited the +Great Hall, for the sight of the rooms where they used to play together +evoked memories that he could not endure. But he was almost equally +miserable at home, and shut himself up for days on end in his own +room. Genji now put him under the care of the Lady from the Village of +Falling Flowers. ‘His grandmother is not likely to live very long,’ +Genji said to her. ‘You have known him since he was quite small and +will be much the best person to look after him.’ She always accepted +with docility whatever duties he put upon her, and now did her best +to look after the boy, of whom she was indeed very fond. Yūgiri liked +her, but he did not think she was at all pretty. It seemed to him that +Genji, who had gone on being fond of this uninteresting lady for so +many years, would surely be able to understand that if one fell in +love with a handsome creature like Kumoi one was not likely to give +her up all in a minute. No doubt the Lady from the Village of Falling +Flowers had quite other qualities to recommend her. She was docile and +equable, and Yūgiri saw that it would be very convenient only to fall +in love with people of that sort. However, if they were as plain as +the lady who had been commissioned to look after him, love would be a +painful business. But perhaps his father thought her beautiful +or intelligent? The question was hard to answer, but one thing was +certain: Genji managed not to spend much time alone with her. ‘No,’ +said Yūgiri to himself, ‘I cannot remember his doing more than bring +her some little present or chat with her for a few moments from outside +her screen ever since I have been in the house.’ + +About this time old Princess Ōmiya took her vows, and though this +necessitated a change of costume, it did not prevent her being as +anxious as ever to make a good impression, and she continued to take +the greatest possible pains with her appearance. Yūgiri had indeed +always known people with whom appearances counted for a great deal; +while the lady who had been put in charge of him, having never been +particularly handsome, had, now that she was no longer quite young, +grown somewhat angular, and her hair was becoming scanty. These things +made a disagreeable impression upon him. + +As the year drew towards a close, Princess Ōmiya’s whole attention +became occupied with the delightful task of making ready the young +scholar’s New Year clothes. It was a splendid costume, _that_ he +could not deny. But it did not seem to interest him very much. ‘I +don’t know why you have ordered all these clothes,’ he said at last; +‘I have no intention of going to Court at all on New Year’s day. Why +did you suppose I meant to?’ ‘What a way to talk!’ she said in bitter +disappointment. ‘One would think you were already an old gentleman +hardly able to drag yourself about!’ ‘One can have the feeling that +one’s life is over, without being old,’ he muttered, his eyes filling +with tears. She knew quite well what was on his mind, and felt very +sorry for him. But she thought it better not to discuss the matter and +said gently: ‘A man ought to bear himself with pride even if he knows +that he deserves a higher rank than that which for the moment has +been accorded to him. You must not let it depress you so much. Why do +you go about looking so wretched nowadays? It really becomes quite +insufferable.’ ‘I don’t know what you are talking about,’ answered +Yūgiri. ‘Why should I go to Court if I do not choose to? As a matter +of fact, it is very unpleasant to be only in the Sixth Rank. People +notice it and make remarks. I know it is only for the present; but all +the same I had rather stay at home. I am sure that if my grandfather +were alive, he would never allow me to be treated like this. One would +think my father might do ♦something about it; but he does not seem to +care what becomes of me. I saw little enough of him before; but now he +has put me to live right away in the new eastern wing, and never comes +near me at all. The only person who takes any trouble about me is this +‘Falling Flowers’ whom he keeps there....’ ‘Poor child,' said Princess +Ōmiya, ‘it is a terrible misfortune to have no mother, in whatever +rank of life one may be. But before long you will be old enough to +go out into the world and shift for yourself. Then people will soon +learn to respect you. Meanwhile you must try to be patient and not +take these things so much to heart. Your grandfather would indeed have +done more for you if he were here. For though your father holds the +same position, he does not seem to have the same influence over people +as your poor grandfather did. They still tell me that your uncle Tō +no Chūjō is a man of very remarkable talents, and I used to think so +myself. But I have noticed a change in him lately, and it becomes +greater every day. However, things must indeed be in a bad way if a +young boy like you, with all his life before him, can talk so gloomily +about the future....’ + +♦ “someting” replaced with “something” + +On New Year’s day Genji, being Grand Minister Extraordinary, did not +go to Court, but following the precedent set by Fujiwara no +Yoshifusa[83] celebrated the rites of the season at his own palace. +On the seventh day a White Horse was presented to the Grand Minister +with exactly the same ceremonies as to the Emperor at Court; indeed, +in many respects the festivities arranged by Genji exceeded in their +magnificence anything that had ever been seen on such occasions save +at the Palace itself. Towards the end of the second month came the +Imperial Visit to the ex-Emperor Suzaku. It was too early for the +blossoms to be quite at their best, but immediately afterwards came +the ‘month of fasting’ in memory of the Emperor’s mother, so the Visit +could not be postponed. Fortunately the cherry blossom was unusually +early this year and in Suzaku’s gardens it already made a delightful +show. A tremendous cleaning and polishing was set afoot at his palace +in preparation for the Emperor’s arrival; and meanwhile the noblemen +and princes who were to accompany his Majesty thought of nothing but +their new clothes. They had been ordered to wear dove-grey lined with +pale green; the Emperor himself was to be dressed all in crimson. By +special command Genji was also in attendance on the day of the Visit, +and he too wore red; so that frequently during the day the figure of +the Emperor seemed to merge into that of his Minister, and it was as +though the two of them formed but one crimson giant. Every one present +had taken unusual pains with his appearance, and their host, the +ex-Emperor, who had grown into a far better-looking man than at one +time seemed possible, evidently took much more interest in such matters +than before, and was himself magnificently apparelled. + +Professional poets had not been summoned for the occasion, but only +some ten scholars from the College who had the reputation of being able +to turn out good verses. + +The subjects chosen were modelled on those given out to the +competitors for posts in the Board of Rites. It was thought that it +would be a good thing to give Yūgiri some idea of the themes given out +at Palace examinations. That his mind might not be disturbed, each poet +was set adrift on the lake all by himself, and it was with considerable +alarm that these timid scholars, few of whom had ever set foot in a +boat before, saw their moorings loosed and felt themselves gliding +further and further away from the shore. As dusk drew on, boats with +musicians on board began to circle the lake, and their tunes mingled +agreeably with the sighing of the mountain wind. Here, thought Yūgiri, +was a profession which brought one into pleasant contact with the world +and at the same time entailed studies far less arduous than those to +which he had been so heartlessly condemned; and he wandered about +feeling very discontented. + +Later on, the dance called ‘Warbling of the Spring Nightingales,’ was +performed, and Suzaku, remembering that famous Feast of Flowers[84] +years ago said to Genji with a sigh: ‘What wonderful days those were! +We shall not see their like again.’ There were indeed many incidents +belonging to that time which even now Genji looked back upon with +considerable emotion, and when the dance was over, he handed the +wine bowl to Suzaku, reciting as he did so: ‘Spring comes, and still +the sweet birds warble as of old; but altered and bereft[85] are +they that sit beneath the blossoming tree.’ To this Suzaku replied: +‘To-day the nightingales have come to tell me of the Spring. Else had +no sunshine pierced the mists that hide my hermit’s-dwelling from +the world’s pomp and pride.' It was now the turn of Prince Sochi no +Miya, who had recently become President of the Board of War, to +present the bowl. He did so, reciting the verse: ‘Speak not of change; +unaltered through all ages[86] shall the flute preserve their song, the +nightingales that in the spring-time warble on the swaying bough.’ This +was said with a glance towards the Emperor, and in loud clear voice, +that the compliment might not be missed. Ryōzen was indeed gratified by +the graceful allusion, but as he took the bowl he answered modestly: +‘If birds still sing and a few faded blossoms deck the tree, it is but +in remembrance of those happier days when Virtue ruled the world.’ This +was said with great earnestness and humility. All the above poems were +exchanged privately and only overheard by a few privileged persons, and +there were others which did not get recorded at all. The pavilion of +the musicians was some way off, and Suzaku suggested that those about +him should send for their instruments and make a little music of their +own. Sochi no Miya accordingly played on the lute, Tō no Chūjō on the +Japanese zithern, while Suzaku himself played to the Emperor on the +thirteen-stringed zithern. The Chinese zithern was as usual played by +Genji. It was seldom that so gifted a band of performers chanced to +meet in one place, and the concert that followed was of unforgettable +beauty. Several of the courtiers present had good voices, and the songs +‘Was ever such a day!’ and the ‘Cherry Man’[87] were now performed. +Finally torches were lit all round the edge of the island in the lake, +and so the feast at last came to an end. But late as it was, Ryōzen +felt that it would be uncivil on his part if he went away without +paying his respects to Suzaku’s mother, Lady Kōkiden, who was living in +the same house with him. Genji was naturally obliged to accompany +him. The old lady received them in person and was evidently very much +gratified by the visit. She had aged immensely since he last saw her; +but here she still was, and it irritated him to think that she should +hang on to life in this way, when a much younger woman like Fujitsubo +was already in her grave. ‘My memory is not so good as it was,’ said +Kōkiden, ‘but this visit of yours has brought back the old days to my +mind more clearly than anything that has happened to me for a long +time past.’ ‘Those upon whom I leaned have now been taken from me one +after another,’ the Emperor replied, ‘and hitherto the year has had +no spring-time for me. But my visit to your house to-day has at last +dispelled my grief; I hope you will permit me to come here often....’ +Genji too had to make a suitable speech, and had even to ask if he also +might venture to call again. The procession left the house amid great +scenes of popular enthusiasm, which painfully reminded the old lady +of her complete failure to injure Prince Genji’s career. To govern he +was born, and govern he would despite all her scheming. ‘Well, such +is fate,’ she thought, and was almost sorry that she had wasted time +contending against it. + +It was natural that this visit should bring Oborozuki to his mind. +Not that he had altogether ceased corresponding with her; for lately +whenever an opportunity occurred, he had sent her a word or two of +greeting. And now there rose before him on his way home many delightful +recollections of the hours they had spent together. + +As for Kōkiden, despite her professions of good will she did as a +matter of fact intensely dislike all contact with the present Emperor +and his government. But it was sometimes necessary to communicate with +them concerning her own salary, or the preferment of her friends, and +on such occasions she often wished that she had not lived to see +an age which was in all respects the reversal of what she herself had +striven for. Old age had not improved her temper, and even Suzaku found +her very difficult to get on with, and sometimes wondered how much +longer he would be able to endure so trying a partnership. + +So greatly had Yūgiri distinguished himself in the literary +competitions which marked that day’s festivity, that upon the strength +of them alone he was awarded the Doctor’s degree. Among those who had +competed were many who were far older than he and some who were thought +to possess remarkable ability. But besides Yūgiri only two others were +passed. When the time of the autumn appointments came round he received +the rank of Chamberlain. He longed as much as ever to see Lady Kumoi. +But he knew that Tō no Chūjō had his eye upon him, and to force his +way into her presence under such circumstances would have been so very +disagreeable that he contented himself with an occasional letter. She, +meanwhile, was fully as wretched as her young lover. + +Genji had long had it in his mind, if only he could find a site +sufficiently extensive and with the same natural advantages as the +Nijō-in, to build himself a new palace where he could house under one +roof the various friends whose present inaccessibility, installed as +they were in remote country places, was very inconvenient to him. He +now managed to secure a site of four _machi_[88] in the Sixth Ward +close to where Lady Rokujō had lived and at once began to build. + +The fiftieth birthday of Murasaki’s father Prince Hyōbukyō was in the +autumn of the following year. The preparations for this event were +of course chiefly in her hands; but Genji too, seeing that on this +occasion at any rate he must appear to have overcome his dislike of the +prince, determined to give the affair an additional magnificence +by holding the celebrations in his new house; and with this end in +view he hurried on the work of construction as fast as he could. +The New Year came, and still the place was far from finished. What +with spurring on architects and builders, arranging for the Birthday +Service, choosing the musicians, the dancers and the like, he had +plenty to keep him busy. Murasaki herself had undertaken the decking of +the scripture-rolls and images that would be used at the Service; as +well as the customary distribution of presents and mementos. In these +tasks she was aided by the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers, +and it was at this time that an intimacy sprang up between them such as +had never existed before. + +The rumour of these preparations soon reached Prince Hyōbukyō’s ears. +After the general amnesty which succeeded his return from Suma, Genji +in general made no difference between those who had remained loyal to +his cause and those who had stood aloof from him. But from the first +Hyōbukyō felt that in his case an exception was made. Over and over +again he found himself treated with marked coldness, and the refusal +to accept his younger daughter as a candidate for the Emperor’s hand, +together with a number of other small but vexatious incidents, finally +convinced him that he must at some time have given Genji particular +offence. How this had occurred he was at a loss to conjecture; it +was indeed the last thing in the world which he would have wished +to happen. The fact that, among the many women upon whom Genji had +bestowed his favours, it was Murasaki who had been chosen to be the +mistress of his house, gave to Hyōbukyō, as her father, a certain +worldly prestige. But it could by no means be said that he had hitherto +taken a personal share in any of his daughter’s triumphs. This time +however, a celebration in which Hyōbukyō necessarily played the +foremost part was being planned and prepared by Genji himself on a +scale which had set the whole country talking. The prince began to hope +that his old age would be lightened by a period of belated conspicuity, +and he began to feel very well pleased with himself. This intensely +irritated his wife, who could not endure that honours should come to +him through the influence of her step-child, and saw no reason why +Genji should so quickly be forgiven his obstructive attitude concerning +the Presentation of her own little daughter. + +The new palace was finished in the eighth month. The portions +corresponding to the astrological signs Sheep and Monkey[89] were +reserved for Lady Akikonomu’s occasional use, for they stood on ground +that her own suite of rooms had once occupied. The Dragon and Snake +quarters were for Genji himself; while the Bull and Tiger corner was to +be used by the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers. Finally the +Dog and Wild Boar quarters were made ready for the Lady from Akashi, +in the hope that she would at last consent to instal herself under his +roof. + +He effected great improvement in the appearance of the grounds by a +judicious handling of knoll and lake, for though such features were +already there in abundance, he found it necessary here to cut away +a slope, there to dam a stream, that each occupant of the various +quarters might look out of her windows upon such a prospect as pleased +her best. To the south-east he raised the level of the ground, and on +this bank planted a profusion of early flowering trees. At the foot of +this slope the lake curved with especial beauty, and in the foreground, +just beneath the windows, he planted borders of cinquefoil, of +red-plum, cherry, wistaria, kerria, rock-azalea, and other such plants +as are at their best in spring-time; for he knew that Murasaki was +in especial a lover of the spring; while here and there, in places +where they would not obstruct his main plan, autumn beds were cleverly +interwoven with the rest. + +Akikonomu’s garden was full of such trees as in autumn-time turn to +the deepest hue. The stream above the waterfall was cleared out and +deepened to a considerable distance; and that the noise of the cascade +might carry further, he set great boulders in mid-stream, against which +the current crashed and broke. It so happened that, the season being +far advanced, it was this part of the garden that was now seen at its +best; here indeed was such beauty as far eclipsed the autumn splendour +even of the forests near Ōi, so famous for their autumn tints. + +In the north-eastern garden there was a cool spring, the neighbourhood +of which seemed likely to yield an agreeable refuge from the summer +heat. In the borders near the house upon this side he planted Chinese +bamboos, and a little further off, tall-stemmed forest-trees whose +thick leaves roofed airy tunnels of shade, pleasant as those of the +most lovely upland wood. This garden was fenced with hedges of the +white deutzia flower, the orange tree ‘whose scent rewakes forgotten +love,’ the briar-rose, and the giant peony; with many other sorts of +bush and tall flower so skilfully spread about among them that neither +spring nor autumn would ever lack in bravery. + +On the east a great space was walled off, behind which rose the +Racing Lodge[90]; in front of it the race-course was marked off with +ozier hurdles; and as he would be resident here during the sports of +the fifth month, all along the stream at this point he planted the +appropriate purple irises.[91] Opposite were the stables with +stalls for his racehorses, and quarters for the jockeys and grooms. +Here were gathered together the most daring riders from every province +in the kingdom. To the north of Lady Akashi’s rooms rose a high +embankment, behind which lay the storehouses and granaries, screened +also by a close-set wall of pine-trees, planted there on purpose that +she might have the pleasure of seeing them when their boughs were laden +with snow; and for her delight in the earlier days of the winter there +was a great bed of chrysanthemums, which he pictured her enjoying on +some morning when all the garden was white with frost. Then there was +the mother-oak[92] (for was not she a mother?) and, brought hither from +wild and inaccessible places, a hundred other bushes and trees, so +seldom seen that no one knew what names to call them by. + +The move was to take place about the time of the Festival of the +Further Shore.[93] He had at first intended to transfer all the +occupants at one time. But it soon became apparent that this would +be too vast an undertaking, and it was arranged that Lady Akikonomu +should not arrive till somewhat later than the rest. With her usual +amiability and good-sense the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers +readily fell in with the suggestion that she and her party should +not form a separate cortège, but should join with Murasaki in the +ceremony of removal. Genji regretted that the latter was not going to +see her new domain at the season for which it had been principally +designed; but still, the move itself was a diverting experience. There +were fifteen coaches in the procession and almost all the outriders +were gentlemen of the fourth or fifth rank. The ordering of the +procession was not so elaborate as might have been expected, for it +seemed likely at the moment that too lavish a display might try the +temper of the common people, and some of the more ostentatious forms +and ceremonies were either omitted or abridged. + +But Genji was careful not to let it seem that any of these restrictions +had been carried out to the detriment of one lady rather than another. +The Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers had indeed nothing to +complain of, for Yūgiri had been told off to wait upon her exclusively +during the whole ceremony. The gentlewomen and maids found their +quarters in the new house admirably fitted out with every comfort and +convenience, and they were louder than ever in Genji’s praises. About +six days later the Empress Akikonomu arrived from the Palace. The +ceremony of her arrival, though it had been intended that the whole +move should be as little ostentatious as possible, was necessarily +a very sumptuous and imposing affair. Not only had she risen from +obscurity to the highest place which a woman can hold in the land, +but she had herself advanced so much in beauty and acquired so great +a dignity of carriage and mien that she now figured very large in the +popular imagination, and crowds flocked the road wherever she was to +pass. + +The various quarters of which the New Palace was composed were joined +by numerous alleys and covered ways, so that access from one to +another was easy, and no one felt that she had been bundled away into +a corner. When the ninth month came and the autumn leaves began to be +at their best, the splendours of Akikonomu’s new garden were at last +revealed, and indeed the sights upon which her windows looked were +indescribably lovely. One evening when the crimson carpet was ruffled +by a gusty wind, she filled a little box with red leaves from different +trees and sent it to Murasaki. As messenger she chose one of the +little girls who waited upon her. The child, a well grown, confident +little thing, came tripping across the humped wooden bridge that led +from the Empress’s apartments with the utmost unconcern. Pleased +though Murasaki was to receive this prompt mark of friendship, she +could for a while do nothing but gaze with delight at the messenger’s +appearance, and she quite forgot to be resentful, as some in her place +would have been, that an older and more dignified messenger had not +been entrusted with the Empress’s gift. The child wore a silk shirt, +yellow outside and lined with green. Her mantle was of brown gauze. +She was used to running about on messages in the Palace, had that +absolute faultlessness of turn-out and bearing which seems never to be +found elsewhere, and was far from being overawed at finding herself in +the presence of such a person as Lady Murasaki. Attached to the box +was the poem: ‘Though yours be a garden where only Spring-time is of +price, suffer it that from my house Autumn should blow a crimson leaf +into your hand.’ It was amusing to see how while Murasaki read the +missive, her ladies crowded round the little messenger and plied her +with refreshments and caresses. For answer, Murasaki placed in the lid +of the box a carpet of moss and on it laid a very little toy rock. Then +she wrote on a strip of paper tied to a sprig of five-pointed pine: +‘The light leaf scatters in the wind, and of the vaunted spring no +tinge is left us, save where the pine-tree grips its ledge of stone.’ + +The Empress thought at first that it was a real pine-branch. But +when she looked closer she saw that, like the rock, it was a work of +art—as delicate and ingenious a piece of craftsmanship as she had +ever encountered. The readiness of Murasaki’s answer and the tact +with which, while not exalting her own favourite season above that +of Akikonomu’s choice, she had yet found a symbol to save her +from tame surrender, pleased the Empress and was greeted as a happy +stroke by all the ladies who were with her. But Genji when she showed +it to him pretended to think the reply very impertinent, and to tease +Murasaki he said to her afterwards: ‘I think you received these leaves +most ungraciously. At another season one might venture perhaps upon +such disparagement; but to do so now that the Goddess of Tatsuta[94] +holds us all in sway seems almost seditious. You should have bided +your time; for only from behind the shelter of blossoming boughs could +such a judgment be uttered with impunity.’ So he spoke; but he was in +reality delighted to find these marks of interest and good will being +exchanged between the various occupants of his house, and he felt that +the new arrangement was certain to prove a great success. + +When the Lady of Akashi heard of the removal to the New Palace and +was told that only her own quarters, as spacious and handsome as any +of the rest, now remained untenanted, she determined at last to hold +aloof no longer. It was the Godless month when she arrived. She looked +around her and, mistrustful though she was, she certainly could see +no sign here that as regards either elegance or comfort she would be +expected to put up with less than her neighbours. And indeed Genji +saw to it that on all occasions she should rank in the eyes of the +household rather as mother of the little Princess for whom so brilliant +a future was in store, than as the scion of a poor and undistinguished +provincial family. + + [55] Genji is now 33. + + [56] In the 4th month. + + [57] The laurel and the hollyhock form the garlands worn by + worshippers at this festival. + + [58] Her mourning was of dark blue wistaria-colour. + + [59] Her period of mourning is almost over. There is a play of + words; _fuji_ = wistaria, and _fuchi_ = pool. + + [60] The presents of gay clothing which are customarily made to a + person who has just emerged from a period of mourning. + + [61] The professors speak in a mixture of antiquated Japanese and + classical Chinese the effect of which I do not attempt to + reproduce. + + [62] See my _Nō Plays_, p. 15 seq. + + [63] In eight lines. + + [64] Like Chʻe Yün and Sun Kʻang, two Chinese scholars who had not + money enough to buy candles (4th century A.D.). + + [65], [66] By Ssu-ma Chʻien, 1st century B.C., a book somewhat + longer than Gibbon’s _Decline and Fall_; by far the most + distinguished Chinese historical work. + + [67] The eldest daughter of Tō no Chūjō. + + [68] Murasaki’s father, who was anxious to place his younger + daughter at Court. + + [69] See vol. ii, p. 86. The rhyme-words at the end of the verses + were covered and the competitors had to guess them. + + [70] His first wife was a daughter of the Minister of the Right. + + [71] Akikonomu. + + [72] Kumoi. + + [73] The ex-Emperor Suzaku’s little son. + + [74] Using ‘major’ and ‘minor’ as translations of _Yō_ and _In_. The + six strings were tuned to the 1st, 5th, 9th, and 3rd, 7th, + 11th, semitones of the diatonic scale. + + [75] ‘Some such sorrow as mine they too must know, the wild-geese + that with sorrowful cry trail through the country of the + clouds.’ + + [76] A sister of Kōkiden. + + [77] Of Akikonomu as Empress. + + [78] Kumoi’s mother. + + [79] With Fujitsubo, his father’s concubine. + + [80] There is a legend which tells how certain dancing-maidens took + the fancy of the gods and were snatched up to the sky. + + [81] Koremitsu’s daughter. + + [82] See vol. ii, pp. 96 and 129. + + [83] 804–872 A.D. + + [84] See vol. i, p. 239 seq. + + [85] Allusion to the death of the old Emperor, Genji’s and Suzaku’s + father. + + [86] The song and dance ‘Warbling of the Spring Nightingales’ are + attributed to the mythical Chinese Emperor Yao, 3rd millennium + B.C. + + [87] See above, p. 45. + + [88] A _machi_ is 119 yards. + + [89] The points of the compass indicated by these animal + designations are, successively S.W., S.E., N.E., N.W. Houses + were planned with reference to Chinese astrological + conceptions. + + [90] Used for residence during the Kamo Festival. + + [91] Plucked on the 5th day of the 5th month. + + [92] _Quercus dentata_. + + [93] Lasts for a week, centring round the autumnal equinox. The + Further Shore is Nirvāna, to which Buddha carries us in the + Ship of Salvation. The festival is peculiar to Japan. + + [94] Goddess of the autumn; here compared to Akikonomu. The + secondary meaning is ‘You must be more civil to Akikonomu now + that she is Empress.’ + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + TAMAKATSURA + + +Though seventeen years had now passed since Yūgao’s death,[95] +Genji had not by any means forgotten her. He had indeed since those +early days seen much of the world and encountered the most divers +temperaments. But he had yet to find a disposition such as hers; and it +was with feelings of longing and contrition that he looked back upon +their intimacy. + +Though Ukon was not a creature of much account, she was the one person +to whom he could speak of the dead lady. He felt a considerable degree +of affection towards her, and during the years after Yūgao’s death +Ukon had practically lived at the ♦Nijō-in, being allowed to spend most +of her time with the older servants in the housekeeper’s room. Then +came the exile, and with Genji’s other servants she went across to the +western wing and entered Murasaki’s service. She gave the impression of +being a harmless, self-effacing creature, and it would have surprised +every one very much to know what was all the while going on in her +mind. For Ukon, particularly after the move to the New Palace, was +constantly appraising the relative positions of the great ladies who +ruled the house, and deciding what place her own dear mistress would +now be occupying, were she still alive. ‘Certainly,’ said Ukon to +herself, looking critically at the Lady of Akashi, ‘my poor lady would +not have been eclipsed by such as you!’ And indeed Ukon had seen +for herself that even where his feelings were far less strong than in +Yūgao’s case, there never came a time when Genji turned aside from +those who had opened their hearts to him, or behaved as though his +obligations towards them were at an end. However full might be the cup +of his affections, he did not allow a drop to spill; and though Yūgao +might not perhaps have been able to vie with so great a personage as +Murasaki, yet it was certain that were she alive she would now be +occupying one of the main apartments in the newly-finished house. + +♦ “Nijo-in” replaced with “Nijō-in” + +Such were the sad reflections that dwelt constantly in this solitary +lady’s heart. She had never attempted to get into communication with +the family of her late mistress, nor even to discover the present +whereabouts of the child[96] whom Yūgao had left behind at the house +in the Fifth Ward; partly through fear of being questioned concerning +her own part in the unhappy affair, partly because there seemed to be +no object in doing so. Moreover, Genji had strictly forbidden her to +mention the story to anybody, and though she had sometimes thought of +writing to the people at the house, she felt that it would be disloyal +to him to do so, and was entirely without news. She did, however, hear +long afterwards a report that the husband of the nurse in whose care +the child had been left was now working in a provincial Treasury and +that his wife was with him. It seemed probable that they had also taken +the child. + +This was indeed the case. Tamakatsura was four years old when she made +the journey to Tsukushi. The nurse, after months of vain endeavour to +discover Yūgao’s whereabouts, during which she had trudged weary and +weeping from quarter to quarter and house to house without finding +the least glimmer of news, had at last given up all hope. She +would have been glad enough for her own sake to keep the child, to whom +she had become fondly attached, as a remembrance of the mistress whom +she must now regard as forever lost. But there were also the little +girl’s own interests to consider. ‘We are humble people,’ thought the +nurse, ‘and Tsukushi[97] is a long way off. Perhaps it is my duty +to tell her father[98] of what has happened and give him the chance +of making some more suitable provision for her future.’ But it was +difficult for such people to communicate with a young gentleman of Tō +no Chūjō’s quality. ‘If I mention the child to its father,’ she said +to her husband one day, ‘he is certain to ask at once how I could have +been so foolish as to let our poor young lady out of my sight. And +indeed, I don’t know how I should answer him. Then again, it isn’t +as if he had ever seen much of the little creature. It would be like +handing her over to strangers, and I do not think that, when the time +came, I should ever find it in my heart to let her go. He may of course +refuse to do anything for her himself; but one thing is certain: if +he hears we are going off to Tsukushi, he will never give me leave to +take her with us!’ So the nurse declared to her husband and companions. +Though Tamakatsura was not much over three years old when her mother +disappeared, she had acquired all the airs and graces of a little +lady; she was remarkably good-looking and it was apparent that she +already had a strong will of her own. But now she was bundled on to a +common trading-ship in which no provision whatever had been made for +the comfort of the passengers; and as they rowed out into the bay, she +began to look very disconsolate. She still thought a great deal +about her mother, and, to re-assure herself, she said out loud: ‘I know +why we are travelling on this ship; we are going to see mother!’ She +returned to this idea again and again, but it received no confirmation +on any side, and at last she burst into tears. Two young women sitting +near by were also weeping, though they suddenly ceased to do so when +one of the sailors reminded them that ‘tears bring bad luck at sea.’ + +Skirting along the coast they passed much lovely scenery’, and the +nurse, remembering what delight her young mistress had taken in such +sights as these, wished for a moment that she were here to see them. +But then she remembered that but for Yūgao’s disappearance she and her +husband would never have been driven to accept this wretched post in +the provinces, and she gazed regretfully in the direction of the City, +envying even the waves that stole back so peacefully towards shores +‘that she, perhaps, would never tread again.’ Soon the rowers began +chanting in their rough, wild voices the song ‘Over the distant waves,’ +and the two young women, who were sitting face to face, again began to +weep bitterly. At last the ship rounded the Golden Cape, and knowing +that the coast which now came into view belonged not to the mainland, +but to the island of Tsukushi, the travellers felt that exile had +indeed begun. The old nurse’s heart sank; but she had her little charge +to see to and was most of the time far too busy to think of anything +else. Now and again she would drop off to sleep and then, as for some +time past, she would at once dream that her mistress appeared before +her. But always at Yūgao’s side there stood the figure of another +woman, who seemed to follow her wherever she went. The nurse woke +from these dreams sickened and afraid, and she felt, after each such +occasion, more certain than ever that Yūgao was no longer alive. + +Shōni, the nurse’s husband, had only been appointed to his post +in Tsukushi for a term of five years. But the position he held was a +very humble one and when the time came, he found it difficult to meet +the expenses of a long journey. Thus their departure for the capital +had to be postponed again and again. At last, after many months of +disappointment and delay, Shōni fell seriously ill. Tamakatsura was +now ten years old and was growing handsomer every day. Shōni, who knew +that his end was near, kept asking himself what would become of her +in this desolate place. He had always felt that in bringing her with +them they had acted somewhat unfairly to the child. For after all +she was Tō no Chūjō’s daughter, and her birth entitled her to better +surroundings than the cramped and dingy home of a provincial clerk. +But five years is not a very long time, and he had always confidently +expected that when his term of office ran out he would be able to take +her with him to Kyōto and put her into touch with her father. True, it +was possible that Chūjō would refuse to acknowledge her. But the City +is a big place, and Shōni made no doubt that, once he had settled her +there, a girl such as this would not have to wait very long before a +satisfactory opening occurred. For this reason he had done everything +in his power to raise funds for the journey. But now the last expedient +had failed and he knew that for his part he was fated never to leave +Tsukushi. During his last days he worried much over the injustice which +had been done to the child in detaining her so long away from the +Capital, and sending for his sons he said to them: ‘As soon as this is +over I want you to take Tamakatsura back to the City. The same day. +Don’t wait for the funeral....’ + +It was only known to the members of Shōni’s family that the little +girl was Tō no Chūjō’s daughter. To the other government clerks +and to the world in general she was a grand-daughter of Shōni’s whose +parents were in trouble of some kind and had left her in his charge. +But in the family she continued to be treated as ‘the young lady’, and +every sacrifice was made that she might have, so far as possible, the +upbringing to which her birth entitled her. Shōni’s sudden illness and +death naturally threw his wife into a piteous state of distraction; but +in the midst of her grief, one thought obsessed her; would they ever +be able to secure a passage back to the City and restore the little +girl to her relations? Unfortunately Shōni had been unpopular with the +local people and none of them would give any assistance. Thus the time +dragged on, wretched years full of anxiety and discouragement; and +still there seemed no prospect of return. + +Meanwhile Tamakatsura grew to womanhood. She had all her mother’s +beauty, and something more besides; for she seemed to have inherited +from her father’s side a singular air of high breeding, an aristocratic +fineness of limb and gesture, that in Yūgao, whose beauty was that of +the by-street rather than of the palace, had been entirely lacking. +She was of a very generous disposition, and in every way a most +delightful companion. Her fame soon spread through the island, and +hardly a day passed but some local squire or farmer attempted to get +into correspondence with her. These letters, written for the most part +in a rustic sprawling hand and very crudely expressed, were thrust +upon every member of the household in turn in the hope that he or she +would consent to act as a go-between. Clumsy documents of this kind +were calculated to arouse nothing but disgust in the breast of any +one save an islander, and no attention whatever was paid to them. At +last the persistence of her suitors became a nuisance, and the nurse +put it about that though the girl looked just like other people, she +suffered from a secret deformity which made it impossible for her +ever to marry. It had indeed (so the story ran) already been decided +that she was to live quietly with her ‘grandmother’ till the old lady +died, and after that was to enter a nunnery. But it soon became so +irritating to hear every one saying: ‘Isn't it sad about poor Shōni's +grand-daughter? They say she has got some terrible deformity,’ that the +old nurse could bear it no longer and again began racking her brains +to discover some way of getting the girl back to her father. Was it +conceivable that he would refuse to look after her? After all, he had +made quite a fuss over her when she was a baby. The old lady prayed +fervently to every Buddha and God that some way might present itself of +taking Tamakatsura to Kyōto. But the chance of any member of her family +getting away from Tsukushi was now remoter than ever. Her daughters had +married local people and her sons were employed in the neighbourhood. +In her heart of hearts she still cherished all sorts of schemes for +compassing the return of the whole family; but every day it became +more and more impossible that anything of the kind would ever happen. +Thus Tamakatsura grew up amid continual lamentations and repinings +and learnt to look upon life as one long succession of troubles and +disappointments, varied only by three great bouts of penance and +fasting, each January, May and September. The years went by. She was +now twenty; her beauty was at its height, and still it was being wasted +in this barbarous and sequestered land. + +Some while after Shōni’s death the family had moved along the coast +from Chikuzen to Hizen, hoping for a more peaceful existence in a place +where they were not known. But Tamakatsura’s reputation had preceded +her and, little inclined to credit the stories about her deformity, the +notabilities of the neighbouring countryside began pestering her +guardians with such assiduity that life soon became as harassing as +before. + +Among these suitors there was a certain Tayū no Gen who held a small +position under the Lord-Lieutenant of Tsukushi. He came of a family +that was very influential in Higo and the surrounding country, and +on this side of the island he ranked as a person of considerable +importance. He had, moreover, greatly distinguished himself in a +campaign against the insurgents. To a singular degree of hardihood +and endurance there was added in his nature more than a fair share +of sensuality. Women were his hobby; he kept a prodigious quantity +of them always about him, and was continually on the look-out for +opportunities of adding to the collection. The story of the beautiful +Tamakatsura and of the secret deformity which prevented her marriage +soon reached Tayū’s ears. ‘Mis-shapen, is she?’ he cried. ‘Frightened +that people will stare? She need not worry about that if she comes to +me. I’ll keep her locked up all right!’ and he wrote at once to Shōni’s +wife. The old lady, who knew his reputation, was sadly put about. She +replied that her grand-daughter was destined for the convent and that +no proposals of this kind could be entertained on her behalf. Tayū was +not used to be put off like this and, determined at all costs to get +his way, he came galloping over to Hizen at full speed. He immediately +summoned Shōni’s three sons to his lodging and said to them: ‘Let me +have that girl, and you may count on me as a friend for life. My name +goes for something on the Higo side....’ Two of the sons were easily +won over and promised to do as Tayū asked. They had, it is true, a +moment’s qualm at the thought of handing over Tō no Chūjō’s child to +this lawless provincial swashbuckler. But they had their own way to +make in the world, and they knew that Tayū had by no means exaggerated +the value of his own friendship and protection. On the other hand, +life on this part of the island with Tayū against one was a prospect +not to be faced with equanimity. If the girl had failed to take in the +world the place to which her rank entitled her, that was her father’s +fault, not theirs. She ought to be grateful that such a man as this +(after all, he was the principal person in the neighbourhood) should +have taken such a fancy to her. In Tsukushi at any rate there was no +prospect of doing better for her, and Tayū, angered by the refusal of +his proffered patronage would certainly stick at nothing.... So they +argued, doing their best to scare their mother into assent by stories +of Tayū’s violence and implacability. Only the second brother, Bugo +no Suke, stood out: ‘I know a good deal about this fellow,’ he said. +‘It’s too much of a shame. We simply cannot hand her over to him.... +Somehow or other one of us ought to do what our father asked us to—take +her back to Kyōto. There must be some way of managing it....’ Shōni’s +two daughters stood by weeping. Their mother was utterly heart-broken. +What had become now of all her plans for the girl’s happy future? Of +what use had been all these years of isolation and subterfuge, if at +the end Tamakatsura must be handed over to this coarse and unscrupulous +barbarian? + +It would indeed have astonished Tayū to know that any one in Hizen +considered him in such a light as this. He had always regarded +his attentions to women as favours bestowed; he flattered himself +moreover that he knew as well as any man how to conduct a gallant +correspondence, and his letters began to arrive thick and fast. They +were written in a clean, bold hand on thick Chinese paper, heavily +scented. It was evident indeed that he regarded himself as no mean +calligrapher. His style of composition was not an agreeable one, being +very tortuous and affected. Soon he made up his mind that the time had +come for him to call in person, and he arranged with the brothers +to meet him at their mother’s house. Tayū was a man of about thirty, +tall and solidly built. He was far from ill-looking; but he had the +power (which he frequently exercised) of assuming the most repulsively +ferocious expression. This, however, was reserved for his followers +and opponents. When in a good temper and engaged upon errands of love +he adopted an entirely different voice and manner. You would have +thought indeed that some little bird was chirruping, so dexterously +did he reduce his rough bass to a small silvery fluting: ‘As a lover, +I ought to have come after dark, ought I not? Isn’t that what courting +means—coming at night? So I was always told. What extraordinary weather +for a spring evening! In autumn of course one expects it....’ + +Upon a strict undertaking that she would not provoke Tayū in any way, +the old lady’s sons had allowed her to see him. He now turned to her +saying: ‘Madam, though I never had the pleasure of meeting your late +husband, I knew him to be a kind-hearted and upright gentleman. I +always hoped that I might one day have an opportunity of showing him +how much I appreciated his excellent qualities, and it was with deep +regret that I heard of his untimely decease. But though I can no longer +do him any service, I hope that you will allow me to show my regard +for him in some practical way. There is, I think, a young lady here, +(I am right, am I not?) a ward of yours, or relative of some sort? +If I venture to speak of her, it is with the greatest deference and +respect; for I understand that she is of extremely high birth. I assure +you that, were I ever privileged to make the acquaintance of such a +person, I should kneel before her like a slave, dedicate my life to her +service, humbly petition her.... But I see that you are looking at me +somewhat askance. You have heard stories no doubt.... Believe me, +there is no truth in them. I have in the past admired one or two of our +simple country girls; but surely you can understand that _this_ would +be a very different matter. Should you admit me to the friendship of +your exalted kinswoman, I would set her up as my paragon, my empress, +my all-in-all....’ He made many fair speeches of this kind. At last +the old nurse answered: ‘I should indeed consider my granddaughter +singularly fortunate to have aroused the interest of so distinguished +a gentleman as yourself, were it not for the fact that nature has +played upon her a cruel trick at birth.... Sir, I have seldom spoken +of this to any one before; but I must assure you that the poor girl’s +unhappy condition has for years past been a sore trouble to me. As for +offering her hand in marriage to any one—that is entirely out of the +question....’ ‘Pray don’t make so many apologies,’ cried Tayū. ‘Were +she the most blear-eyed, broken-legged creature under Heaven, I’d have +her put right for you in a very short while. The truth of the matter +is, the Gods and Buddhas in the temples round here owe a good deal to +me, and I can make them do pretty much whatever I choose....’ So he +bragged; but when, assuming that his offer had already been accepted, +he began pressing the old lady to name a day, she hastily changed the +subject, saying that summer would soon be coming, that the farmers +were needing rain, plying him in fact with all the usual topics of +the countryside. He felt that before he left he ought to recite a few +verses of poetry, and after a long period of silent meditation, he +produced the following: + + If she does not want to be married, + I shall go to the pine-tree Bay + And complain to the God of the Mirror;[99] + Then I need hardly say + That I shall get my way. + +‘I don’t think that’s such a bad poem,’ he said smiling awkwardly. +The nurse was in far too agitated a condition to indulge in literary +pastimes. Utterly unable to produce any sort of reply, she begged her +daughters to answer in her stead. ‘But mother darling,’ the young +ladies protested, ‘if _you_ cannot think of anything to say, still +less can we....’ At last after much painful cogitation, the old lady +recited the following poem, speaking as though she were addressing +herself as much as him: ‘Unkind were it indeed should the Guardian +of the Mirror frustrate the prayers of one[100] who year on year hath +been his and his alone.’ ‘What’s that?’ cried Tayū rushing towards +her. ‘How dare you say such a thing?’ So sudden was his onrush that +Shōni’s wife jumped almost out of her skin, and she turned pale with +fright. Fortunately her daughters were not so easily scared, and one of +them, laughing as though an absurd misunderstanding had occurred, at +once said to Tayū: ‘What mother meant was this: she hopes that after +all the trouble she has taken praying to the Gods of Matsura on our +little niece’s behalf, they will not allow the poor girl’s deformity +to turn you against her. But dear mother is getting old and it is not +always easy to make out what she is saying.’ ‘Oho! Yes, yes, I see,’ +he said, nodding his head reflectively. ‘I don’t know how I came to +misunderstand it. Ha! ha! Very neatly expressed. I expect you look +upon me as a very uncultivated, provincial person. And so I should be, +if I were at all like the other people round here. But I’ve been very +fortunate; you would not find many men even at the City who have had a +better education than I. You’d be making a great mistake if you set me +down as a plain, countrified sort of man. As a matter of fact, there’s +nothing I have not studied.’ He would very much have liked to try his +hand at a second poem; but his stock of ideas was exhausted and he +was obliged to take leave. + +The fact that two of her sons had openly sided with Tayū increased +the old lady’s terror and despair. All she could now think of was to +spirit the girl away from Tsukushi as rapidly and secretly as possible. +She besought the other son, Bugo no Suke, to devise some means of +conducting the girl to Kyōto; but Bugo no Suke answered: ‘I wish I +could; but I do not see how it is to be done. There is not a soul on +the island who will help me. We three used to hang together in old +times; but now they say I am Tayū’s enemy and will have nothing to do +with me. And with Tayū against one it is a difficult thing in these +parts to stir hand or foot, let alone take passage for several persons +in an out-going ship. I might find I was doing Lady Tamakatsura a very +ill turn....’ + +But though no one had told the girl of what was going on, she somehow +or other seemed to know all about it. She was in a state of the wildest +agitation, and Bugo no Suke heard her declare in tones of the utmost +horror that she intended to take her own life rather than accept +the fate which was in store for her. Bugo was certain that this was +no empty threat, and by a tremendous effort he managed to collect a +sum sufficient to cover the expenses of the journey. His mother, now +getting on in years, was determined not to end her days in Tsukushi. +But she was growing very infirm, and it would be impossible for her to +accompany them did not one of her daughters consent to come and look +after her. The younger sister, Ateki, had been married for several +years; but Bugo no Suke prevailed upon her at last to abandon her +home and take charge of their mother on the journey. The elder sister +had been married much longer; her family was already large and it was +obviously impossible for her to get away. The travellers were +obliged to leave home hastily late one night and embark at once; for +they had suddenly heard that Tayū, who had gone home to Higo, was +expected back in Hizen early next day (the twelfth of the fourth +month), and he would doubtless lose no time in claiming his bride. + +There were distressing scenes of farewell. It seemed unlikely that +the elder sister would ever see her mother again. But Ateki took the +parting much more calmly; for though Tsukushi had been her home for so +long, she was by no means sorry to leave the place, and it was only +when someone pointed back to the Matsura temple and Ateki scanning the +quay-side recognized the very spot where she had said goodbye to her +sister, that she felt at all downcast at the thought of the journey +before her. ‘Swiftly we row,’ she sang; ‘the Floating Islands vanish +in the mist and, pilotless as they, I quit life’s anchorage to drift +amid the tempests of a world unknown.’ ‘No longer men but playthings +of the wind are they who in their misery must needs take ship upon the +uncertain pathways of the deep.’ So Tamakatsura replied, and in utter +despair she flung herself face downward upon her seat, where she lay +motionless for many hours. + +The news of her flight soon leaked out, and eventually reached Tayū’s +ears. He was not the man to let his prey slip from him in this manner, +and though for an instant he was so angry and surprised that he could +do nothing at all, he soon pulled himself together, hired a light skiff +and set out in pursuit. It was a vessel specially constructed for swift +launching, and the wind was blowing hard from shore. He shot across +the harbour at an immense speed, with every inch of sail spread, and +a moment later was through the Clanging Breakers. Launched upon the +calmer waters of the open sea his craft scudded along more swiftly than +ever. Seeing a small boat chasing after them at reckless speed +the captain of the pursued vessel imagined that pirates were on his +track and pressed on towards the nearest port. Only Tamakatsura and +her companions knew that in that rapidly approaching craft there was +one who, by them at any rate, was far more to be dreaded than the most +ruthless pirate. Louder and louder beat the poor girl’s heart; so loud +indeed that the noise of the breakers seemed to her to have stopped. At +last they entered the bay of Kawajiri. Tayū’s vessel was no longer in +sight, and as their ship approached the harbour, the fugitives began to +breathe again. One of the sailors was singing a snatch of the song: + + So I pressed on from China Port to Kawajiri Bay + With never a thought for my own sad love or the babe that wept on + her knee. + +He sang in an expressionless, monotonous voice, but the melancholy +tune caught Bugo no Suke’s fancy and he found himself joining in: +‘With never a thought....’ Yes; he too had left behind those who were +dearest to him, with little thought indeed of what was to become of +them. Even the two or three sturdy youths who worked for him in the +house would have been some comfort to his wife and babes. But these +young fellows had clamoured to go with him and he weakly consented. He +pictured to himself how Tayū, maddened by the failure of his pursuit, +would rush back to Hizen and wreak his vengeance upon the defenceless +families of those who had worked against him. How far would he go? +What exactly would he do? Bugo no Suke now realized that in planning +this flight he had behaved with the wildest lack of forethought; all +his self-confidence vanished, and so hideous were the scenes which his +imagination conjured up before him that he broke down altogether and +sat weeping with his head on his knees. Like the ransomed prisoner +in Po Chü-i’s poem,[101] though returning to his native place, he had +left wife and child to shift for themselves amid the Tartar hordes. His +sister Ateki heard him sobbing and could well understand his dismay. +The plight of those who had remained at Hizen was indeed a wretched +one. Most of all she pitied the few old followers and servants who had +consented to come with them from the Capital long ago, believing that +in five years they would be back again in their homes. To leave these +faithful old people in the lurch seemed the basest of treacheries. They +had always (she and her brother) been used to speaking of the City as +their ‘home’; but now that they were drawing near to it they realized +that though it was indeed their native place, there was not within it +one house where they were known, one friend or acquaintance to whom +they could turn. For this lady’s sake they had left what for most of +their lives had been their world, their only true home—had committed +their lives to the hazard of wind and wave; all this without a moment’s +reflection or misgiving. And now that their precious cargo was within +hail of port, what were they to do with her? How were they to approach +her family, make known her presence, prove her identity? Endlessly +though they had discussed these points during the journey, they could +arrive at no conclusion, and it was with a sense of helplessness and +bewilderment that they hurried into the City. + +In the Ninth Ward they chanced to hear of an old acquaintance of their +mother’s who was still living in the neighbourhood, and here they +managed to procure temporary lodgings. The Ninth Ward does indeed +count as part of Kyōto; but it is an immense distance from the centre, +and no one of any consequence lives there. Thus in their effort to +find some influential person who would help them to fulfil their +mission, the brother and sister encountered only the strangest types +of market-women and higglers. Autumn was coming on, they had achieved +nothing and there seemed no reason to suppose that the ensuing months +would be any more profitable than those which they had just wasted. +Ateki who had relied entirely upon her brother and imagined him capable +of dealing with any situation that arose, was dismayed to discover +that in the City he was like a waterbird on shore. He hung about +the house, had no notion how to make enquiries or cultivate fresh +acquaintances, and was no better able to look after himself than the +youths he had brought with him from Tsukushi. These young fellows, +after much grumbling, had indeed mostly either found employment in +the neighbourhood or gone back to their native province. It grieved +Ateki beyond measure that her brother should be thus stranded in the +Capital without occupation or resource, and she bewailed his lot day +and night. ‘Come, come, Sister,’ he would say to her, ‘on my account +you have no cause to be uneasy. I would gladly come a good deal +further than we have travelled and put up with many another month of +hardship and waiting, if only I could get our young lady back among +the friends who ought to be looking after her. We may have spoilt our +own prospects, you and I; but what should we be feeling like to-day, +if we consented to let that monster carry her off to his infamous den? +But it is my opinion that the Gods alone can help us in our present +pass. Not far from here is the great temple of Yawata where the same +God is worshipped as in our own Yawata Temples at Hakozaki and Matsura, +where mother used to take the young lady to do her penances. Those two +temples may be a long way off, but the same God inhabits all three, and +I believe that her many visits to Hakozaki and Matsura would now +stand her in good stead. What if she were to go to the Temple here and +perform a service of thanksgiving for her safe journey to the Capital?’ +Bugo no Suke made enquiries in the neighbourhood and found out that +one of the Five Abbots, a very holy man with whom Shōni had been well +acquainted, was still alive. He obtained an interview with the old +priest and arranged that Tamakatsura should be allowed to visit the +Temple. + +After this they visited a succession of holy places. At last Bugo no +Suke suggested a pilgrimage to the Temple of the Hasegawa Kwannon. +‘There is no deity in Japan,’ he said, ‘who has in recent times worked +so many miracles as this Goddess of Hatsuse. I am told that the fame of +her shrine has spread even to China,[102] and far off though Tsukushi +is, I know that Lady Tamakatsura has for years past been deeply +interested in the achievements of this Divinity and shown an exemplary +piety towards her. I believe that a visit to Hatsuse would do more +for our young lady than anything else.’ It was decided that, to give +it a greater significance, the pilgrimage should be made on foot and, +despite her great age and infirmity, the old nurse would not be left +behind. Tamakatsura, wholly unused to such experiences, felt scared +and wretched as, pilgrims in front and behind, she tramped wearily on, +turning to right or left when she was bid, but otherwise too deeply +buried in her own thoughts to notice what went on around her. What +had she done, she asked herself over and over again, to deserve this +downtrodden existence? And as she dragged foot after foot along the +dusty road she prayed earnestly to Buddha, saying ‘O Much-Honoured +One, if my mother is indeed no longer in this world, grant that, +wherever it be, her soul may look upon me with compassion and her +prayers bring me quick release, that I may take refuge in the place +where her spirit dwells. And if she is still alive, grant, O Buddha, +that I may one day meet her face to face.’ So she prayed, and while she +did so suddenly remembered that it was a useless prayer. For she was +very young when Yūgao disappeared, had only the haziest recollection of +her appearance, and even if the prayer were answered, would certainly +pass her mother unrecognized! Dismal as these reflections would at +any time have been, they were doubly so now, worn out as she was by +the fatigue of the journey. The party had indeed travelled at a very +leisurely pace and it was not till the hour of the Snake, on the +fourth day, that they at last reached Tsuba Market.[103] Tamakatsura +was by this time more dead than alive; they attempted to improvise a +carrying-chair, but the pain in her legs was so great that she could +not bear to be moved, and there was nothing for it but to let her rest +at the inn. + +The party consisted of Bugo no Suke, two bowmen and three or four very +rough-looking boys to carry the luggage. The three ladies had their +skirts tucked in at the belt like country-women, and were attended only +by two aged crones who looked like broken-down charwomen. It would +indeed have been impossible to guess that any person of quality was +among them. + +They spent the time till dusk in trimming their holy lamps and +preparing such other emblems and offerings as are brought by pilgrims +to the Hasegawa Shrine. + +Going his rounds at nightfall the priest who owned the inn came +upon the two decrepit old serving-women calmly making a bed for +Tamakatsura in a corner of the best room of the house. ‘These +quarters have been engaged for the night by a gentlewoman who may +arrive at any minute,’ he said in consternation. ‘Be off with you at +once! Just fancy, without so much as a “by your leave”!’ They were +still staring at him helplessly, when there was a noise at the door +and it became evident that the expected guests had actually arrived. +They too seemed to have come on foot. There were two gentlewomen, +very well-conditioned, and quite a number of attendants both male and +female. Their baggage was on the backs of some four or five horses, +and though they wore plain liveries it was evident that the grooms +were in good service. The landlord was determined that the newcomers +should have the quarters which he had intended for them; but the +intruders showed no signs of moving, and he stood scratching his head +in great perplexity. It did indeed go to the hearts of Tamakatsura’s +old servants to turn her out of the corner where she was so comfortably +established and pack her away into the back room. But it was soon +apparent that the only alternative was to seek quarters in a different +inn, and as this would have been both humiliating and troublesome they +made the best of a bad job and carried their mistress to the inner +room, while others of the party either took shelter in the outhouses or +squeezed themselves and their belongings into stray angles and corners +of the main house. + +The new arrivals did not after all seem to be of such rank and +consequence as the priest had made out. But it was hard to guess +what manner of people they might be; for they concealed themselves +scrupulously from the gaze of their fellow-guests and hardly spoke to +one another at all. + +In point of fact, the person to whom Lady Tamakatsura had been thus +unceremoniously compelled to give place was none other than her +mother’s faithful maid, Ukon! For years past it had been the one +comfort of the solitary and grief-stricken old lady's existence to +make this pilgrimage, and Genji had always assisted her to do so with +as much comfort as possible. So familiar was the journey that it no +longer seemed to her in any way formidable; but having come on foot she +was quite ready for a rest, and immediately lay down upon the nearest +couch. Beside her was a thin partition of plaited reeds. Behind it she +could hear people moving about, and presently some one entered who +seemed to be carrying a tray of food. Then she heard a man’s voice +saying: ‘Please take this to my Lady. Tell her I am very sorry it is so +badly served; but I have done the best I can.’ From the tone in which +he spoke it was evident that the lady to whom these apologies were +to be conveyed was a person far above him in social position. Ukon’s +curiosity was aroused. She peeped through a crack in the partition, +and at once had the impression that she had seen the young man before. +Who could it be? She racked her brains, but could not imagine. It +would indeed have been strange had she been able to identify Bugo no +Suke, who was a mere child when she last saw him, while now he was a +full-grown man, much bronzed from exposure to the sun and winds of +Tsukushi, and dressed in the poorest clothes. ‘Sanjō, my Lady is asking +for you.’ So Bugo no Suke now cried, and to her astonishment Ukon saw +that the old woman who answered to this name was also certainly some +one whom she had once known. But here there could be no mistake. This +Sanjō was the one who had been in service with Ukon in Yūgao’s house, +and had afterwards (like Ukon herself) been one of the few servants +whom Yūgao took with her to the house in the Fifth Ward. It seemed +like a dream. Who was the Lady whom they were accompanying? +She strained her eyes; but the bed in the room behind the partition +was surrounded by screens and there was no possibility of seeing +its occupant. She had made up her mind to accost the maid Sanjō and +question her, when part of her doubt resolved itself spontaneously: the +man must be that boy of Shōni’s, ... the one they used to call Hyōtōda, +and the lady towards whom they showed such deference could be no other +than Tamakatsura, Yūgao’s child by Tō no Chūjō. In wild excitement she +called to Sanjō by name; but the old woman was busy serving the supper +and for the moment she took no notice. She was very cross at being +called away from her work like this, but whoever it was that wanted her +seemed to be in a great hurry, and presently she arrived, exclaiming: +‘I can’t make it out. I’ve spent the last twenty years in service on +the island of Tsukushi, and here’s a lady from Kyōto calling for me by +my own name, as though she knew all about me. Well, Madam, I am called +Sanjō. But I think it must be another Sanjō that you are wanting.’ As +she drew near Ukon noticed that the old woman was wearing the most +extraordinary narrow-sleeved overall on top of her frumpy old dress. +She had grown enormously stout. The sight of her brought a sudden flush +of humiliation to Ukon’s cheeks, for she realised that she herself +was an old woman, and as Sanjō now looked to her, so must she, Ukon, +for years past have appeared to all eyes save her own. ‘Look again! +Do you not know me?’ she said at last, looking straight into Sanjō’s +face. ‘Why, to be sure I do!’ cried the old lady, clapping her hands, +‘you were in service with my Lady. I was never so glad in my life. +Where have you been hiding our dear mistress all this while?... Of +course she is with you now?’ and in the midst of her excitement Sanjō +began to weep; for the encounter had brought back to her mind the days +when she was young. What times those had been! And how long, how +cruelly long ago it all was! ‘First,’ answered Ukon gravely, ‘you must +give me a little of your news. Is nurse with you? And what has happened +to the baby girl ... and Ateki, where is she?’ For the moment Ukon could +not bear to dash Sanjō’s hope to the ground; moreover it was so painful +to her to speak of Yūgao’s death that she now listened in silence to +Sanjō’s tale: mother, brother and sister were all there. Tamakatsura +was grown to be a fine young lady and was with them too. ‘But here I +am talking,’ said Sanjō at last, ‘when I ought to have run straight in +to tell nurse, ...’ and with this she disappeared. After their first +surprise the chief feeling of Ateki and her mother, upon the reception +of this news, was one of indignation against Ukon, whom they supposed +to have left their mistress in hiding all these years, callously +indifferent to the suspense and misery of all her friends. ‘I don’t +feel that I want to see her,’ said the old nurse at last, nodding in +the direction of Ukon’s room, ‘but I suppose I ought to go.’ No sooner, +however, was she sitting by Ukon’s couch, with all the curtains drawn +aside, than both of them burst into tears. ‘What has become of her, +where is my lady?’ the nurse sobbed. ‘You cannot imagine what I have +been through in all these years. I have prayed again and again that +some sign, some chance word, some dream might tell me where she was +hiding. But not one breath of news came to us, and at last I thought +terrible things—that she must be very far away indeed. Yes, I have +even imagined that she must be dead, and fallen then into such despair +that I hated my own life and would have ended it too, had not my love +for the little girl whom she left with me held my feet from the Paths +of Night. And even so, you see for yourself what I am.... It is but a +faint flicker of life....’ + +In this strain the nurse spoke on, supposing all the while that +Lady Yūgao herself was somewhere not far away. ‘How shall I tell her? +What am I to say?’ The same questions that tormented Ukon’s brain +during those first days after the funeral returned to her now with +redoubled urgency. But this could not go on; it was impossible not to +speak; and Ukon suddenly broke in upon the old nurse’s outpourings: +‘Listen!’ she said. ‘It is no use my telling you how it happened.... +But Lady Yūgao died a long while ago.’ + +After this there was silence, broken at last by the agonized and +convulsive sobbing of these three old women. + +It was growing dark, and now with lamps lit and offerings in their +hands the pilgrims were about to start for the temple. The women clung +to one another till the last moment and, still scarce knowing what +they did, were about to set out upon the road together, when Ukon +suddenly bethought herself of the astonishment which her attendants +must be feeling at this strange addition to the party; moreover Bugo +no Suke had as yet heard nothing of the meeting, and for the moment +the old nurse had not the heart to enter into a long explanation of +what had occurred. The two parties accordingly separated, Ukon scanning +with curiosity the pilgrims who filed past her into the street. Among +them was a girl, very poorly dressed; her hair was caught up in a +thin summer scarf, which held it tight but did not conceal it. In the +procession she walked some way ahead, but even the momentary back view +which Ukon was thus able to obtain convinced her that the girl was not +only of exceptional beauty, but also of a rank in life very different +from that of the shabby pilgrims who tramped beside her. When at last +they arrived the service was already in full swing and the temple +crowded to overflowing; for most of the pilgrims in whose company the +party from Tsukushi had set out from the city were sturdy-legged +peasants and working people who had pressed on through Tsuba without a +moment’s rest and long ago secured their places in the holy building. +Ukon, being an habitual visitor to the temple, was at once conducted +to a place which had been reserved for her immediately to the right +of the Main Altar. But Tamakatsura and her party, who had never been +there before and had, moreover, the misfortune to fall into the hands +of a very unenterprising verger, found themselves bundled away into the +western transept. Ukon from her place of privilege soon caught sight +of them and beckoned to them to join her. After a hasty consultation +with her son, during the course of which the nurse appeared to be +explaining, so far as was possible in a few words, who Ukon was and why +she had beckoned, the women of the party pushed their way towards the +altar, leaving Bugo no Suke and his two followers where the incompetent +sacristan had placed them. Though Ukon was in herself a person of no +consequence, she was known to be in Genji's service, and that alone, +as she had long ago discovered, was sufficient to secure her from +interference, even in such a place as this. Let the herd gape if they +chose and ask one another with indignation why two ill-dressed women +from the provinces, who had arrived at the last minute, were calmly +seating themselves in places reserved for the gentry. Ukon was not +going to have her young lady wedged into a corner or jostled by the +common crowd. She longed to get into conversation at once; but the +critical moment in the service had just arrived and she was obliged to +remain kneeling with head lowered. So it had come at last, this meeting +for which she had prayed year in and year out! And now it only remained +that Genji, who had so often begged her to find out what had become +of Yūgao's child, should welcome the discovery (as she felt sure he +would) and by his influence restore to this unhappy lady the place +at Court to which her birth entitled her. Such indeed was the purport +of her prayer as she now knelt at the altar by Tamakatsura’s side. + +In the crowded temple were pilgrims from every province in the land. +Among them the wife of the Governor of Yamato Province was conspicuous +for her elegance and consequential air, for most of the worshippers +were simple country people, very unfashionably dressed. Sanjō, who, +after so many years passed in barbarous Tsukushi, had quite forgotten +how town people get themselves up for occasions such as this, could +not take her eyes off the magnificent lady. ‘Hark ye,’ she said at +last in an awe-struck whisper to the nurse, ‘I don’t know what you’re +a-going to pray for to our Lady Kwannon. But I’m a-praying that if +our dear young lady can’t be wife to the Lord-Lieutenant[104] (as I +have always hoped she might be), then let her marry a Governor of this +fine province of Yamato. For a grander lady than that one there I’m +sure I've never seen! “Just do that,” I said to Lady Kwannon in my +prayer, “and you’ll be surprised at the wonderful offerings poor old +Sanjō will bring to your altar.”’ And smiting her forehead with her +hand, she began again to pray with immense fervour. ‘Well,’ said Ukon, +astonished by this extraordinary speech. ‘You _have_ become a regular +country-woman; there’s no doubt about it. Don’t you know that Madam +is Tō no Chūjō’s own daughter? That’s enough in itself; but now that +Prince Genji, who for her mother’s sake, would do anything for her, has +come into his own again, do you suppose there is any gentleman in the +land who would be too good for her? It would be a sad come-down indeed +if she were to become some paltry Governor’s wife!’ But Sanjō was not +thus to be put out of countenance. ‘Pardon me,’ she said hotly; ‘I +don’t know much about your Prince Genjis or such-like. But I do know +that I’ve seen the Lord-Lieutenant’s wife and all her train on their +way to the temple of Our Lady Kwannon at Kiyomizu, and I can tell you +the Emperor himself never rode out in such state! So don’t try to put +_me_ in my place!’ and unabashed the old woman resumed her attitude of +prayer. + +The party from Tsukushi had arranged to stay three days within the +precincts of the temple, and Ukon, though she had not at first intended +to stay for so long, now sent for her favourite priest and asked him +to procure her a lodging; for she hoped that these days of Retreat +would afford her a chance of talking things over quietly with the old +nurse. The priest knew by long experience just what she wanted written +on the prayer-strips which he was to place in the holy lamps, and +at once began scribbling ‘On behalf of Lady Fujiwara no Ruri I make +these offerings and burn....’ ‘That is quite right,’ said Ukon (for +Fujiwara no Ruri was the false name by which she had always referred +to Tamakatsura in discussing the matter with her spiritual adviser); +‘all the usual texts will do, but I want you to pray harder than ever +to-day. For I have at last been fortunate enough to meet the young lady +and am more anxious than ever that my prayer for her happiness may be +fulfilled.’ + +‘There!’ said the priest triumphantly. ‘Was there ever a clearer case? +Met her? Dear Madam, of course you have. That is just what I have been +praying for night and day ever since you were here last.’ And much +encouraged by this success he set to work once more and was hard at it +till daylight came. Then the whole party, at Ukon’s invitation, moved +to the lodgings that her _daitoko_[105] had reserved for her. Here if +anywhere she felt that she would be able to embark upon the story +which she found so difficult to tell. + +At last she was able to have a good look at the child for whose +happiness she had prayed during so many years. Tamakatsura was +undeniably ill-dressed and somewhat embarrassed in the presence of +strangers whom she felt to be taking stock of her appearance; but +Ukon was unfeignedly delighted with her, and burst out: ‘Though I am +sure I never had any right to expect it, it so happens that I have +had the good luck to see as much of fine ladies and gentlemen as any +serving-woman in the City. There’s Prince Genji’s own lady, Madam +Murasaki—I see her nearly every day. What a handsome young thing! I +thought there could be no one to compare with her. But now there’s this +little daughter from Akashi.[106] Of course she is only a child at +present. But she grows prettier every day, and it would not surprise me +if in the end she put all our other young ladies to shame. Of course +they dress that child in such fine clothes and make such a fuss of +her that it is hard to compare her with other children. Whereas our +young lady (she whispered to the nurse) dressed as she is at this +very minute, would hold her own against any of them, I dare swear she +would. I have sometimes heard Prince Genji himself say that of the +many beauties whom he has known, whether at Court or elsewhere since +his father’s time, the present Emperor’s mother[107] and the little +girl born at Akashi stand apart from all the rest. Not one other has +he known of whom you could say without fear of contradiction from any +living soul that she was perfection itself from tip to toe. Those +were his words; but for my own part I never knew Lady Fujitsubo; and +charming though the little princess from Akashi may be, she is still +little more than a baby, and when Prince Genji speaks of her in +these terms, he is but guessing at the future. He did not mention Lady +Murasaki at all in this conversation, but I know quite well that in +his heart of hearts he puts her above all the rest—so far indeed that +he would never dream of mentioning her in such a reckoning as this; +and, great gentleman though he is, I have heard him tell her again and +again that she deserves a husband a thousand times better than he. I +have often thought that having had about him at the start such peerless +ladies as those whom I have mentioned, he might well chance to end his +days without once finding their like. But now I see that I was wrong; +for Madam here is fully their match. Trust me, I shall not say anything +high-flown, nor would he listen to fine phrases such as “The light that +shines from her countenance is brighter than Buddha’s golden rays.” I +shall just say “See her, and you will not be disappointed.”’ So said +Ukon, smiling benevolently at the company. But the nurse, who knew +nothing, it must be remembered, of Genji’s connection with Yūgao nor of +any reason why he should interest himself in Tamakatsura, was somewhat +disconcerted. ‘I am sure I thank you very heartily for suggesting +this,’ she said; ‘and indeed you will believe that no one cares more +for this young lady’s future than I do, when I tell you that I gave up +house and hearth, quitted sons, daughters and friends, and came back to +the City which is now as strange to me as some foreign town—all this +only for Lady Tamakatsura’s sake; for I hated to see her wasting her +youth in a dismal place where there was not a soul for her to speak +to.... No indeed! I should be the last person to interfere with any +plan that promises to bring her to her own again; and I am sure that +among the grand people whom you have mentioned she would have a much +better chance of doing something for herself in the world.... But I +must say that, with her father at Court all the while, it seems +to me a queer thing to quarter her on a perfect stranger. Perhaps I +do not quite understand what you propose ... but wouldn’t it be more +natural to tell her father that she is here and give him a chance of +acknowledging her? That is what we have been trying to do, and we shall +be very glad if you would help us.’ The conversation was overheard +by Tamakatsura; she felt very uncomfortable at being thus publicly +discussed and, shifting impatiently in her seat, sat with her back +to the talkers. ‘I see you think I am taking too much upon myself,’ +said Ukon. ‘I know quite well that I am no one at all. But all the +same Prince Genji often sends for me to wait upon him and likes me +sometimes to tell him about anything interesting that I have seen or +heard. On one occasion I told him the story of Madam here—how she had +been left motherless and carried off to some distant province (for so +much I had heard). His Highness was much moved by the story, begged me +to make further enquiries and at once let him know all that I could +discover....’ ‘I do not doubt,’ said the nurse, ‘that Prince Genji is +a very fine gentleman. But it seems from what you tell me that he has +a wife of whom he is fond and several other ladies living with him as +well. He may for the moment have been interested in your story; but I +cannot imagine why you should suppose he wants to adopt her, when her +own father is so close at hand. It would oblige me if you would first +help us to inform Tō no Chūjō of Madam’s arrival. If nothing comes of +that....’ + +Ukon could keep up her end no longer. Unless she told the nurse +of Genji’s connection with Yūgao, further conversation would be +impossible. And having got so far as to confess that Genji had known +Yūgao, Ukon plunging desperately on finally managed to tell the whole +terrible story. ‘Do not think,’ she said at last, ‘that Genji has +forgotten all this, or will ever do so. It has been his one desire +since that day to find some means of expiating, in however small a +degree, the guilt which brought my lady to her unhappy end; and often +I have heard him long that he might one day be able to bring such +happiness to Lady Yūgao’s child as would in some sort make amends for +all that she had lost. Indeed, having few children, he has always +planned, if she could but be found, to adopt her as his own, and he +begged me to speak of her always as a child of his, whom he had placed +with country folk to be nursed. + +‘But in those days I had seen very little of the world and was so +much scared by all that had happened that I dared not go about making +enquiries. At last I chanced one day to see your husband’s name in a +list of provincial clerks. I even saw him, though at some distance, +the day he went to the Prime Minister’s palace to receive confirmation +of his new appointment. I suppose I ought to have spoken to him then; +but somehow or other I could not bring myself to do so. Sometimes I +imagined that you had left Lady Tamakatsura behind, at the house in the +Fifth Ward; for the thought of her being brought up as a little peasant +girl on the island was more than I could endure....’ + +So they spent the day, now talking, now praying, or again amusing +themselves by watching the hordes of pilgrims who were constantly +arriving at the temple gate. Under their windows ran a river called +the Hatsuse, and Ukon now recited the acrostic poem: ‘Had I not +entered the gate that the Twin Fir-Trees guard, would the old river of +our days e’er have resumed its flow?’ To this Tamakatsura answered: +‘Little knew I of those early days as this river knows of the hill from +whence it sprang.’ She sat gently weeping. But Ukon made no effort to +comfort her, feeling that now all was on the right path. Considering +Tamakatsura’s upbringing no one would have blamed her if there had +been a little country roughness, a shade of over-simplicity in her +manner. Ukon could not imagine how the old nurse had achieved so +remarkable a feat of education, and thanked her again and again for +what she had done. Yūgao’s ways had till the last been timid, docile, +almost child-like; but about her daughter there was not a trace of all +this. Tamakatsura, despite her shyness, had an air of self-assurance, +even of authority. ‘Perhaps,’ thought Ukon to herself, ‘Tsukushi is not +by any means so barbarous a place as one is led to suppose.’ She began +thinking of all the Tsukushi people she had known; each individual she +could recall was more coarse-mannered and uneducated than the last. No; +nurse’s achievement remained a mystery. + +At dusk they all went back to the temple, where they stayed that night +and most of the following day, absorbed in various spiritual exercises. +A cold autumn wind was blowing from the valley, and at its cruel touch +the miseries of the past rose up one by one before Shōni’s widow as she +knelt shivering at the Main Altar. But all these sad memories vanished +instantly at the thought that the child upon whom she had lavished her +care would now take the place that was her birth-due. Ukon had told +her about the careers of Tō no Chūjō’s other children. They seemed all +of them to be remarkably prosperous, irrespective of the rank of their +various mothers, and this filled the old lady with an additional sense +of security. + +At last the moment came to part. The two women exchanged addresses +and set out upon their different ways: Ukon to a little house Genji +had given her, not far away from his new palace; the others to their +lodgings in the Ninth Ward. No sooner had they parted than Ukon was +suddenly seized with a panic lest Tamakatsura should attempt to evade +her, as Yūgao had fled from Chūjō in days of old; and constantly +running between her house and theirs, she had not a moment’s peace of +mind. It was soon time for Ukon to be back at the new palace, and she +was not loath to end her holiday, for she was in a hurry to obtain an +interview with Genji and inform him of her success. She could not get +used to this new mansion, and from the moment she entered the gates she +was always astonished by the vastness of the place. Yet so great was +nowadays the number of coaches driving[108] in and out, that the crush +was appalling and Ukon began to wonder if she would ever get to the +house. + +She was not sent for that night, and lay tossing about on her bed, +thinking how best to make known her discovery. Next day, though it +so happened that a large number of ladies-in-waiting and other young +people had just returned from their holidays, Murasaki sent specially +for old Ukon, who was delighted by this compliment. ‘What a long +holiday you have been having!’ cried Genji to her when she entered. +‘When you were last here you looked like some dismal old widow-lady, +and here you are looking quite skittish! Something very nice must have +happened to you; what was it?’ ‘Sir,’ she answered, ‘it is quite true +that I have been away from the City for a whole week; but I don’t know +whether anything has happened that you would call nice. I have been +over the hills to Hatsuse (on foot too!), and came across someone +whom I was glad to meet again.’ ‘Who was that?’ asked Genji quickly, +and she was about to tell him when it occurred to her that it would +be much better to tell him separately, on some occasion when Murasaki +was not present. But then perhaps the whole thing would come round to +Murasaki’s ears and her mistress would be offended that Ukon had not +told her first.... It was a difficult situation. ‘Well then if you +must know ...’ Ukon was beginning, when suddenly there was a fresh +incursion of visitors, and she was obliged to withdraw. But later in +the day, when the great lamp had been brought in and Genji was sitting +quietly with Murasaki, he said that he would soon be ready for bed, and +sent for Ukon to give him his evening massage. + +Lady Murasaki was now almost twenty-eight, but never (thought the old +woman when she arrived) had she looked so handsome. It seemed indeed +as though her full charm had only just matured. Ukon had not seen her +mistress at close quarters for some months past, and could now have +sworn that even in that short space of time Lady Murasaki had grown +twice as handsome. And yet Ukon had no fears for Yūgao’s daughter. +There was indeed an undeniable difference between this splendid +princess and the shy girl from Tsukushi. But it was only the difference +between obscurity and success; a single turn of fortune would quickly +redress the balance. + +‘I do not like being massaged by the new young maids,’ Genji said to +Ukon when she arrived. ‘They let me see so plainly how much it bores +them to do it. I much prefer some one I have known for a long time ... +you, for example.’ No such preference had ever been noticed by those +about him, and smiles were secretly exchanged. They realized that Genji +had only said this in order to please and flatter the old lady. But +it was far from true that any of them had ever been otherwise than +delighted at the reception of such a command, and they thought the +joke rather a tiresome one. ‘Would you be angry with me, if I took to +consorting with elderly ladies?’ he whispered to Murasaki. ‘Yes,’ she +nodded, ‘I think I should. With you one never knows where one is. I +should be very much perturbed....’ All the while she was at work Genji +amused the old lady with his talk. Never had Ukon seen him so lively +and amiable. He had now placed the whole direction of public +affairs in Tō no Chūjō’s hands; the experiment was working well, and +such was Genji’s relief at escaping from the burden which had so long +oppressed him that he found it impossible to be serious for a minute. +To joke with Ukon, a very matter-of-fact old lady, was found by most +people to be out of the question. But Genji had a peculiar gift of +sympathy, which enabled him to penetrate the most obstinate gloom, the +most imperturbable gravity. + +‘Tell me about the interesting person whom you have discovered,’ he +went on. ‘I believe it is another of your holy men. You have brought +him back here, and now I am to let him pray for me. Have I not guessed +right?’ ‘No, indeed,’ Ukon answered indignantly; ‘I should never dream +of doing such a thing!’ And then, lowering her voice: ‘I have become +acquainted with the daughter of a lady whom I served long ago.... The +mother came to a miserable end.... You will know of whom it is I am +speaking.’ ‘Yes,’ said Genji ... ‘I know well enough, and your news is +indeed very different from anything I had imagined. Where has the child +been during all these years?’ ‘In the country,’ answered Ukon vaguely; +this did not seem a good moment for going into the whole story. ‘Some +of the old servants took charge of the child,’ she continued, ‘and are +still in her service now that she has grown up. They of course knew +nothing of the circumstances under which their former mistress.... It +was torture to speak of it; but I managed at last to tell them....’ +‘I think we had better talk about this some other time,’ Genji +interrupted, drawing Ukon aside. But Murasaki had overheard them. ‘Pray +do not trouble about me,’ she said with a yawn. ‘I am half-asleep in +any case; and if it is something I am not to hear....’ So saying she +covered her ears with her sleeves. + +‘Is she as handsome as her mother?’ Genji then asked. ‘I did not +at all expect that she would be,’ answered Ukon. ‘But I must say that I +have seldom seen....’ ‘I am sure she is _pretty_,’ he said. ‘I wonder +whether you mean anything more than that. Compared with my Lady...?’ +and he nodded towards Lady Murasaki. ‘No, indeed,’ said Ukon hastily; +‘that would be going too far....’ ‘Come,’ he said; ‘it would not be +going much farther than you go yourself. I can see that by your face. +For my part, I must own to the usual vanity of parents. I hope that +I shall be able to see in her some slight resemblance to myself.’ He +said this because he intended to pass off the girl as his own child, +and was afraid that part of the conversation had been overheard. +Having learnt so much, he could not resist the temptation to hear the +whole of Ukon’s story, and presently he took her into a side-room, +where they could discuss the matter undisturbed. ‘Well,’ he said, when +Ukon had satisfied his curiosity, ‘I have quite made up my mind what +to do with her. She shall come and live with me here. For years past +I have constantly wondered what had become of her, and dreaded lest +she should be throwing away her youth in some dismal, unfrequented +place. I am delighted indeed that you have re-discovered her. My only +misgiving concerns her father. I suppose I ought at once to tell him of +her return. But I do not quite see how to set about it; for he knows +nothing of my connection with Lady Yūgao, and I have never been able +to see that there was any use in enlightening him. He has already more +children than he knows what to do with, and the arrival in his house +of a fully-grown girl, whom he has not set eyes on since she was a +child-in-arms, would merely be a nuisance to him. It seems much simpler +that I, who have so small a family, should take charge of her; and it +is easy enough to give out that she is a daughter of mine, whom +I have been educating in the quiet of the country. If what you say of +her is true, it is certain that she will be a great deal run after. The +charge of such a girl needs immense tact and care; I do not think it +would be fair to saddle Tō no Chūjō with so great a responsibility.’ +‘That shall be as your Highness decides,’ answered Ukon. ‘I am sure, +at any rate, that if _you_ do not tell Tō no Chūjō, no one else will. +And for my part I had rather she should go to you than to any one else. +For I am certain you are anxious to make what amends you can for your +part in leading Yūgao to her miserable fate; and what better way could +there be to do this, than by promoting her daughter’s happiness by +every means in your power?’ ‘The fact that I ruined the mother might to +some people seem a strange reason for claiming custody of the child,’ +said Genji smiling; but his eyes were filled with tears. ‘My love for +her still fills a great part of my thoughts,’ he said after a pause. +‘You must think that a strange thing for me to say, considering how my +household is now arranged.... And it is true that in the years since +her death I have formed many deep attachments. But, believe it or not +as you will, by no one has my heart ever been stirred as it was by your +dear mistress in those far-off days. You have known me long enough +to see for yourself that I am not one in whom such feelings lightly +come and go. It has been an unspeakable comfort to me during all these +years that to you at least I could sometimes talk of your mistress, +sometimes ease my longing. But that was not enough. I yearned for some +object dear to her upon which I could lavish ceaseless pains and care. +What could be more to my purpose than that this orphaned child of hers +should thus be entrusted to my protection?’ + +His next step must be a letter to Tamakatsura herself. He remembered +Suyetsumu’s extreme incapacity in this direction, and feared +that Tamakatsura, after her strange upbringing, might prove to be a +hundred times more hesitating and inefficient. It was therefore in +order to know the worst as soon as possible that he now lost no time in +addressing her. His letter was full of the friendliest assurances; in +the margin was written the poem: ‘It shows not from afar; but seek and +you shall find it, the marsh-flower of the Island. For from the ancient +stem new shoots for ever spring.’ + +Ukon herself was the bearer of this letter; she also reported much of +what Genji had said to her, especially such expressions of cordiality +and goodwill as would tend to allay Tamakatsura’s apprehensions. He +also sent many handsome stuffs and dresses, with presents for her +nurse and other members of the party. With Murasaki’s consent the +Mistress-of-Robes had gone through all the store-cupboards and laid out +before him an immense display of costumes, from which he chose those +that were most distinctive in colour and design, thinking to astonish +and delight an eye used to the home-spuns of Tsukushi. + +Had all this kindness, nay even the smallest part of it, proceeded from +her own father, Tamakatsura would indeed have been happy. But to be +thus indebted to some one whom she had never seen and upon whom she had +not the smallest claim, was an uncomfortable experience. As for taking +up residence in his house—the prospect appalled her. But Ukon insisted +that such an offer could not be refused; and those about her argued +that so soon as she was decently set up in the world, her father would +repent of his negligence and speedily lay claim to her. ‘That a mere +nobody like old Ukon should be in a position to do any service at all +is in itself a miracle,’ they said, ‘and could not have happened were +not some God or Buddha on our side. For her to send a message to Tō +no Chūjō is, compared with what she has already done, the merest +trifle, and so soon as we are all more comfortably settled....’ Thus +her friends encouraged her. But, whether she accepted his invitation or +not, civility demanded that she must at least reply to his poem. She +knew that he would regard her cadences and handwriting very critically, +expecting something hopelessly countrified and out-of-date. This made +the framing of an answer all the more embarrassing. She chose a Chinese +paper, very heavily scented. ‘Some fault there must be in the stem of +this marsh-flower. Else it had not been left unheeded amid the miry +meadows by the sea.’ Such was her poem. It was written in rather faint +ink and Genji, as he eagerly scanned it, thought the hand lacking in +force and decision. But there was breeding and distinction in it, more +indeed than he had dared to look for; and on the whole he felt much +relieved. + +The next thing was to decide in what part of the house she was to +live. In Murasaki’s southern wing there was not a room to spare. The +Empress Akikonomu was obliged by her rank to live in considerable +state. Etiquette forbade that she should ever appear without a numerous +train of followers, and her suite had been designed to accommodate an +almost indefinite number of gentlewomen. There was plenty of room for +Tamakatsura here; but in such quarters she would tend to become lost +amid the horde of Akikonomu’s gentlewomen, and to put her in such a +place at all would indeed seem as though he expected her to assist in +waiting upon the Empress. The only considerable free space in the house +was the wing which he had built to contain his official papers. These +had for the most part been handed over to Tō no Chūjō, and what was +still left could easily be housed elsewhere. The advantage of those +quarters was that Tamakatsura would here be the close neighbour of +the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers, whose sensible and +affectionate nature would, he was sure, prove a great comfort to the +new arrival. And now that all was ready, it seemed to him impossible +to instal Tamakatsura in his household without revealing to Murasaki +the whole truth about the girl’s identity and his own dealings with her +mother. No sooner had he begun the story than he saw plainly enough +that she was vexed with him for having made a mystery of the matter +for so long. ‘I see that you are vexed,’ he said, ‘that I did not tell +you about all this before. But you have always known quite well that +I had many such attachments as this in the days before I knew you, +and I have never seen that there was any point in mentioning them, +unless some special circumstance made it necessary to do so. In the +present case, it is essential that some one should be acquainted with +all the facts, and I chose you rather than another merely because you +are a thousand times dearer to me than any of the rest.’ Then he told +her the whole story of his dealings with Yūgao. It was apparent to +her that he was deeply moved, and at the same time that he took great +pleasure in recalling every detail of their relationship. ‘Conversation +turns often upon such matters,’ he said at last, ‘and I have heard +innumerable stories of women’s blind devotion, even in cases where +their love was in no degree reciprocated. Passion such as this is +indeed rarely long withstood even by those who have gravely determined +to rule out of their lives every species of romance; and I have seen +many who have instantly succumbed. But such love as Yūgao’s, such utter +self-forgetfulness, so complete a surrender of the whole being to one +single and ever-present emotion—I have never seen or heard of, and were +she alive she would certainly be occupying no less important a place in +my palace than, for example, the Lady of Akashi is occupying to-day.... +In many ways, of course, she fell short of perfection, as indeed +is bound to be the case. She was not of great intelligence, nor +was her beauty flawless. But she was a singularly lovable creature....’ +‘Were she as much in your good graces as the Lady of Akashi, she would +have nothing to complain of ...’ broke in Murasaki suddenly; for the +Akashi episode still rankled sore. The little princess,[109] who +constantly visited Murasaki’s rooms, was playing with her toys not +far away, and Murasaki seeing her look so innocent and pretty, in her +childlessness forgave Genji the infidelity which had brought to her so +charming a little playmate and companion. + +These things happened in the ninth month; but Tamakatsura’s actual +arrival could not take place for some while afterwards, for though her +quarters had been chosen she still lacked attendants. The first thing +was to find her some pretty pages and serving-girls. Even in Tsukushi +the old nurse had managed to procure some very passable children +to wait upon her; for it sometimes happened that some one from the +City, having fallen upon evil days, would get stranded on the Island +and be glad to place his boy or girl in a respectable home. But in +the sudden flight from Tsukushi all these young people had been left +behind. Orders were given to market-women and trades-people to keep +their eyes open and report upon any suitable children whom they came +across; and in this way, as could scarcely fail to happen in so vast a +town, a fine batch of attendants was quickly brought together. Nothing +was said to them about Tamakatsura’s rank, and they were mustered +in Ukon’s own house, whither Tamakatsura herself now repaired, that +her wardrobe might be finally inspected, her staff fitted out with +proper costumes and instructed in their duties. The move to Genji’s +Palace took place in the tenth month. He had already visited the Lady +from the Village of Falling Flowers and prepared her for the +arrival of her new neighbours: ‘A lady to whom I was much attached, +being seized with a sudden melancholy, fled from the Court and soon +afterwards ended her days in a remote country place. She left behind a +daughter, of whom I could for years obtain no news. All this happened +many years ago and this daughter is now of course a full-grown woman; +but though I have been making enquiries ever since it was only quite +recently (and in the most accidental way) that I at last obtained a +clue. I at once determined to invite her to my palace, and I am going +to give her quarters close to yours, in the unused Record Office. To +one motherless child of mine you have already shown infinite kindness, +and have not, I think, found the care of him unduly irksome. If you +will do for this new-comer what you have been doing for Prince Yūgiri, +I shall be deeply thankful to you. She has been brought up in very +humble and rustic surroundings. In many ways she must be ill-prepared +for the life which she will lead in such a place as this. I hope +that you will instruct her ...’ and he made many suggestions for +Tamakatsura’s polite education. ‘I had no idea,’ the Lady replied, +‘that you had more than one daughter. However, I am extremely glad, if +only for the Akashi child’s sake. I am sure she will be delighted to +find that she has a sister....’ ‘The mother,’ said Genji, ‘was the most +gentle and confiding creature I have ever encountered. This girl, Lady +Tamakatsura, doubtless resembles her; and since you yourself are the +easiest person to get on with....’ ‘I have so much time on my hands,’ +she answered quickly. ‘Some one of my own sort to look after and advise +a little.... That is just what I long for.’ + +Genji’s own servants and retainers had been told nothing save that a +strange lady was shortly to arrive. ‘I wonder whom he has picked up +this time?’ one of them said. ‘I don’t believe this is a fresh +affair,’ said another. ‘In all probability she is only some discarded +mistress who needs looking after for a time....’ + +The party arrived in three carriages. As Ukon had superintended every +detail, the whole turn-out was quite adequately stylish, or at any rate +did not betray such rusticity as to attract attention. On their arrival +they found their quarters stacked with all sorts of presents from +Genji. He gave them time to settle in, and did not call till late the +same night. Long, long ago Tamakatsura used often to hear him spoken of +in terms of extravagant admiration; ‘Genji the Shining One,’ that was +what people had called him. All the rest she had forgotten; for hers +had been a life from which tales of Courts and palaces seemed so remote +that she had scarcely heeded them. And now when through a chink in her +curtains-of-state she caught a glimpse of him—vague enough, for the +room was lit only by the far distant rays of the great lamp beyond the +partition—her feeling was one of admiration, but (could it be so, she +asked herself) of downright terror. + +Ukon had flung open both halves of the heavy maindoor and was now +obsequiously ushering him into the room. ‘You should not have done +that,’ he protested. ‘You are making too much of my entry. No such +ceremonies are necessary when one inmate of this house takes it into +his head to visit another,’ and he seated himself alongside her +curtained chair. ‘This dim light too,’ he continued, addressing Ukon, +‘may seem to you very romantic. But Lady Tamakatsura has consented +to make believe that she is my daughter, and family meetings such as +this require a better illumination. Do you not agree?’ And with this +he slightly raised one corner of her curtain. She looked extremely shy +and was sitting, as he now discovered, with face half-turned away. +But he knew at once that as far as looks were concerned she was +not going to cause him any anxiety. ‘Could we not have a little more +light?’ he said, turning again to Ukon. ‘It is so irritating....’ Ukon +lit a candle and came towards them holding it aloft in her hand. ‘It +is rather heavy work to get started!’ he whispered, smiling. ‘Things +will go better presently.’ Even the way she hung her head, as though +frightened of meeting his eyes, reminded him so vividly of Yūgao that +it was impossible for him to treat her as a stranger; instinctively +indeed he began to speak to her in a tone of complete familiarity as +though they had shared the same house all their lives: ‘I have been +hunting high and low for you ever since you were a baby,’ he said, ‘and +now that I have found you, and see you sitting there with a look that I +know so well, it is more than I can bear. I wanted so much to talk to +you, but now ...’ and he paused to wipe the tears from his eyes, whilst +there rushed to his mind a thousand tender recollections of Yūgao and +her incomparable ways. ‘I doubt,’ he said at last, reckoning up the +years since her death, ‘whether true parent has ever reclaimed a child +after so long a search as I have made for you. Indeed so long a time +has passed that you are already a woman of judgment and experience, and +can tell me a far more interesting story of all that has befallen you +on that island of yours than could be told by a mere child. I have that +compensation at least for having met you so late....’ + +What would she tell him? For a long while she hung her head in silence. +At last she said shyly: ‘Pray remember that like the leech-child,[110] +at three years old I was set adrift upon the ocean. Since then I +have been stranded in a place where only such things could befall me +as to you would seem nothing at all.’ Her voice died away at the end +of the sentence with a half-childish murmur, exactly as her mother’s +had done long ago. ‘I was “sorry for you” indeed,’ he said, ‘when I +heard whither you had drifted. But I am going to see to it now that no +one shall ever be sorry for you again.’ She said no more that night; +but her one short reply had convinced him that she was by no means a +nonentity, and he went back to his own quarters feeling confident that +there could be no difficulty in launching her upon a suitable career. +‘Poor Tamakatsura has lived in the country for so long,’ he said to +Murasaki later,’ that it would not at all have surprised me to find her +very boorish, and I was prepared to make every allowance.... But on the +contrary she seems very well able to hold her own. It will be amusing +to watch the effect upon our friends when it becomes known that this +girl is living in the house. I can well imagine the flutter into which +she will put some of them,—my half-brother Prince Sochi no Miya for +example. The reason that quite lively and amusing people often look so +gloomy when they come here is that there have been no attractions of +this kind. We must make as much play with her as possible; it will be +such fun to see which of our acquaintances become brisker, and which +remain as solemn as ever.’ ‘You are certainly the strangest “father”!’ +exclaimed Murasaki. The first thing you think of is how to use her as +a bait to the more unprincipled among your friends. It is monstrous!’ +‘If only I had thought of it in time,’ he laughed, ‘I see now how +splendidly you would have served for the same purpose. It was silly of +me not to think of it; but, somehow or other, I preferred to keep you +all to myself. She flushed slightly as he said this, looking younger +and more charming than ever. Sending for his ink-stone Genji now +wrote on a practising-slip the poem: ‘Save that both she and I have +common cause to mourn, my own is she no more than a false lock worn +upon an aged head.’[111] Seeing him sigh heavily and go about muttering +to himself, Murasaki knew that his love for Yūgao had been no mere +boyish fancy, but an affair that had stirred his nature to its depths. + +Yūgiri, having been told that a half-sister (of whose existence he +had never heard) was come to live with them in the palace, and that +he ought to make friends with her and make her feel at home, at once +rushed round to her rooms, saying: ‘I do not count for very much, I +know; but since we are brother and sister, I think you might have sent +for me before. If only I had known who you were, I would have been so +glad to help you to unpack your things. I do think you might have told +me....’ ‘Poor young gentleman,’ thought Ukon, who was close at hand; +‘this is really too bad. How long will they let him go on in this +style, thinking all the while she is his sister? I don’t think it’s +fair....’ + +The contrast between her present way of life and the days at Tsukushi +was staggering. Here every elegance, every convenience appeared as +though by magic; there the simplest articles could be procured only +by endless contriving, and when found were soiled, dilapidated, +out-of-date. Here Prince Genji claimed her as his daughter, Prince +Yūgiri as his sister.... ‘Now these,’ thought old Sanjō, ‘really are +fine gentlemen. However I came to have such a high opinion of that +Lord-Lieutenant I do not know!’ And when she remembered what airs a +miserable creature like Tayū had given himself on the Island, she +almost expired with indignation. + +That Bugo no Suke had acted with rare courage and wisdom in +planning the sudden flight from Tsukushi was readily admitted by +Genji when Ukon had laid all the circumstances before him. It was +unlikely that any stranger would serve Tamakatsura with such devotion +as this foster-brother had shown, and in drawing up for her a list +of gentlemen-in-attendance, Genji saw to it that Bugo no Suke’s name +should figure among them. + +Never in his wildest dreams had it occurred to Bugo no Suke that he, +a plain Tsukushi yeoman, would ever set foot in a Minister’s palace; +nay, would in all his living days so much as set eyes on such a place. +And here he was, not merely walking in and out just as he chose, but +going with the lords and ladies wherever they went, and even arranging +their affairs for them and ordering about their underlings as though +they were his own. And to crown his content, no day passed but brought +to his mistress some ingenious intention, some well-devised if trifling +act of kindness from their host himself. + +At the end of the year there took place the usual distribution of +stuff for spring clothes, and Genji was determined that the new-comer +should not feel that she had come off worse than the greatest ladies in +the house. But he feared that, graceful and charming though she was, +her taste in dress must necessarily be somewhat rustic, and among the +silks which he gave her he determined also to send a certain number of +woven dresses, that she might be gently guided towards the fashions +of the day. The gentlewomen of the palace, each anxious to prove that +there was nothing she did not know about the latest shapes of bodice +and kirtle, set to work with such a will that when they brought their +wares for Genji’s inspection, he exclaimed: ‘I fear your zeal has been +excessive. If all my presents are to be on this scale (and I have no +desire to excite jealousy), I shall indeed be hard put to it.’ So +saying he had his store-rooms ransacked for fine stuffs; and Murasaki +came to the rescue with many of the costly robes which he had from +time to time given her for her own wardrobe. All these were now laid +out and inspected. Murasaki had a peculiar talent in such matters, +and there was not a woman in all the world who chose her dyes with a +subtler feeling for colour, as Genji very well knew. Dress after dress +was now brought in fresh from the beating-room, and Genji would choose +some robe now for its marvellous dark red, now for some curious and +exciting pattern or colour-blend, and have it laid aside. ‘This one in +the box at the end,’ he would say, handing some dress to one of the +waiting-women who were standing beside the long narrow clothes-boxes; +or ‘Try this one in your box.’ ‘You seem to be making a very just +division, and I am sure no one ought to feel aggrieved. But, if I may +make a suggestion, would it not be better to think whether the stuffs +will suit the complexions of their recipient rather than whether +they look nice in the box?’ ‘I know just why you said that,’ Genji +laughed. ‘You want me to launch out into a discussion of each lady’s +personal charms, in order that you may know in what light she appears +to me. I am going to turn the tables. You shall have for your own +whichever of my stuffs you like, and by your choice I shall know how +_you_ regard _yourself_.’ ‘I have not the least idea what I look like,’ +she answered, blushing slightly; ‘after all, I am the last person in +the world to consult upon the subject. One never sees oneself except +in the mirror....’ After much debating, the presents were distributed +as follows: to Murasaki herself, a kirtle yellow without and flowered +within, lightly diapered with the red plum-blossom crest—a marvel of +modern dyeing. To the Akashi child, a long close-fitting dress, white +without, yellow within, the whole seen through an outer facing of +shimmering red gauze. To the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers +he gave a light blue robe with a pattern of sea-shells woven into it. +Lovely though the dress was as an example of complicated weaving, +it would have been too light in tone had it not been covered with a +somewhat heavy russet floss. + +To Tamakatsura he sent, among other gifts, a close-fitting dress +with a pattern of mountain-kerria woven upon a plain red background. +Murasaki seemed scarcely to have glanced at it; but all the while, +true to Genji’s surmise, she was guessing the meaning of this choice. +Like her father Tō no Chūjō, Tamakatsura (she conjectured) was +doubtless good-looking; but certainly lacked his liveliness and love +of adventure. Murasaki had no idea that she had in any way betrayed +what was going on in her mind and was surprised when Genji suddenly +said: ‘In the end this matching of dresses and complexions breaks down +entirely and one gives almost at hazard. I can never find anything +that does justice to my handsome friends, or anything that it does +not seem a shame to waste on the ugly ones ...’ and so saying he +glanced with a smile at the present which was about to be dispatched +to Suyetsumu, a dress white without and green within, what is called a +‘willow-weaving,’ with an elegant Chinese vine-scroll worked upon it. + +To the Lady of Akashi he sent a white kirtle with a spray of +plum-blossom on it, and birds and butterflies fluttering hither and +thither, cut somewhat in the Chinese fashion, with a very handsome +dark purple lining. This also caught Murasaki’s observant eye and she +augured from it that the rival of whom Genji spoke to her so lightly +was in reality occupying a considerable place in his thoughts. + +To Utsusemi, now turned nun, he sent a grey cloak, and, in addition, +a coat of his own which he knew she would remember—jasmine-sprinkled, +faced with Courtier’s crimson and lined with russet. In each box was a +note in which the recipient was begged to favour him by wearing these +garments during the Festival of the New Year. He had taken a great deal +of trouble over the business and could not imagine that any of the +presents was likely to meet with a very bad reception. And indeed the +satisfaction which he had given was soon evidenced not only by the +delighted letters which came pouring in, but also by the handsome +gratuities given to the bearers of these gifts. Suyetsumu was still +living at the old Nijō-in palace, and the messenger who brought her +present, having a quite considerable distance to travel, expected +something rather out of the ordinary in the way of a reward. But to +Suyetsumu these things were matters not of commerce, but of etiquette. +A present such as this was, she had been taught long ago, a species of +formal address which must be answered in the same language, and +fetching an orange-coloured gown, very much frayed at the cuffs, she +hung it over the messenger’s shoulders, attaching to it a letter +written on heavily scented Michinoku paper, which age had not only +considerably yellowed, but also bloated to twice its proper thickness. +‘Alas,’ she wrote, ‘your present serves but to remind me of your +absence. What pleasure can I take in a dress that you will never see me +wear?’ With this was the poem: ‘Was ever gift more heartless? Behold, I +send it back to you, your Chinese dress,—worn but an instant, yet +discoloured with the brine of tears.’ The handwriting, with its antique +flourishes, was admirably suited to the stilted sentiment of the poem. +Genji laughed afresh each time he read it and finally, seeing that +Murasaki was regarding him with astonishment, he handed her the +missive. Meanwhile he examined the bedraggled old frock with which the +discomfited messenger had been entrusted, with so rueful an expression +that the fellow edged behind the bystanders and finally slipped out of +the room, fearing that he had committed a grave breach of etiquette in +introducing so pitiful an object into the presence of the Exalted Ones. +His plight was the occasion of much whispering and laughter among his +fellow servants. But laugh as one might at the absurd scenes which the +princess’s archaic behaviour invariably provoked, the very fact that +adherence to bygone fashions could produce so ludicrous a result +suggested the most disquieting reflexions. ‘It is no laughing matter,’ +said Genji. ‘Her “Chinese dress” and “discoloured with the brine of +tears” made me feel thoroughly uncomfortable. With the writers of a +generation or two ago every dress was “Chinese,” and, no matter what +the occasion of the poem, its sleeves were invariably soaked with +tears. But what about your poems and mine? Are they not every bit as +bad? Our tags may be different from those of the princess; but we use +them just as hard and when we come to write a poem are as impervious as +she is to the speech of our own day. And this is true not only of +amateurs such as ourselves, but of those whose whole reputation depends +on their supposed poetical gifts. Think of them at Court festivals, +with their eternal _madoi, madoi_.[112] It is a wonder they do not grow +tired of the word. A little while ago _adabito_ “Faithless one” was +used by well-bred lovers in every poem which they exchanged. They +declined it (“of the faithless one,” “from the faithless one” and so +on) in the third line, thus gaining time to think out their final +couplet. And so we all go on, poring over nicely stitched _Aids to +Song_, and when we have committed a sufficient number of phrases to +memory, producing them on the next occasion when they are required. It +is not a method which leads to very much variety. + +‘But if we need a change, how much more does this unfortunate +princess whose scruples forbid her to open any book except these +old-fashioned collections of standard verse, written on dingy, +native paper, to which her father Prince Hitachi introduced her long +ago? Apart from these the only other reading which he seems to have +permitted her was the _Marrow of Native Song_. Unfortunately this book +consists almost entirely of “Faults to be avoided;” its comminations +and restrictions have but served to aggravate her natural lack of +facility. After such an education as this it is no wonder that her +compositions have a well-worn and familiar air.’ + +‘You are too severe,’ said Murasaki, pleading for the princess. +‘Whatever you may say, she managed this time to send an answer, and +promptly too. Pray let me have a copy of her poem that I may show it +to the Akashi child. I too used to have such books as the _Marrow of +Poesy_, but I do not know what has become of them. Probably book-worms +got into them and they were thrown away. I believe that to any one +unfamiliar with the old phrase-books Suyetsumu’s poem would seem +delightfully fanciful and original. Let us try....’ ‘Do nothing of +the kind,’ said Genji. ‘Her education would be ruined if she began to +take an interest in poetry. It is an accepted principle that however +great the aptitude which a girl may show for some branch of science +or art, she must beware of using it; for there is always a risk that +her mind may be unduly diverted from ordinary duties and pursuits. She +must know just so much of each subject that it cannot be said she has +entirely neglected it. Further than this, she can only go at the risk +of undermining the fortress of chastity or diminishing that softness of +manner without which no woman can be expected to please.’ + +But all this while he had forgotten that Suyetsumu’s letter +itself required a reply; indeed, as was pointed out by Murasaki, the +princess’s poem contained a hidden meaning which might be construed as +a direct plea for further consolation. It would have been very unlike +him not to have heeded such an appeal, and feeling that the standard +she had set was not a very exacting one, he dashed off the following +reply: ‘If heartlessness there be, not mine it is but yours, who +speak of sending back the coat that, rightly worn, brings dreams of +love.’[113] + + [95] See vol. i, chapter iv. + + [96] Tō no Chūjō’s child by Yūgao. Her name was Tamakatsura. + + [97] The large southern island upon which the modern town of Nagasaki + stands. + + [98] Tō no Chūjō. + + [99] The God of the Sacred Mirror, at Matsura, in Hizen. + + [100] Herself. + + [101] See my _170 Chinese Poems_, p. 130. + + [102] There is a story in Japan that the wife of the Chinese Emperor + Hsi Tsung (874–888 A.D.) was so ugly that she was nicknamed + ‘Horse-head.’ In obedience to a dream she turned to the East + and prayed to the Kwannon of Hasegawa in Japan. Instantly there + appeared before her a figure carrying Kwannon's sacred + water-vessel. He dashed the water over her face and she became + the most beautiful woman in China. + + [103] A short distance from the Hasegawa Temple. + + [104] Of Tsukushi. + + [105] I hesitate to use the word ‘Confessor.’ + + [106] Now about six years old. + + [107] Fujitsubo. + + [108] Pulled by servants, the oxen being unyoked at the Gate. + + [109] The Lady of Akashi's daughter. + + [110] The Royal Gods Izanagi and Izanami bore a leech-child; as at + the age of three it could not stand, they cast it adrift in a + boat. It made a song which said: ‘I should have thought my + daddy and mammy would have been sorry for me, seeing that at + three years old I could not stand.’ See vol, ii, p. 185. + + [111] _Tamakazura_ = jewelled wig. + + [112] ‘I go astray.’ + + [113] A coat worn inside out brings dreams of one’s lover. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + THE FIRST SONG OF THE YEAR + + +With the morning of the New Year’s[114] Day began a spell of the most +delightful weather. Soft air, bright sunshine, and not a cloud to +be seen in the whole sky. In every garden, on the humblest piece of +waste ground, young shoots that formed each day a clearer patch of +green were pushing up amid the snow; while over the trees hung a mist, +stretched there, so it seemed, on purpose that the wonders it was +hiding might later come as a surprise. Nor was this pleasant change +confined to garden and wood; for men and women also, without knowing +why, suddenly felt good-humoured and hopeful. It may be imagined then +what an enchantment these first spring days, everywhere so delightful, +cast upon the gardens of Genji’s palace, with their paths of jade-dust, +their groves and lakes. It would be impossible here to describe in +any way that would not be both tedious and inadequate the beauties +of the four domains which Genji had allotted to his favourites. But +this I may say, that the Spring Garden,[115] with its great orchards +of fruit trees at this moment far excelled the rest, and even behind +her screens-of-state Murasaki breathed an atmosphere that was heavily +laden with the scent of plum-blossom. Indeed the place was a Heaven +upon earth; but a Heaven adapted to human requirements by the addition +of numerous comforts and amenities. The Princess[116] from Akashi was +still living in Murasaki’s apartments. The younger among the +gentlewomen-in-waiting had been placed at her disposal; while the +older among them, and such as had distinguished themselves in any way, +were retained by Murasaki. On the third day they were already gathered +together in front of the Mirror Cake[117] reciting ‘For a thousand +years may we dwell under thy shadow’ and other New Year verses, with +a good deal of laughter and scuffling, when Genji’s unexpected entry +suddenly caused many pairs of hands to fly back into an attitude of +prayer. The ladies looked so uncomfortable at having been caught +treating the ceremonies of the day with undue levity, that Genji said +to them laughing: ‘Come now, there is no need to take the prayers on +our behalf so seriously. I am sure each of you has plenty of things +she would like to pray for on her own account. Tell me, all of you, +what you most desire in the coming year, and I will add my prayers to +yours.’ Among these ladies was a certain Chūjō,[118] one of his own +gentlewomen, whom he had transferred to Murasaki’s service at the time +of his exile. She knew well enough, poor lady, what thing _she_ most +desired. But she only said: ‘I tried just now to think of something to +pray for on my own account; but it ended by my saying the prayer: “May +he endure long as the Mountain of Kagami in the country of Ōmi.”[118] + +The morning had been occupied in receiving a host of New Year visitors; +but now Genji thought he would call upon the various inhabitants of +his palace, to give them his good wishes and see how they looked in +their New Year clothes. ‘Your ladies,’ he said to Murasaki, ‘do not +seem to take these proceedings seriously. I found them romping +together, instead of saying their prayers. You and I will have to hold +a service of our own.’ So saying he recited the prayer, not without +certain additions which showed that he took the business only a trifle +more seriously than the ladies whom he had just criticized. He then +handed her the poem: ‘May the course of our love be clear as the waters +of yonder lake, from which, in the spring sunshine, the last clot of +ice has melted away.’ To this she answered: ‘On the bright mirror of +these waters I see stretched out the cloudless years love holds for us +in store.’ Then (as how many times before!) Genji began telling her +that, whatever was reported of him or whatever she herself observed, +she need never have any anxiety. And he protested, in the most violent +and impressive terms, that his passion for her underlay all that he +felt or did, and could not be altered by any passing interest or fancy. +She was for the moment convinced, and accepted his protestations +ungrudgingly. + +Besides being the third of the year it was also the Day of the Rat[120] +and therefore as fine an occasion for prayers and resolutions as could +possibly have been found. + +His next visit was to the little girl from Akashi. He found her maids +and page-boys playing New Year games on the mound in front of her +windows, and pulling up the dwarf pine-trees, an occupation in which +they seemed to take a boundless delight. The little princess’s rooms +were full of sweetmeat boxes and hampers, all of them presents from her +mother. To one toy, a little nightingale perched upon a sprig of the +five-leafed pine, was fastened a plaintive message: ‘In _my_ home the +nightingale’s voice I never hear, ...’[121] and with it the poem:— + + O nightingale, to one that many months, + While strangers heard you sing, + Has waited for your voice, grudge not to-day + The first song of the year! + +Genji read the poem and was touched by it; for he knew that only under +the stress of great emotion would she have allowed this note of sadness +to tinge a New Year poem. ‘Come, little nightingale!’ he said to the +child, ‘you must make haste with your answer; it would be heartless +indeed if in the quarter whence these pretty things come you were +ungenerous with your spring-time notes!’ and taking his own ink-stone +from a servant who was standing by, he prepared it for her and made her +write. She looked so charming while she did this that he found himself +envying those who spent all day in attendance upon her, and he felt +that to have deprived the Lady of Akashi year after year of so great a +joy was a crime for which he would never be able to forgive himself. He +looked to see what she had written. ‘Though years be spent asunder, not +lightly can the nightingale forget the tree where first it nested and +was taught to sing.’ The flatness of the verse had at least this much +to recommend it—the mother would know for certain that the poem had +been written without grown-up assistance! + +The Summer Quarters[122] were not looking their best; indeed at this +time of year they could hardly be expected not to wear a somewhat +uninteresting air. As he looked about him he could see no object +that was evidence of any very pronounced taste or proclivity; +the arrangements betokened, rather, a general discrimination and +good-breeding. For many years past his affection for her had remained +at exactly the same pitch, never flagging in the slightest degree, +and at the same time never tempting him to the extremer forms +of intimacy. In this way there had long ago grown up between them a +relationship far more steady and harmonious than can ever exist between +those who are lovers in the stricter sense of the term. This morning +he spoke to her for a while from behind her curtains-of-state. But +presently he cautiously raised a corner of one curtain, and he looked +in. How little she had changed! But he was sorry to see that the New +Year’s dress he had given her was not a great success. Her hair had +of late years grown much less abundant, and in order to maintain the +same style of coiffure, she had been obliged to supplement it by false +locks. To these Genji had long ago grown accustomed. But he now began +trying to imagine how she appeared to other people, and saw at once +that to them she must seem a very homely, middle-aged person indeed. So +much the better, then, that he who loved her had this strange power of +seeing her as she used to be, rather than as she was now. And she on +her side—what if she should one day grow weary of him, as women often +did of those who gave them so little as he had done! + +Such were the reflexions that passed through Genji’s mind while he sat +with her. ‘We are both singularly fortunate,’ he concluded to himself. +‘I, in my capacity for self-delusion; she in hers for good-tempered +acceptance of whatever comes her way.’ They talked for a long while, +chiefly of old times, till at last he found that he ought to be on his +way to the Western Wing. + +Considering the short time that Tamakatsura had been in residence +she had made things look uncommonly nice. The number and smartness +of her maids gave the place an air of great animation. The large +and indispensable articles of furniture had all arrived; but many +of the smaller fittings were not yet complete. This was in a way +an advantage; for it gave to her rooms a look of spaciousness +and simplicity which had a peculiar charm. But it was the mistress +of these apartments who, when she suddenly appeared upon the scene, +positively confounded him by her beauty. How perfectly she wore that +long, close-fitting robe, with its pattern of mountain-kerria! Here, +he thought, contrasting her inevitably with the lady to whom he had +just said farewell, here was nothing that it might be dangerous to +scrutinize, nothing that kindness bade him condone; but radiance, +freshness, dazzling youth from tip to toe. Her hair was somewhat +thinned out at the ends, in pursuance, perhaps, of some vow made during +the days of her tribulation; and this gave to her movements an ease and +freedom which strangely accorded with the bareness of her quarters. Had +he chosen any but his present rôle,[123] he would not now be watching +her flit unconstrainedly hither and thither across her room.... She, +however, having by this time grown used to his informal visits, enjoyed +his company to the full and would even have had him treat her with a +shade less deference ... when suddenly she remembered that he was only +a make-believe father after all, and then it seemed to her that she +had already countenanced far greater liberties than their situation +demanded. ‘For my part,’ said Genji at last, ‘I feel as though you +had been living with us for years, and am certain that I shall never +have cause to repent your coming. But you have not progressed so fast +in friendship with the other inmates of my household as I have done +in mine with you. I notice you do not visit Lady Murasaki. I am sorry +for this, and hope that in future you will make use of her apartments +without formality of any sort whenever you feel inclined. You could +be of great help to the little girl who lives with her. For example, +if you would take charge of her music-lessons.... You would find +every one in that quarter most affable and forthcoming.... Do promise +me to try!’ ‘If you wish it,’ was all she said; but in a voice which +indicated that she really meant to obey. + +It was already becoming dark when he arrived at the Lady of Akashi’s +rooms. Through an open door a sudden puff of wind carried straight +towards him from her daïs a blend of perfumes as exquisite as it was +unfamiliar. But where was the Lady herself? For a while he scanned the +room in vain. He noticed a writing-case, and near it a great litter of +books and papers. On a long flat cushion bordered with Chinese brocade +from Lo-yang lay a handsome zithern; while in a brazier which, even in +the dim light, he could see to be an object of value and importance, +there burned some of that incense which is known as ‘The Courtier’s +Favourite.’ This was the scent which pervaded the whole room and, +blending with a strong odour of musk, created the delicious perfume +which Genji had noticed when he first turned into the corridor. Coming +close enough to examine the papers which lay scattered about the daïs, +he saw that though there were many experiments in different styles, +some of them quite interesting, there were no efforts towards the +more extravagant and pretentious forms of cursive. Her child’s letter +of thanks for the toy bird and tree had already arrived, and it was +evident that, in her delight, she had just been copying out a number +of classic poems appropriate to such an occasion. But among these was +written a poem of her own: ‘Oh joy untold! The nightingale that, lured +by the spring flowers, to distant woods was gone, now to its valley +nest again repairs.’ She had also copied out the old poems: ‘I waited +for thy song’ and ‘Because my house is where the plum-tree blooms,’ +and many other snatches and fragments such as were likely to run +in the head of one to whom a sudden consolation had come. He took up +the papers one by one, sometimes smiling, yet ashamed of himself for +doing so. Then he wetted the pen and was just about to write a message +of his own, when the Lady of Akashi suddenly appeared from a back +room. Despite the splendours by which she was now surrounded she still +maintained a certain deference of manner and anxiety to please which +marked her as belonging to a different class. Yet there was something +about the way her very dark hair stood out against the white of her +dress, hanging rather flat against it, that strangely attracted him. +It was New Year’s night. He could not very well absent himself from +his own apartments, for there were visitors coming and Murasaki was +expecting him.... + +Yet it was in the Lady of Akashi’s rooms that he spent the night, thus +causing considerable disappointment in many quarters, but above all in +the southern wing, where Murasaki’s gentlewomen made bitter comments +upon this ill-timed defection. + +It was still almost dark when Genji returned, and he persuaded himself +that, though he had stayed out late, it could not be said that he +had been absent for a night. To the Lady of Akashi, on her side it +seemed that he was suddenly rising to leave her just as the night was +beginning. Nevertheless, she was enraptured by his visit. Murasaki +would no doubt have sat up waiting for him, and he was quite prepared +to find her in rather a bad humour. But one never knows, and in order +to find out he said: ‘I have just had the most uncomfortable doze. It +was too childish.... I fell asleep in my chair. I wish some one had +woken me. It was the most mistaken kindness....’ But no! She did not +reply, and seeing that for the moment there was no more to be done, he +lay back and pretended to be asleep; but as soon as it was broad +daylight got up and left the room. + +Next day there was a great deal of New Year’s entertaining to be done, +which was fortunate, for it enabled him to save his face. As usual, +almost the whole Court was there,—princes, ministers and noblemen. +There was a concert and on Genji’s part a grand distribution of +trinkets and New Year presents. This party was an occasion of great +excitement for the more elderly and undistinguished of the guests; and +it may be imagined with what eagerness it was this year awaited by the +younger princes and noblemen, who were perpetually on the look-out for +adventure and flattered themselves that the new inmate[124] of Genji’s +palace was by no means beyond their reach. A gentle evening breeze +carried the scent of fruit-blossom into every corner of the house; in +particular, most fragrant of all, the plum-trees in Murasaki’s garden +were now in full bloom. It was at that nameless hour which is neither +day nor night. The concert had begun; delicate harmonies of flute and +string filled the air, and at last came the swinging measure of ‘Well +may this Hall grow rich and thrive,’[125] with its animated refrain +‘Oh, the saki-grass so sweet,’ in which Genji joined with excellent +effect. This indeed was one of his peculiar gifts, that whatever was +afoot, whether music, dancing or what not, he had only to join in and +every one else was at once inspired to efforts of which they would not +have imagined themselves capable. + +Meanwhile the ladies of the household, in the seclusion of their +rooms, heard little more than a confused din of horse-hoofs and +carriage-wheels, their plight being indeed much like that of the least +deserving among the Blest, who though they are reborn in Paradise, +receive an unopened lotus-bud as their lodging.[126] But still worse +was the position of those who inhabited the old Eastern Wing; for +having once lived at any rate within ear-shot of such festivities as +this, they now saw themselves condemned to an isolation and lack of +employment which every year would increase. Yet though they might +almost as well have renounced the Court and ensconced themselves ‘by +mountain paths where Sorrow is unknown,’ they did nothing of the kind +nor, real though their grievances were, did the slightest complaint +ever cross their lips. Indeed, save that they were left pretty much +to their own devices, they had little else to complain of. They were +housed in the utmost comfort and security. Those of them who were +religious had at least the certainty that their pious practices would +not be interrupted; while those who cared for study had plenty of time +to fill a thousand copy-books with native characters. As regards their +lodging and equipment, they had only to express a desire for it to be +immediately gratified. And sometimes their benefactor actually called +upon them, as indeed happened this spring, so soon as the busy days of +the New Festival were over. + +Suyetsumu was after all the daughter of Prince Hitachi, and as such +was entitled to keep up a considerable degree of state. Genji had +accordingly provided her with a very ample staff of attendants. Her +surroundings indeed were all that could be desired. She herself had +changed greatly in recent years. Her hair was now quite grey, and +seeing that she was embarrassed by this and was evidently wondering +what impression it would make upon him, he at first kept his eyes +averted while he spoke to her. His gaze naturally fell upon her +dress. He recognized it as that which he had given her for New Year; +but it looked very odd, and he was wondering how he had come to give +her so unsuitable a garment, when he discovered that the fault was +entirely that of the wearer. Over it she had put a thin mantle of dull +black crepe, unlined, and so stiff that it crackled when she moved. +The woven dress which he had given her was meant to wear under a heavy +cloak, and naturally in her present garb she was, as he could see, +suffering terribly from the cold. He had given her an ample supply of +stuff for winter cloaks. What could she have done with it all? But with +Suyetsumu nothing seemed to thrive, every stuff became threadbare, +every colour turned dingy, save that of one bright flower....[127] But +one must keep such things out of one’s head; and he firmly replaced the +open flap of her curtain. + +She was not offended. It was quite enough that year after year, he +should preserve the same unmistakable signs of affection; for did he +not always treat her as an intimate and equal, taking her completely +into his confidence and addressing her always in the most informal +manner imaginable? If this were not affection, what else could it be? + +He meanwhile was thinking what a uniquely depressing and wearisome +creature she was, and deciding that he must really make up his mind +to be a little kinder to her, since it was certain that no one else +intended to take the business off his hands. + +He noticed that while she talked her teeth positively chattered with +cold. He looked at her with consternation. ‘Is there no one,’ he asked, +‘whose business it is to take charge of your wardrobe? It does not +seem to me that stiff clumsy over-garments are very well suited to +your present surroundings. This cloak of yours, for example. If +you cannot do without it, then at any rate be consistent and wear it +over a dress of the same description. You cannot get yourself up in +one style on top and another underneath.’ He had never spoken to her +so bluntly before, but she only tittered slightly. ‘My brother Daigo +no Azari,’ she said at last, ‘promised to look after those warm stuffs +for me, and he carried them all off before I had time to make them +into dresses. He even took away my sables.[128] I am so cold without +them....’ Her brother evidently felt the cold even more than she did, +and Genji imagined him with a very red nose indeed. Simplicity was no +doubt an engaging quality; but really this lady carried it a little too +far. However, with her it was certainly no affectation, and he answered +good-humouredly: ‘As far as those sables are concerned, I am delighted +to hear what has become of them. I always thought they were really +meant to keep out the rain and snow. Next time your brother goes on a +mountain pilgrimage.... But there is no need for _you_ to shiver. You +can have as much of this white material as you like, and there is +nothing to prevent your wearing it sevenfold thick, if you find you +cannot keep warm. Please always remind me of such promises. If I do not +do things at once, I am apt to forget about them. My memory was never +very good and I have always needed keeping up to the mark. But now that +there are so many conflicting claims upon my time and attention, +nothing gets done at all unless I am constantly reminded....’ And +thinking it safest to act while the matter was still in his mind, he +sent a messenger across to the New Palace for a fresh supply of silks +and brocades. + +The Nijō-in was kept in perfect order and repair; but the fact that +it was no longer the main residence somehow or other gave it an air +of abandonment and desolation. The gardens, however, were as +delightful as ever. The red plum-blossom was at its best, and it seemed +a pity that so much beauty and fragrance should be, one might almost +say, wasted. He murmured to himself the lines: ‘To see the springtide +to my old home I came, and found within it a rarer flower than any that +on orchard twigs was hung!’ + +She heard the words; but luckily did not grasp the unflattering +allusion.[129] + +He also paid a brief visit to Utsusemi, now turned nun. She had +installed herself in apartments so utterly devoid of ornament or +personal touches of any kind that they had the character of official +waiting-rooms. The only conspicuous object which they contained was a +large statue of Buddha, and Genji was lamenting to himself that sombre +piety, to the exclusion of all other interest, should have possessed so +gracious and gentle a spirit, when he noticed that the decoration of +her prayer-books, the laying of her altar with its dishes of floating +petals—these and many another small sign of elegance seemed to betray a +heart that was not yet utterly crushed by the severities of religion. +Her blue-grey curtains-of-state showed much taste and care. She sat +so far back as scarcely to be seen. But one touch of colour stood out +amid the gloom; the long sleeves of the gay coat he had sent her showed +beneath her mantle of grey, and moved by her acceptance of this token +he said with tears in his eyes: ‘I know that I ought not now even to +remember how once I felt towards you. But from the beginning our love +brought to us only irritation and misery. It is as well that, if we +are to be friends at all, it must now be in a very different way.’ She +too was deeply moved and said at last: ‘How can I doubt your good will +towards me, seeing at what pains you have been to provide for +me, protect me.... I should be ungrateful indeed....’ ‘I daresay many +another lover suffered just as I did,’ he said, attempting a lighter +tone; ‘and Buddha condemns you to your present life as a penance for +all the hearts you have broken. And how the others must have suffered +if their experience was anything like mine! Not once but over and over +again did I fall in love with you; and those others.... There, I knew +that I was right. You are thinking, I am sure, of an entanglement +beside which our escapade pales into insignificance.’ His only +intention was to divert the conversation from their own relationship, +and he was speaking quite at random. But she instantly imagined that +he had in some circuitous way got wind of that terrible story ...[130] +and blushing she said in a low voice: ‘Do not remind me of it. The mere +fact that you should have been told of it is punishment enough ...’ and +she burst into tears. + +He did not know to what she referred. He had imagined that her +retirement from the world was merely due to increasing depression and +timidity. How was he to converse with her, if every chance remark threw +her into a fit of weeping? He had no desire to go away; but he could +not think of any light topic upon which to embark, and after a few +general enquiries he took his leave. If only it were Lady Suyetsumu who +was the nun and he could put Utsusemi in her place! So Genji thought +as on his way back he again passed by the red-nosed lady’s door. He +then paid short visits to the numerous other persons who lived upon +his bounty, saying to such of them as he had not seen for some time: +‘If long intervals sometimes elapse between my visits to you, you must +not think that my feelings towards you have changed. On the contrary, +I often think what a pity it is that we so seldom meet. For time +slips away, and bound up with every deep affection is the fear that +Death may take us unawares....’ Nor was there anything the least +insincere in these speeches; in one way or another he did actually feel +very deeply about each of the persons to whom they were made. Unlike +most occupants of the exalted position which he now held, Genji was +entirely devoid of pomposity and self-importance. Whatever the rank of +those whom he was addressing, under whatever circumstances he met them, +his manner remained always equally kind and attentive. Indeed, by that +thread and that alone hung many of his oldest friendships. + +This year there was to be the New Year’s mumming.[131] After performing +in the Imperial Palace the dancers were to visit the Suzaku-in[132] and +then come on to Genji’s. This meant covering a good deal of ground, +and it was already nearing dawn when they arrived. The weather had at +first been somewhat uncertain, but at dusk the clouds cleared away, +and bright moonlight shone upon those exquisite gardens, now clad in +a thin covering of snow. Many of the young courtiers who had recently +come into notice showed unusual proficiency on instruments of one kind +and another. There were flute-players in abundance, and nowhere that +night did they give a more admirable display than when they welcomed +the arrival of the mummers in front of Genji’s palace. The ladies +of the household had been apprised of the ceremony, and they were +now assembled in stands which had been set up in the cross-galleries +between the central hall and its two wings. The lady of the western +side[133] was invited to witness the proceedings in company with +the little princess from Akashi, whose windows looked out on +to the courtyard where the dancing was to take place. Murasaki was +their neighbour, being separated from them only by a curtain. After +performing before the ex-Emperor the dancers had been summoned to give +a second display in front of Kōkiden’s apartments. It was consequently +even later than had been anticipated when they at last arrived. Before +they danced, they had to be served with their ‘mummers’’ portions. It +was expected that, considering the lateness of the hour, this part +of the proceedings, with its curious rites and observances, would be +somewhat curtailed. But on the contrary Genji insisted upon its being +carried out with even more than the prescribed elaboration. A faint +light was showing in the east, the moon was still shining, but it had +begun to snow again, this time harder than ever. The wind, too, had +risen; already the tree-tops were swaying, and it became clear that a +violent storm was at hand. There was, in the scene that followed, a +strange discrepancy; the delicate pale green cloaks of the mummers, +lined with pure white, fluttered lightly, elegantly to the movements +of the dance; while around them gathered the gloom and menace of the +rising storm. Only the cotton plumes of their head-gear, stiff and in a +way graceless as they were, seemed to concord with the place and hour. +These, as they swayed and nodded in the dance, had a strangely vivid +and satisfying beauty. + +Among those who sang and played for the dancers Yūgiri and Tō no +Chūjō’s sons took the lead. As daylight came the snow began to clear, +and only a few scattered flakes were falling when through the cold +air there rose the strains of _Bamboo River_.[134] I should like to +describe the movements of this dance—how the dancers suddenly rise +on tip-toe and spread their sleeves like wings and with how delightful +an effect voice after voice joins in the lively tune. But it has truly +been said that such things are beyond the painter’s art; and still +less, I suppose, can any depiction of them be expected of a mere +story-teller. + +The ladies of the household vied with one another in the decoration +of their stalls. Gay scarfs and favours hung out on every side; +while shimmering New Year dresses now dimly discovered behind drawn +curtains-of-state, now flashing for a moment into the open as some +lady-in-waiting reached forward to adjust a mat or rescue a fan, looked +in the dawning light like a meadow of bright flowers ‘half-curtained +by the trailing mists of Spring.’ Seldom can there have been seen so +strange and lovely a sight. There was, too, a remote, barbaric beauty +in the high turbans of the dancers, with their stiff festoons of +artificial flowers; and when at last they entoned the final prayer, +despite the fact that the words were nonsense and the tune apparently +a mere jangle of discordant sounds, there was in the whole setting of +the performance something so tense, so stirring that these savage cries +seemed at the moment more moving than the deliberate harmonies by which +the skilled musician coldly seeks to charm our ear. + +After the usual distribution of presents, the mummers at last withdrew. +It was now broad daylight, and all the guests retired to get a little +belated sleep. Genji rose again towards mid-day. ‘I believe that Yūgiri +is going to make every bit as good a musician as Kōbai,’[134] he said, +while discussing the scenes of the night before. ‘I am astonished by +the talent of the generation which is now growing to manhood. +The ancients no doubt far excelled us in the solid virtues; but our +sensibilities are, I venture to assert, far keener than theirs. I +thought at one time that Yūgiri was quite different from his companions +and counted upon turning him into a good, steady-going man of affairs. +My own nature is, I fear, inherently frivolous, and not wishing him +to take after me I have been at great pains to implant in him a more +serious view of life. But signs are not wanting that under a very +correct and solemn exterior he hides a disposition towards just +those foibles which have proved my own undoing. If it turns out that +his wonderful air of good sense and moderation are mere superficial +poses, it will indeed be annoying for us all.’ So he spoke, but he +was in reality feeling extremely pleased with his son. Then, humming +the tune[135] that the mummers sing at the moment when they rise to +depart, Genji said: ‘Seeing all the ladies of the household gathered +together here last night has made me think how amazing it would be +if we could one day persuade them to give us a concert. It might be +a sort of private After Feast.’[136] The rumour of this project soon +spread through the palace. On every hand lutes and zitherns were being +pulled from out the handsome brocade bags into which they had been so +carefully stowed away; and there was such a sprucing, polishing and +tuning as you can scarcely imagine; followed by unremitting practice +and the wildest day-dreams. + + [114] The year began in the spring. Genji was now 36. + + [115] Murasaki’s. + + [116] The child born at Akashi. + + [117] Served on the evening of the third day of the year, with radish + and oranges. + + [118] She had always been in love with Genji. + + [119] Kagami = ‘Mirror.’ + + [120] The first of the cyclical signs. + + [121] You are silent as this toy bird and send me no New Year + greetings. + + [122] Allotted to the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers. + + [123] That of father. + + [124] Tamakatsura. + + [125] Well may this house grow rich and thrive— + Oh, the saki-grass, the saki-grass so sweet— + Of the saki-grass, three leaves, four leaves, so trim + Are the walls of this house made. + + [126] And consequently cannot see the Buddha nor hear his Word. + + [127] _Hana_ = ‘nose’ and ‘flower.’ + + [128] See vol. i, p. 200. + + [129] _Hana_ = ‘flower’ and ‘nose.’ See above. + + [130] Her relations with Ki no Kami, her stepson. See vol. ii, + p. 257. + + [131] A band of young noblemen going round dancing and singing in + various parts of the Palace and at the houses of the great on + the 14th day of the 1st month. See vol. i, p. 207. + + [132] The residence of the ex-Emperor and his mother, Kōkiden. + + [133] Tamakatsura. + + [134] ‘In the garden of flowers at the end of the bridge that crosses + Bamboo River—in the garden of flowers set me free, with youths + and maidens round me.’ + + [135] Tō no Chūjō’s son, famous for the beauty of his voice. See + vol. ii, p. 87. + + [136] The _Bansuraku_ or ‘Joy of Ten Thousand Springs.’ + + [137] The After Feast is held in the Emperor’s Palace. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + THE BUTTERFLIES + + +Towards the end of the third month, when out in the country the +orchards were no longer at their best and the song of the wild birds +had lost its first freshness, Murasaki’s Spring Garden seemed only to +become every day more enchanting. The little wood on the hill beyond +the lake, the bridge that joined the two islands, the mossy banks that +seemed to grow greener not every day but every hour—could anything +have looked more tempting? ‘If only one could get there!’ sighed the +young people of the household; and at last Genji decided that there +must be boats on the lake. They were built in the Chinese style. Every +one was in such a hurry to get on board that very little time was +spent in decorating them, and they were put into use almost as soon as +they would float. On the day when they were launched the Water Music +was played by musicians summoned from the Imperial Board of Song. The +spectacle was witnessed by a large assembly of princes, noblemen and +courtiers, and also by the Empress Akikonomu, who was spending her +holidays at the New Palace. + +Akikonomu remembered Murasaki’s response to her present:[138] it had +been tantamount to saying ‘Do not visit me now, but in the spring-time +when my garden will be at its best.’ Genji too was always saying that +he wanted to show her the Spring Garden. How simple it would all +have been if she could merely have walked across to Murasaki’s domain +when the fancy seized her, enjoyed herself among the flowers and gone +away! But she was now an Empress, an August Being hedged round by +sacred statutes and conventions. However, if such liberties were hers +no longer, there were in her service many who could enjoy them in her +stead, and sending for one of the new boats she filled it with some of +the younger and more adventurous of her gentlewomen. It was possible +to go by water all the way to the Spring Garden, first rowing along +the Southern Lake, then passing through a narrow channel straight +towards a toy mountain which seemed to bar all further progress. But in +reality there was a way round, and eventually the party found itself +at the Fishing Pavilion. Here they picked up Murasaki’s ladies, who +were waiting at the Pavilion by appointment. The boats were carved +with a dragon’s head at the prow and painted with the image of an +osprey at the stem, completely in the Chinese style; and the boys +who manned them were all in Chinese costume, with their hair tied up +with bright ribbons behind. The lake, as they now put out towards the +middle of it, seemed immensely large, and those on board, to whom +the whole experience was new and deliciously exciting, could hardly +believe that they were not heading for some undiscovered land. At last +however the rowers brought them close in under the rocky bank of the +channel between the two large islands, and on closer examination they +discovered to their delight that the shape of every little ledge and +crag of stone had been as carefully devised as if a painter had traced +them with his brush. Here and there in the distance the topmost boughs +of an orchard showed above the mist, so heavily laden with blossom that +it looked as though a bright carpet were spread in mid air. Far away +they could just catch sight of Murasaki’s apartments, marked by +the deeper green of the willow boughs that swept her courtyards, and +by the shimmer of her flowering orchards, which even at this distance +seemed to shed their fragrance amid the isles and rocks. In the world +outside, the cherry-blossom was almost over; but here it seemed to +laugh at decay, and round the palace even the wistaria that ran along +the covered alleys and porticos was all in bloom, but not a flower +past its best; while here, where the boats were tied, mountain-kerria +poured its yellow blossom over the rocky cliffs in a torrent of colour +that was mirrored in the waters of the lake below. Water-birds of +many kinds played in and out among the boats or fluttered hither and +thither with tiny twigs or flower sprays in their beaks, and love-birds +roamed in pairs, their delicate markings blending, in reflection, with +the frilled pattern of the waves. Here, like figures in a picture +of fairyland, they spent the day gazing in rapture, and envied the +woodman[139] on whose axe green leaves at last appeared. + +Many trifling poems were interchanged, such as: ‘When the wind +blows, even the wave-petals, that are no blossoms at all, put on +strange colours; for this is the vaunted cape, the Cliff of Kerria +Flowers.’[140] And ‘To the Rapids of Idé[141] surely the channels of +our spring lake must bend; for where else hang the kerria-flowers so +thick across the rocks?’ Or this: ‘Never again will I dream of the +Mountain[142] on the Tortoise’s Back, for here in this boat have I +found a magic that shall preserve both me and my name forever from the +onset of mortality.’ And again: ‘In the soft spring sunshine even the +spray that falls from the rower’s oars, sinks soft as scattered +petals on to the waveless waters of the lake.’ + +So captivated were they by this novel experience that they had soon +lost all sense of whither they were faring or whence they had come. It +was indeed as though the waters had cast a spell of forgetfulness upon +their hearts, and when evening came they were still, as it seemed to +them, gliding away and away across the lake, to the pleasant strains +of the tune called _The Royal Deer_.... Suddenly the boats halted, the +ladies were invited to go ashore, and to their complete surprise found +that they were back again at the Fishing Pavilion. + +This place was finished in a manner which combined elegance with +extreme simplicity. The rooms were indeed almost bare, and as now the +rival parties pressed into them, spreading along the empty galleries +and across the wide, deserted floors, there was such an interweaving of +gay colours as would have been hard to out-do. The musicians were again +called upon, and this time played a sequence of little-known airs which +won universal applause. Soon they were joined by a troupe of dancers +whom Genji had himself selected, drawing up at the same time a list of +pieces which he thought would interest such an audience. + +It seemed a pity that darkness should be allowed to interfere with +these pleasures, and when night came on, a move was made to the +courtyard in front of the palace. Here flares were lit, and on the +mossy lawn at the foot of the great Steps not only professional +musicians, but also various visitors from Court and friends of the +family performed on wind and string, while picked teachers of the flute +gave a display in the ‘double mode.’[143] Then all the zitherns and +lutes belonging to different members of the household were brought +out on to the steps and carefully tuned to the same pitch. A grand +concert followed, the piece _Was ever such a day?_ being performed with +admirable effect. Even the grooms and labourers who were loitering +amid the serried ranks of coaches drawn up outside the great gates, +little as they usually cared for such things, on this occasion pricked +up their ears and were soon listening with lips parted in wonder and +delight. For it was indeed impossible that the strange shrill descants +of the Spring Mode, enhanced as they were by the unusual beauty of the +night, should not move the most impercipient of human creatures. + +The concert continued till dawn. As a return-tune[144] _Gay Springtide +Pleasures_ was added to the programme, and Prince Sochi no Miya carried +the vocal music back very pleasantly to the common mode by singing +_Green Willows_[145] in the words of which Genji also joined. + +Already the morning birds were clamouring in a lusty chorus to +which, from behind the curtains, the Empress Akikonomu listened with +irritation. + +It would have been hard in these days to find a mote in the perfect +sunshine of Genji’s prosperity and contentment. But it was noticed +with regret by his friends, as a circumstance which must of necessity +be painful to him, that Murasaki still bore him no child. It was +felt, however, that this misfortune was to some extent remedied by +the arrival of his handsome natural daughter (for so Tamakatsura was +regarded by the world at large). The evident store which Genji himself +set by this lady, becoming a matter of common report, together +with the tales of her almost unbelievable beauty, soon induced a large +number of suitors to seek her hand; which was precisely what he had +anticipated. Those of them whose position in life entitled them to +confidence had, through suitable channels, already gone so far as to +make hints in this direction; while there were doubtless many petty +courtiers the flame of whose love burned secretly as a camp fire buried +under a pile of stones.[146] + +Tō no Chūjō’s sons were, of course, like every one else, under the +delusion that she was Genji’s child and took a considerable interest in +her. But the principal suitor was Genji’s half-brother Prince Sochi no +Miya. It so happened that he had been a widower for three years; he was +tired of this comfortless state of life and had made it clear not only +that he considered himself a suitable match for Lady Tamakatsura, but +also that he should like the wedding to take place immediately. This +morning he was still in a very emotional condition; with a wreath of +wistaria flowers about his head, he was indulging in languorous airs +which confirmed Genji’s previous suspicion that this prince had lately +fallen seriously in love. Till now, however, Genji had deliberately +pretended not to notice that anything was wrong. When the great tankard +was handed round, Prince Sochi said in a doleful voice to Genji: +‘You know, if I were not so fond of you, I should long ago have left +this entertainment. It has been a terrible night for me ...’ and he +recited the poem: ‘Because my heart is steeped in a dye too near to its +own blood,[147] life do I prize no longer and in the surging stream +shall shortly cast myself away.’ So saying he took the wreath of +wistaria from his own head and laid it on Genji’s, quoting the poem: +‘My wreath shall be thine.’ Genji laughingly accepted it and replied: +‘Watch by the flowers of Spring till the last petal be unfolded; then +will be time enough to talk of whirlpools and despair.’ So saying he +caught hold of his brother and held him fast in his seat, promising +that if he would but stay, he should to-day witness a performance far +more entertaining than what had gone before. + +It so happened that this day marked the opening of the Empress +Akikonomu’s Spring Devotions. Most of the visitors not wishing to +miss the ceremonies connected with this occasion, asked leave to +stay on, and retiring to the guest-rooms, changed into their morning +clothes. A few who had urgent business at home reluctantly withdrew +from the palace; but on returning later they found that they had +missed nothing, for it was close upon noon before the actual ceremony +began. The visitors reached the Empress’s apartments in a long +procession, headed by Genji himself. The whole Court was there, and +though the magnificence of the occasion was partly due to Akikonomu’s +own position, it was in large measure a tribute to Genji’s influence +and popularity. At Murasaki’s request an offering of flowers was to +be made to the presiding Buddha. They were brought by eight little +boys disguised some as birds, some as butterflies. The birds carried +cherry-blossom in silver bowls; the butterflies, mountain-kerria in +golden bowls. They were in reality quite ordinary flowers such as you +might find in any country place; but in this setting they seemed to +acquire an unearthly glint and splendour. The boys arrived by water, +having embarked at the landing-stage in front of Murasaki’s rooms. +As they landed at the Autumn domain a sudden gust of wind caught the +cherry-blossom in the silver bowls and some of it scattered along +the bank. The day was cloudless and it was a pretty sight indeed +to see the little messengers come out into the sunshine from behind a +trailing patch of mist. + +It had not been found convenient to set up the regular Musicians’ +Tent; but a platform had been constructed under the portico that ran +in front of the Empress’s apartments, and chairs had been borrowed +that the musicians might be seated in foreign fashion.[148] The +little boys advanced as far as the foot of the steps, their offerings +held aloft in their hands. Here they were met by incense-bearers who +conveyed the bowls to the grand altar and adding their contents to +that of the holy flower-vessels, pronounced the ritual of dedication. +At this point Yūgiri arrived, bearing a poem from Murasaki: ‘Lover of +Autumn, whom best it pleases that pine-crickets should chirp amid the +withered grass, forgive the butterflies that trespass from my garden of +flowers.’ The Empress smiled. To her own gift of autumn leaves these +Active birds and butterflies were the belated response. + +Her ladies, who were at first loyal to the season with which their +mistress was identified, had been somewhat shaken in their allegiance +by yesterday’s astonishing excursion and came back assuring the Empress +that her preference would not survive a visit to the rival park. + +After the acceptance of their offerings, the Birds performed the +Kalyavinka[149] Dance. The accompanying music was backed by the +warbling of real nightingales; while afar off, with strangely happy +effect, there sounded the faint and occasional cry of some crane or +heron on the lake. All too soon came the wild and rapid passage which +marks the close. + +Now it was the turn of the Butterflies, who after fluttering +hither and thither for a while, settled at the foot of a tangled +thorn-hedge, over which the yellow kerria streamed down in splendid +profusion, and here executed their dance. + +The Comptroller of the Empress’s household, assisted by several +courtiers, now distributed largesse to the boy-dancers on her behalf. +To the Birds, cherry-coloured jackets; to the Butterflies, cloaks +lined with silk of kerria hue. These were so appropriate that they +could hardly have been produced on the spur of the moment, and it +almost seemed as though some hint of Murasaki’s intention had reached +the Empress’s quarters beforehand. To the musicians were given white, +unlined dresses, and presents of silk and cloth according to their +rank. Yūgiri received a blue jacket for himself and a lady’s costume +for his store-cupboards. He was also charged to carry a reply from the +Empress: ‘I could have cried yesterday at missing it all.... But what +can I do? I am not my own mistress. “If anything could tempt me to +batter down the flowery, eight-fold wall of precedent, it would be the +visit of those butterflies who fluttered from your garden into mine.”’ + +You may think that many of the poems which I here repeat are not +worthy of the talented characters to whom they are attributed. I can +only reply that they were in every case composed upon the spur of the +moment, and the makers were no better pleased with them than you are. + +On looking back, I see that I have forgotten to mention the presents +which Murasaki distributed among her visitors after the ceremonies +of the day before. They were, as you may well imagine, very handsome +indeed; but to describe all such matters in detail would be very +tiresome. Henceforward communication between the Spring and Autumn +quarters was of daily occurrence, joint concerts and excursions were +constantly planned, and the two parties of gentlewomen began to +feel as much at home in one domain as in the other. + +Tamakatsura, after that first encounter on the night when the mummers +danced in front of the palace, had continued her friendship with +Murasaki. The newcomer’s evident desire for cordial relations would in +any case have been hard to withstand. But it was also apparent that +she was extremely intelligent and at the same time very easy to get on +with; so that she was soon a general favourite in the palace. + +As has been said, her suitors were numerous; but Genji had not as yet +shown any sign of encouraging one rather than another. His feelings +upon the subject were indeed very fluctuating. To begin with, he +had no confidence in his own capacity to go on playing his present +fatherly part with success. Something must be done soon; and he often +thought that the first step must be to enlighten Tō no Chūjō as to +the girl’s identity. So long as he hesitated to do so, the situation +was very embarrassing. For whereas Yūgiri had formed the habit of +going constantly in and out of her room in a manner which very much +embarrassed her, but which it was impossible to criticize, since all +the world believed him to be her brother (and it must be confessed +that he never attempted to behave with anything else than brotherly +affection), Tō no Chūjō’s sons whose intimacy with Yūgiri brought them +frequently to the house, pressed upon her attentions of an unmistakable +sort, which she, knowing her true relationship to these young men, +was at a loss how to receive. She would very much have liked her real +father at any rate to know of her present position; but she made no +attempt to get into communication with him, for she had complete +confidence that Genji, who would not do so much for her unless he +wished her well, must know far better than she what policy it was best +to pursue. Her docility touched and delighted him; for though it +did not by any means equal Yūgao’s, it served constantly to remind him +of her. But Tamakatsura was, as he soon discovered, a person of very +much stronger character than he had supposed. + +The summer came round, bringing with it the distraction of new clothes +and an uncertain yet on the whole extremely agreeable weather. Genji +had very little business at this season, and there was a great deal of +music and entertaining at the New Palace. He heard that love-letters +were pouring in to the Western Wing[150] and with the pleasure that +one always feels at discovering that one’s anticipations are being +fulfilled he hastened thither to examine these missives. He took upon +himself not only to read all her correspondence, but also to advise +her which letters ought to be neglected and which acknowledged with +civility. To this advice she listened somewhat coldly. By far the most +passionate and profuse of her correspondents seemed to be Prince Sochi +no Miya, and Genji smiled as he looked through the thick packet into +which that prince’s letters had been collected. ‘Sochi and I,’ he said, +‘have always been great friends. With none of the royal princes have +I ever been so intimate, and I know that he has always been devoted +to me. The only subject upon which we have ever had any difference of +opinion is just this matter of love-making. He allowed it to play far +too important a part in his life. I am amused and at the same time, in +a way, distressed to find him after all these years behaving exactly +as he did when we were both boys. However, I should like you to answer +him. I know of no other person about the Court with whom it would so +well become a lady of consequence to correspond. He is a remarkable man +in many ways. His appearance alone would entitle him ...’ and more to +this effect, designed of course not to blacken Sochi’s character, but +to portray him in just such a light as would interest an inexperienced +girl. These remarks had, however, an exactly opposite effect to that +which Genji intended. + +Then there was Prince Higekuro. He had always seemed to be a +steady-going, capable fellow, successful in everything he undertook. +But glancing at his letters Genji feared that upon the hill of Love, +where, let it be remembered, even Confucius stumbled,[151] this wise +prince too might easily find his undoing. By far the most elegant +letter in the whole collection was one written on very dark blue +Chinese paper, heavily perfumed with some delicious scent. It was +folded up very small, and Genji, whose curiosity would have been +aroused by this fact alone, now spread it out, displaying the poem: ‘Of +my love perchance you know not, for like a stream that is buried under +the ground, a moment it springs into the sunlight; then sinks into the +cavern whence it sprang.’ + +It was very well written, in a hand which combined fanciful originality +with adherence to the latest fashions. ‘Who wrote this?’ he asked; +but he received only the vaguest replies. Ukon had now joined them +and addressing her, Genji said: ‘I want you to give your mistress +some guidance in the answering of such letters of this kind as may in +future arrive. For the unfortunate situations which sometimes result +from our present freedom of manners we men are not always to blame. It +often happens that a little timely severity on the lady’s part would +avert the quandaries into which we are led by our determination to +treat love as our principal pastime and distraction. At the time (who +should know it better than I?) such severity is of course resented by +the gentleman, who will rail in the accepted style at his lady’s +“cruelty” and “insensibility.” But in the end he will be grateful that +the matter was not allowed to go further. + +‘On the other hand it may happen that some suitor, whose rank is not +such that he can be considered as a possible husband, may entertain +very serious feelings indeed, yet through fear of giving offence may +go no further in his communications than to make a few conventional +remarks about the weather or the garden. In such a case, if the lady, +insisting upon seeing in such epistles more than is actually expressed, +administers a rebuff, the result will only be that the affair is +henceforward on a footing of passion, not (as hitherto) of formality. +A civil answer, couched in the same conventional terms as the original +letter, may instead dispel the lover’s romantic notions and lead him +to abandon the quest. But whatever happens the lady has done all that +ought to be expected of her. + +‘On the other hand to mistake the idle compliments and attentions which +it is now fashionable to scatter in such profusion, and to treat these +courtly formalities as signs of genuine feeling, is even more dangerous +than to ignore them altogether, and though such a course may lead to a +little momentary excitement, it is bound in the long run to produce a +disagreeable situation. + +‘It often happens that a young girl will cast aside all reserve +and pursue without thought of the consequences some quite trivial +inclination, merely in order to convince the world that she is a woman +of feeling. At first the discovery of a new pleasure is in itself +sufficient to carry her through; but repetition palls, and after a few +months excitement gives place to tedium or even disgust. + +‘I have, however, reason to believe that both my step-brother and +Prince Higekuro are in this case completely sincere, and whatever her +own feelings may be it is improper that any one in your mistress’s +position should deal too curtly with offers such as these. As for +the rest, I assume that their rank is not such as to make acceptance +conceivable, and there can therefore be no objection to your mistress +meting out among them such varying degrees of kindness or severity as +her fancy dictates.’ + +While this exposition was in progress at the far end of the room, +Tamakatsura sat with her back towards the speakers, occasionally +glancing across her shoulder with a turn of the head that showed +off her delicate profile to great advantage. She was wearing a long +close-fitting robe, pink plum-blossom colour without, and green within; +her short mantle matched the flower of the white deutzia, then in full +bloom. There was in her style of dress something which made it seem +homely without being dowdy or unfashionable. If in her manners any +trace of rusticity could still be found, it lay perhaps in a certain +lack of self-assurance which she seemed to have retained as a last +remnant of her country breeding. But in every other respect she had +made ample use of the ♦opportunities afforded her by life at the New +Palace. The way she dressed her hair and her use of make-up showed +that she observed those around her with an acute and intelligent eye. +She had, in fact, since her arrival at Court, grown into a perfectly +well turned-out and fashionable beauty, all ready to become, alas, not +his own (reflected Genji with chagrin) but some fortunate young man’s +immaculate bride. Ukon, too, was thinking, as she watched them, that +Genji looked much more fit to be her lover than her father. Yes, they +were surely made for one another; and Ukon doubted whether, however +long he searched, Genji would find her a partner whose looks matched +her so well. ‘Most of the letters that come,’ said the old lady, ‘I do +not pass on at all. The three or four that you have been looking at, +you will agree I could not possibly have returned. But though I +delivered them to my mistress, she has not answered them, and though of +course she will do so if you insist upon it....’ ‘Perhaps you can tell +me,’ broke in Genji, ‘who sent this curious note. Despite its minute +size there seems to be a great deal of writing in it.’ ‘Ah, that one +...’ said Ukon, ‘if I returned it once I returned it a hundred times! +But there was no getting rid of the messenger. It comes from Captain +Kashiwagi, His Excellency Tō no Chūjō’s eldest son. This gentleman +knows little Miruko, my lady’s chambermaid, and it was through her +that the messenger was first admitted. I assure you no one else but +this child Miruko knows anything about the matter at all....’ ‘But how +delightful!’ said Genji, much relieved. ‘Kashiwagi of course holds a +rather low rank, and that is a disadvantage. But no child of such a +man as Tō no Chūjō is to be scorned; and there are, in point of fact +a great many important officials who in public esteem occupy a far +lower place than these young men. Moreover, Kashiwagi is generally +considered to be the most serious and competent of the brothers. To +receive compliments from such a man is very gratifying, and though he +must of course sooner or later learn of his close relationship to you, +for the present I see no need to enlighten him.’ And still examining +the letter, he added ‘There are touches in his handwriting, too, which +are by no means to be despised.’ ‘You agree with everything I say,’ he +continued: ‘but I feel that inwardly you are raising objections all the +while. I am very sorry not to please you; but if you are thinking that +I ought to hand you over to your father without more ado, I simply do +not agree with you. You are very young and inexperienced. If you were +suddenly to find yourself in the midst of brothers and sisters whom +you have never known, I am certain you would be miserable. Whereas if +you will only wait till I have settled your future (in such a way +as your father, upon whom there are so many claims, could not possibly +manage), there will be time enough afterwards to disclose the story of +your birth.’ + +♦ “opportunites” replaced with “opportunities” + +Though he did not say in so many words that he would far rather have +kept her for himself, he more than once came perilously near to hinting +something of the kind. Such indiscretions she either misunderstood +or ignored. This piqued him; but he enjoyed the visit and was quite +unhappy when he discovered that it was high time for him to go back to +his own quarters. Before he left she reminded him, in guarded language, +of his promise to tell her real father what had become of her. He felt +at this more conscience-stricken than he need have done. For in her +heart of hearts Tamakatsura was by no means in a hurry to leave the New +Palace. She would have been glad to have the inevitable introduction to +her real parent safely behind her, chiefly because the prospect of it +destroyed her peace of mind. However kind her father might be, it was +impossible that he should take more trouble about her than Prince Genji +was doing; indeed, Tō no Chūjō, not having once set eyes on her since +she was a mere infant, might well have ceased to take any interest in +her whatever. She had lately been reading a number of old romances and +had come across many accounts of cases very similar to her own. She +began to see that it was a delicate matter for a child to force itself +upon the attention of a parent who had done his best to forget that it +existed, and she abandoned all idea of taking the business into her own +hands. + +Genji arrived at Murasaki’s rooms full of enthusiasm for the lady whom +he had just been visiting: ‘What a surprising and delightful creature +this Tamakatsura is!’ he exclaimed. ‘Her mother, with whom I was so +intimate years ago, had almost too grave and earnest a character. +This girl will, I can see, be more a “woman of the world”; but +she is at the same time evidently very affectionate. I am sure she has +a brilliant future before her....’ From his manner Murasaki instantly +saw that his interest in Tamakatsura had assumed a new character. ‘I +am very sorry for the girl,’ she said. ‘She evidently has complete +confidence in you. But I happen to know what you mean by that phrase +“a woman of the world,” and if I chose to do so, could tell the +unfortunate creature what to expect....’ ‘But you surely cannot mean +that I shall _betray_ her confidence?’ asked Genji indignantly. ‘You +forget,’ she replied, ‘that I was once in very much the same position +myself. You had made up your mind to treat me as a daughter; but, +unless I am much mistaken, there were times when you did not carry +out this resolution very successfully....’ ‘How clever every one is!’ +thought Genji, much put out at the facility with which his inmost +thoughts were read. But he hastened to rejoin: ‘If I were in love +with Tamakatsura, she would presumably become aware of the fact quite +as quickly as you would.’ He was too much annoyed to continue the +conversation; however, he admitted to himself in private that when +people come to a conclusion of this kind, it is hardly ever far from +the mark. But surely, after all, he could judge better than she? And +Murasaki, he reflected, was not judging this case on its merits, but +merely assuming, in the light of past experience, that events were +about to take a certain course.... + +To convince himself that Murasaki had no ground for her suspicions +he frequently went across to the Side Wing and spent some hours in +Tamakatsura’s company. + +During the fourth month the weather was rather depressing. But one +evening, when it had been raining heavily all day, he looked out and +saw to his relief that at last the sky was clearing. The young +maples and oak trees in the garden blent their leafage in a marvellous +curtain of green. Genji remembered the lines ‘In the fourth month +the weather grew clearer and still ...’[152] and thence his thoughts +wandered to the girl in the Western Wing. He felt a sudden longing, on +this early summer evening, for the sight of something fresh, something +fragrant; and without a word to anyone he slipped away to her rooms. He +found her practising at her desk in an easy attitude and attire. She +was in no way prepared to receive such a visit, and upon his arrival +rose to her feet with a blush. Caught thus unawares and informally +dressed, she was more like her mother than he had ever seen her +before, and he could not help exclaiming: ‘I could not have believed +it possible! To-night you are simply Yūgao herself. Of course, I have +always noticed the resemblance; but never before has it reached such a +point as this. It so happens that Yūgiri is not at all like his mother, +and consequently I am apt to forget how complete such resemblances can +sometimes be.’ + +A sprig of orange-blossom was stuck among some fruit that was lying on +a tray near by. ‘As the orange-blossom gives its scent unaltered to the +sleeve that brushes it, so have you taken on your mother’s beauty, till +you and she are one.’ So he recited, adding: ‘Nothing has ever consoled +me for her loss, and indeed, though so many years have passed I shall +die regretting her as bitterly as at the start. But to-night, when I +first caught sight of you, it seemed to me for an instant that she had +come back to me again—that the past was only a dream.... Bear with me; +you cannot conceive what happiness was brought me by one moment +of illusion. But now it is over ...’ and so saying he took her hand in +his. She was somewhat taken aback, for he had never attempted to do +such a thing before; but she answered quietly: ‘Wretched will be my lot +indeed, should the flower’s perfume prove hapless as the flower that +was destroyed.’ + +She felt that things were not going well, and sat staring at the floor, +her chin propped on her fist. This was just the attitude in which she +most attracted him. He noticed the plumpness of her hand, the softness +of her skin, the delicacy of her whole figure. Such beauty could not, +at these close quarters, in any case have failed to move him; coupled +with the memories which every feature inspired, it proved irresistible, +and to-day his discretion broke down as never before. True, he did no +more than make a somewhat vague avowal of his feelings towards her. +But Tamakatsura was instantly terror-stricken; of this there could be +no doubt, for she was trembling from head to foot. ‘Come!’ he said, +‘you need not look so horrified. There is no harm in my having such +feelings, so long as only you and I are aware of them. You have known +for some time past that I was very fond of you, and now you have learnt +that I care for you even more than you supposed. But were I drawn +towards you by the blindest passion that has ever darkened the heart of +man, this would not damage your chances with Sochi no Miya, Higekuro +and the rest. For in their eyes you are my daughter, and it would never +occur to them that my affection for you could in any way hinder their +courtship. My only fear is that you will never find a husband who cares +for you half as much as I do. Such feelings as mine for you are not as +common in the world as you perhaps imagine them to be....’ + +He spoke all the while as though what he had said to her implied +nothing more than an unusual access of paternal feeling. It had now +quite stopped raining; ‘the wind was rustling in the bamboos,’[153] +and the moon was shining brightly. It was a lovely and solemn night. +Tamakatsura’s ladies, seeing that the conversation was beginning +to take a somewhat intimate turn, had tactfully withdrawn from her +presence. + +His visits had for some while been very frequent; but circumstances +seldom favoured him as they did to-night. Moreover, now that he had, +quite without premeditation, confessed to these feelings, they seemed +suddenly to have taken a far stronger hold upon him. Unobtrusively, +indeed almost without her being aware of what was happening, he slipped +from her shoulders the light cloak which she had been wearing since +summer came in, and lay down beside her. She was horrified, but chiefly +through the fear that some one might discover them in this posture. +Her own father, she ruefully reflected, might refuse to admit his +responsibilities towards her and even order her out of his sight, but +she could be certain that he would not submit her to such ordeals as +she was here undergoing.... She did her best to hide her tears, but +before long they burst forth in an uncontrollable flood. Genji was +dismayed. ‘If that is what you feel about it,’ he said, ‘you must +really dislike me very much indeed. I have not attempted to do anything +that the world would consider in the least reprehensible, even were +I in no way connected with you. But as it is, we have been friends +for almost a year. Surely there is nothing very strange in the way I +have behaved? You know quite well that I should never force you to do +anything you would be sorry for afterwards. Do not, please, be angry +with me. Now that you have grown so like your mother, it is an immense +comfort to me simply to be with you....’ He spoke then for a long +while, tenderly, caressingly. For now that she was lying beside him +the resemblance to Yūgao was more than ever complete. But happy though +he would have been to remain far longer at her side, he was still able +to see that his behaviour had been in the highest degree rash and +inconsiderate. It was growing late; at any moment some one might return +to the room and discover them. ‘Do not think the worse of me for what +has happened this evening,’ he said at last, rising from the couch; ‘it +would distress me very much if you did. I know quite well that there +are people who never allow their feelings to get the better of them. +I can only say that I am differently made. But of this at least I can +assure you: whatever you may think of me, such outbursts are not due +in my case merely to some frivolous impulse of the moment. Once my +affections are aroused they are boundless both in time and extent. You +need not fear that I shall ever act in such a way as to harm your good +name. All I ask is that I may sometimes be allowed to talk as I have +talked to-night; and perhaps I may even hope that you will occasionally +answer me in the same spirit.’ + +He spoke gently, reasonably, but she was now beside herself with +agitation, and made no intelligible reply. + +‘I see that I have made a great mistake,’ he said at last. ‘I always +thought that we got on unusually well together; but it is now clear +that the friendship was all on my side. For I cannot think that my +showing a little affection would so much perturb you unless you +definitely disliked me....’ He broke off, and left the room with a +final entreaty that she would speak to no one of what had occurred. + +Though Tamakatsura was no longer very young, she was still entirely +innocent, and this made her judge Genji’s conduct more harshly than she +would otherwise have done. He had indeed merely lain down on the +same couch; but she, in her inexperience, imagined that in so doing he +had taken advantage of her to the utmost possible extent. On returning +to the room her gentlewomen at once noticed that she was looking very +distraught, and pestered her with tiresome enquiries about her health. +No sooner had they withdrawn than Ateki,[154] the daughter of her +old nurse, began (irritatingly enough) to congratulate her upon her +guardian’s extraordinary kindness: ‘How gratifying it is,’ she said, +‘that his Excellency is so admirably attentive to you! With all respect +to your own father, I very much doubt whether he would put himself to +half as much trouble on your account.... Prince Genji seems to take a +positive pleasure in looking after you.’ But Tamakatsura had been too +much surprised and shocked by Genji’s conduct to feel, for the moment, +any gratitude for the more than parental solicitude by which Ateki was +so deeply impressed. She had no desire whatever to see him again, and +yet in his absence felt strangely lonely and depressed. + + [138] The box of autumn leaves. See above, p. 145. + + [139] See vol. ii, p. 292. + + [140] Yamabuki no Saki, a place in Ōmi, referred to in the _Gossamer + Diary_. See vol. ii, p. 28. + + [141] A place in Yamashiro, also famous for its kerria flowers. + + [142] Hōrai, fairyland, the Immortal Island. + + [143] The mode of the second, beginning on alto A. Being so high it + was very difficult to play. It symbolized Spring. + + [144] The tune which marked the return from the unusual ‘Spring’ + tuning to the ordinary mode. + + [145] ‘With a thread of green from the willow-tree—Ohé! + The nightingale has stitched himself a hat—Ohé! + A hat of plum-blossom, they say—Ohé!’ + + [146] Lest the enemy should see it. + + [147] He thinks that Tamakatsura is Genji’s daughter, and therefore + his own niece. Union with a brother’s child was ill-viewed. + There are numerous puns, which it would be tedious to explain. + + [148] The Japanese, as is well known, squat cross-legged on the + ground. But the use of chairs had spread with Buddhism from + Central Asia. + + [149] One of the magical birds in Amida Buddha’s Paradise. + + [150] Tamakatsura’s quarters. + + [151] The married life of Confucius, like that of Socrates, was very + unhappy. + + [152] From a poem written by Po Chü-i in 821, describing the pleasure + of returning to his own house after a spell of duty in the + Palace: ‘I sit at the window and listen to the wind rustling + among the bamboo; I walk on the terrace and watch the moon + rising between the trees.’ + + [153] See note on p. 235. + + [154] See above p. 159. Ateki of course knew the secret of + Tamakatsura’s birth. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + THE GLOW-WORM + + +Genji was now in a singularly fortunate position. The government +of the country lay wholly in his hands; but though his power was +supreme, he was now seldom troubled by the uninteresting details of +public business; for he had some while ago delegated all such minor +decisions to Tō no Chūjō, and the arrangement continued to work very +successfully. In varying ways and degrees his dependants naturally +benefited by his increased leisure and security. Not only was he able +to devote far more time to looking after their affairs, but they could +also feel that, such as it was, their position was now something +permanent and dependable; whereas in the old days, when the powers +arrayed against him were still unshaken, they knew quite well that he +might at any moment find himself far more in need of patronage than +able any longer to dispense it. Most of them, even those who received a +very small share of his attentions, were nowadays fairly well content +with their lot; but the Princess[155] in the Western Wing continued to +view with great apprehension the imprudent turn which her guardian had +lately given to their relationship, and different as were his manners +from those of her persecutor[156] on the Island, she was now scarcely +less alarmed than in the weeks which preceded her flight. She felt that +in first insisting on their playing the part of father and daughter, +and then suddenly revealing himself in another character, he +had taken advantage of her in a very mean way, and despite his +protestations it seemed vain to suppose that, out of consideration for +her at any rate, he would restrain himself sufficiently to avoid an +open scandal. She had no one to whom she could turn, and now that she +was face to face with the actual difficulties of life she realized far +more acutely than she had even done as a child the irreparable loss +which she had sustained in her mother’s death. + +Genji, on his side, was exceedingly vexed with himself for having +acted so imprudently. He had not breathed a word about the matter to +any one, and being anxious to convince himself that his behaviour +on that unlucky night had been altogether exceptional, he visited +her frequently and, apart from a few rather ambiguous remarks (which +however he was careful never to let fall in the presence of her +gentlewomen and attendants) he behaved in a manner to which exception +could not be taken. Each time that he began to venture on dangerous +ground she felt her heart beat violently and, if he had been any one +else, would have cut him short and sent him about his business. But as +it was she merely pretended not to notice what he was saying. + +She was naturally of a very cheerful and lively disposition, so +that she made friends easily. Prince Sochi and her other suitors, +though they themselves had obtained so little encouragement from her, +continued to hear on all sides nothing but praises of her good looks +and general charm. They therefore redoubled their efforts; but to their +chagrin the rains of the fifth month[157] had already set in without +any sign that their industry was likely to be rewarded. + +Among some letters which Tamakatsura was showing to him Genji found +one from Prince Sochi: ‘If you could but find it in your heart +to admit me for one single moment to your presence, you would earn +my undying gratitude, even though I should never see you again. For +I should thus enjoy a respite, the first for many months, from the +tortures which I now endure....’ ‘I have never seen Prince Sochi making +love,’ said Genji as he read the letter. ‘It would be a sight worth +seeing. Please tell him he may come,’ and he began suggesting the terms +in which she should reply. But the idea did not at all appeal to her, +and alleging that she was feeling giddy and could not, at the moment, +possibly handle a pen, she attempted to lead the conversation into +other channels. ‘But there is no need that you should write yourself,’ +said Genji, returning to his project; ‘we will dictate a letter between +us.’ + +Among Tamakatsura’s gentlewomen there was none in whom she placed any +great confidence. The only exception was a certain Saishō no Kimi, a +daughter of her mother’s younger brother, who seemed to have far more +sense than most young women. Hearing that this girl was in difficult +circumstances Tamakatsura had sent for her to see what could be done; +and finding that Saishō was not only the sort of person whom it would +be useful in a general way to have about her, but was also an unusually +good pen-woman, she retained this young cousin in her service. Genji, +who knew that Tamakatsura often used the girl as her amanuensis, now +sent for Saishō and proceeded to dictate a letter. For he was consumed +by an overwhelming curiosity to see how his half-brother, with whose +conduct in all other situations he was so familiar, would conduct +himself at such an interview as this. As for Tamakatsura, she had, +since the occasion of Genji’s unpardonable indiscretion, begun to +pay a good deal more attention to the communications of her suitors. +She had no reason to give any preference to Prince Sochi; but he, as +much as any other husband, represented a way of escape from the +embarrassment in which she found herself. She was, however, far from +having ever thought of him seriously in this connection. + +Little knowing that his success was due to a whim of Prince Genji’s +rather than to any favourable impression that his own suit had made, +Sochi no Miya in great elation rushed round to the New Palace and +presented himself at Tamakatsura’s door. He could not complain of his +treatment; for he was at once accommodated with a divan which was only +a few paces from her curtains-of-state. He looked about him. On every +side he recognized such presents and appurtenances as far more commonly +emanate from a lover than from a parent. The air was laden with costly +perfumes. There were hangings, brocades, a thousand trifles any one of +which would have been enough to arouse in Sochi’s heart the suspicion +that Genji, from whom he was convinced that those bounties flowed, +was not her father. And if he was not her father, then inevitably, +as Sochi ruefully recognized, he must be reckoned with as a serious +rival. Tamakatsura herself made no effort to converse with him or even +answer his questions. Her maids seemed quite incapable of replying on +her behalf, and when even Saishō, reputed to be so capable in every +emergency, continued to sit in awkward silence, Genji whispered: ‘What +is the matter with you all? Have you become rooted to your seats? Get +up, do something.... Be civil!’ But all this had no effect. They merely +stared helplessly in front of them. + +The evening was now drawing in, and as the sky was very much overcast +the room was almost dark. Beyond her curtains Tamakatsura could just +discern the motionless form of her suitor, gracefully outlined against +the gloom, while from her side a stirring of the evening air would +occasionally carry towards him a fragrance enhanced by a strange +perfume[158] which, though it was familiar to him, he could not then +identify. The room seemed full of diverse and exquisite scents that +inflamed his imagination, and though he had previously pictured her +to himself as handsome, he now (as these perfumes floated round him) +thought of her as a hundred times more beautiful than he had ever done +before. Her curtains were thick and it was now quite dark. He could +not see her and could only guess that she was still near him; but so +vividly did she now appear before his mind’s eye that it was as though +no barrier were between them, and he began to address her in the most +passionate terms. There was now in his style no longer anything of the +professional courtier or hardened man-of-the-world. The long outpouring +to which Genji, ensconced in his corner of her curtained daïs, now +listened with considerable emotion, was natural, direct—almost boyish. +When it was over, Prince Sochi was rewarded by a note from Saishō, +informing him that her mistress had some time ago retired to the inner +room![159] ‘This is too bad!’ whispered Genji, creeping to the door of +her refuge (he had himself been so intent upon his brother’s eloquence +that he had not seen her slip away). ‘You cannot simply disappear while +people are talking to you. You are governed by absurd pre-conceived +notions, and never stop to consider the merits of the case in question. +To treat any visitor, and above all a person of Prince Sochi’s +standing, in the manner I have just witnessed would not be tolerated +in a child; and in your case, seeing that you are a grown woman not +without some experience of Court life, such behaviour is insufferable. +Even if you are too shy to converse with him, you might at least sit +within reasonable distance....’ Genji had never yet pursued her +into the inner room; but she had no doubt that on the present occasion, +in his eagerness to reform her manners, he would have no scruple in +doing so; and reluctantly she left her place of retreat and once more +seated herself near the edge of her curtained daïs. Sochi now attempted +to begin a more general conversation, but no topic seemed to arouse +her interest. Suddenly her attention was distracted by a light which +had begun to glimmer quite close to where she sat. It seemed to move +when Genji moved. She now saw him go to her curtains-of-state and, at +a certain point, hook back the inner curtain, leaving only a single +thickness of light transparent stuff. Here he suspended something +bright, that looked like a paper candle.... What was he doing? She was +dumbfounded. + +The fact was that on his way to her apartments earlier in the evening +Genji had encountered an unusual number of glow-worms. Collecting +them in a thin paper bag he had concealed this improvised lantern +under the folds of his cloak and, on his arrival, disposed of it in +a safe corner. Startled by the sudden glow of light, Tamakatsura +snatched up her fan and buried her face behind it, not before Sochi +had caught an enchanting glimpse of her beauty. This was just what +Genji had intended. The attentions which his brother had hitherto paid +to Tamakatsura were, he suspected, due solely to the fact that Sochi +had accepted the current story and imagined her indeed to be Genji’s +daughter. He knew that, despite her fame as a delightful accession to +the Court, Prince Sochi could have but a vague conception of her charm; +and in order that he might the sooner escape from his own dilemma he +was determined that Sochi should no longer merely pay formal court to +the girl, but should really lose his head about her. He imagined that +he was now at any rate indisputably playing the part of a fond +and disinterested parent. A strange delusion! For had he reflected for +a moment he would have seen that nothing would ever have induced him +so crudely to thrust his own daughter, the Princess of Akashi, upon a +suitor’s notice. He now stole away by a back door and returned to his +own apartments. + +Sochi was feeling much encouraged. He now discredited Saishō’s note and +imagined that the lady had been sitting during the whole time of his +discourse in the position where the light of the glow-worms revealed +her. ‘After all,’ he thought to himself, ‘I have interested her. She +listens patiently and apparently even likes to be near me.’ And with +that he pulled back the light gauze flap at the part of her curtains +where Genji had removed the thick inner hanging. She was now but a +few feet away from him, and though a bag of glow-worms makes no very +famous[160] illumination, he saw enough by this fitful and glimmering +light to confirm his impression that she was one of the most beautiful +women he had ever seen. In another moment Tamakatsura’s maids, summoned +hastily to the scene, had detached the strange lantern and carried it +somewhere out of sight. + +Genji’s stratagem was indeed abundantly successful. This momentary +vision of Tamakatsura huddled disconsolately upon her couch had +profoundly disturbed him. ‘Does the harsh world decree that even the +flickering glow-worm, too shy for common speech, must quench the timid +torchlight of its love!’ So he now recited; and she, thinking that +if she appeared to be taking much trouble about her reply, he would +suppose she attached more importance to the matter than was actually +the case, answered instantly: ‘Far deeper is the glow-worm’s love that +speaks in silent points of flame, than all the passions idle courtiers +prate with facile tongue.’ She spoke coldly; moreover she had now +withdrawn to the far side of her daïs. For some while he pleaded in +vain against this inhospitable treatment. But he soon saw that he would +gain nothing, even should he stay where he was till dawn; and though +he could hear by the water dripping from the eaves that it was a most +disagreeable night, he rose and took his leave. Despite the rain the +nightingales were singing lustily; but he was in no mood to enjoy their +song and did not pause an instant to hear them. + +On the fifth day of the fifth month, business at the Stables brought +Genji in the direction of her apartments, and he availed himself of +this opportunity to discover what had happened on the night of Sochi’s +visit. ‘Did the prince stay very late?’ he asked. ‘I hope you did not +let him go too far. He is the sort of man who might very easily lose +control of himself ... not that he is worse than others. It is really +very unusual indeed to meet with any one who is capable of acting with +self-restraint under such circumstances.’ And this was the match-maker +who on the very occasion to which he was now referring, had driven +her into Prince Sochi’s arms! She could not help being amused at +his unblushing inconsistency. But all the while he was warning her +against the very man for whose visit he had himself been responsible. +Tamakatsura scanning him in his holiday clothes thought that he could +not, by any imaginable touch of art or nature, have looked more +beautiful. That thin cloak—what a marvellous blend of colours! Did +fairies preside over his dyeing-vats? Even the familiar and traditional +patterns, she thought, on such days as this take on a new significance +and beauty. And then looking again at Genji: ‘If only we were not on +this tiresome footing,’ she said to herself, ‘I believe I should long +ago have fallen very much in love with him.’ + +A letter arrived. It was from Prince Sochi, written on thin white +paper in a competent hand, and couched in terms which at the time +seemed very spirited and apposite. I fear, however, that were I to +reproduce it here, this admired letter would seem in no way remarkable, +and I will only record the poem which accompanied it: ‘Shall I, like +the flower that grows unnoticed by the stream though holiday-makers in +their dozens pass that way, find myself still, when this day closes, +unwanted and passed-by?’ The letter was attached to the tallest and +handsomest flag-iris[161] she had ever seen. ‘He is quite right,’ said +Genji; ‘to-day there is no escape for you.’ And when one after another +of her gentlewomen had pleaded with her that this once at any rate she +should answer him with her own hand, she produced the following reply, +which had, however, very little to do with what was going on in her +mind: ‘Better had the flower remained amid the waters, content to be +ignored, than prove, thus swiftly plucked, how feeble were the roots on +which it stood.’ + +It was an idle repartee, and even the handwriting seemed to Prince +Sochi’s expectant eye somewhat vague and purposeless. He was, indeed, +not at all sure, when he saw it, that he had not made a great +mistake.... Tamakatsura, on the other hand, was disposed to be in +rather a good humour with herself. She had this morning received Magic +Balls[162] of the utmost variety and splendour from an unprecedented +number of admirers. A more complete contrast than that between her +poverty-stricken years on the island and her present pampered existence +could hardly be imagined. Her ideas on a variety of subjects were +becoming far less rigid than when she first arrived at the New +Palace; and she began to see that provided her relationship with +Genji could be maintained upon its present harmless footing she had +everything to gain from its continuance. + +Later in the day Genji called upon the lady in the Eastern +Quarter.[162] ‘The young men in the Royal Body Guard are holding +their sports here to-day,’ he said. ‘Yūgiri will be bringing them +back with him to his rooms and is counting on you to prepare for +their entertainment. They will arrive just before sunset. There will +also probably be a great deal of company besides; for ever since a +rumour spread round the Court that we were secretly harbouring in the +New Palace some fabulous prodigy of wit and beauty, an overwhelming +interest has been taken in us, and we have not had a moment’s peace. So +be prepared for the worst!’ + +Part of the race-course was not far away from this side of the +palace and a good view could be obtained from the porticos and outer +galleries. ‘You had better throw open all the garden-doors along the +passage between this wing and the main house,’ he said. ‘The young +people will see very well from there. The Bodyguard of the Right is +exceptionally strong this year. In my opinion they are a far more +interesting lot than most of the present high officers at Court.’ This +whetted, as it was intended to do, the curiosity of the young people in +that part of the house, and the galleries were soon thronged. The pages +and younger waiting-women from Tamakatsura’s wing also came to see the +sights and were accommodated at the open doors along the passage, the +persons of quality being ensconced behind green shutters or curtains +dyed in this new-fashioned way according to which the colour is +allowed to run down into the fringe. Among the dresses of the visitors +were many elaborate Chinese costumes, specially designed for the +day’s festivity, the colour of the young dianthus leaf tending to +prevail. The ladies who belonged to this wing had not been encouraged +to make any special effort for the occasion and were for the most part +in thin summer gowns, green without and peach-blossom colour within. +There was a great deal of rivalry and harmless self-display, which was +rewarded from time to time by a glance from one of the young courtiers +who were assembled on the course. + +Genji arrived on the scene at the hour of the Sheep,[164] and found +just such a concourse of distinguished visitors as he had predicted. +It was interesting to see the competitors, whom he knew only in their +official uniforms, so differently arrayed, each with his following +of smartly dressed squires and assistants. The sports continued till +evening. The ladies, although they had a very imperfect understanding +of what was going on, were at least capable of deriving a great +deal of pleasure from the sight of so many young men in elegant +riding-jackets hurling themselves with desperate recklessness into the +fray. The finish of the course was not so very far from Murasaki’s +rooms, so that her gentlewomen too were able to get some idea of what +was going on. The races were followed by a game of polo played to +the tune of Tagyūraku.[165] Then came a competition of rival pairs +in the Nasori.[166] All this was accompanied by a great din of bells +and drums, sounded to announce the gaining of points on one side and +another. It was now getting quite dark and the spectators could barely +see what was going on. The first part of the indoor entertainment which +came next consisted in the distribution of prizes among the successful +riders. Then followed a great banquet and it was very late indeed when +the guests began to withdraw. Genji had arranged to sleep that +night in the Eastern Wing. He sat up a long while talking to the Lady +from the Village of Falling Flowers. ‘Did you not think to-day,’ he +said, ‘that Prince Sochi was immeasurably superior to any of the other +visitors? His appearance is of course not particularly in his favour. +But there is something in his manners and mode of address which I at +any rate find very attractive. I was able recently to observe him on an +occasion when he had no reason to believe that he was being watched, +and came to the conclusion that those who so loudly praise his wit and +ingenuity have no idea what constitutes his real charm.’ ‘I know that +he is your younger brother,’ she answered; ‘but he certainly looks +considerably older than you. I am told that he has visited here very +frequently during the last few months. But as a matter of fact I had +not till to-day once set eyes on him since I saw him years ago when my +sister was at Court. I confess I then had no idea that he would turn +out so well as he has done. In those days it was his younger brother, +the Viceroy of Tsukushi, whom I used to admire. But I see now that he +had not the same princeliness of air and carriage which you rightly +attribute to Prince Sochi.’ He saw that, brief as was the time she had +spent in Prince Sochi’s company that day, she had already completely +succumbed to his charms. He smiled, but did not draw her on into a +general discussion of his guests and their merits or defects. He had +always had a great dislike of those who cannot mention an acquaintance +without immediately beginning to pick his character to pieces and make +him seem utterly contemptible. When he heard the Lady from the Village +of Falling Flowers going into raptures over Prince Higekuro, he did +indeed find it hard not to disillusion her, particularly as he was just +then beginning to be somewhat alarmed lest this prince, whom he +regarded as rather unsuitable, should in the end turn out to be the +strongest candidate for Tamakatsura’s favour. + +He and the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers had for years past +been on terms merely of ordinary confidence and friendliness. It was +assumed on this occasion as on others that they would presently retreat +each to a separate resting-place. How and why had this assumption first +begun? He could not remember, and felt that to-night he would very +gladly have broken the rule. But she seemed to take for granted that +he would presently wish to retire, and so far from resenting this or +seeming to be at all depressed, she evidently felt highly gratified +that her own quarters had been selected as the scene of a festivity +the like of which she had not witnessed in person for a very great +number of years. ‘The withered grass that even the woodland pony +left untouched, to-day with the wild iris of the pool-side has been +twisted in one wreath.’ Thus she expressed her gratitude and pride. +He was touched that so small an event should mean so much to her, and +answered with the verse: ‘The colt whose shadow falls upon the waters +close where the wild-swan’s wing is mirrored in the lake, from iris and +sweet marsh-marigold shall ne’er be far away.’ How easily was she now +contented, and how vague had his own compliments become! ‘Though I so +seldom manage to see you,’ he said, ‘I assure you I am never happier +than when I am here.’ It would have been unlike her to take him to task +for the insincerity of this last speech. She merely accepted it quietly +and they parted for the night. He found that she had given up her own +bed to him, and had all her things carried to another place. Had she +not seemed so convinced that anything in the way of greatest intimacy +was out of the question, he might have felt inclined on this occasion +to suggest a different arrangement. + +This year the rainy season lasted much longer than usual, and +whereas the monotony of the downpour is usually relieved by an +occasional day of sunshine, this time there was nothing but one +continuous drizzle for weeks on end. The inhabitants of the New +Palace found it very hard to get through the day and tried one +amusement after another. In the end they mostly betook themselves to +reading illustrated romances. The Lady of Akashi had, among her other +accomplishments, a talent for copying out and finely decorating such +books as these; and being told that every one was clamouring for some +occupation which would help them to get through the day, she now sent +over a large supply to the Princess, her daughter. But the greatest +enthusiast of all was Lady Tamakatsura, who would rise at daybreak and +spend the whole day absorbed in reading or copying out romances. Many +of her younger ladies-in-waiting had a vast stock of stories, some +legendary, some about real people, which they told with considerable +skill. But Tamakatsura could not help feeling that the history of +her own life, should it ever come to be told, was really far more +interesting than any of the tales with which her ladies sought to +entertain her. True the sufferings of the princess in the _Sumiyoshi +Tale_[167] had at certain points a resemblance to her own experiences. +But she could see no reason why for generations past so many tears +of indignation and pity should have been shed over the fate of this +princess at the hands of her unscrupulous lover.[168] Judged as an +episode, thought Tamakatsura, her own escape from the violence of Tayū +was quite as exciting. + +One day Genji, going the round with a number of romances which +he had promised to lend, came to Tamakatsura’s room and found her, as +usual, hardly able to lift her eyes from the book in front of her. +‘Really, you are incurable,’ he said, laughing. ‘I sometimes think that +young ladies exist for no other purpose than to provide purveyors of +the absurd and improbable with a market for their wares. I am sure that +the book you are now so intent upon is full of the wildest nonsense. +Yet knowing this all the time, you are completely captivated by its +extravagances and follow them with the utmost excitement: why, here +you are on this hot day, so hard at work that, though I am sure you +have not the least idea of it, your hair is in the most extraordinary +tangle.... But there; I know quite well that these old tales are +indispensable during such weather as this. How else would you all +manage to get through the day? Now for a confession. I too have lately +been studying these books and have, I must tell you, been amazed by +the delight which they have given me. There is, it seems, an art of so +fitting each part of the narrative into the next that, though all is +mere invention, the reader is persuaded that such things might easily +have happened and is as deeply moved as though they were actually +going on around him. We may know with one part of our minds that every +incident has been invented for the express purpose of impressing us; +but (if the plot is constructed with the requisite skill) we may all +the while in another part of our minds be burning with indignation +at the wrongs endured by some wholly imaginary princess. Or again we +may be persuaded by a writer’s eloquence into accepting the crudest +absurdities, our judgment being as it were dazzled by sheer splendour +of language. + +I have lately sometimes stopped and listened to one of our young people +reading out loud to her companions and have been amazed at the advances +which this art of fiction is now making. How do you suppose that +our new writers come by this talent? It used to be thought that the +authors of successful romances were merely particularly untruthful +people whose imaginations had been stimulated by constantly inventing +plausible lies. But that is clearly unfair....’ ‘Perhaps, she said, +‘only people who are themselves much occupied in practising deception +have the habit of thus dipping below the surface. I can assure you that +for my part, when I read a story, I always accept it as an account of +something that has really and actually happened.’ + +So saying she pushed away from her the book which she had been +copying. Genji continued: ‘So you see as a matter of fact I think far +better of this art than I have led you to suppose. Even its practical +value is immense. Without it what should we know of how people lived +in the past, from the Age of the Gods down to the present day? For +history-books such as the Chronicles of Japan show us only one small +corner of life; whereas these diaries and romances which I see piled +around you contain, I am sure, the most minute information about all +sorts of people’s private affairs....’ He smiled, and went on: ‘But I +have a theory of my own about what this art of the novel is, and how +it came into being. To begin with, it does not simply consist in the +author’s telling a story about the adventures of some other person. On +the contrary it happens because the story-teller’s own experience of +men and things, whether for good or ill—not only what he has passed +through himself, but even events which he has only witnessed or been +told of—has moved him to an emotion so passionate that he can no longer +keep it shut up in his heart. Again and again something in his own life +or in that around him will seem to the writer so important that he +cannot bear to let it pass into oblivion. There must never come a +time, he feels, when men do not know about it. That is my view of how +this art arose. + +‘Clearly then, it is no part of the story-teller’s craft to describe +only what is good or beautiful. Sometimes, of course, virtue will be +his theme, and he may then make such play with it as he will. But he +is just as likely to have been struck by numerous examples of vice and +folly in the world around him, and about them he has exactly the same +feelings as about the pre-eminently good deeds which he encounters: +they are important and must all be garnered in. Thus anything +whatsoever may become the subject of a novel, provided only that it +happens in this mundane life and not in some fairyland beyond our human +ken. + +‘The outward forms of this art will not of course be everywhere the +same. At the Court of China and in other foreign lands both the +genius of the writers and their actual methods of composition are +necessarily very different from ours; and even here in Japan the art +of story-telling has in course of time undergone great changes. There +will, too, always be a distinction between the lighter and the more +serious forms of fiction.... Well, I have said enough to show that when +at the beginning of our conversation I spoke of romances as though they +were mere frivolous fabrications, I was only teasing you. Some people +have taken exception on moral grounds to an art in which the perfect +and imperfect are set side by side. But even in the discourses which +Buddha in his bounty allowed to be recorded, certain passages contain +what the learned call Upāya or ‘Adapted Truth’—a fact that has led some +superficial persons to doubt whether a doctrine so inconsistent with +itself could possibly command our credence. Even in the scriptures of +the Greater Vehicle[169] there are, I confess, many such instances. We +may indeed go so far as to say that there is an actual mixture of +Truth and Error. But the purpose of these holy writings, namely the +compassing of our Salvation, remains always the same. So too, I think, +may it be said that the art of fiction must not lose our allegiance +because, in the pursuit of the main purpose to which I have alluded +above, it sets virtue by the side of vice, or mingles wisdom with +folly. Viewed in this light the novel is seen to be not, as is usually +supposed, a mixture of useful truth with idle invention, but something +which at every stage and in every part has a definite and serious +purpose.’ + +Thus did he vindicate the story-teller’s profession as an art of real +importance. + +Murasaki, who had first taken to reading romances in order to see +whether they were suitable for her adopted daughter, the Princess from +Akashi, was now deeply immersed in them. She was particularly fond of +the _Tale of Komano_[170] and showing to Genji an illustrated copy of +it she said one day: ‘Do you not think that these pictures are very +well painted?’ The reason that she liked the illustrations so much was +that one of them showed the little girl in the story lying peacefully +asleep in her chair, and this somehow reminded Murasaki of her own +childhood. ‘And do you mean to tell me,’ asked Genji, ‘that such an +infant as that has already, at this early point in the story, been +the heroine of gallant episodes? When I remember the exemplary way +in which I looked after you during your childhood I realize that my +self-restraint is even more unusual than I supposed.’ It could not be +denied that his conduct was in many ways unusual; but hardly, perhaps, +exemplary in the common sense of the word. ‘I hope you are very careful +not to allow the little princess to read any of the looser stories,’ +he continued. ‘She would realize, I am sure, that the heroines +of such books are acting very wrongly in embarking upon these secret +intrigues; but I had much rather she did not know that such things go +on in the world at all.’ ‘This is really too much!’ thought Murasaki. +‘That he should come straight from one of his interminable visits to +Tamakatsura and at once begin lecturing me on how to bring up young +ladies!’ + +‘I should be very sorry,’ she said, ‘if she read books in which +licentious characters were too obviously held up to her as an example. +But I hope you do not wish to confine her reading to _The Hollow +Tree_.[171] Lady Até certainly knows how to look after herself, in +a blundering sort of way; and she gets her reward in the end, but +at the expense of so grim a tenacity in all her dealings that, in +reading the book, we hardly feel her to be a woman at all.’ ‘Not only +did such women actually exist in those days,’ replied Genji, ‘but I +can assure you that we have them still among us. It comes of their +being brought up by unsocial and inhuman people who have allowed a few +one-sided ideas to run away with them. The immense pains which people +of good family often take over their daughters’ education is apt to +lead only to the production of spiritless creatures whose minds seem +to grow more and more child-like in proportion to the care which is +lavished on their upbringing. Their ignorance and awkwardness are only +too apparent; and after wondering in what, precisely, this superior +education consisted, people begin to regard not only the children as +humbugs but the parents as well. + +‘On the other hand if the children happen to have natural talents, +parents of this kind at once attribute the faintest sign of such +endowment to the efficacy of their own inhuman system, and become +distressingly pleased with themselves, using with regard to some very +ordinary girl or stripling terms of the most extravagant eulogy. The +world consequently expects much more of the unfortunate creatures than +they can possibly perform, and having waited in vain for them to do +or say something wonderful, begins to feel a kind of grudge against +them....’ + +‘Overpraise,’ he added, ‘does a great deal of harm to the young. +Servants are very dangerous in this respect....’ Nevertheless he did +not object, as Murasaki had often noticed, to the little Princess +from Akashi being praised by any one who came along, and he often put +himself to immense trouble in order that she might escape a scolding +which he knew she thoroughly deserved. + +Step-mothers in books usually behave very spitefully towards the +children entrusted to them. But he was now learning by his own +experience that in real life this does not always happen. In choosing +books for Murasaki and her charge he was therefore careful to eliminate +those that depict step-mothers in the traditional light; for he feared +she might otherwise think he was trying to give her a quite unnecessary +warning. + +Yūgiri, as has been said before, saw very little of Murasaki; but +it was natural that he should sometimes visit his little sister, +the Princess from Akashi, and Genji did not discourage this. On the +contrary he was anxious to establish an affectionate relationship +between them. For Genji, young though he still was, often thought of +what would happen after his death, and he could imagine circumstances +in which the princess might stand sorely in need of her brother’s help. +He therefore gave the boy permission to visit her and even go behind +her curtains-of-state as often as he chose, though he still forbad him +to enter into conversation with Lady Murasaki’s gentlewomen. So few +were the children of the house that a great deal more trouble was +taken about them than is usually the case. Yūgiri certainly seemed to +have repaid this care. In the ordinary affairs of life he showed great +judgment and good-sense, and Genji had the comfortable feeling that +whatever went amiss, Yūgiri at least could always be relied upon. + +The little girl was only seven years old and dolls were still her +principal interest. Yūgiri, who a year or two ago used so often to play +just such games with his little companion at the Great Hall, made an +excellent major-domo of the doll’s-house, though the part, bringing as +it did a host of recollections to his mind, was often a painful one. +Indeed more than once he was obliged to turn away for an instant, his +eyes full of tears. During these visits he naturally met many of the +princess’s other playmates, and a great deal of chattering took place +on every conceivable subject. He took his share in these conversations; +but he did not get to know any of the little girls at all well, nor +did they, so far as he could see, take any particular interest in him. +Was all that side of life forever to be closed to him? Yūgiri asked +himself. But though this was the thought which instantly recurred to +him during these meetings, his outward behaviour seemed only to betoken +complete indifference. His green badge![172] Yes, it was that which lay +at the bottom not only of these smaller troubles but also of the great +disaster[173] which had wrecked all his chances of happiness. + +Sometimes the idea came to him that if he simply went straight to +Kumoi’s father and tackled him about the matter—insisted, shouted, made +a great scene—Tō no Chūjō would suddenly give in. But he had suffered +enough already in private; there was nothing to be gained by also +making himself publicly ridiculous. No, the better way was to convince +Kumoi herself by his behaviour, above all by a complete and obvious +indifference to the rest of the world, that so far as his own feelings +were concerned nothing was altered by one jot or tittle since the day +when he first told her of his love. + +Between him and her brothers slight difficulties were always arising +which resulted, for the time being, in a certain coldness. For example, +Kashiwagi, Kumoi’s eldest brother, in ignorance of the fact that Lady +Tamakatsura was his sister, continued to pay his addresses to her, +and finding that his letters often failed to reach their destination, +naturally turned to Yūgiri for assistance. Never once did he offer +to perform a similar service in return, though it was presumably as +easy for him to see Kumoi as it was for Yūgiri to see Tamakatsura. The +request irritated him and he firmly refused. Not that they ceased to be +friends; for their relationship, like that of their fathers, had always +been built up of small rivalries and feuds. + +Tō no Chūjō had an unusually large number of children, most of whom had +amply fulfilled, as regards both popularity and attainments, the high +promise of their early years. His position in the State had enabled +him to do extremely well for all his sons. As regards his daughters +(who were, however, not so numerous) he had been less fortunate. His +plans for the future of the eldest girl had entirely miscarried;[174] +he had signified his desire to present Lady Kumoi at Court, but had +hitherto received no command to do so. He had not in all these years +ever forgotten the little girl who, along with her mother, had so +mysteriously disappeared, and sometimes spoke of her to those who had +at the time been aware of his attachment to that unhappy lady. +What had become of them both? He imagined that her strange timidity +had driven the mother to take flight with that exquisite child into +some lonely and undiscoverable place. He fell into the habit of staring +hard into the face of every girl whom he met; and the commoner, the +more ill-clad and wretched the creature was, the surer he became that +this was his lost child. For the lower she had sunk, the less likely it +was that she would be able to persuade any one that she was indeed his +daughter. It was impossible, he felt, that sooner or later one or other +of his agents should not get news of her, and then what reparation he +would make for the down-trodden existence that she must now be leading! +He told his sons her child-name and begged them to report to him +immediately if they should ever come across any one who bore it. ‘In my +early days,’ he said, ‘I am afraid I became involved in a great many +rather purposeless intrigues. But this was quite a different matter. I +cared for the mother very deeply indeed, and it distresses me intensely +that I should not only have lost the confidence of the lady herself, +but also have been able to do nothing at all for the one child that +bore witness to our love.’ + +For long periods, especially if nothing happened to remind him of the +matter, he succeeded in putting it out of his head. But whenever he +heard of any one adopting a stray girl or taking some supposed poor +relation into their house, he at once became very suspicious, made +innumerable enquiries and was bitterly disappointed when it was finally +proved to him that his supposition was entirely unfounded. + +About this time he had a curious dream, and sending for the best +interpreters of the day asked them what it meant. ‘It seems to mean,’ +they said, ‘that you have at last heard what has become of a child that +you had lost sight of for many years, the reason that you have +failed to discover her being that she is thought by the world at large +to be some one else’s child.’ ‘Heard what has become ...’ he faltered. +‘No, on the contrary I have heard no such thing. I cannot imagine what +you are talking about.’ + + [155] Tamakatsura. + + [156] Tayū. + + [157] It is unlucky to marry in the fifth month. + + [158] The rare perfume which Genji wore. + + [159] Sochi had been addressing her through her curtains-of-state. + She crept away in the darkness as an animal at the Zoo might + slink into its back cage. Genji was, of course, all the time + with her behind her curtains. + + [160] _Oboye-naki_ ‘fame-less.’ I retain this idiom as it corresponds + curiously with ours. + + [161] Irises were plucked on the fifth day of the fifth month. + + [162] Balls made of coloured stuffs, with scent-bags in the middle. + Supposed to ward off disease. + + [163] The Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers. + + [164] 1 p.m. + + [165] ‘Hitting the Ball Tune.’ + + [166] A Korean dance. + + [167] The story of a misused step-child. It is no longer extant, the + text which bears this name being merely a 15th-century + adaptation of the _Room Below Stairs_. + + [168] A disagreeable old man to whom her step-mother tried to marry + her. + + [169] The Mahāyāna, the later development of Buddhism which prevailed + in Tibet, China and Japan. + + [170] Now lost. + + [171] See vol. ii, p. 15. Lady Até refuses suitor after suitor. + Finally she marries the Crown Prince and lives happily ever + after. The book seemed as old-fashioned to Murasaki as Hannah + More’s novels do to us. + + [172] The mark of the sixth rank. Genji, it will be remembered, had + refused to promote him. + + [173] His failure to win Tō no Chūjō’s daughter, Lady Kumoi. + + [174] He had hoped to get Lady Chūjō made Empress. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + A BED OF CARNATIONS + + +One very hot day Genji, finding the air at the New Palace intolerably +close, decided to picnic at the fishing-hut on the lake. He invited +Yūgiri to come with him, and they were joined by most of the courtiers +with whom Genji was on friendly terms. From the Western River on his +estate at Katsura _ayu_ had been brought, and from the nearer streams +_ishibushi_ and other fresh-water fish, and these formed the staple of +their repast. Several of Tō no Chūjō’s sons had called to see Yūgiri, +and hearing where he was to be found, joined the picnic. ‘How heavy +and sleepy one has felt lately!’ exclaimed Genji. ‘This is certainly +a great improvement.’ Wine was brought; but he sent for iced water as +well. A delicious cold soup was served, and many other delicacies. +Here by the lake there was a certain amount of movement in the air; +but the sun blazed down out of a cloudless sky, and even when the +shadows began to lengthen there was a continual buzzing of insects +which was very oppressive. ‘I have never known such a day,’ said Genji. +‘It does not after all seem any better here than it was indoors. You +must excuse me if I am too limp to do much in the way of entertaining +you,’ and he lay back against his cushions. ‘One does not feel much +inclined for music or games of any kind in such weather, and yet one +badly needs something to occupy the mind. I have sometimes wondered +lately whether the sun was ever going to set.... All the same, the +young people on duty at the Emperor’s Palace are in a much worse +position than we. Imagine not being able to loosen one’s belt and +ribbons on a day like this! Here at any rate we can loll about just as +we please. The only difficulty is to avoid going to sleep. Has not any +of you got some startling piece of news to tell us? You need have no +fear that I may have heard it already, for I am becoming quite senile; +I never hear about anything till every one else has forgotten about +it.’ They all began wracking their brains to think of some exciting +piece of intelligence or entertaining anecdote, but without success; +and presently, since their host had invited them to be at their ease, +one after another of the visitors somewhat timidly took up a position +with his back planted against the cool metal railings of the verandah. +‘Well,’ said Genji at last, ‘as a matter of fact, rarely though this +now happens, I myself have picked up a small piece of information. +It seems that his Excellency Tō no Chūjō has lately rediscovered and +taken to live with him a natural daughter of whom he had lost sight +for many years. Come, Kōbai,’ addressing Kashiwagi’s younger brother, +‘you will be able to tell me if there is any truth in this.’ ‘Something +of the kind has happened,’ answered the young man, ‘though there is a +good deal of exaggeration in many of the stories which are being put +about. The facts are that last spring, in consequence of a dream, my +father asked us to inquire carefully into every case we could discover +of a child claiming paternity by him. My brother Kashiwagi did finally +hear of a girl who seemed to possess absolute proof that she was an +illegitimate child of our father’s, and we were told to call upon her +and verify this, which we accordingly did. That is all I know about +it; and I am sure that there is no one present who has not something +a great deal more interesting than that to talk about. I am afraid +what I have just told you cannot possibly be of interest to any one +but the people actually concerned.’ ‘So it is true! thought +Genji, wondering whether Tō no Chūjō could have been so misled as to +suppose that it was Yūgao’s child whom he had rediscovered. ‘There +are so many of you in the family already,’ he said to Kōbai, ‘that I +wonder your father should search the sky for one stray swallow that +has not managed to keep pace with the flock. I, who nurture so small +a brood, might be pardoned for such conduct; but in your father it +seems somewhat grasping. Unfortunately, though I should feel proud to +acknowledge my children, no one shows the slightest inclination to +claim me as a father. However, it is no mere accident that Tō no Chūjō +is more in request than I am. The moon’s image shows dimly in waters +that are troubled at the bottom. Your father’s early adventures were of +a most indiscriminate character, and if you know all your brothers and +sisters, you would probably realize that, taken as a whole, you are a +very queer family....’ Yūgiri, who knew a mass of stories which amply +confirmed Genji’s last statement, could not help showing his amusement +to an extent which Kōbai and his brothers thought to be in exceedingly +bad taste. ‘It is all very well for you to laugh, Yūgiri,’ continued +Genji; ‘but you would be much better employed in picking up some of +those stray leaves than in making trouble for yourself by pressing in +where you are not wanted. In so large a garland you might surely find +some other flower with which to console yourself!’ All Genji’s remarks +about Tō no Chūjō wore superficially the aspect of such friendly banter +as one old friend commonly indulges in concerning another. But as a +matter of fact there had for some while past been a real coolness +between them, which was increased by Chūjō’s scornful refusal to accept +Yūgiri as his son-in-law. He realized that he had just been somewhat +spiteful; but so far from being uncomfortable lest these remarks should +reach his old friend’s ears, he found himself actually hoping that +the boys would repeat them. + +This conversation about the waif whom Tō no Chūjō had recently +acknowledged and adopted, reminded Genji that it was becoming high time +he should himself make a certain long-intended revelation. Tamakatsura +had now lived for over a year at the New Palace; she was definitely +accepted as a member of the Court circle, and there was now no fear +that her father would be in any way ashamed of her. But the views of +Tō no Chūjō were in some ways peculiar. He made an absolutely hard +and fast distinction between the ‘right’ and the ‘wrong’ people. To +those who satisfied his very exacting standards he was extraordinarily +helpful and agreeable. As for the others, he ignored them with a +sublime completeness that no other Grand Minister had ever equalled. +Was it quite certain in which class he would place his own daughter? +Then a brilliant idea occurred to Genji. He would introduce Tō no Chūjō +to Tamakatsura immediately, but not reveal her identity until Chūjō had +once and for all classed her as ‘possible.’ + +The evening wind was by this time delightfully fresh, and it was with +great regret that the young guests prepared to take their leave. ‘I +should be perfectly contented to go on sitting here quietly in the +cool; but I know that at your age there are many far more interesting +things to be done,' and with that he set out for the Western Wing, his +guests accompanying him to the door. + +Knowing that in an uncertain evening light all people in Court cloaks +look very much alike, Genji at once summoned Tamakatsura to him and +explained in a low voice why he had arrived with so large an escort. +‘I have been entertaining Tō no Chūjō’s sons,' he said, ‘Kashiwagi, +Kōbai and the rest. It was obvious that they were very anxious to come +on here with me, and Yūgiri is such an honest soul, it would +have been unkind not to let him come too. Those poor young men, Tō +no Chūjō’s sons, must really soon be told you are their sister. I am +afraid they are all more or less in love with you. But even in the +case of quite ordinary families the sudden arrival of some unknown +young lady causes endless speculation among those who frequent the +house, and though there is intense curiosity to see her, it is apparent +that every one has long beforehand made up his mind to fall in love. +Unfortunately, even before your arrival, my palace had an undeserved +reputation for harbouring bevies of incomparable creatures. Every +visitor who comes here seems to arrive primed up with compliments and +fine speeches, only to discover that there is no quarter in which they +could be employed without impertinence.[175] But you have often asked +me about those particular young men and lamented that you never get +an opportunity yourself of judging whether they are as intelligent as +every one makes out. So I thought you would not mind me bringing them +here, and would perhaps like to have a word with one or the other of +them....’ + +While this whispered conversation was going on, the young men were +standing in the garden outside. It was not planted in formal borders; +but there was a great clump of carnations and a tangled hedge of tall +flowering plants, both Chinese and Japanese, with great masses of +blossom that stood out vividly in the fading light. True, they had +come that evening hoping to pluck a very different flower; but as +they sat resting in front of the house they could scarcely restrain +themselves from stretching out a hand and filling their laps with these +resplendent blossoms. + +‘They are really very remarkable young men,’ Genji went on. ‘There is +not one of them but in his way shows unmistakable signs of genius, +and this is true even of Kashiwagi, who in outward manner is +particularly quiet and diffident. By the way, has he written to you +again? I remember we read his poem together. You cannot, of course, +under the circumstances risk giving him any definite encouragement; but +do not be too hard upon him.’ + +Even amid these very exceptional young men Yūgiri looked surprisingly +handsome and distinguished, and Genji, pointing to him, said to +Tamakatsura in a whisper: ‘I am terribly disappointed that Tō no Chūjō +should take up his present attitude about that boy. It has come to this +nowadays, that those people will not look at any one who is not part +and parcel of their own gang.[176] A drop of other blood, even if it +be that of the Royal House, seems to them a painful blemish....’ ‘That +was not the way Royal Princes were regarded once upon a time,’ said +Tamakatsura, and quoted the old folk-song _Come to my house_.[177] +‘They certainly seem in no hurry to make ready a banquet for poor +Yūgiri,’ admitted Genji. ‘I am extremely sorry for those two. They +took a fancy to each other when they were mere children and have never +got over it. I know quite well that they have suffered a great deal +through this long separation. If it is merely because of Yūgiri’s low +rank that Tō no Chūjō refuses his consent, he might on this occasion be +content to disregard the comments of the world and leave the matter in +my hands. He surely does not suppose that I intend the boy to remain +in the Sixth Rank for ever....’ Again he was speaking of Tō no Chūjō +with asperity and, like her brothers a few hours ago, Tamakatsura was +perturbed to discover that the breach between them was widening, partly +because such a state of affairs made it all the less probable that +Genji would in the near future reveal her identity to Tō no Chūjō. + +As there was no moon that night, the great lamp was presently brought +in. ‘It is now just comfortably warm,’ said Genji, ‘and the only thing +we need is a little more light.’ He sent for a servant and said to him: +‘One tray of bamboo flares! In here, please.’ When they were brought +he noticed a very beautiful native zithern and drawing it towards him +struck a few chords. It was tuned to the difficult _ritsu_ mode, but +with remarkable accuracy. It seemed indeed to be an exceptionally +fine instrument, and when he had played on it for a little while he +said to her: ‘I have all these months been doing you the injustice +of supposing that you were not interested in these things. What I +like is to play such an instrument as yours on a cool autumn evening, +when the moon is up, sitting quite close to the window. One then +plays in concert with the cicadas, purposely using their chirruping +as part of the accompaniment. The result is a kind of music which is +intimate, but at the same time thoroughly modern. There is, of course, +a go-as-you-please, informal quality about the Japanese zithern which +makes it unsuitable for use on ceremonial occasions. But when one +remembers that almost all our native airs and measures originated on +this instrument, one cannot help regarding it with respect. There are +stray references which show that its history stretches back into the +dimmest past; but to hear people talk nowadays one would think it had +been specially invented for the benefit of young ladies, in whom an +acquaintance with foreign arts and usages is considered unbecoming. +Above all, do make a practice of playing it in concert with other +instruments whenever you get the chance. This will immensely improve +your command over it. For though the Japanese zithern is a far less +complicated instrument than its rivals, it is by no means so easy +to play as most people imagine. At the present time there is no better +performer than your father, Tō no Chūjō. You would be astonished at the +variety of tone he can get out of a mere succession of open strings; +it is as though by some magic he were able in an instant to change his +zithern into whatever instrument he pleases. And the volume of sound +which he obtains from those few slender strings is unbelievable!’ + +Tamakatsura had reached a certain point of proficiency herself. But she +knew that she had much to learn, and longed to meet with a first-rate +performer. ‘Do you think I might one day be allowed to hear him?’ she +asked, not very hopefully. ‘I suppose he sometimes plays when he comes +here to entertainments. Even among those outlandish people on the +Island there were several teachers, and I always supposed that they +knew all about it. But from what you have just said I see that such +playing as my father’s must be something quite different....’ + +‘It is indeed,’ he said, ‘and you shall certainly hear him play. You +know, I expect, that though it is called the Eastern zithern and is +said to have come from the other side of the country, it is always +played at the beginning of every Imperial concert, being solemnly +carried in by the Mistress of the Rolls. As far as our country is +concerned (about the history of music in other lands I know very +little) it is certainly the parent of all other instruments, and that +perhaps the best performer upon it who has ever lived should be your +own father is certainly a great stroke of luck for you. He does, as you +suggested, play here and at other people’s houses from time to time, +when there is music afoot; but chiefly on other instruments. It is +really very difficult to make him play on the Japanese zithern. Often +he begins a tune and then, for some reason, will not go on. It is +the same with all great artists. They cannot perform unless they are in +the right mood, and the right mood seldom comes. But later on you will, +of course, certainly be hearing him....’ So saying, he began trying +over a few usual chords and runs. Already she wondered how she had +managed to tolerate the clumsy twanging of the island-professors. How +exciting it would be to live with a father, who, according to Genji’s +own showing, played far, far better even than this! It was intolerable +to feel that all the while she might have been hearing him day after +day, in his own home, with nothing to disturb or interrupt him. When, +oh when would this new life begin? + +Among other old ballads Genji now sang ‘Not softlier pillowed is my +head,’ and when he came to the line ‘O lady parted from thy kin’ he +could not help catching her eye and smiling. Not only did she find his +voice very agreeable, but his improvisations between verse and verse +delighted her beyond measure. Suddenly he broke off, saying: ‘Now it is +your turn. Do not tell me you are shy; for I am certain that you have +talent, and if that is so you will forget that there is any one here, +once you have become interested in what you are playing. The lady[178] +who was “too shy to do anything but go over the tune in her head” +wanted all the time to sing the _Sōfuren_,[179] and that is a very +different matter. You must get into the habit of playing with any one +who comes along, without minding what he thinks of you....’ But try as +he might, he could not persuade her to begin. She was certain that her +teacher on the island, an old lady of whom it was reported that she had +once been in some vague way connected with the Capital and even that +she was distantly related to the Imperial Family, had got everything +wrong from beginning to end. If only she could persuade Genji +to go on playing a little while longer, she felt sure she could pick +up enough of the right method to prevent a complete catastrophe, and +she sat as near as possible to the zithern, watching his fingers and +listening intently. ‘Why does it not always produce such lovely sounds +as that?’ she said laughing. ‘Perhaps it depends which way the wind is +blowing....’ She looked very lovely as she sat leaning towards him, +with the lamplight full upon her face. ‘I have sometimes known you by +no means so ready to listen,’ he said, and to her disappointment pushed +the zithern from him. But her gentlewomen were passing in and out of +the room. Whether for this or other reasons his behaviour to-night +continued to be very serious and correct. ‘I see no sign of those young +men I brought with me,’ he said at last, ‘I am afraid they grew tired +of gazing at every flower save the one they came to see, and went away +in disgust. But it is their father’s visit to this flower-garden that +I ought all the while to be arranging. I must not be dilatory, for +life is full of uncertainties.... How well I remember the conversation +in the course of which your father first told me how your mother had +carried you away, and of his long search for you both. It does not seem +long ago....’ And he told her more than he had ever done before about +the rainy night’s conversation and his own first meeting with Yūgao. + +‘Gladly would I show the world this Child-flower’s beauty, did I +not fear that men would ask me where stands the hedge on which it +grew.’[180] + +‘The truth is, he loved your mother so dearly that I cannot bear the +thought of telling him the whole miserable story. That is why I have +kept you hidden away like a chrysalis in a cocoon. I know I ought not +to have delayed....’ He paused, and she answered with the verse: +‘Who cares to question whence was first transplanted a Child-flower +that from the peasant’s tattered hedge was hither brought.’ Her eyes +filled with tears as in a scarcely audible voice she whispered this +reply. + +There were times when he himself took fright at the frequency of +his visits to this part of the house, and in order to make a good +impression stayed away for days on end. But he always contrived to +think of some point in connection with her servants or household +affairs which required an endless going and coming of messengers, so +that even during these brief periods of absence she was in continual +communication with him. The truth is that at this period she was the +only subject to which he ever gave a thought. Day and night he asked +himself how he could have been so insensate as to embark upon this +fatal course. If the affair was maintained upon its present footing +he was faced with the prospect of such torture as he felt he could +not possibly endure. If on the other hand his resolution broke down +and she on her side was willing to accept him as a lover, the affair +would cause a scandal which his own prestige might in time enable him +to live down, but which for her would mean irreparable disaster. He +cared for her very deeply; but not, as he well knew, to such an extent +that he would ever dream of putting her on an equality with Murasaki, +while to thrust her into a position of inferiority would do violence +to his own feelings and be most unfair to her. Exceptional as was the +position that he now occupied in the State, this did not mean that +it was any great distinction to figure merely as a belated appendage +to his household. Far better, he very well knew, to reign supreme in +the affections of some wholly unremarkable Deputy Councillor! Then +again there was the question whether he ought not to hand her over +to his step-brother Prince Sochi or to Prince Higekuro. Even were +this course in every way desirable, he gravely doubted his own +capacity to pursue it. Such self-sacrifices, he knew, are easier to +plan than to effect. Nevertheless, there were times when he regarded +this as the plan which he had definitely adopted, and for a while he +could really believe that he was on the point of carrying it out. But +then would come one of his visits to her. She would be looking even +more charming than usual, and lately there were these zithern lessons, +which, involving as they did a great deal of leaning across and sitting +shoulder to shoulder, had increased their intimacy with disquieting +rapidity. All his good resolutions began to break down, while she on +her side no longer regarded him with anything like the same distrust +as before. He had indeed behaved with model propriety for so long that +she made sure his undue tenderness towards her was a thing of the past. +Gradually she became used to having him constantly about her, allowed +him to say what he pleased, and answered in a manner which though +discreet was by no means discouraging. Whatever resolutions he may have +made before his visit, he would go away feeling that, at this point in +their relations, simply to hand her over to a husband was more than the +most severe moralist could expect of him. Surely there could be no harm +in keeping her here a little longer, that he might enjoy the innocent +pleasure of sometimes visiting her, sometimes arranging her affairs? +Certainly, he could assure himself, his presence was by no means +distasteful to her. Her uneasiness at the beginning was due not to +hostility but to mere lack of experience. Though ‘strong the watchman +at the gate’, she was beginning to take a very different view of life. +Soon she would be struggling with her own as well as his desires, and +then all her defences would rapidly give way.... + +Tō no Chūjō was somewhat uneasy about his newly discovered +daughter.[181] The members of his own household seemed to have a very +poor opinion of her, and at Court he had overheard people whispering +that she was not quite right in the head. His son Kōbai told him, of +course, about Genji’s questions, and Tō no Chūjō laughed saying: ‘I +can quite understand his interest in the matter. A year or two ago +he himself took over a daughter whom he had by some peasant woman or +other, and now makes an absurd fuss over her. It is very odd: Genji +says nothing but nice things about every one else. But about me and +every one connected with me he is careful to be as disagreeable as +possible. But I suppose I ought to regard it as a sort of distinction +even to be run down by him.’ ‘Father, if you mean the girl who lives +in the Western Wing,’ said Kōbai, ‘I can assure you she is the most +beautiful creature you can possibly imagine. Prince Sochi and many +of the others have completely lost their hearts to her.... Indeed, +every one agrees that she is probably one of the handsomest women at +Court.’ ‘You surely do not yourself believe such stories?’ said Tō no +Chūjō. ‘The same thing is always said about the daughters of men in +such a position as Genji’s; and so oddly is the world made that those +who spread such reports really believe in them. I do not for a moment +suppose she is anything out of the ordinary. Now that Genji is Grand +Minister, faced by an opposition that has dwindled to a mere speck and +esteemed as few Ministers before, I fancy the one flaw in his happiness +must be the lack of a daughter to lavish his care upon and bring up to +be the envy and admiration of the whole Court. I can well imagine what +a delight the education of such a child would be to him. But in this +matter fate seems to be against him. Of course, there is the little +girl who was born at Akashi. Unfortunately her mother’s parents are +quite humble people and she can never play the part that would +naturally have been taken by a child of my sister Lady Aoi or of his +present wife, Lady Murasaki. All the same, I have reason to believe +that his schemes for her subsequent career are of the most ambitious +nature. + +‘As for this newly-imported princess, it would not surprise me to +discover that she is not his child at all. You know as well as I do +what Genji’s failings are.... It is far more probable that she is +merely some girl whom he is keeping.’ After other somewhat damaging +remarks about Genji’s habits and character, he continued: ‘However, +if he continues to give out that she is his daughter, it will soon be +incumbent upon him to find her a husband. I imagine his choice will +fall upon Prince Sochi, with whom he has always been on particularly +good terms. She would certainly be fortunate in securing such a +husband; he is a most distinguished character....’ + +Nothing more exasperated Tō no Chūjō at the present moment than the +endless speculations concerning Lady Tamakatsura’s future which were +now the staple of every conversation at Court. He was sick of hearing +people ask ‘What are Prince Genji’s intentions?’ ‘Why has he changed +his mind?’ and so on, while the future of his own daughter, Lady Kumoi, +seemed for some reason not to arouse the slightest curiosity. Why +should not a little of the energy which Genji expended in dangling this +supposed daughter of his before the eyes of an expectant Court be used +on Lady Kumoi’s behalf? A word whispered by Genji in the Emperor’s ear +would suffice to secure her future; but that word, it was very evident, +had never been spoken. + +If Genji (and this seemed hardly credible) were waiting to secure Kumoi +for his own son Yūgiri, let him raise the boy to a decent rank. Then, +provided suitable overtures were made on Genji’s side, he was +quite willing to consider the possibility of such a match. As to what +the young man’s feelings in the matter might be—he did not give the +question a moment’s thought, having always regarded Yūgiri merely as a +nuisance. + +One day when he had been reflecting upon this problem more earnestly +than usual, Tō no Chūjō determined to thresh the matter out with the +girl herself, and taking Kōbai with him he went straight to her room. +It so happened that Kumoi had fallen asleep. She was lying, a small +and fragile figure, with only a single wrap of thin diaphanous stuff +thrown carelessly across her. It was certainly a pleasure on such a +day to see any one looking so delightfully cool! The delicate outline +of her bare limbs showed plainly beneath the light wrap which covered +her. She lay pillowed on one outstretched arm, her fan still in her +hand. Her loosened hair fell all about her, and though it was not +remarkably thick or long, there was something particularly agreeable in +its texture and in the lines it made as it hung across her face. Her +gentlewomen were also reposing, but at some distance away, in the room +which opened out behind her curtained daïs, so that they did not wake +in time, and it was only when Tō no Chūjō himself rustled impatiently +with his fan that she slowly raised her head and turned upon him a +bewildered gaze. Her beauty, enhanced by the flush of sleep, could +not but impress a father’s heart, and Tō no Chūjō looked at her with +a pride which his subsequent words by no means betrayed. ‘I have told +you often before,’ he said, ‘that even to be caught dozing in your seat +is a thing a girl of your age ought to be ashamed of; and here I find +you going to bed in broad daylight ... you really must be a little more +careful. I cannot imagine how you could be so foolish as to allow all +your gentlewomen to desert you in this way. It is extremely unsafe +for a young girl to expose herself, and quite unnecessary in your case, +since I have provided you with a sufficient number of attendants to +mount guard on all occasions. To behave in this reckless manner is, to +say the least of it, very bad form. Not that I want you to sit all day +with your hands folded in front of you as though you were reciting the +Spells of Fudō.[182] I am not one of those people who think it a mark +of refinement in a girl to stand on ceremony even with her everyday +acquaintances and never to address a word to any one except through a +barricade of curtains and screens. So far from being dignified, such a +method of behaviour seems to me merely peevish and unsociable. I cannot +help admiring the way in which Prince Genji is bringing up this future +Empress[183] of his. He takes no exaggerated precautions of any kind, +nor does he force her talent in this direction or that; but at the same +time he sees to it that there is no subject in which she remains wholly +uninitiated. Thus she is able to choose intelligently for herself +where other girls would be obliged merely to do as they were told. For +the time it may seem that the energies of the mind have been somewhat +diffused and extenuated, but in later life, given the best balanced +and broadest system of education in the world, idiosyncrasies both of +character and behaviour will inevitably reappear. At the present moment +the Princess from Akashi is in the first and less interesting stage. I +am very curious to see how she will develop when she arrives at Court.’ +After these preliminaries he embarked at last upon the subject which +he had really come to discuss. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘that I have not +been very successful in my plans for your own future. But I still +hope that we may be able to arrange something not too contemptible. I +promise you at any rate that you shall not be made ridiculous. I am +keeping my ears open and have one or two projects in mind, but for the +moment it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at a decision. Meanwhile, +do not be deceived by the tears and protestations of young men who have +nothing better to do than amuse themselves at the expense of confiding +creatures such as you. I know what I am talking about’ ... and so on, +speaking more and more kindly as he went along. + +In old days the scoldings which she had received on account of her +intimacy with Yūgiri had been the more distressing to her because she +had not at that time the least idea what all this fuss was about. But +now that she was a little better acquainted with such matters, she +recalled with burning shame time after time when she had mentioned to +her elders things which she now saw it was the wildest folly ever to +have repeated. The old Princess[184] frequently complained that Kumoi +never came to see her. This put the child in great embarrassment, for +the truth was that she dared not go, for Tō no Chūjō would be sure to +think that she was using her duty towards the old lady as a pretext for +clandestine meeting with her lover. + +But another question was at this time occupying a good deal of Tō no +Chūjō's attention. What was to be done with this new daughter of his, +the Lady from Ōmi? If, after going out of his way to track her down, he +were now to send her home again merely because certain people had said +disobliging things about her, he would himself figure as intolerably +capricious and eccentric. To let her mix in general society was, +judging by what he had heard and seen of her already, quite out of the +question. But if he continued to keep her, as he had hitherto +done, in the seclusion of her own rooms, it would soon be rumoured at +Court that she was some paragon who, just at the right moment, would +be produced with dazzling effect and carry all before her. This, too, +would be very irritating. Perhaps the best that could be done under +the circumstances was to put her into touch with his daughter Lady +Chūjō,[185] who happened at the moment to be home from Court. It would +then be possible to discover whether, when one got to know her better, +this Lady from Ōmi were really such a monster as some people made out. +He therefore said to Lady Chūjō one day: ‘I am going to send this new +sister of yours to see you. It seems that her manners are rather odd, +and I should be very much obliged if you would ask one of your older +gentlewomen to take her in hand. Young girls are useless in such a +case. They would merely lead her on to greater absurdities in order +to amuse themselves. Her manner is at present, I gather, somewhat too +boisterous’; and he smiled as he recollected some of the anecdotes +which had already reached him. ‘I will gladly do all I can,’ answered +Lady Chūjō. ‘I see no reason to suppose that the poor creature is +anything like so outrageous as people are making out. It is only that +Kōbai, wishing to gain credit for his discovery, tended to exaggerate +her charms, and people are a little disappointed. I do not think there +is any need for you to take alarm. I can quite understand that coming +for the first time among surroundings such as these, she feels somewhat +lost, and does not always quite do herself justice....’ She spoke very +demurely. This Lady Chūjō was no great beauty; but there was about her +a serene air of conscious superiority which, combined with considerable +charm of manner, led most people to accept her as handsome, an +impression shared at this moment by her father as he watched her +lips part in a smile that reminded him of the red plum-blossom in the +morning when its petals first begin to unfold. ‘I daresay you are +right,’ he replied; ‘but all the same I think that Kōbai showed a lack +of judgment such as I should have thought he had long ago outgrown....’ +He was himself inclined to think that the Lady from Ōmi’s defects +had probably been much exaggerated, and as he in any case must pass +her rooms on his way back he now thought he had better go and have +another look at her. Crossing the garden he noticed at once that her +blinds were rolled back almost to the top of the windows. Clearly +visible within were the figures of the Lady herself and of a lively +young person called Gosechi, one of last year’s Winter Dancers. The +two were playing Double Sixes,[186] and the Lady of Ōmi, perpetually +clasping and unclasping her hands in her excitement, was crying out +‘Low, low! Oh, how I hope it will be low!’ at the top of her voice, +which rose at every moment to a shriller and shriller scream. ‘What a +creature!’ thought Tō no Chūjō, already in despair, and signalling to +his attendants, who were about to enter the apartments and announce +him, that for a moment he intended to watch unobserved, he stood near +the double door and looked through the passage window at a point where +the paper[187] did not quite meet the frame. The young dancer was also +entirely absorbed in the game. Shouting out: ‘A twelve, a twelve. This +time I know it is going to be a twelve!’ she continually twirled the +dice-cup in her hand, but could not bring herself to make the throw. +Somewhere there, inside that bamboo tube, the right number lurked, she +saw the two little stones with six pips on each.... But how was one +to know when to throw? Never were excitement and suspense more +clearly marked on two young faces. The Lady of Ōmi was somewhat homely +in appearance; but nobody (thought Tō no Chūjō) could possibly call her +downright ugly. Indeed, she had several very good points. Her hair, for +example, could alone have sufficed to make up for many shortcomings. +Two serious defects, however, she certainly had; her forehead was far +too narrow, and her voice was appallingly loud and harsh. In a word, +she was nothing to be particularly proud of; but at the same time (and +he called up before him the image of his own face as he knew it in the +mirror) it would be useless to deny that there was a strong resemblance. + +‘How are you getting on?’ he asked on being admitted to the room. ‘I +am afraid it will take you some time to get the hang of things here. +I wish I could see you more often, but, as you know, my time is not +my own....’ ‘Don’t you worry about that,’ she answered, screaming as +usual at the top of her voice. ‘I’m here, a’nt I? And that’s quite +enough for me. I haven’t had the pleasure of setting eyes on you at all +for all these years.... But I’ll own that when I came here and found +I shouldn’t be with you all the time, like what I’d expected, I was +as vexed as though I had thrown a “double-one” at dice.’ ‘As a matter +of fact,’ said Tō no Chūjō, ‘I have not any one at present to run my +messages and look after me generally; I had it in mind that, when you +were a little more used to things here, I might train you to help me +in that way. But I am not at all sure that such a post would suit you. +I do not mean that as a lady-in-waiting in some other family you would +not get on very nicely. But that would be different.... There would be +a lot of other young women.... People would not notice so much.... I +am afraid I am not expressing myself very happily. I only mean that a +daughter or sister is bound to attract attention. People who come +to the house ask “Now which of them is the daughter?” “Show me which +of them is your sister!” and so on. That sort of thing sometimes makes +a girl feel awkward, and it may even be rather embarrassing for the +parents. Of course, in your case. He broke off. + +Despite all his ingenuity he was in the end saying just what he had +determined on no account to say. He was merely telling her that he +was ashamed of her. But fortunately she did not take it in bad part. +‘That’s quite right,’ she said. ‘If you was to put me down among all +the fine ladies and gentlemen, I shouldn’t know which way to look. I’d +far rather you asked me to empty their chamberpots; I think I might be +able to manage that.’ ‘What odd ideas do come into your head!’ laughed +Tō no Chūjō. ‘But before we go any further, I have a small request to +make: if you have any filial feeling whatever towards a father whom you +see so seldom, try to moderate your voice a little when you address +him. Seriously, you will take years off my life if you persist in +screaming at me in this way....’ How delightful to find that even a +Minister could make jokes! ‘It’s no good,’ she said. ‘I’ve always been +like that. I suppose I was born so. Mother was always going on at me +about it ever since I can remember, and she used to say it all came of +her letting an old priest from the Myōhō Temple into her bedroom when +she was lying-in. He had a terrible loud voice, and all the while he +was reading prayers with her, poor mother was wondering whether, when +I was born, I shouldn’t take after him. And sure enough I did. But I +wish for your sake I didn’t speak so loud....’ It was evident that she +was sorry to distress him, and touched by this exhibition of filial +affection he said to her kindly: ‘The fault, then, is evidently not +yours but your mother’s for choosing her associates among the +pious at so critical a moment in her existence. For it is written: “The +tongue of the blasphemer shall tremble, his voice shall be silenced,” +and it seems that, conversely, the voices of the pious generally tend +to become more and more resonant.’ + +He himself stood somewhat in awe of his daughter Lady Chūjō. He knew +that she would wonder what had induced him to import, without further +enquiries so incongruous a resident into his household. He imagined, +too, the pleasantries at his expense which would be exchanged among +her people and soon repeated broadcast over the whole Court. He was +on the verge of abandoning the plan, when he suddenly decided that it +was too late to withdraw: ‘I wish you would sometimes go out and see +your sister Lady Chūjō while she is staying here,’ he said. ‘I fancy +she could give you one or two useful hints. It is, after all, only by +mixing in the society of those who have had greater advantages than +themselves, that ordinary people can hope to make any progress. I want +you to bear that in mind when you are with her....’ ‘Well that will +be a treat!’ she cried delightedly. ‘I never thought in my wildest +dreams that, even if you one day sent for me, you would ever make me +into a great lady like my sister. The best I hoped for was that I might +wheedle you into letting me carry pitchers from the well....’ The last +words were spoken in a tiny, squeaky voice like that of a new-fledged +sparrow, for she had suddenly remembered her father’s injunctions. +The effect was very absurd; but there was no use in scolding her any +more, and he said good-humouredly: ‘I see no reason why you should +draw water, or hew wood either. But if I send you to Lady Chūjō, you +must promise me that you have made up your mind never again to model +yourself on that pious personage from the Myōhō Temple.’ She took +this very seriously. ‘I’ll do my best,’ she said. ‘When may I go +and see her?’ Tō no Chūjō was now an important person; indeed, he was +reckoned to be the most formidable enemy to the then Minister of State. +But the Lady from Ōmi appeared quite unconscious of the subduing effect +which his presence had upon every one else, and for her part spoke to +him with the utmost confidence and composure. ‘I will enquire which day +will be the best,’ he said. ‘But come to think of it, probably one day +is quite as good as another. Yes, by all means go to-day ...’ and with +that he hastened from the room. + +She gazed after him. He was attended by officers of the fourth and +fifth ranks, who made a brave show as they escorted him towards the +main building. But why were they all nudging one another and laughing? +‘Well,’ she said at last, ‘I have got a fine gentleman for my papa, and +no mistake. It does seem queer to think what a funny little house I +was brought up in, when by rights I ought to have been in this palace +all the while.’ ‘If you ask my opinion,’ said her friend the dancer, +‘I think he is far too grand for you. You’d be a great deal better off +if you had been claimed by some decent hard-working sort of man, who +wouldn’t be ashamed of you....’ This was too bad! ‘There you go again,’ +the Lady from Ōmi cried, ‘trying to put a body down whenever she opens +her mouth. But you shan’t do it any more, indeed you shan’t; for +they’ve made me into a lady now, and you’ll have to wait till I choose +to let you speak. So there!’ + +Her face was flushed with anger. Seen thus, showing off in the presence +of one whom she now regarded as an inferior, she became suddenly +handsome and almost dignified. Only her manner of speech, picked up +from the absolute riff-raff among whom she had been educated, remained +irredeemably vulgar. + +It is indeed a strange thing that a perfectly ordinary remark, if +made in a quiet, colourless voice, may seem original and interesting; +for instance, in conversations about poetry, some quite commonplace +piece of criticism will be accepted as very profound merely because it +is made in a particular tone of voice. Or again, half a verse from the +middle of some little-known poem can make, if produced in the right +tone of voice, a deep impression even among people who have no notion +what the words imply. Whereas if some one speaks in a disagreeable +voice or uses vulgar language, no matter how important or profound +are the thoughts which he expresses, nobody will believe that it can +possibly be worth while to pay any attention to him. So it was with the +Lady from Ōmi. She had a loud rasping voice and in general behaved with +no more regard for the impression she was making on those around her +than a child screaming in its nurse’s lap. She thus seemed far sillier +than she really was. Indeed, her facility in stringing together poems +of thirty-one syllables, of the kind in which the beginning of any one +poem might just as well be the end of any other, was quite prodigious. + +‘But I must be getting ready,’ she now exclaimed. ‘My father told me I +was to call on Lady Chūjō, and if I don’t go at once, her ladyship will +think I don’t want to meet her. Do you know what? I think I’ll go this +very night, for though I can see that my papa thinks the world of me, I +shall never get on in this palace unless the ladies are on my side....’ +Which again shows that she had more good sense than one would have +supposed. + +She now sat down at once and addressed the following letter to Lady +Chūjō: ‘Honoured Madam, though we have been living these many days past +with (as the saying goes) scarce so much as a hurdle between us, I have +not hitherto, as they say, ventured to tread upon your shadow, for to +tell the honest truth I was in two minds whether I should not find +“No Admittance” in large letters on your door. But though I hardly like +to mention it, we are (in the words of the poet) both “tinged with the +purple of Musashi Moor.” If I am being too bold, pray tell me so and +do not take offence.’ All this was written in a rather speckly hand. +On the back was the postcript: ‘By the way, I have some thoughts of +inflicting myself upon you this very same evening. And please forgive +these blots, which (as the saying goes) all the waters of Minasé River +would not wash away, so what is the use of trying?’ In the margin was +the following extraordinary poem: ‘I wonder with as big a query as How +Cape on the Sea of Hitachi where the grasses are so young and green, +when oh when, like the waves on the shore of Tago, shall we meet face +to face?’ + +‘I’ll write no more,’ she added at the side of the poem, ‘for I declare +I feel as flustered as the foam on the great River at Yoshino....’ + +It was written on a single sheet of blue poetry-paper, in a very +cursive style, copiously adorned with hooks and flourishes which seemed +to wander about at their own will and stand for nothing at all. The +tails of her ‘_shi_’s were protracted to an inordinate length, and the +lines slanted more and more as the letter went on, till in the end +they seemed in danger of falling over sideways. But so delighted was +she with her own composition that she could hardly bear to part with +it. At last, however, she gave it a final look of admiration, folded +it up very small and attaching it to a carnation-blossom, handed it to +her favourite messenger, a little peasant-boy who did the dirty work +in her part of the palace. He was a good-looking child, and though he +had only been in service for a very short while, he had made himself +quite at home. Sauntering into Lady Chūjō’s apartments, he found his +way to the servants’ sitting-room and demanded that the note should +at once be taken to her Ladyship. For a moment they surveyed him +with astonishment, but presently one of the under-servants exclaimed: +‘Why, it’s the little boy from the northern wing!’, and took the +letter, which ultimately reached the hands of a certain gentlewoman +named Tayū no Kimi. This lady actually carried it into Lady Chūjō’s +presence, unfolded it at her bidding and then held it in front of her. +The great lady glanced at it, smiled, and indicated that it might now +be removed. It happened that a certain Lady Chūnagon was at the moment +in attendance. She caught a side view of the letter where it lay, and +hoping to be allowed to read it properly, she remarked: ‘At a distance, +Madam, that looks an uncommonly fashionable note.’ Lady Chūjō motioned +her to take the letter: ‘I cannot make head or tail of it,’ she said; +‘you will be doing me a service if you can tell me what it is about. +Perhaps I am being stupid over these cursive characters....’ And a few +minutes later: ‘How are you getting on? If my answer has no connection +with the contents of her letter, she will think me very discourteous. I +wish you would write an answer for me, I am sure you would do it very +nicely....’ The young ladies-in-waiting, though they dared not openly +show their amusement, were now all tittering behind their sleeves. Some +one came to say that the boy was still waiting for an answer. ‘But the +letter is just one mass of stock phrases that none of them seem to have +anything to do with what she is trying to say,’ exclaimed Chūnagon in +despair. ‘How can I possibly answer it? Besides, I must make it seem to +come from you, Madam, not from a third person, or the poor creature’s +feelings will be terribly hurt.’ + +‘It vexes me,’ wrote Chūnagon in her mistress’s name, ‘to think that +we should have been at close quarters for so long without arranging +to meet. By all means come.... And at the side she wrote the poem: +‘Upon the shore of Suma, that is on the sea of Suruga in the land +of Hitachi, mount, O ye waves, to where the Headland of Hako with +pine-woods is clad.’[188] + +‘I think you have gone too far,' said Lady Chūjō when she saw the +letter. ‘I certainly hope she will not think it was I who wrote this +ridiculous nonsense....’ 'I assure you, Madam,’ replied Chūnagon, +‘there is more sense in it than you think; quite enough at any rate to +satisfy the person to whom it is addressed.’ And with that she folded +the note and sent it on its way. How quickly these great ladies take +one’s meaning!’ exclaimed Ōmi, as she scanned the reply. ‘Look, too, +how subtly she expresses herself! Merely by mentioning those pine-trees +she lets me know, as plain as could be, that she is waiting for me at +this minute....’ There was no time to be lost. She scented herself by +repeated exposure to the fumes of an incense which seemed to contain +far too generous an admixture of honey, daubed her cheeks with a heavy +rouge, and finally combed out her hair, which being, as I have said, +unusually fine and abundant, really looked very nice when she took +sufficient trouble about it. + +The subsequent interview can hardly have been otherwise than extremely +diverting. + + [175] Akikonomu, for example, had become Empress. + + [176] I.e. the Fujiwaras, the clan to which the writer herself + belonged. + + [177] ‘In my house the awnings are at the doors and curtains are + hanging about the bed. Come, my Prince! you shall have my + daughter for your bride, and at the wedding-feast you shall + have the fish you like best, be it _awabi_, oyster or what + you will.’ + + [178] In some story now lost. + + [179] Literally: ‘Thinking of a man, and yearning.’ + + [180] A reference to Tō no Chūjō’s poem, vol. i, p. 59. + + [181] The rustic creature unearthed by Kōbai in his search for + Tamakatsura. + + [182] Of these there are several, the shortest of which runs (in + Sanskrit) Namas samanta-vajrānām ham. ‘Praise be to all the + Thunderbolt-bearers. Ay verily.’ Its impressiveness was partly + due to the fact that very few Japanese knew what it meant. + + [183] The princess from Akashi. + + [184] Tō no Chūjō’s mother, Kumoi’s grandmother. + + [185] On leave from the Palace; she was one of the Emperor’s consorts. + + [186] Sugoroku, a kind of backgammon. + + [187] Japanese windows are made of translucent paper, not of glass. + + [188] The Lady of Ōmi’s poem contained three irrelevant place-names. + This one contains four, and is intentionally senseless, for + Chūnagon had not been able to make out what Ōmi’s rigmarole was + about. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + THE FLARES + + +It was now the turn of Lady Ōmi’s eccentricities to become the sole +topic of conversation at Court. ‘All this is very puzzling,’ said +Genji. ‘Her father gave orders that she was to be kept in close +confinement; how comes it, then, that every one seems to know so much +about her? One hears nothing but stories of her ridiculous behaviour. +So far from keeping the poor half-witted creature out of harm’s way he +seems to be positively making an exhibition of her. Here again I think +I see the consequences of his obstinate belief in the impeccability of +his own family. He sent for her without making the slightest enquiry, +convinced that since his blood ran in her veins she must necessarily be +beyond reproach. Finding her an exception to this rule he has taken his +revenge by deliberately exposing her to derision. However, I can hardly +believe that after all the trouble he has taken, it can really give him +much satisfaction that the mere mention of her name should evoke peals +of laughter....’ + +The fate of Ōmi seemed, incidently, to afford some justification for +Genji’s reluctance to part with Tamakatsura, a fact which she herself +recognized. It was by no means safe to assume that Tō no Chūjō would +treat a second long-lost daughter any better than the first. The old +nurse Ukon, who daily collected for her mistress’s benefit some fresh +anecdote of Ōmi’s discomfiture, vigorously supported the view that Tō +no Chūjō was not a father to be lightly adopted. ‘True,’ thought +Tamakatsura, ‘Genji’s attitude towards me is not quite such as I could +wish. But I am bound to confess that hitherto he has never tried to go +further than I intend he should, and in practical ways no one could +possibly be more kind and considerate.’ Thus gratitude was slowly +replaced by friendship and even by a certain semblance of intimacy. + +Autumn had now come, and with it a bitterly cold wind—the ‘first wind’ +whose chill breath ‘only a lover’s cloak can nullify.’ He made great +efforts to keep away from the Western Wing, but all to no purpose; and +soon, on the pretext of music-lessons or what not, he was spending the +greater part of every day at Tamakatsura’s side. + +One evening when the moon was some five or six days old he came +suddenly to her room. The weather was chilly and overcast, and the wind +rustled with a melancholy note through the reeds outside the window. +She sat with her head resting against her zithern. To-night too, as on +so many previous occasions, he would make his timorous advances, and +at the end of it all be just where he started. So Genji grumbled to +himself, and continued to behave in a somewhat plaintive and peevish +manner during his whole visit. It was however already very late when +the fear of giving offence in other quarters drove him from the room. +Just as he was leaving he noticed that the flares outside her window +were burning very low, and sending for one of his men, he had them +kindled anew; but this time at a little distance from the house, under +a strangely leaning spindle-tree which spread its branches in the form +of a broad canopy, near to the banks of a deep, chilly stream. The thin +flares of split pine-wood were placed at wide intervals, casting pale +shadows that flickered remotely upon the walls of the unlighted room +where she and Genji sat. He caught a glimpse of her hand, showing frail +and ghostly against the dark background of her hair. Her face, +suddenly illumined by the cold glare of the distant torches, wore an +uneasy and distrustful air. He had risen to go, but still lingered. +‘You should tell your people never to let the flares go out,’ he said. +‘Even in summer, except when there is a moon, it is not wise to leave +the garden unlighted. And in Autumn.... I shall feel very uneasy if you +do not promise to remember about this. “Did but the torches flickering +at your door burn brightly as the fire within my breast, you should +not want for light!”’ And he reminded her of the old song in which the +lover asks: ‘How long, like the smouldering watch-fire at the gate, +must my desire burn only with an inward flame?’ + +‘Would that, like the smoke of the watch-fires that mounts and vanishes +at random in the empty sky, the smouldering flame of passion could burn +itself away!’ So she recited, adding: ‘I do not know what has come +over you. Please leave me at once or people will think....’ ‘As you +wish,’ he answered, and was stepping into the courtyard, when he heard +a sound of music in the wing occupied by the Lady from the Village +of Falling Flowers. Some one seemed to be playing the flute to the +accompaniment of a Chinese zithern. No doubt Yūgiri was giving a small +party. The flute-player could be none other than Tō no Chūjō’s eldest +son Kashiwagi; for who else at Court performed with such marvellous +delicacy and finish? How pleasant would be the effect, thought Genji, +if they would consent to come and give a serenade by the streamside, +in the subdued light of those flickering torches! ‘I long to join +you,’ he wrote, ‘but, could you see the pale, watery shadows that the +watch-flares are casting here in the garden of the western wing, you +would know why I am slow to come....’ He sent this note to Yūgiri, and +presently three figures appeared out of the darkness. ‘I should +not have sent for you,’ he called to them, ‘had you not played “The +Wind’s voice tells me....” It is a tune that I can never resist.’ So +saying he brought out his own zithern. When he had played for a while, +Yūgiri began to improvise on his flute in the Banshiki mode.[189] +Kashiwagi attempted to join in, but his thoughts were evidently +employed elsewhere,[190] for again and again he entered at the wrong +beat. ‘Too late,’ cried Genji, and at last Kōbai was obliged to keep +his brother in measure by humming the air in a low monotone like the +chirping of a meditative grasshopper. Genji made them go through the +piece twice, and then handed his zithern to Kashiwagi. It was some +while since he had heard the boy play and he now observed with delight +that his talent was not by any means confined to wind-instruments. ‘You +could have given me no greater pleasure,’ he said, when the piece was +over. ‘Your father is reckoned a fine performer on the zithern; but +you have certainly more than overtaken him.... By the way, I should +have cautioned you that there is some one seated just within who can +probably hear all that is going on out in this portico. So to-night +there had better not be too much drinking. Do not be offended, for I +was really thinking more of myself than of you. Now that I am getting +on in years I find wine far more dangerous than I used to. I am apt to +say the most indiscreet things....’ + +Tamakatsura did, as a matter of fact, overhear every word of this, as +indeed she was intended to, and was thankful that he at any rate saw +the necessity of keeping himself in hand. The near presence of the two +visitors could not fail to interest her extremely, if for no other +reason than merely because they were, after all, though themselves +entirely unaware of the fact, so very closely related to her; +and for long past she had surreptitiously collected all possible +information concerning their characters and pursuits. Kashiwagi was, +as to her distress she had frequently ascertained, very deeply in +love with her. Again and again during the course of the evening, he +was on the verge of collapsing altogether; but never was the state of +agitation through which he was passing for a moment reflected in his +playing. + + [189] Corresponding roughly with the white notes from D to D. + + [190] He was in love with Tamakatsura. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + THE TYPHOON + + +This year great pains had been taken to improve the Empress Akikonomu’s +domain; and by now her gardens were aglow with the varied tints of +innumerable frost-stained leaves and autumn flowers. Above all, the new +pergolas made an admirable show, now that their timber, here stripped +of bark, there used in its natural state, was thickly interwoven with +blossoming boughs. And when at morning and evening the sun slanted +across the dewy gardens, it was as though every flower and tree +were decked with strings of glittering pearls. Those who but a few +months back had been carried away by the spring-time loveliness of +the Southern Garden, could not fail, as they gazed upon the colder +beauty of this autumnal scene, with one accord to resume their earlier +preference. The lovers of autumn have, I am persuaded, at all times +embraced the larger part of mankind; and in thus returning to their +allegiance the Empress’s companions were but following their natural +bent. + +So delighted was Akikonomu with the scene I have described that she +asked for leave of absence from the Emperor and settled for a while +in her own establishment. Unfortunately the anniversary of the late +Prince Zembō’s[191] death fell in the eighth month, and it was with +great anxiety that she watched Autumn’s almost hourly advance; for she +feared that the best month would be over before she came out of +mourning. Meanwhile she was confined to the house and all amusements +were suspended. + +The equinoctial gales were this year particularly violent. Then came +a day when the whole sky grew black, and an appalling typhoon began. +It would have been bad enough wherever one had been to see every tree +stripped of its leaves just when they were at their loveliest, every +flower stricken to the earth; but to witness such havoc in an exquisite +garden, planned from corner to corner with endless foresight and care, +to see those dew-pearls unthreaded in an instant and scattered upon +the ground, was a sight calculated to drive the onlooker well nigh to +madness. As time went on the hurricane became more and more alarming, +till all was lost to view in a blinding swirl of fog and dust. But +while she sat behind tightly closed shutters in a room that rocked +with every fresh blast, it was with thoughts of autumn splendours +irrevocably lost rather than with terror of the storm that the +Empress’s heart was shaken. + +The Southern Gardens were just being laid out with wild plants from +the countryside when the high winds began, and that impatient longing +which the poet attributes to the young lespidezas[192] was indeed +fulfilled in all too ample measure. Morning after morning Murasaki too +saw the dew roughly snatched from leaf and flower. She was sitting thus +one day on watch at her window, while Genji played with the little +princess in a neighbouring room. It happened that Yūgiri had occasion +to come across from the eastern wing. When he reached the door at the +end of the passage he noticed that the great double-doors leading into +Murasaki’s room were half-open. Without thinking what he was doing, he +paused and looked in. Numerous ladies-in-waiting were passing to and +fro just inside, and had he made any sound they would have looked +up, seen him and necessarily supposed that he had stationed himself +there on purpose to spy upon those within. He saw nothing for it but +to stand dead still. Even indoors the wind was so violent that screens +would not stand up. Those which usually surrounded the high daïs were +folded and stacked against the wall. There, in full view of any one +who came along the corridor, reclined a lady whose notable dignity of +mien and bearing would alone have sufficed to betray her identity. +This could be none other than Murasaki. Her beauty flashed upon him +as at dawn the blossom of the red flowering cherry flames out of the +mist upon the traveller’s still sleepy eye. It was wafted towards him, +suddenly imbued him, as though a strong perfume had been dashed against +his face. She was more beautiful than any woman he had ever seen. The +hangings of her daïs had broken away from the poles and now fluttered +in the wind like huge flags. Her ladies made vain attempts to recapture +these flapping curtain-ends, and in the course of the struggle (only +half-visible to Yūgiri) something very amusing evidently occurred, +for Murasaki suddenly burst into peals of laughter. Soon however she +became serious again. For here too, though in a lesser degree, the +wind was working irreparable havoc, and at each fresh blast he saw her +turn a despairing gaze towards her newly-planted beds. Several of her +gentlewomen, thought Yūgiri, as his eye accustomed itself to the scene, +were noticeably good-looking; but there was not one whose appearance +could for more than an instant have distracted his attention from the +astonishing creature at whose command they served. Now he understood +why it was that Genji had always taken such pains to keep him away from +her. His father was wise enough to know that no one could possibly +see her thus without losing all control of himself. Genji had indeed, +in forbidding him all access to her rooms, foreseen just such a +contingency as had at this moment occurred. The boy, suddenly realizing +the extreme insecurity of his hiding-place and at the same time +overwhelmed with shame at the mere thought of being discovered in such +a situation, was about to dart into safety, when a door on the left +opened and Genji himself entered the room. ‘What a wind!’ he said as he +surveyed the exposed condition of her daïs. ‘It would really be better +just now if you left all the shutters closed. You probably do not +realize that you and your ladies are at this moment exposing yourselves +completely to the view of any gentleman who may happen to come this +way....’ Yūgiri had already withdrawn his eye from the crack; but the +sound of Genji’s voice aroused in him an invincible curiosity, and he +returned to his former position. His father was bending over Murasaki +and whispering something in her ear; now he was laughing. It seemed to +Yūgiri very odd that this high-spirited, handsome, quite young-looking +man should really be his father. As for Genji’s companion—he could +not imagine that she could ever have been more beautiful than at this +moment. He gazed spell-bound, and would certainly have crouched at +his chink for hours to come, had not the door on the opposite side of +the passage suddenly blown wide open, thus leaving his hiding-place +embarrassingly exposed. Reluctantly he withdrew (as was now possible, +for Murasaki’s attendants had all retired to the far end of the room), +and working his way round to the verandah, he called to Genji as though +he had just arrived from the Eastern Wing. His father answered the +greeting and presently joined him, saying to Murasaki as he left the +room something which evidently referred to the imperfectly fastened +passage-door. ‘Look there!’ Genji was saying crossly; ‘is not that just +what I told you? You must really be more careful....’ ‘This,’ +thought Yūgiri, ‘is indeed a tribute to the devotion of her guards +during all these years! Only a tempest capable of hurling rocks +through the air and uprooting whole forests can so far disarm their +vigilance that for a few seconds she is exposed to the curiosity of the +passer-by.’ He was bound to confess that towards him at any rate the +dreaded hurricane had done its best to act a benevolent part. + +Several retainers now arrived, reporting that the typhoon was assuming +a very serious aspect. ‘It is from the north-east,’ they said, ‘so that +here you are comparatively protected and have no notion of its real +violence. Both the racing-lodge and the fishing-pavilion are in great +danger....’ While those people were busy making fast various doors and +shutters, and repairing the damage of the previous night, Genji turned +to Yūgiri and said: ‘Where did you arrive from just now?’ ‘I spent the +night at my grandmother’s,’ he replied. ‘But every one says that we are +in for a very bad storm, and I felt I ought to come back here and see +if I could be of any use.... But as a matter of fact it is far worse +in the Third Ward than here in the Sixth. The mere noise of the wind, +quite apart from everything else, is terrifying at my grandmother’s, +and if you do not mind I think it would be a good thing if I went back +there at once. She is as frightened as though she were a child of two, +and it seems unkind to leave her....’ ‘Yes, by all means go back at +once,’ answered Genji hastily. ‘One sometimes thinks that the notion of +old people slipping back into a second childhood is a mere fable; but I +have learnt lately from instances in my own family that it does really +happen. Tell her, please, that I have heard how bad things are in the +Third Ward and should certainly come myself, were I not satisfied that +you will be able to do quite as much for her as I could.’ + +Yūgiri had a high sense of duty. It was his practice at this time +to visit his grandmother at least once a day, and it would have been a +ferocious wind indeed that could deter him either from setting out for +the Third Ward or returning thence at the hour when his father usually +asked for him. There were of course ‘times of observance’ when he was +obliged to remain shut up in the Emperor’s Palace for several days on +end. But otherwise neither pressure of public business nor attendance +at state ceremonies and festivals, however much they might impinge upon +his leisure, ever prevented him from calling first at the New Palace +and then upon the old Princess, before he dreamt of embarking upon any +amusement of his own. Still less upon such a day as this, when, bad +as the storm was already, there seemed every prospect that it would +soon develop into something more alarming still, could he have brought +himself to leave the old lady in solitude. + +She was, indeed, delighted that he had not failed her. ‘This is the +worst typhoon there has ever been in my lifetime,’ she said; ‘and I +can assure you I have seen a good many.’ She was trembling from head +to foot. Now and again came a strange and terrifying sound; some huge +bough that a single breath of the hurricane had twisted from its trunk, +crashed in splinters to the ground. Apart from all other dangers, +showers of tiles were falling from every roof. To go into the streets +at all on such a day was indeed no very safe undertaking, and for a +while she listened with mingled gratitude and alarm to the recital of +his perils, and escapes. + +The old Princess’s lonely and monotonous existence contrasted +strangely with the brilliant scenes amid which she had moved during +the days of her husband’s remarkable ascendancy. Indeed, that the +visits of this staid young grandson should mean so much to her showed +only too plainly how far she had fallen from the days when her +ante-chambers were thronged by the fashionable world. True, her name +was still widely known and even reverenced in the country at large; but +this was small consolation for the fact that her own son, Tō no Chūjō, +had for some time past been far from cordial in his manner towards her. +It was very good of Yūgiri to come on such an evening. But why was +it that he looked so thoughtful? Perhaps the noise of the hurricane +distracted him. It was certainly very alarming. + +If Yūgiri fell into a meditative mood in this house, it was generally +with memories of his little playmate[193] that his mind was employed. +But to-night he had not, as a matter of fact, thought of her once; +nor did the tempest disturb him. It was the face he had seen this +morning, in the course of his unintended eavesdropping, which now +continually haunted him, till he suddenly checked his imagination and +asked himself remorsefully what had come over him that in this of all +places another face than Kumoi’s should have filled his thoughts during +a whole evening. And if it was a crime in him that he should presume +to court Tō no Chūjō’s daughter, what view would his elders take if +they should discover that he spent his leisure in thinking of Genji’s +wife? He tried hard to think of other things; but after a moment or +two the recollection of what he had seen that morning sprang back +into his mind. Was all this a mere aberration on his part? He could +not believe it; surely her beauty was indisputably of the kind that +occurs only once or twice in a century—that a whole epoch may utterly +lack? There was nothing to be wondered at in the impression which the +sight of her had made upon him; if there was anything strange in the +matter at all, it was that Genji, having such a wife as this, could +ever have taken any interest in such creatures as the lady in the +Eastern Wing.[194] That did indeed require some explanation. It was +heart-rending that the most beautiful woman of her generation should +fall to the lot of one whose other intimacies proved him so completely +lacking in discrimination. + +It was characteristic of Yūgiri’s high sense of propriety that when in +his imaginings he became better acquainted with this lovely creature, +it was not with Murasaki herself but with someone in every respect +exactly like her that he pictured himself spending hours of enchanted +bliss. Yes, that was what he needed; without it life, he had began to +discover, was not worth living at all. + +Towards dawn the wind became somewhat dank and clammy; before long +sheets of rain were being swept onward by the hurricane. News came +that many of the outbuildings at the New Palace had been blown to the +ground. The main structure was so solidly built as to defy any storm. +In the quarters inhabited by Genji there was, too, a continual coming +and going, which served to mitigate the strain of those alarming hours. +But the side wings of the palace were very sparsely inhabited. Yūgiri’s +own neighbour, for example—the Lady from the Village of Falling +Flowers—might easily be by this time in a pitiable state of panic. +Clearly it was his duty to give her his support, and he set out for +home while it was still dark. The rain was blowing crossways, and no +sooner had he seated himself in his litter, than an icy douche poured +in through the ventilator and drenched his knees. The town wore an +inconceivably desolate and stricken air. In his own mind too there was +a strange sensation; it was as though there also, just as in the world +outside, the wonted landmarks and boundaries had been laid waste by +some sudden hurricane. What had happened to him? For a moment he could +only remember that it was something distressing, shameful.... Why, +it was hideous! Yesterday morning.... That was it of course. He was +mad; nothing more nor less than a raving lunatic. He had fallen in love +with Murasaki! + +He did indeed find his neighbour in the eastern wing sadly in need of +a little support and encouragement. He managed however to convince +her that the worst danger was over, and sending for some of his own +carpenters had everything put to rights. He felt that he ought now +to greet his father. But in the central hall everything was still +locked and barred. He went to the end of the passage and leaning on +the balustrade looked out into the Southern Garden. Even such trees as +still stood were heeling over in the wind so that their tops almost +touched the ground. Broken branches were scattered in every direction +and what once had been flower-beds were now mere rubbish heaps, strewn +with a promiscuous litter of thatch and tiles, with here and there +a fragment of trellis-work or the top of a fence. There was now a +little pale sunshine, that slanting through a break in the sky gleamed +fitfully upon the garden’s woe-begone face; but sullen clouds packed +the horizon, and as Yūgiri gazed on the desolate scene his eyes filled +with tears. How came it, he asked himself, that he should be doomed +time and again to long precisely for what it was impossible for him to +obtain. He wiped away his tears, came close to Genji’s door and called. +‘That sounds like Yūgiri’s voice,’ he heard Genji say. ‘I had no notion +it was so late....’ He heard his father rise. There was a pause, and +then Genji laughed, perhaps at some remark that had been inaudible. ‘No +indeed,’ he said. ‘You and I have fared better than most lovers. We +have never known what it was to be torn from each other at the first +streak of dawn, and I do not think that after all these years we should +easily reconcile ourselves to such a fate.’ Even to overhear such +a conversation as this gave Yūgiri a certain kind of pleasure. He could +not make out a word of what Murasaki said in reply and judging from +the laughter with which the conversation was constantly interrupted +it was not of a very serious description. But he felt he could say to +himself ‘That is what happens when they are alone together,’ and he +went on listening. Now, however, there was a noise of swift footsteps. +Evidently Genji was about to unbolt the door with his own hands. +Conscious that he was standing far closer to it than was natural Yūgiri +stepped back guiltily into the corridor. ‘Well,’ asked Genji, ‘was +the Princess pleased to see you last night?’ ‘Yes, I think she was,’ +answered Yūgiri. ‘She seems to be very much upset about something that +has happened between her and my uncle Tō no Chūjō. She cried a great +deal and I was very sorry for her.’ Genji smiled. ‘Oh, I know all about +that business,’ he said. ‘She will soon get over it. You must persuade +her not to brood upon such matters. He thinks she has been indiscreet, +and is doing his best to make her feel uncomfortable about it. He cares +immensely about the impression which his conduct makes on other people; +and as regards his mother—he has always gone out of his way to convince +the world that he is a paragon of filial devotion. So far as outward +show is concerned, this is true enough. But I fancy that it is all done +chiefly for the sake of appearances. The truth of the matter is that he +has no very deep feelings towards anybody. This may seem a hard thing +to say; but, on the other hand, I freely admit his good qualities. He +is extremely well-informed and intelligent; he is musical to an extent +which has become very rare in these days. In addition to all that, +he is good-looking. As I have said, I think his feelings somewhat +superficial. But we all have defects of one sort or another.... By +the way, I ought to find out how the Empress has been getting on +during this appalling hurricane. I wish you would find out if there is +anything I can do for her ...’ and he gave Yūgiri a note in which he +said: ‘I am afraid the wind prevented you from getting much sleep. I +myself find it a great strain and am feeling rather shaky; otherwise I +should have come round to see you long ago....’ + +On approaching the Empress’s apartments he saw a little girl with a +cage in her hand trip lightly into the garden; she had come to give the +tame cicadas their morning sip of dew. Further off several ladies were +wandering among the flower-beds with baskets over their arms, searching +for such stray blossoms as might chance to have survived the tempest. +Now and again they were hidden by great wreaths of storm-cloud that +trailed across the garden with strange and lovely effect. Yūgiri called +to the flower-gatherers. They did not start or betray the least sign of +discomposure, but in an instant they had all disappeared into the house. + +Being still a mere boy at the time when Akikonomu came to Genji’s +house, he had been allowed to run in and out of her rooms just as +he chose, and had thus become very intimate with several of her +gentlewomen. While he was waiting for the Empress’s reply, two of these +old acquaintances, a certain Saishō no Kimi, and a lady called Naishi, +came into view at the end of the passage. He hailed them and had a long +conversation. He used to think Lady Akikonomu a very splendid person; +and he was still obliged to confess, as he now looked about him, that +she lived in very good style and had shown excellent taste in the +furnishing of her quarters. But since those days he had learnt to judge +by very different standards, and a visit to this part of the palace no +longer interested him in the slightest degree. + +On his return to Murasaki’s rooms, he found all the shutters +unbarred. Everything had resumed its normal course. He delivered the +Empress’s reply, in which she said: ‘It may be very childish, but I +own I have been much upset by the storm. I made sure that you would +come and see to things here.... It would still be a great help to me +if you could spare a moment....’ ‘I remember said Genji, ‘that she was +always very easily upset by anything of this kind. I can imagine what +a panic she and her ladies must have worked themselves up into during +the course of the night! It was wrong of me not to see after her ...’ +and he started off towards the Empress’s apartments. But he found he +had forgotten his cloak, and turning back to the high daïs he raised +a corner of the curtain and disappeared within. For a moment Yūgiri +caught sight of a light-coloured sleeve; his heart began to beat so +loud that it seemed to him every one else in the room must be able to +hear it, and he quickly averted his eyes from the daïs. There was an +interval during which Genji was presumably adjusting his cloak at the +mirror. Then Yūgiri heard his father’s voice saying: ‘I cannot help +thinking that Yūgiri is really looking quite handsome this morning. No +doubt I am partial, and to every one else he looks a mere hobbledehoy; +for I know that at the between-stage he has now reached young men are +usually far from prepossessing in appearance.’ After this there was a +pause during which he was perhaps looking at his own countenance in +the mirror, well content that the passage of time had as yet done so +little to impair it. Presently Yūgiri heard him say very thoughtfully: +‘It is strange; whenever I am going to see Akikonomu I suddenly begin +to feel that I am looking terribly shabby and unpresentable. I cannot +think why she should have that effect on one. There is really nothing +very remarkable about her, either in intellect or appearance. But +one feels, I think, that she is all the while making judgments, which +if they ever came to the surface, would seem oddly at variance with +the mild femininity of her outward manner....’ With these words Genji +re-appeared from behind the curtains. The look of complete detachment +with which Yūgiri imagined he met his father’s gaze was perhaps not so +successfully assumed as the boy supposed; for Genji suddenly halted +and returning to the daïs whispered to Murasaki something about the +door which had been left unfastened yesterday morning. ‘No, I am sure +he didn’t,’ answered Murasaki indignantly. ‘If he had come along the +corridor my people would have noticed. They never heard a sound....’ +‘Very queer, all the same,’ murmured Genji to himself as he left the +room. Yūgiri now noticed that a group of gentlemen was waiting for him +at the end of the crossgallery, and he hastened to meet them. He tried +to join in their conversation and even in their laughter; but he was +feeling in no mood for society, and little as his friends expected +of him in the way of gaiety, they found him on this occasion more +obdurately low-spirited than ever before. + +Soon however his father returned and carried him off to the Eastern +Wing. They found the gentlewomen of this quarter engaged in making +preparations to meet the sudden cold. A number of grey-haired old +ladies were cutting out and stitching, while the young girls were busy +hanging out quilts and winter cloaks over lacquered clothesframes. +They had just beaten and pulled a very handsome dark-red underrobe, +a garment of magnificent colour, certainly unsurpassed as an example +of modern dyeing—and were spreading it out to air. ‘Why, Yūgiri,’ +said Genji, ‘that is your coat, is it not? I suppose you would have +been wearing it at the Emperor’s Chrysanthemum Feast; but of course +this odious hurricane has put a stop to everything of that sort. +What a depressing autumn it is going to be!’ + +But Yūgiri could not summon up much interest in the round of visits +upon which his father had embarked, and slipped away to the rooms of +his little sister, the Princess from Akashi. The child was not there. +‘She is still with Madam,’ her nurse said. ‘She went later than usual +to-day. She was so frightened of the storm that it was a long time +before she got to sleep, and we had a job to get her out of bed at +all this morning.’ ‘When things began to be so bad,’ said Yūgiri, ‘I +intended to come round here and sit up with her; but then I heard that +my grandmother was very much upset, and thought that I had better go to +her instead. What about the doll’s house? Has that come to any harm?’ +The nurse and her companions laughed. ‘Oh, that doll’s house!’ one of +them exclaimed. ‘Why, if I so much as fanned myself the little lady +would always cry out to me that I was blowing her dolls to bits. You +can imagine, then, what a time we had of it when the whole house was +being blown topsy-turvy, and every minute something came down with a +crash.... You’d better take charge of that doll’s house. I don’t mind +telling you I’m sick to death of it!’ + +Yūgiri had several letters to write, and as the little girl was still +with her step-mother he said to the nurse: ‘Might I have some ordinary +paper. Perhaps from the writing-case in your own room....’ The nurse +however went straight to the little Princess’s own desk and taking +the cover off her lacquered writing-case laid upon it a whole roll of +the most elegant paper she could find. Yūgiri at first protested. But +after all, was not a rather absurd fuss made about this young lady +and her future? There was nothing sacrosanct about her possessions; +and accepting the paper, which was of a thin, purple variety, he +mixed his ink very carefully and, continually inspecting the +point of his brush, began writing slowly and cautiously. The air of +serious concentration with which he settled down to his task was very +impressive; more so, indeed, than the composition itself, for his +education had been chiefly upon other lines. + +The poem was as follows: ‘Not even on this distracted night when +howling winds drive serried hosts of cloud across the sky, do I for +an instant forget thee, thou Unforgettable One.’ He tied this to a +tattered spray of miscanthus that he had picked up in the porch. At +this there was general laughter. ‘It’s clear you haven’t read your +Katano no Shōshō’[195] said one of the nurses, ‘or you would at least +choose a flower that matched your paper....’ ‘You are quite right,’ +he answered rather sulkily, ‘I have never bothered my head about such +matters. No doubt one ought to go tramping about the countryside +looking for an appropriate flower; but I have no intention of doing +so....’ He had always seemed to the nurses and other such ladies of the +household very difficult to get anything out of. Apparently he did not +care what impression he made upon them; and as a matter of fact they +were beginning to think him rather priggish and stuck-up. + +He wrote a second letter, and sending for his retainer Uma no Suké put +this and the original note into the man’s hand. But evidently the two +letters were to go in quite different directions.[196] For Uma no Suké, +having scanned the addresses, entrusted one to a page boy and the other +to a discreet, responsible-looking body-servant. These proceedings were +accompanied by a great many whispered warnings and injunctions. +The curiosity of the young nurses knew no bounds; but it remained +wholly unsatisfied; for hard though they strained their ears, they +could not catch a word. + +Yūgiri was now tired of waiting and made his way to his grandmother’s +house. He found her quietly pursuing her devotions, surrounded by +gentlewomen not all of whom were either old or ill-looking. But in +dress and bearing they formed a strange contrast to the chattering, +frivolous young creatures from whom he had just parted. The nuns too, +who had come to take part in the service, were by no means decrepit or +disagreeable in person, a fact which gave an additional pathos to their +assumption of this sombre and unbecoming guise. + +Later in the day Tō no Chūjō called, and when the great lamp had been +brought in, he and the old Princess had a long, quiet talk. At last +she screwed up her courage to say: ‘It is a very long time since I +saw Kumoi ...’ and she burst into tears. ‘I was just going to suggest +sending her round here in a day or two,’ said Tō no Chūjō. ‘I am not +very happy about her. She is certainly thinner than she used to be, and +there is sometimes a peculiar expression in her face.... It is almost +as though she had something on her mind. I do not understand how it +is that, while I have never had a moment’s anxiety over my boys, with +these daughters of mine something goes wrong at every turn. And never +through any fault of mine....’ He said this with an intonation that +clearly showed he had not entirely forgiven her. She was sorely wounded +by this obstinate injustice, but did not attempt to defend herself. + +‘Talking of daughters,’ he went on, ‘you have probably heard that I +have lately made a very unsuccessful addition to my household. You have +no idea what worries I am going through....’ He spoke in a doleful +tone, but no sooner were the words uttered than he burst out laughing. +‘I cannot bear to hear you talking in that way,’ said the old Princess. +‘Of one thing I am quite sure: if she is really your daughter she +cannot be so bad as people are making out.’ ‘I think, all the same,’ +said Tō no Chūjō, ‘that it might be possible to put too great a strain +upon your habitual indulgence towards everything connected with me. +That being so, I have no intention whatever of introducing her to you.’ + + [191] Her father; Rokujō’s husband, who died early. + + [192] ‘I await your coming eagerly as waits the young lespideza, so + heavy with dew, for the wind that shall disburden it.’ + + [193] Kumoi. + + [194] The Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers. + + [195] A tale of the ‘perfect lover,’ very popular in Murasaki’s day, + but now lost. Cf. vol. i, p. 39. + + [196] One to Kumoi, one to Koremitsu’s daughter. + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + + 1. Italicised words are indicated by _underscores_. + + 2. Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of each + chapter. + + 3. Misspelled words have been corrected (see below). Archaic, + inconsistent and alternative spellings have been left unchanged. + Hyphenation has not been standardised. + + 4. Punctuation has been silently corrected. + + 5. “Edit Distance” in Corrections table below refers to the + Levenshtein Distance. + + Corrections: + + Page Source Correction Edit distance + + 84 Prince Zembo’s first Prince Zembō’s first 1 + 134 do someting do something 1 + 147 at the Nijo-in at the Nijō-in 1 + 231 the opportunites the opportunities 1 + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75852 *** diff --git a/75852-h/75852-h.htm b/75852-h/75852-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d13e34e --- /dev/null +++ b/75852-h/75852-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9776 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + A Wreath of Cloud | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +h1 {font-size: 250%;} +h2 {font-size: 125%; + line-height: 1.5; + font-weight: normal; 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+ display: inline +} + +.x-ebookmaker .htmlonly { + visibility: hidden; + display: none +} + + + +/* Footnotes */ + +.footnote { + margin: .25em 5% .25em 5%; + padding: .25em; + font-size: .8em;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none; +} + +ul.footnote_items {list-style: none;} + +ul.footnote_items li { + margin: 0.5em 0; +} + +cite.bold { + font-weight: bold; + font-style: normal; +} + +/* Poetry */ +/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry */ +.poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} +.poetry-container {text-align: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} +.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} +.poetry .stanza0 {margin: 0em auto;} + +/* Transcriber’s notes */ +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + font-size: 80%; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; +} + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} + +.half-title { + page-break-before: always; + page-break-after: always; + text-align: left; + font-size: 150%; + padding: 1em 0; + text-indent: 0em; +} + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75852 ***</div> + +<div class="transnote"> +<p class="center bold">Transcriber’s Notes</p> +<p class="noindent">Corrected text is marked with a dotted underline. A list of corrections can be found at the end of this eBook.</p> +<p class="noindent"><a href="#Transcribers_Notes">Other notes</a> may be found at the end of this eBook.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="half-title">A WREATH OF CLOUD</p> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="htmlonly"> + <div class="chapter"> + <figure class="figcenter" style="max-width: 30em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover image"> + <figcaption class="small80">Transcriber Note: The cover image was created + by the transcriber from the original cover and elements of the title page. + It is placed in the public domain.</figcaption> + </figure> + </div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter" style="max-width: 30em;"> + <img class="w100 mt2" src="images/title.png" alt="title page"> +</figure> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="title-page"> +<h1>A WREATH OF<br>CLOUD</h1> +<p class="center larger150">BEING THE THIRD PART<br> +OF ‘THE TALE OF GENJI’</p> +<p class="center mt2 smcap">By</p> +<p class="center larger mt2">LADY MURASAKI</p> +<p class="center smaller mt2">TRANSLATED FROM THE JAPANESE BY</p> +<p class="center larger">ARTHUR WALEY</p> + +<figure class="figcenter"> + <img class="illowe6 mt4" src="images/logo.png" alt="logo"> +</figure> + +<p class="center smaller mt6">BOSTON AND NEW YORK</p> +<p class="center">HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY</p> +<p class="center antiqua">The Riverside Press Cambridge</p> +<p class="center">1927</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p class="center small">PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<p class="center" role="doc-dedication"><span class="smaller">TO</span><br> +RAYMOND MORTIMER</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-preface" aria-labelledby="pref-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_7" role="doc-pagebreak">7</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="pref-hd">PREFACE</h2> +</div> + +<p>This is the last volume but one of <cite>The Tale of Genji</cite> proper. Between +volumes IV and V there is a gap of eight years, during which Genji has +died. Volumes V and VI contain the sequel, ‘the ten Uji chapters,’ +as they are called in Japan, which deal with the fortunes of Genji’s +supposed son Kaoru, and his grandson (the Akashi Princess’s child) +Niou. The name ‘Genji’ (member of the Minamoto clan) applies equally +to his descendants, so that in Japanese the sequel too can be called +<cite>The Tale of Genji</cite>. But in English it needs a new name, and I have +called it <cite>The Tale of Kaoru</cite>. Thus <cite>The Tale of Genji</cite> itself will +be complete in four volumes, and will be followed by a sequel in two +volumes.</p> + +<p>I wish here to thank Mr. R. C. Trevelyan and Miss Sybil Pye for the +care with which they have read the proofs of the present volume. The +fact that the heroine of the story and the writer of it are both +called Murasaki is somewhat confusing. I will therefore here point out +that the name ‘Murasaki’ was given to the authoress as a nickname, in +allusion to the heroine of her book. Her real name is unknown to us. +For the origin of the nickname, see below, p. <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</p> +</section> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-chapter" aria-labelledby="cont-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_9" role="doc-pagebreak">9</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="cont-hd">CONTENTS</h2> +</div> + +<table class="toc" role="presentation"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdpg small">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="leftt">PREFACE</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="leftt">LIST OF MOST IMPORTANT PERSONS</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="leftt">SUMMARY OF VOLUMES I AND II</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="leftt">INTRODUCTION</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="small">CHAPTER</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="rightt">I.</td> + <td class="leftt">A WREATH OF CLOUD</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="rightt">II.</td> + <td class="leftt">ASAGAO</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="rightt">III.</td> + <td class="leftt">THE MAIDEN</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="rightt">IV.</td> + <td class="leftt">TAMAKATSURA</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="rightt">V.</td> + <td class="leftt">THE FIRST SONG OF THE YEAR</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="rightt">VI.</td> + <td class="leftt">THE BUTTERFLIES</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="rightt">VII.</td> + <td class="leftt">THE GLOW-WORM</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="rightt">VIII.</td> + <td class="leftt">A BED OF CARNATIONS</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="rightt">IX.</td> + <td class="leftt">THE FLARES</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_291">291</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="rightt">X.</td> + <td class="leftt">THE TYPHOON</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_296">296</a></td> + </tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +</section> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-chapter" aria-labelledby="people-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_11" role="doc-pagebreak">11</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="people-hd">LIST OF MOST IMPORTANT PERSONS</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center smaller90">(ALPHABETICAL)</p> + +<table class="mip" role="presentation"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Akashi, Lady of</td> + <td class="leftt">Whom Genji courted during his exile.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Akashi, Princess from</td> + <td class="leftt">Daughter of the above by Genji.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Akikonomu, Empress</td> + <td class="leftt">Daughter of Rokujō.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Aoi</td> + <td class="leftt">Genji’s first wife.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Asagao, Princess</td> + <td class="leftt">Daughter of Prince Momozono Shikibukyō, courted by Genji since his boyhood, without success.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Ateki</td> + <td class="leftt">Daughter of Tamakatsura’s old nurse.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Bugo no Suke</td> + <td class="leftt">Brother of the above.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Chūjō, Lady</td> + <td class="leftt">Tō no Chūjō’s eldest daughter (called Kōkiden in the original, but this renders her liable to confusion with Genji’s step-mother).</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Emperor, The Old</td> + <td class="leftt">Genji’s father.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Falling Flowers, Lady from the Village of</td> + <td class="leftt">Sister of one of the Old Emperor's Sister of one of the Old Emperor's Court-ladies under Genji’s protection.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Fujitsubo</td> + <td class="leftt">Consort of the Old Emperor; loved by Genji.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Genji</td> + <td class="leftt">Son of the Old Emperor by a lady-in-waiting.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Higekuro</td> + <td class="leftt">Brother of Suzaku’s consort Lady Jōkyōden.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Hyōbukyō, Prince</td> + <td class="leftt">Murasaki’s father.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Kashiwagi</td> + <td class="leftt">Eldest son of Tō no Chūjō.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Kōbai</td> + <td class="leftt">Brother of the above.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Kōkiden</td> + <td class="leftt">Consort of the Old Emperor; Genji’s wicked ‘step-mother.’</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Koremitsu</td> + <td class="leftt">Genji’s retainer.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Koremitsu’s Daughter</td> + <td class="leftt">Gosechi dancer, admired by Yūgiri.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Kumoi</td> + <td class="leftt">Younger daughter of Tō no Chūjō.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12" role="doc-pagebreak">12</span>Momozono, Prince.</td> + <td class="leftt">Brother of the Old Emperor. Father of Asagao.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Murasaki</td> + <td class="leftt">Second ‘wife’ of Genji (never, technically speaking, his <i>kita no kata</i> or formal wife).</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Nyogo, Princess</td> + <td class="leftt">Younger sister of the Old Emperor.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Oborozuki</td> + <td class="leftt">Consort of the ex-Emperor Suzaku. Loved by Genji.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Ōmi, Lady of</td> + <td class="leftt">Bastard of Tō no Chūjō, reclaimed by him in error while searching for Tamakatsura.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Ōmiya, Princess</td> + <td class="leftt">Mother of Aoi and Tō no Chūjō. Sister of the Old Emperor.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Rokujō</td> + <td class="leftt">Widow of a brother of the Old Emperor.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Ryōzen, The Emperor</td> + <td class="leftt">Reputed son of the Old Emperor, but really son of Genji and Fujitsubo.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Sanjō</td> + <td class="leftt">Yūgao’s maid.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Shōni</td> + <td class="leftt">Husband of Tamakatsura’s nurse. Father of Ateki and Bugo no Suke.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Sochi, Prince</td> + <td class="leftt">Genji’s step-brother.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Suyetsumu</td> + <td class="leftt">Fantastic lady with red nose, daughter of Prince Hitachi.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Suzaku, The Ex-Emperor</td> + <td class="leftt">Genji’s step-brother; son of Kōkiden.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Tamakatsura</td> + <td class="leftt">Child of Tō no Chūjō by Yūgao.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Tayū</td> + <td class="leftt">Swashbuckler in Tsukushi.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Utsusemi</td> + <td class="leftt">Wife of a provincial governor; loved by Genji.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Yoshikiyo</td> + <td class="leftt">Faithful retainer of Genji; followed him into exile.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Yūgao</td> + <td class="leftt">Loved first by Tō no Chūjō, then by Genji. Dies in a deserted mansion.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="smcap leftt">Yūgiri</td> + <td class="leftt">Genji’s son by Aoi.</td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +</section> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-chapter" aria-labelledby="sum-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_13" role="doc-pagebreak">13</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="sum-hd">SUMMARY OF VOLUMES I AND II</h2> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Genji is an illegitimate son of the Emperor. At the age of twelve he +is affianced to Lady Aoi, daughter of the Minister of the Left; but +she is older than he is, and looks down upon him as a mere schoolboy. +Genji falls in love with Rokujō, a widow eight years older than +himself. She is passionately jealous of his wife, and relations with +her become very difficult. Genji turns for consolation to Utsusemi, +wife of a provincial governor: to Yūgao, a discarded mistress of his +friend Tō no Chūjō: to the fantastic Suyetsumu, the ‘lady with the +red nose.’ Utsusemi is carried off to the provinces by her husband; +Yūgao dies, withered by the virulence of Rokujō’s jealousy. Meanwhile +Genji succeeds in establishing better relations with his wife, Aoi, +only to lose her through the operation of the same baleful force that +had destroyed Yūgao. Since his childhood he has passionately admired +Fujitsubo, his father’s second wife. He has a son by her, who is +believed by the public to be the Emperor’s child.</p> + +<p>Genji’s enemies, in particular Kōkiden, who had been his mother’s +rival, are striving to get rid of him. He simplifies matters for them +by starting an intrigue with Oborozuki, a much younger sister of +Kōkiden.</p> + +<p>At the end of Vol. I Genji marries Lady Murasaki, a niece of Fujitsubo; +some years before he had taken her into his house and adopted her.</p> + +<p>In Vol. II, Rokujō leaves the capital and goes to live at Ise, +where her daughter is Vestal Virgin. Genji is caught making love to +Oborozuki, and knowing that his enemies now have him in their grasp he +retires as a voluntary exile to Suma. Here a storm destroys his house, +and the Old <span class="pagenum" id="Page_14" role="doc-pagebreak">14</span>Recluse of Akashi (a neighbouring bay) persuades him +to move thither. Here he falls in love with the Recluse’s daughter +(the Lady of Akaski), by whom he has a child (called the Princess from +Akashi). Genji, after three years of exile, is recalled, and wants +to send for the Lady of Akashi to live with him in his palace. But +she fears that her position there will be humiliating, and will not +consent. Finally he instals her in a country house at Ōi, several miles +from the capital. In this volume both Utsusemi (the governor’s wife) +and Rokujō re-appear at the capital. There is also a further encounter, +of a diverting kind, between Genji and the lady with the red nose.</p> +</section> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-introduction" aria-labelledby="intro-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_15" role="doc-pagebreak">15</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="intro-hd">INTRODUCTION</h2> +</div> + +<h3 class="smcap">Murasaki</h3> + +<p class="noindent">Murasaki Shikibu was born about 978 A.D. Her father, Tametoki, belonged +to a minor branch of the powerful Fujiwara clan. After holding various +appointments in the Capital he became governor first of Echizen +(probably in 1004); then of a more northerly province, Echigo. In 1016 +he retired and took his vows as a Buddhist priest.</p> + +<p>Of her childhood Murasaki tells us the following anecdote<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote1" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor1"><sup>1</sup></a>: ‘When my +brother Nobunori<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote2" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor2"><sup>2</sup></a> (the one who is now in the Board of Rites) was a +boy my father was very anxious to make a good Chinese scholar of him, +and often came himself to hear Nobunori read his lessons. On these +occasions I was always present, and so quick was I at picking up the +language that I was soon able to prompt my brother whenever he got +stuck. At this my father used to sigh and say to me: “If only you were +a boy how proud and happy I should be.” But it was not long before I +repented of having thus distinguished myself; for person after person +assured me that even boys generally become very unpopular if it is +discovered that they are fond of their books. For a girl, of course, it +would be even worse; and after this I was careful to conceal the fact +that I could write a single Chinese character. This meant that I got +very little practice; with the result that to this day I am shockingly +clumsy with my brush.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16" role="doc-pagebreak">16</span>Between 994 and 998 Murasaki married her kinsman Fujiwara no +Nobutaka, a lieutenant in the Imperial Guard. By him she had two +daughters, one of whom married the Lord Lieutenant of Tsukushi and +is reputed (very doubtfully) to be the authoress of an uninteresting +novel, the <cite>Tale of Sagoromo</cite>. Nobutaka died in 1001, and it was +probably three years later that Murasaki’s father was promised the +governorship of Echizen. Owing to the machinations of an enemy the +appointment was, at the last minute, almost given to some one else. +Tametoki appealed to his kinsman the Prime Minister Fujiwara no +Michinaga, and was eventually nominated for the post.</p> + +<p>Murasaki was now about 26. To have taken her to Echizen would have +ended all hope of a respectable second marriage. Instead Tametoki +arranged that she should enter the service of Michinaga’s daughter, +the very serious minded Empress Akiko, then a girl of about sixteen. +Part of Murasaki’s time was henceforth spent at the Emperor’s Palace. +But, as was customary, Akiko frequently returned for considerable +periods to her father’s house. Of her young mistress Murasaki writes +as follows<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote3" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor3"><sup>3</sup></a>: ‘The Empress, as is well known to those about her, is +strongly opposed to anything savouring of flirtation; indeed, when +there are men about, it is as well for any one who wants to keep on +good terms with her not to show herself outside her own room.... +I can well imagine that some of our senior ladies, with their air +of almost ecclesiastical severity, must make a rather forbidding +impression upon the world at large. In dress and matters of that kind +we certainly cut a wretched figure, for it is well known that to show +the slightest sign of caring for such things ranks with our Mistress as +an unpardonable fault. But I can see no reason why, even in a society +where young girls are expected to <span class="pagenum" id="Page_17" role="doc-pagebreak">17</span>keep their heads and behave +sensibly, appearances should be neglected to the point of comicality; +and I cannot help thinking that her Majesty’s outlook is far too +narrow and uncompromising. But it is easy enough to see how this state +of affairs arose. Her Majesty’s mind was, at the time when she first +came to Court, so entirely innocent and her own conduct so completely +impeccable that, quite apart from the extreme reserve which is natural +to her, she could never herself conceivably have occasion to make even +the most trifling confession. Consequently, whenever she heard one of +us admit to some slight shortcoming, whether of conduct or character, +she henceforward regarded this person as a monster of iniquity.</p> + +<p>‘True, at that period certain incidents occurred which proved that +some of her attendants were, to say the least of it, not very well +suited to occupy so responsible a position. But she would never have +discovered this had not the offenders been incautious enough actually +to boast in her hearing about their trivial irregularities. Being young +and inexperienced she had no notion that such things were of everyday +occurrence, brooded incessantly upon the wickedness of those about her, +and finally consorted only with persons so staid that they could be +relied upon not to cause her a moment’s anxiety.</p> + +<p>‘Thus she has gathered round her a number of very worthy young ladies. +They have the merit of sharing all her opinions, but seem in some +curious way like children who have never grown up.</p> + +<p>‘As the years go by her Majesty is beginning to acquire more experience +of life, and no longer judges others by the same rigid standards as +before; but meanwhile her Court has gained a reputation for extreme +dullness, and is shunned by all who can manage to avoid it.</p> + +<p>‘Her Majesty does indeed still constantly warn us that <span class="pagenum" id="Page_18" role="doc-pagebreak">18</span>it is +a great mistake to go too far, “for a single slip may bring very +unpleasant consequences,” and so on, in the old style; but she now +also begs us not to reject advances in such a way as to hurt people’s +feelings. Unfortunately, habits of long standing are not so easily +changed; moreover, now that the Empress’s exceedingly stylish brothers +bring so many of their young courtier-friends to amuse themselves at +her house, we have in self-defence been obliged to become more virtuous +than ever.’</p> + +<p>There is a type of disappointed undergraduate, who believes that all +his social and academic failures are due to his being, let us say, +at Magdalene instead of at St. John’s. Murasaki, in like manner, had +persuaded herself that all would have been well if her father had +placed her in the highly cultivated and easy-mannered entourage of the +Emperor’s aunt, Princess Senshi.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote4" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor4"><sup>4</sup></a> ‘Princess Senshi and her ladies,’ +Murasaki writes, ‘are always going off to see the sunset or the fading +of the moon at dawn, or pursuing some truant nightingale amid the +flowering trees. The Princess herself is a woman of marked character, +who is determined to follow her own tastes, and would contrive to +lead at Court a life as detached as her present existence at the Kamo +Shrine. How different from this place, with its perpetual: “The Empress +has been summoned into the Presence and commands you to attend her,” or +“Prepare to receive his Excellency the Prime Minister, who may arrive +at any moment.” Princess Senshi’s apartments are not subject to the +sudden alarms and incursions from which we suffer. There one could +apply oneself in earnest to anything one cared for and was good at; +there, occupied perhaps in making something really beautiful, one would +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19" role="doc-pagebreak">19</span>have no time for those indiscreet conversations which at our own +Court are the cause of so much trouble. There I should be allowed to +live buried in my own thoughts like a tree-stump in the earth; at the +same time, they would not expect me to hide from every man with whom +I was not already acquainted; and even if I addressed a few remarks +to such a person, I should not be thought lost to all sense of shame. +Indeed, I can imagine myself under such circumstances becoming, after a +certain amount of practice, quite lively and amusing!’</p> + +<p>While pining for the elegance and freedom of Princess Senshi’s Court, +Murasaki was employed by her earnest young mistress for a purpose that +the world would have considered far more improper than the philandering +of which Akiko so sternly disapproved. The Empress had a secret +desire to learn Chinese. The study of this language was considered at +the time far too rough and strenuous an occupation for women. There +were no grammars or dictionaries, and each horny sentence had to be +grappled and mastered like an untamed steer. That Akiko should wish +to learn Chinese must have been as shocking to Michinaga as it would +have been to Gladstone if one of his daughters had wanted to learn +boxing. Murasaki had, as we have seen, picked up something of the +language by overhearing her brother’s lessons. She did everything in +her power to conceal this knowledge, even pretending (as she tells +us in the <cite>Diary</cite>) that she could not read the Chinese characters on +her mistress’s screen; but somehow or other it leaked out: ‘Since the +summer before last, very secretly, in odd moments when there happened +to be no one about, I have been reading with her Majesty the two +books of “Songs.”<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote5" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor5"><sup>5</sup></a> There has of course been no question of formal +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20" role="doc-pagebreak">20</span>lessons; her Majesty has merely picked up a little here and there, +as she felt inclined. All the same, I have thought it best to say +nothing about the matter to anybody....’</p> + +<p>We gather, however, that what in the long run made Akiko’s Court +distasteful to Murasaki was not the seriousness of the women so much +as the coarseness and stupidity of the men. Michinaga, Akiko’s father, +was now forty-two. He had already been Prime Minister for some fourteen +years, and had carried the fortunes of the Fujiwara family to their +apogee. It is evident that he made love to Murasaki, though possibly in +a more or less bantering way. In 1008 she writes: ‘From my room beside +the entrance to the gallery I can see into the garden. The dew still +lies heavy and a faint mist rises from it. His Excellency<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote6" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor6"><sup>6</sup></a> is walking +in the garden. Now he has summoned one of his attendants and is giving +directions to him about having the moat cleared. In front of the orange +trees there is a bed of lady-flowers (<i>ominabeshi</i>) in full bloom. He +plucks a spray and returning to the house hands it to me over the top +of my screen. He looks very magnificent. I remember that I have not yet +powdered my face and feel terribly embarrassed. “Come now,” he cries, +“be quick with your poem, or I shall lose my temper.” This at any +rate gives me a chance to retire from his scrutiny; I go over to the +writing-box and produce the following: “If these beyond other flowers +are fair, ’tis but because the dew hath picked them out and by its +power made them sweeter than the rest.” “That’s right,” he said, taking +the poem. “It did not take you long in the end.” And sending for his +own ink-stone he wrote the answer: “Dew favours not; it is the flower’s +thoughts that flush its cheeks and make it fairer than the rest.”’</p> + +<p>The next reference to Michinaga’s relations with Murasaki <span class="pagenum" id="Page_21" role="doc-pagebreak">21</span>is as +follows: ‘His Excellency the Prime Minister caught sight of <cite>The Tale +of Genji</cite> in her Majesty’s room, and after making the usual senseless +jokes about it, he handed me the following poem, written on a strip +of paper against which a spray of plum-blossom had been pressed: “How +comes it that, sour as the plum-tree’s fruit, you have contrived to +blossom forth in tale so amorous?” To this I answered: “Who has told +you that the fruit belies the flower? For the fruit you have not +tasted, and the flower you know but by report.”<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote7" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor7"><sup>7</sup></a></p> + +<p>‘One night when I was sleeping in a room which opens on to the +corridor, I heard some one tapping. So frightened was I that for the +whole of the rest of the night I lay dead still on my bed, scarcely +daring to breathe. Next morning came the following poem from His +Excellency: “More patient than the water-rail that taps upon the +tree-root all night long, in vain I loitered on the threshold of your +inhospitable room.” To this I answered: “So great was your persistence +that for a water-rail I did indeed mistake you; and lucky am I to have +made this merciful mistake.”’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote8" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor8"><sup>8</sup></a></p> + +<p>Again, in 1010: ‘To-day his Excellency had an audience with the +Emperor; when it was over they came out of the Audience Chamber +together, and banqueted. As usual, his Excellency became very drunk +and, fearing trouble, I tried to keep out of his way. But he noticed +my absence and sent for me, crying out: “Here’s your mistress’s papa +taking dinner with the Emperor; it is not every one who gets the chance +of being present on an occasion like this. You ought to be uncommonly +grateful. Instead of which your one idea seems to be how to escape at +the earliest possible moment. I can’t make you out at all!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22" role="doc-pagebreak">22</span>He went on scolding me for some time, and then said: “Well, now +you are here, you must make a poem. It is one of the days when the +parent’s<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote9" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor9"><sup>9</sup></a> poem is always made by a substitute. You will do as well +as anybody; so be quick about it....” I was afraid at first that if I +showed myself he would behave in such a way as to make me feel very +uncomfortable. But it turned out that he was not so extraordinarily +drunk after all; indeed, he was in a very charming mood and, in the +light of the great lamp, looked particularly handsome.’</p> + +<p>It has often been observed that whereas in her commonplace book (the +<cite>Makura no Sōshi</cite>) Sei Shōnagon<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote10" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor10"><sup>10</sup></a> scarcely so much as mentions the +existence of the other ladies-in-waiting, Murasaki refers constantly +to her companions, and to one of them at least she was evidently +very strongly attached. Her great friend was Lady Saishō. ‘On my way +back from the Empress’s rooms I peeped in at Saishō’s door. I had +forgotten that she had been on duty at night and would now be having +her morning sleep. She had thrown over her couch various dresses with +bright-coloured linings, and on top of them had spread a covering +of beaten silk, lustrous and heavily scented with perfume. Her face +was hidden under the clothes; but as she lay there, her head resting +on a box-shaped writing-case, she looked so pretty that I could not +help thinking of the little princesses in picture-books. I raised +the clothes from her face and said to her: “You are like a girl in a +story.” She turned her head and said sharply: “You lunatic! Could you +not see I was asleep? You are too inconsiderate....” While she was +saying this she half raised herself from her couch and looked up at +me. Her face was flushed. I have never seen her so handsome. So it +often is; even those <span class="pagenum" id="Page_23" role="doc-pagebreak">23</span>whom we at all times admire will, upon some +occasion, suddenly seem to us ten times more lovely than ever before.’</p> + +<p>Saishō is her constant companion and her fellow victim during the +drunken festivities which they both detested. The following is from a +description of an entertainment given on the fiftieth day after the +birth of the Empress Akiko’s first child: ‘The old Minister of the +Right, Lord Akimitsu, came staggering along and banged into the screen +behind which we sat, making a hole in it. What really struck us was +that he is getting far too old<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote11" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor11"><sup>11</sup></a> for this kind of thing. But I am +sure he did not at all know that this was the impression he was making. +Next followed matching of fans, and noisy jokes, many of which were in +very bad taste.</p> + +<p>‘Presently the General of the Right came and stood near the pillar on +our left. He was looking at us and seemed to be examining our dresses, +but with a very different expression from the rest. He cannot bear +these drunken revels. If only there were more like him! And I say this +despite the fact that his conversation is often very indecent; for +he manages to give a lively and amusing turn to whatever he says. I +noticed that when the great tankard came his way he did not drink out +of it, but passed it on, merely saying the usual words of good omen. At +this Lord Kintō<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote12" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor12"><sup>12</sup></a> shouted: “The General is on his best behaviour. I +expect little Murasaki is somewhere not far off!” “You’re none of you +in the least like Genji,” I thought to myself, “so what should Murasaki +be doing here?” ... Then the Vice-Councillor began pulling about poor +Lady Hyōbu, and the Prime Minister made comic noises which I found very +disagreeable. It was still quite early, and knowing well what would be +the latter stages of an entertainment which <span class="pagenum" id="Page_24" role="doc-pagebreak">24</span>had begun in this way, +I waited till things seemed to have come to a momentary pause and then +plotted with Lady Saishō to slip away and hide. Presently however the +Prime Minister’s sons and other young Courtiers burst into the room; a +fresh hubbub began, and when they heard that two ladies were in hiding +they tracked us down and flung back the screen behind which we had +ensconced ourselves. We were now prisoners....’</p> + +<p>The <cite>Diary</cite> contains a series of notes chiefly upon the appearance but +also in a few cases upon the character of other ladies at Court. Her +remarks on Lady Izumi Shikibu, one of the greatest poets whom Japan has +produced, are of interest: ‘Izumi Shikibu is an amusing letter-writer; +but there is something not very satisfactory about her. She has a gift +for dashing off informal compositions in a careless running-hand; but +in poetry she needs either an interesting subject or some classic model +to imitate. Indeed it does not seem to me that in herself she is really +a poet at all.</p> + +<p>‘However, in the impromptus which she recites there is always something +beautiful or striking. But I doubt if she is capable of saying anything +interesting about other people’s verses. She is not intelligent enough. +It is odd; to hear her talk you would certainly think that she had a +touch of the poet in her. Yet she does not seem to produce anything +that one can call serious poetry....’</p> + +<p>Here, too, is the note on Sei Shōnagon,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote13" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor13"><sup>13</sup></a> author of the famous +<cite>Makura no Sōshi</cite>: ‘Sei Shōnagon’s most marked characteristic is +her extraordinary self-satisfaction. But examine the pretentious +compositions in Chinese script which she scatters so liberally over +the Court, and you will <span class="pagenum" id="Page_25" role="doc-pagebreak">25</span>find them to be a mere patchwork of +blunders. Her chief pleasure consists in shocking people; and as each +new eccentricity becomes only too painfully familiar, she gets driven +on to more and more outrageous methods of attracting notice. She was +once a person of great taste and refinement; but now she can no longer +restrain herself from indulging, even under the most inappropriate +circumstances, in any outburst that the fancy of the moment suggests. +She will soon have forfeited all claim to be regarded as a serious +character, and what will become of her<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote14" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor14"><sup>14</sup></a> when she is too old for her +present duties I really cannot imagine.’</p> + +<p>It was not likely that Murasaki, who passed such biting judgments +on her companions, would herself escape criticism. In her diary she +tells us the following anecdote: ‘There is a certain lady here called +Sayemon no Naishi who has evidently taken a great dislike to me, though +I have only just become aware of it. It seems that behind my back she +is always saying the most unpleasant things. One day when some one had +been reading <cite>The Tale of Genji</cite> out loud to the Emperor, his Majesty +said: “This lady has certainly been reading the Annals of Japan. She +must be terribly learned.” Upon the strength of this casual remark +Naishi spread a report all over the Court that I prided myself on my +enormous learning, and henceforth I was known as “Dame Annals” wherever +I went.’</p> + +<p>The most interesting parts of the <cite>Diary</cite> are those in which Murasaki +describes her own feelings. The following passage refers to the winter +of 1008 A.D.: ‘I love to see the <span class="pagenum" id="Page_26" role="doc-pagebreak">26</span>snow here,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote15" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor15"><sup>15</sup></a> and was hoping from +day to day that it would begin before Her Majesty went back to Court, +when I was suddenly obliged to go home.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote16" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor16"><sup>16</sup></a> Two days after I arrived, +the snow did indeed begin to fall. But here, where everything is so +sordid, it gives me very little pleasure. As, seated once more at the +familiar window, I watch it settling on the copses in front of the +house, how vividly I recall those years<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote17" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor17"><sup>17</sup></a> of misery and perplexity! +Then I used to sit hour after hour at this same window, and each day +was like the last, save that since yesterday some flower had opened or +fallen, some fresh song-bird arrived or flown away. So I watched the +springs and autumns in their procession, saw the skies change, the moon +rise; saw those same branches white with frost or laden with snow. And +all the while I was asking myself over and over again: “What has the +future in store for me? How will this end?” However, sometimes I used +to read, for in those days I got a certain amount of pleasure out of +quite ordinary romances; I had one or two intimate friends with whom I +used to correspond, and there were several other people, not much more +than acquaintances, with whom I kept up a casual intercourse. So that, +looking back on it now, it seems to me that, one way and another, I had +a good many minor distractions.</p> + +<p>‘Even then I realized that my branch of the family was a very humble +one; but the thought seldom troubled me, and I was in those days far +indeed from the painful consciousness of inferiority which makes life +at Court a continual torment to me.</p> + +<p>‘To-day I picked up a romance which I used to think quite entertaining, +and found to my astonishment that it no longer amused me at all. And +it is the same with my <span class="pagenum" id="Page_27" role="doc-pagebreak">27</span>friends. I have a feeling that those with +whom I used to be most intimate would now consider me worldly and +flippant, and I have not even told them that I am here. Others, on +whose discretion I completely relied, I now have reason to suspect of +showing my letters to all and sundry. If they think that I write to +them with that intention they cannot know very much of my character! It +is surely natural under such circumstances that a correspondence should +either cease altogether or become formal and infrequent. Moreover, I +now come here so seldom that in many cases it seems hardly worth while +to renew former friendships, and many of those who wanted to call I +have put off with excuses.... The truth is I now find that I have not +the slightest pleasure in the society of any but a few indispensable +friends. They must be people who really interest me, with whom I can +talk seriously on serious subjects, and with whom I am brought into +contact without effort on my side in the natural course of everyday +existence. I am afraid this sounds very exacting! But stay, there is +Lady Dainagon. She and I used to sleep very close together every night +at the Palace and talk for hours. I see her now as she used to look +during those conversations, and very much wish that she were here. So I +have a little human feeling, after all!’</p> + +<p>A little later in the same winter Murasaki sees the Gosechi dancers<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote18" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor18"><sup>18</sup></a> +at the Palace, and wonders how they have reached their present pitch +of forwardness and self-possession: ‘Seeing several officers of the +Sixth Rank coming towards them to take away their fans, the dancers +threw the fans across to them in a manner which was adroit enough, but +which somehow made it difficult to remember that they were women at +all. If I were suddenly called upon to expose myself in that fashion I +should completely lose my <span class="pagenum" id="Page_28" role="doc-pagebreak">28</span>head. But already I do a hundred things +which a few years ago I should never have dreamed myself capable of +doing. So strange indeed are the hidden processes which go on in the +heart of man that I shall no doubt continue to part with one scruple +after another till in the end what now appears to me as the most +abandoned shamelessness will seem perfectly proper and natural. Thus +I reflected upon the unreality of all our attitudes and opinions, and +began sketching out to myself the probable course of my development. +So extraordinary were the situations in which I pictured myself that I +became quite confused, and saw very little of the show.’</p> + +<p>The most direct discussion of her own character comes in a passage +towards the end of the diary: ‘That I am very vain, reserved, +unsociable, wanting always to keep people at a distance—that I am +wrapped up in the study of ancient stories, conceited, living all the +time in a poetical world of my own and scarcely realizing the existence +of other people, save occasionally to make spiteful and depreciatory +comments upon them—such is the opinion of me that most strangers hold, +and they are prepared to dislike me accordingly. But when they get +to know me, they find to their extreme surprise that I am kind and +gentle—in fact, quite a different person from the monster they had +imagined; as indeed many have afterwards confessed. Nevertheless, I +know that I have been definitely set down at Court as an ill-natured +censorious prig. Not that I mind very much, for I am used to it and see +that it is due to things in my nature which I cannot possibly change. +The Empress has often told me that, though I seemed always bent upon +not giving myself away in the royal presence, yet she felt after a time +as if she knew me more intimately than any of the rest.’</p> + +<p>The <cite>Diary</cite> closes in 1010. After this we do not know one <span class="pagenum" id="Page_29" role="doc-pagebreak">29</span>solitary +fact concerning Murasaki’s life or death; save that in 1025 she was +still in Akiko’s service and in that year took part in the ceremonies +connected with the birth of the future Emperor Go-Ryōzen.</p> + +<h3 class="smcap">The Composition of Genji</h3> + +<p>It is generally assumed that the book was written during the three or +at the most four years which elapsed between the death of Murasaki’s +husband and her arrival at Court. Others suggest that it was begun +then, and finished some time before the winter of 1008. This assumption +is based on the three references to <cite>The Tale of Genji</cite> which occur in +the <cite>Diary</cite>. But none of these allusions seem to me to imply that the +<cite>Tale</cite> was already complete. From the first reference it is evident +that the book was already so far advanced as to show that Murasaki was +its heroine; the part of the <cite>Tale</cite> which was read to the Emperor<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote19" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor19"><sup>19</sup></a> +was obviously the first chapter, which ends with a formula derived +directly from the early annals: ‘Some say that it was the Korean +fortune-teller who gave him the name of Genji the Shining One.’ Such +‘alternative explanations’ are a feature of early annals in most +countries and occur frequently in those of Japan. Lastly, Michinaga’s +joke about the discrepancy between the prudishness of Murasaki’s +conduct and the erotic character of her book implies no more than that +half-a-dozen chapters were in existence. It may be thought odd that +she should have shown it to any one before it was finished. But the +alternative is to believe that it was completed in seven years, half of +which were spent at Court under circumstances which could have given +her very little leisure. It is much more probable, I think, that <cite>The +Tale of Genji</cite>, having been begun in 1001, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_30" role="doc-pagebreak">30</span>was carried on slowly +after Murasaki’s arrival at Court, during her holidays and in spare +time at the Palace, and not completed till, say, 1015 or even 1020. +The middle and latter parts certainly give the impression of having +been written by some one of comparatively mature age. In 1022 the book +was undoubtedly complete, for the <cite>Sarashina Diary</cite> refers to the +‘fifty-odd chapters of <cite>The Tale of Genji</cite>.’ In 1031 Murasaki’s name +is absent from a list where one might expect to find it, and it is +possible that she was then no longer alive.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote20" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor20"><sup>20</sup></a></p> + +<p>The Empress Akiko lived on till 1074, reaching an even riper age than +Queen Victoria, whom in certain ways she so much resembled.</p> +</section> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_31" role="doc-pagebreak">31</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="notes-hd">NOTES</h2> +</div> + +<h3 class="smcap">On Genji’s Household.</h3> + +<p>Polygamy in Japan as elsewhere was confined to the upper classes, who +alone were able to support the expense of so costly an institution. +The actual wife (<dfn>kita no kata</dfn>, ‘north side’) of a man in Genji’s +position had to be of the same social class as the husband, a condition +fulfilled by Aoi, but not by Murasaki, who was never strictly speaking +a <i>kita no kata</i>, but merely a <dfn>tai no uye</dfn> (‘lady of the wing’). It +will be remembered that Murasaki’s mother was not of noble birth. +Falling Flowers, Akashi and the rest were theoretically on the same +footing as Murasaki. The number of ladies in an establishment was +limited not by law or religion, but by expense and above all (in a +case such as that of Genji) by the difficulty of dealing with the +emotional situation that arose from large households. Did polygamy +create different emotional situations from those to which we are +accustomed—if, for example, it were so much taken for granted that +jealousy ceased to exist—a novel dealing with a polygamous society +would make very little appeal to us. It is because in <cite>Genji</cite> the +re-actions of the characters are precisely the same as ours would be +under similar circumstances, that the book holds our attention.</p> + +<p>Another point concerning Genji’s household that perhaps requires +comment is the apparent ability of persons to live years in the same +house without ever having met. But such a thing happens frequently at +English University Colleges, and we must envisage Genji’s palace as +more like a college than a house,—consisting, in fact, of separate +courtyards and cloisters, joined by covered galleries. Hence <span class="pagenum" id="Page_32" role="doc-pagebreak">32</span>it +comes about that, in the story, Genji’s various favourites tend to be +isolated from one another in a way which is not always advantageous +to the construction of the book. Later on the authoress realizes the +danger of the tale falling into a series of disconnected episodes, in +which the personality of Genji is the only common factor—and takes +pains to bring her heroines into relation with one another.</p> + +<h3 class="smcap">On the Time-scheme in Genji.</h3> + +<p>A pamphleteer has recently shown how complete and elaborate is the +time-scheme that underlies Emily Bronte’s <cite>Wuthering Heights</cite>. It is +obvious that <cite>Genji</cite> is based upon an equally precise scheme. Here is +no ‘Oriental vagueness’; indeed it is inconceivable that Murasaki had +not prepared for herself some species of chronological chart, which +she kept constantly by her when at work. If it has appeared to any +reader that her sense of time is vague, the fault is entirely mine. In +one case, indeed, I am conscious of having created this impression by +translating inappropriately a phrase about the young Emperor Ryōzen, +whereby I make him seem much older than the chronology warrants. But +there is never a moment in the story at which the authoress has not got +a precise idea about the age of every character in it.</p> + +<div class="footnote" role="doc-endnotes"> + +<ul class="footnote_items"> + +<li id="Footnote1"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor1" class="fnanchor">1</a> <cite>Diary</cite>, Hakubunkwan text, p. 51.</li> + +<li id="Footnote2"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor2" class="fnanchor">2</a> Died young, perhaps about 1012, while serving on his father’s staff +in Echigo.</li> + +<li id="Footnote3"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor3" class="fnanchor">3</a> <cite>Diary</cite>, p. 51.</li> + +<li id="Footnote4"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor4" class="fnanchor">4</a> 963–1035. Vestal at Kamo during five successive reigns. One of the +most important figures of her day; known to history as the Great Vestal.</li> + +<li id="Footnote5"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor5" class="fnanchor">5</a> The third and fourth body of Po Chü-i’s poetical works, including +<cite>Magic</cite>, <cite>The Old Man with the Broken Arm</cite>, <cite>The Prisoner</cite>, <cite>The Two +Red Towers</cite>, and <cite>The Dragon of the Pool</cite>, all of which are translated +in my ‘<cite class="normal">170 Chinese Poems</cite>.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote6"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor6" class="fnanchor">6</a> Michinaga.</li> + +<li id="Footnote7"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor7" class="fnanchor">7</a> ‘You have neither read my book nor won my love.’ Both poems contain +a number of double-meanings which it would be tedious to unravel.</li> + +<li id="Footnote8"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor8" class="fnanchor">8</a> <dfn>Kui-na</dfn> means ‘water-rail’ and ‘regret not.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote9"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor9" class="fnanchor">9</a> The parent of the Empress.</li> + +<li id="Footnote10"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor10" class="fnanchor">10</a> Lady-in-waiting to the Empress Sadako, Akiko’s predecessor.</li> + +<li id="Footnote11"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor11" class="fnanchor">11</a> He was now 64.</li> + +<li id="Footnote12"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor12" class="fnanchor">12</a> Fujiwara no Kintō (966–1041), famous poet; cousin of Michinaga.</li> + +<li id="Footnote13"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor13" class="fnanchor">13</a> See p. <a href="#Page_22">22</a>. Shōnagon was about ten years senior to Murasaki. She +was lady-in-waiting first to the Empress Sadako (died, 1000 A.D.); then +to Sadako’s sister Princess Shigesa (died, 1002 A.D.); finally to the +Empress Akiko.</li> + +<li id="Footnote14"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor14" class="fnanchor">14</a> Murasaki suggests that Shōnagon will lose Akiko’s confidence and +be dismissed. There is indeed a tradition (<cite>Kojidan</cite>, vol. ii) that +when some courtiers were out walking one day they passed a dilapidated +hovel. One of them mentioned a rumour that Sei Shōnagon, a wit and +beauty of the last reign, was now living in this place. Whereupon an +incredibly lean hag shot her head out at the door, crying ‘Won’t you +buy old bones, old rags and bones?’ and immediately disappeared again.</li> + +<li id="Footnote15"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor15" class="fnanchor">15</a> At the Prime Minister’s.</li> + +<li id="Footnote16"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor16" class="fnanchor">16</a> Her parents’ house.</li> + +<li id="Footnote17"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor17" class="fnanchor">17</a> After the death of her husband.</li> + +<li id="Footnote18"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor18" class="fnanchor">18</a> See below, p. <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li> + +<li id="Footnote19"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor19" class="fnanchor">19</a> For the Emperor’s remark, see above, p. <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li> + +<li id="Footnote20"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor20" class="fnanchor">20</a> Murasaki was outlived by her father, so that it is improbable that +she reached any great age.</li> +</ul> +</div> + +</section> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_33" role="doc-pagebreak">33</div> +<p class="center larger150">A WREATH OF CLOUD</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_35" role="doc-pagebreak">35</div> +<p class="center larger175">A WREATH OF CLOUD</p> +<section role="doc-chapter" aria-labelledby="c01-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c01-hd">CHAPTER I<br>A WREATH OF CLOUD</h2> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">As winter drew on, the Lady of Akashi in her house by the Ōi river +became very dispirited. Formerly the prospect of a visit from Genji +was sufficient to rouse her from her melancholy; but now he found her +always in the same dejected posture morning, noon and night: ‘How much +longer is this to go on?’ he cried impatiently. ‘Do, I beg of you, +make up your mind to come to my palace and use the quarters I have +reserved for you.’ But he could never persuade her that she would not +be thus exposing herself to a hundred indignities and affronts. It +was of course impossible to be quite sure how things would go, and +if, after all his assurances, the move did not turn out well, her +vague resentment against him would henceforth be transformed into a +definite and justified grievance. ‘Do you not feel,’ he said, ‘that it +would be unfair to your child to keep it here with you much longer? +Indeed, knowing as you do what plans<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote21" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor21"><sup>21</sup></a> I have made for its future, +you must surely see that you are behaving towards it with a lack of +proper respect.... I have constantly discussed this matter with my +wife and she has always shown great interest in the child’s future. +If it is <span class="pagenum" id="Page_36" role="doc-pagebreak">36</span>put for a while under her care, she will no doubt be +willing to stand sponsor to it; so that it will be possible to carry +out the Initiation ceremony and other rituals of induction<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote22" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor22"><sup>22</sup></a> with +full publicity.’ So far from being convinced by his arguments, she saw +herself now being inveigled into doing precisely what she had always +suspected with horror that he would one day ask of her. ‘Take the +child away from me if you like,’ she said at last, ‘and give her to +these grand people to bring up as though she were their own. But just +when you think you have repaired the accident of her birth, some one +will let out the secret, and where will you be then?’ ‘Yes, we must be +careful about that,’ answered Genji. ‘But you need have no fear that +the child will not be properly looked after. As you know, though we +have been married for many years, Lady Murasaki has no children of her +own, and this very much distresses her. She badly needs companionship, +and when at one time there was some question of her adopting Lady +Akikonomu, the former Vestal Virgin, she was obviously delighted at +the prospect, though this lady was already a grown-up person. But +when it comes to a child,—at an age, too, when such creatures have an +irresistible charm—it is quite certain that she will welcome it with +alacrity and henceforward devote all her time to its care. Of that +there is no doubt at all ...’ and he proceeded to a general eulogy +upon Murasaki’s docility and charm. But while he was speaking the Lady +of Akashi recalled the stories of Genji’s adventurous past, and of +numerous other attachments with which rumour credited him. It seemed +on the one hand very unlikely that Lady Murasaki would not ultimately +suffer the fate of her predecessors, and why should her child be +entrusted to a favourite who might soon be forgotten or thrust aside? +If on the other hand Murasaki were indeed endowed with such pre-eminent +qualities that she alone of all her rivals and predecessors was +destined to enjoy permanent favour, then as long as mother and child +remained in their present obscurity there was little danger that this +magnificent lady would regard them as worth a moment’s thought. But +as soon as one or both should make an appearance in the Nijō palace, +Murasaki’s pride would be affronted and her jealousy aroused.... Her +mother, however, was a woman who looked beyond the difficulties of +the moment, and she now said with some severity: ‘You are behaving +very foolishly. It is natural enough that you should dislike parting +with the child; but you must make up your mind to do what will be best +for it. I feel certain that His Highness is perfectly serious in his +intentions concerning its future, and I advise you to entrust it to him +at once. You need have no misgivings. After all, even Royal Princes are +of very varying stock on the mother’s side. I seem to remember that +Prince Genji himself, who is reckoned the greatest gentleman in the +land, could not be put forward as a successor to the Throne because +his mother was so far inferior to the other ladies of the Court; and +indeed, judged from that point of view, he is a mere waiting-woman’s +son. If such disadvantages are not fatal even in the most exalted +spheres, we lesser folk certainly need not trouble ourselves about +them....’ The Lady of Akashi took the advice of several other persons +who had a reputation for sagacity in such matters, and also consulted +various soothsayers and astrologers. In every case the answer was the +same: the child must go to the Capital. In face of such unanimity she +began to waver. Genji, for his part, was still as anxious as ever +that his plan should be carried out. But the subject was evidently +so painful to her that he no longer attempted to broach it, and in +the course of his next letter merely asked what <span class="pagenum" id="Page_38" role="doc-pagebreak">38</span>were her wishes +concerning the Initiation ceremony. She answered: ‘I see now that, +being what I am, I cannot keep the child with me without injuring its +prospects. I am ready to part with it; but I still fear that amid +such surroundings....’ He was very sorry for her; but all the same he +ordered his clerks to search the calendar for a suitable day, and began +secretly to make preparations for the child’s arrival.</p> + +<p>To hand over her own child to another woman’s keeping was indeed a +bitter trial; but she kept on repeating to herself that, for its own +sake, this sacrifice must sooner or later be made. The nurse whom Genji +had originally sent to Akashi would of course go to take charge of it +at the palace, and the prospect of losing this lady, to whom she had +long confided all her sorrows, finding in her society the one solace +of her monotonous and unhappy existence, added greatly to her present +distress. ‘Madam,’ the nurse would say to her, ‘I shall never forget +your kindness to me ever since the day when, so unexpectedly, yet as +I think not without the intervention of some kind fate, it fell to my +lot to serve you. You may be sure that I shall all the while be longing +to have you with me. But I shall never regard our separation as more +than an expedient of the moment. In the end I am convinced that all +will come right. Meanwhile, do not think that I look forward with any +pleasant anticipations to a life that will take me so far from your +side.’ She wept; and thus day after day was spent in sad forebodings +and preparations till the twelfth month was already come.</p> + +<p>Storms of snow and hail now made the situation at Ōi more than ever +depressing and uncomfortable. It appalled the Lady of Akashi to +discover what manifold varieties of suffering one can be called upon +to endure at one and the same time. She now spent every moment of the +day in <span class="pagenum" id="Page_39" role="doc-pagebreak">39</span>tending and caressing her little girl. One morning when the +fast-falling snow was piling up high on every side she sat with the +child in her arms, again and again going back in her mind over all the +miseries of the past, and picturing to herself the yet more desolate +days that were to come. It was long since she had gone into the front +of the house. But this morning there was ice on the moat, and she +went to the window to look. She was clad in many wraps of some soft, +white, fluttering stuff, and as she stood gazing before her with hands +clasped behind her head, those within the room thought that, prince’s +daughter though her rival was, she could scarce be more lovely in poise +and gesture than their lady in her snowy dress. Raising her sleeve to +catch the tears that had now begun to fall the Lady of Akashi turned to +the nurse and said: ‘If it were upon a day such as this,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote23" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor23"><sup>23</sup></a> I do not +think that I could bear it....’ And she recited the poem: ‘If country +roads be deep in snow, and clouds return, tread thou the written path, +and though thyself thou comest not, vouchsafe a sign.’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote24" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor24"><sup>24</sup></a> To comfort +her the nurse answered through her tears: ‘Though the snow-drifts of +Yoshino were heaped across his path, doubt not that whither his heart +is set, his footsteps shall tread out their way.’ The snow was now +falling a little less fast. Suddenly Genji appeared at the door. The +moments during which she waited to receive him put her always into a +state of painful agitation. To-day guessing as she did the purpose +of his visit, his arrival threw her immediately into an agonizing +conflict. Why had she consented? There was still time. If she refused +to part with the child, would he snatch it from her? No, indeed; that +was unthinkable. But stay! She had consented; <span class="pagenum" id="Page_40" role="doc-pagebreak">40</span>and should she now +change her mind, she would lose his confidence forever. At one moment +she was ready to obey; a moment afterwards, she had decided to resist +by every means in her power.</p> + +<p>She sat by the window, holding the little girl in her arms. He thought +the child very beautiful, and felt at once that her birth was one of +the most important things that had happened in his life. Since last +spring her hair had been allowed to grow<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote25" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor25"><sup>25</sup></a> and it was now an inch +or two long, falling in delicate waves about her ears like that of a +little novice at a convent. Her skin too was of exquisite whiteness +and purity, and she had the most delightful eyes. To part with such +a creature, to send her away into strange hands,—he understood well +enough what this must mean, and suddenly it seemed to him that it was +impossible even to suggest such a sacrifice. The whole matter was +re-opened, and a discussion followed which lasted the better part of +the day. ‘Whether it is worth while depends on you,’ she said at last. +‘It is in your power to make amends to the child for the disadvantages +of its birth. And if I thought that you meant to do so ...’ she was +worn out by the long discussion, and now burst into tears. It was +terrible to witness such distress. But the child, heedless of what was +going on about it, was lustily demanding ‘a ride in the nice carriage.’ +The mother picked it up and carried it in her own arms to the end of +the drive. When she had set it down, it caught at her sleeve and in +the prettiest, baby voice imaginable begged her to ‘come for a ride +too.’ There framed themselves in the lady’s heart the lines: ‘Were +all my prayers in vain, or shall I live to see the two-leaved pine +from which to-day I part spread mighty shadows on the earth?’; but she +could scarce speak the words, and seeing her now weeping wildly Genji +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41" role="doc-pagebreak">41</span>strove to comfort her with the verse: ‘Like the little pine-tree +that at Takekuma from the big one grows, grafted to my deep roots long +shall this stripling thrive secure.’ ‘Wait patiently,’ he added. She +strove hard to persuade herself that he was right, that all was for the +best. But now the carriages were moving away....</p> + +<p>With the child rode the nurse and also a gentlewoman of good family +called Shōshō, holding on their knees the Sword, the Heavenly +Children<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote26" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor26"><sup>26</sup></a> and other emblems of royalty. In the next carriage +followed a band of youths and little girls whom he had brought to form +the child’s escort on the homeward way. All the time they were driving +to the Capital Genji was haunted by the image of the sorrow-stricken +figure that had watched their departure. Small blame to her if at the +moment she was feeling bitterly towards him!</p> + +<p>It was quite dark when they arrived. So soon as the carriages had +been drawn in, Shōshō and the nurse began looking about them at +the splendours amid which they were now destined to reside. They +felt indeed (coming as they did from rural and quite unpretentious +surroundings) somewhat awestruck and ill at ease. But when they were +shown the apartments which had been set aside for the new arrival, +with a tiny bed, screens-of-state, and everything which a little lady +could require, all beautifully set out and arranged, they began to take +heart. The nurse’s own room was in the corridor leading to the western +wing, on the north side of the passage.</p> + +<p>The child had fallen asleep during the journey and while she was +carried into the house had not cried or seemed at all put out. She was +taken straight to Murasaki’s room <span class="pagenum" id="Page_42" role="doc-pagebreak">42</span>and there given her supper. After +a while she began to look round her.</p> + +<p>She evidently wondered why her mother was nowhere to be seen, and after +a further search her little lips began to tremble. The nurse was sent +for and soon succeeded in distracting her attention. If only, thought +Genji, who had witnessed this scene—if only the mother in that slow +country home could be as easily comforted! But now there was no way to +make amends to her, save to see to it that never in one jot should the +child’s care and upbringing fall short of what its mother might in her +wildest dream have craved for it. For the moment indeed he accounted +it a blessing that Murasaki had not borne him a child of her own, and +was thus free to devote herself to the reparation of the wrong which +he had inflicted upon this little newcomer by the circumstances of its +birth. For some days the child continued occasionally to ask for its +mother or some other person whom it had been used to see daily at Ōi, +and when they could not be produced it would have a fit of screaming +or of tears. But it was by nature a contented, happy little thing, and +soon struck up a friendship with its new mother, who for her part was +delighted to take charge of a creature so graceful and confiding. She +insisted on carrying it about in her own arms, attended herself to all +its wants and joined in all its games. Gradually the nurse became a +personal attendant upon Lady Murasaki rather than the under-servant +she had been before. Meanwhile a lady of irreproachable birth happened +to become available as a wet-nurse and was accordingly added to the +establishment. The ceremony of her Initiation did not involve any +very elaborate preparations, but the child’s little companions were +naturally aware that something was afoot. Her outfit, so tiny that +it looked as though it came out of a doll’s-house, was a charming +sight. So many people came <span class="pagenum" id="Page_43" role="doc-pagebreak">43</span>in and out of the house all day even at +ordinary times that they hardly noticed the guests who had assembled in +their little mistress’s honour. It was only when she raised her arms +for the Binding of the Sleeves that the unwonted gesture caught their +attention; they had never seen her in so pretty a pose before.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the mother at Ōi was all the more wretched because she +now felt that her misery was self-inflicted. Had she been firm, the +child might still be with her and life in some measure endurable. She +could not believe that so extreme a course could really have been +indispensable to its interests and bitterly repented of her docility. +Even the grandmother, who had been foremost in urging the sacrifice, +missed the baby sadly and went about the house with tears in her eyes. +But news had reached them of the pains which Genji was bestowing upon +its upbringing, and she felt no doubt that she had advised for the best.</p> + +<p>A peculiar compunction prevented the Lady of Akashi from sending +any gift or message to the child which was no longer hers, but she +took immense pains in contriving presents for all its companions and +attendants from the nurse downwards, and would spend hours in the +matching of colours and the choosing of stuffs.</p> + +<p>Genji did not at all want her to think that, now she had parted with +the child, his visits were going to become any the less frequent, and +though it was very difficult to arrange, he made a point of going out +to Ōi before the turn of the year. It must at the best of times, he +thought, be an uninteresting place to live in; but at any rate she had +had the child to look after, and (what with getting it up and putting +it to bed) that seemed to occupy a good deal of time. How she managed +to get through the day now he could not imagine, and coming away from +this visit with a heavy heart he henceforward wrote to her almost +daily. Fortunately <span class="pagenum" id="Page_44" role="doc-pagebreak">44</span>Murasaki no longer showed any jealousy on this +score, feeling, as it seemed, that the surrender of so exquisite a +child needed whatever recompense Genji found it in his heart to bestow.</p> + +<p>The New Year<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote27" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor27"><sup>27</sup></a> was ushered in by a spell of bright, clear weather. At +the Nijō-in everything seemed to be going particularly well and, now +that all the improvements were completed, an unusually large number of +guests was entertained during the period of festivities. The older, +married visitors came, as is customary, on the seventh day, bringing +with them their children to assist in the ceremonies of congratulation; +and these young visitors all seemed to be in excellent health and +spirits. Even the lesser gentlemen and retainers who came to pay their +respects, though no doubt many of them had worries and troubles enough +of their own, managed to keep up, during these few days at any rate, an +outward appearance of jollity.</p> + +<p>The lady from the Village of Falling Flowers, who was now installed +in the new eastern wing, seemed completely satisfied by her new +surroundings. She had her work cut out for her in keeping up to the +mark all the writing-women and young girls whom Genji had allotted to +her service. Nor could she feel that she had gained nothing by her +present proximity; for whenever he had a few moments to spare, he would +come round and sit with her. He did not however visit her by previous +appointment or stay at all late at night in her apartments. Happily she +was by nature extremely unexacting. If what she wanted did not come her +way, she at once assumed that this particular thing was not ‘in her +destiny,’ and ceased to worry about it. This habit of mind made her +quite unusually easy to handle, and he for his part lost no opportunity +of publicly showing by his manner towards her that he regarded her as +of scarcely less <span class="pagenum" id="Page_45" role="doc-pagebreak">45</span>consequence than Murasaki; with the result that +those who came to the house felt they would be displeasing him if +they did not pay their respects to her as well as to his wife; while +stewards and servants saw that she was a person whom it would not +be advisable to neglect. Thus everything seemed to be working very +smoothly, and Genji felt that the arrangement was going to be a great +success.</p> + +<p>He thought constantly of the country house at Ōi and of the dull +hours which the Lady of Akashi must be passing there at this season +of festivity. So soon as the New Year celebrations both at his own +house and in the Palace were drawing to a close, he determined to pay +her another visit, and with this object in view he put on his finest +clothes, wearing under his cherry-coloured cloak a matchless vesture +of deep saffron hue, steeped in the perfumes of the scented box where +it had lain. Thus clad he went to take his leave of Murasaki, and as +he stood in the full rays of the setting sun, his appearance was so +magnificent that she gazed at him with even greater admiration than +was her wont. The little princess grabbed at the ends of his long +wide trousers with her baby hands, as though she did not want him to +go. When he reached the door of the women’s apartments she was still +clinging to him and he was obliged to halt for a moment in order to +disentangle himself. Having at last coaxed her into releasing him, +he hurried down the corridor humming to himself as he did so the +peasant-song ‘To-morrow I will come again.’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote28" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor28"><sup>28</sup></a> At the door he met +one of Murasaki’s ladies and by her he sent back just that message, +‘To-morrow I will come again.’ She instantly recognized whence the +words came and answered with the poem: <span class="pagenum" id="Page_46" role="doc-pagebreak">46</span>‘Were there on the far +shore no person to detain your boat, then might I indeed believe that +to-morrow you will come again.’ This was brought to him before he drove +away, and smiling at her readiness of wit he answered: ‘In truth I +will but look to my business and come back again; come back to-morrow, +though she across the waters chide me as she will.’ The little girl did +not of course understand a word of all this; but she saw that there +was a joke, and was cutting the strangest capers. As usual the sight +of her antics disarmed all Murasaki’s resentment, and though she would +much rather there had been no ‘lady on the far shore,’ she no longer +felt any hostility towards her. Through what misery the mother must +be passing, Murasaki was now in a position to judge for herself. She +continually imagined what her own feelings would be if the child were +taken from her, never for an instant let it go out of her sight, and +again and again pressed it to her bosom, putting her lovely teats to +its mouth, and caressing it for hours together.</p> + +<p>‘What a pity that she has never had one of her own!’ her ladies +whispered; ‘To be sure if this were hers, she could not wish it +different....’</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Lady of Akashi was setting herself to face with resolute +calm the dullness and monotony of country life. The house had a curious +charm of its own, which appealed very much to Genji during his visits, +and as for its occupant,—he was astonished at the continual improvement +in her looks. Indeed, had not that queer father of hers taken such +extraordinary pains to prevent her ever mixing with the world, he +believed there was no reason why she should not have done extremely +well for herself. Yes, all she had needed was an ordinary father; +even a rather shabby one would not have mattered. For such beauty and +intelligence as hers, if once given the chance, could not have failed +to pull her through. Each visit left him restless and <span class="pagenum" id="Page_47" role="doc-pagebreak">47</span>unsatisfied, +and he found himself spending his time in continual goings and comings, +his life ‘a tremulous causeway linking dream to dream.’</p> + +<p>Sometimes he would send for a zithern and remembering the exquisite +music with which she had beguiled those nights at Akashi, he begged +her to play to him upon her lute. She would not now play alone; but +she sometimes consented to accompany him, doing so with a mastery he +could not imagine how she had contrived to acquire. The rest of the +time was generally spent in minute recital of the little princess’s +sayings and doings. Often he had come over on business connected with +his new oratory at Saga or his estate at Katsura; and then there would +perhaps be only time enough to eat a little fruit and dried rice with +her at Ōi before he hurried back to town. On such occasions there was +not time for intimacies of any kind; but the mere fact that he snatched +at every chance of seeing her and that he did so without any attempt +at concealment, marked her as one who held a not inconsiderable place +in his affections. She was quite aware of this; but she never presumed +upon it, and without any tiresome display of humility she obeyed his +orders and in general gave him as little trouble as possible. By all +that she could hear, there was not one of the great ladies at Court +with whom he was on so intimate a footing as with herself; indeed, he +was said to be somewhat stand-offish and difficult of approach. Were +she to live closer at hand he would perhaps grow weary of her, and in +any case there would certainly be unpleasant rivalries and jealousies. +Thus or in some such way may we suppose the Lady of Akashi to have +reconciled herself to these brief and accidental visits. Her father, +despite his disavowal of all worldly interests, was extremely anxious +to hear how Genji was behaving towards his daughter and constantly sent +messengers to Ōi to pick up <span class="pagenum" id="Page_48" role="doc-pagebreak">48</span>what news they could. Much of what he +heard distressed and disappointed him; but frequently too there were +signs and indications of a more encouraging kind, and he would grow +quite elated.</p> + +<p>About this time Lady Aoi’s father died. His name had carried great +weight in the country and his death was a heavy loss to the present +government. It so happened that the period during which he took part +in public life had been marked by much disorder and unrest. A renewal +of these upheavals was now expected and general depression prevailed. +Genji too was much distressed, both for personal reasons and because +he had been in the habit of delegating to the old Minister most of +the public business which fell to his lot. He had thus managed to +secure a reasonable amount of leisure. He saw himself henceforward +perpetually immersed in a multiplicity of tiresome affairs, and the +prospect greatly depressed him. The Emperor, though still only twelve +years old, was extremely forward for his age both in body and mind, and +although it was not to be expected that he should act alone, the task +of supervising his work was not a difficult one. But for some years +such supervision would still be needed, and unfortunately there was no +one else to whom Genji could possibly entrust such a task. Thus the +prospect of being able to lead the retired life which alone appealed to +him was still remote, and he frequently became very discontented.</p> + +<p>For some while he was occupied with the celebration of rituals and +services on behalf of the dead man’s soul; these he carried out even +more elaborately than did the sons and grandsons of the deceased. This +year, as had been predicted, was marked by a number of disorders and +calamities. The Palace was frequently visited by the most disagreeable +and alarming apparitions, the motions of the planets, sun and moon were +irregular and unaccountable, and clouds <span class="pagenum" id="Page_49" role="doc-pagebreak">49</span>of baleful and significant +shape were repeatedly observed. Learned men of every school sent in +elaborate addresses to the Throne, in which they attempted to account +for these strange manifestations. But they were obliged to confess that +many of the reported happenings were unique, and of a very baffling +character. While speculation thus reigned on every side, Genji held +in his heart a guilty secret<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote29" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor29"><sup>29</sup></a> which might well be the key to these +distressing portents.</p> + +<p>Lady Fujitsubo had fallen ill at the beginning of the year and since +the third month her malady had taken a serious turn. The August visit +of the Emperor to her bedside and other unusual ceremonies had already +taken place. He was a mere child when she relinquished the care of him, +and he had grown up without any very strong feelings towards her. But +he now looked so solemn as he stood by the bedside that she herself +began to feel quite sad. ‘I have for some while felt certain,’ she said +to him calmly, ‘that this would be the last year of my life. But as +long as my illness did not prevent me from going about as usual, I gave +no hint to those around me that I knew my end was near; for I dreaded +the fuss and outcry that such a confession would have produced. Nor +did I alter in any way my daily prayers and observances. I longed to +visit you at the Palace and talk with you quietly about old days. But I +seldom felt equal to so great an exertion.... And now it is too late.’</p> + +<p>She spoke in a very low, feeble voice. She was thirty-seven years +old, but seemed much younger. The Emperor, as he looked at her, was +overwhelmed by pity and regret. That just as she was reaching an age +when she would need <span class="pagenum" id="Page_50" role="doc-pagebreak">50</span>his care, she should, unknown to him, have +passed through months of continual suffering, without once having +recourse to those sacred expedients which alone might have saved +her—this thought made the most painful impression upon him; and now, +in a last attempt to rescue her from death, he set in motion every +conceivable sort of ritual and spell. Genji too was dismayed at the +discovery that for months past she had been worn out by constant pain, +and now sought desperately to find some remedy for her condition. But +it was apparent that the end was at hand; the Emperor’s visits became +more and more frequent and many affecting scenes were witnessed. +Fujitsubo was in great pain and seldom attempted to speak at any +length. But lying there and looking back over the whole course of her +career, she thought that while in the outward circumstances of life few +women could have been more fortunate than herself, inwardly scarce one +in all history had been more continually apprehensive and wretched. The +young Emperor was of course still wholly ignorant of the secret of his +birth. In not acquainting him with it she felt that she had failed in +the discharge of an essential duty, and the one matter after her death +in which she felt any interest was the repair of this omission.</p> + +<p>Merely in his position as head of the government it was natural that +Genji should be gravely concerned by the approaching loss to his +faction of so distinguished a supporter, coming, as it seemed likely +to, not many months after the death of the old Grand Minister. This +public concern could indeed be openly displayed. But concealed from all +those about him there was in his inmost heart a measureless sorrow, to +which he dared give vent only in perpetual supplication and prayer. +That it was no longer possible to renew even such casual and colourless +intercourse as had been theirs in recent years was very painful to him. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51" role="doc-pagebreak">51</span>He hurried to her bedside at the first news of the serious turn +which her condition had taken.</p> + +<p>To his surprise she did, in a faint and halting manner, contrive to +speak a few words to him when she realized that he was near. First +she thanked him for carrying out so scrupulously the late Emperor’s +wishes with regard to the surveillance of his present Majesty. Much +had happened in the last years for which she had cause to be grateful +to him, and she had often meant to tell him how sensible she was of +his kindness. And there was another matter of which she had meant +for some time to speak ... to the Emperor himself. She was sorry she +had never.... Here her voice became inaudible, and tears for a while +prevented him from making a reply. He feared that this display of +emotion would arouse comment among those who were standing by; but +indeed any one who had known her as she used to be might well have been +overcome with grief to see her in so woeful a condition. Suddenly he +looked up. No thought or prayer of his could now recall her; and in +unspeakable anguish, not knowing whether she heard him or no, he began +to address her: ‘In spite of the difficulties into which I myself have +sometimes fallen, I have tried to do my best for His Majesty, or at any +rate, what then seemed to me best. But since the death of the old Grand +Minister, everything has gone wrong; and with you lying ill like this +I do not know which way to turn. Were you now to die, I think I should +soon follow you....’ He paused, but there was no reply; for she had +died suddenly like a candle blown out by the wind, and he was left in +bewilderment and misery.</p> + +<p>She was, of all the great ladies about the Court at that time, the most +tender-hearted and universally considerate. Women of her class do not +as a rule expect to compass their own ends without causing considerable +inconvenience to <span class="pagenum" id="Page_52" role="doc-pagebreak">52</span>ordinary people. Fujitsubo on the contrary +invariably released even her servants and retainers from any duty which +she felt to be an undue infringement of their liberty.</p> + +<p>She was devout; but unlike many religious persons she did not display +her piety by impressive benefactions paid for out of funds which other +people had collected. Her charities (and they were considerable) +were made at the expense of her own exchequer. The ranks, titles +and benefices which were at her disposal she distributed with great +intelligence and care, and so many were her individual acts of +generosity that there was scarcely a poor ignorant mountain-priest in +all the land who had not reason to lament her loss. Seldom had the +obsequies of any public person provoked so heart-felt and universal a +sorrow. At Court no colour but black was anywhere to be seen; and the +last weeks of spring lacked all their usual brilliance and gaiety.</p> + +<p>Standing one day before the great cherry-tree which grew in front of +the Nijō-in Genji suddenly remembered that this was the season when, +under ordinary circumstances, the Flower Feast would have been held at +the Emperor’s Palace. ‘This year should’st thou have blossomed with +black flowers,’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote30" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor30"><sup>30</sup></a> he murmured and, to hide the sudden access of grief +that had overwhelmed him, rushed into his chapel and remained there +weeping bitterly till it began to grow dark. Issuing at last, he found +a flaming sun about to sink beneath the horizon. Against this vivid +glow the trees upon the hill stood out with marvellous clearness, +every branch, nay every twig distinct. But across the hill there +presently drifted a thin filament of cloud, draping the summit with a +band of grey. He was in no mood that day to notice sunsets or pretty +cloud-effects; but in this half-curtained sky there seemed to him to be +a strange significance, and <span class="pagenum" id="Page_53" role="doc-pagebreak">53</span>none being by to hear him he recited +the verse: ‘Across the sunset hill there hangs a wreath of cloud that +garbs the evening as with the dark folds of a mourner’s dress.’</p> + +<p>There was a certain priest who had for generations served as chaplain +in Lady Fujitsubo’s family. Her mother had placed extraordinary +confidence in him, and she herself had instilled the young Emperor +Ryōzen with deep veneration for this old man, who was indeed known +throughout the land for the sanctity of his life and the unfailing +efficacy of his prayers. He was now over seventy and had for some +time been living in retirement, intent upon his final devotions. But +recently the occasion of Lady Fujitsubo’s death had called him back to +the Court, and the Emperor had more than once summoned him to his side. +An urgent message, conveyed by Prince Genji, now reached him. The night +was already far advanced, and the old man at first protested that these +nocturnal errands were no longer within his capacity. But in the end +he promised, out of respect for His Majesty, to make a great effort to +appear, and at the calm of dawn, at a moment when, as it so happened, +many of the courtiers were absent and those on duty had all withdrawn +from the Presence, the old man stepped into Ryōzen’s room. After +talking for a while in his aged, croaking voice about various matters +of public interest, he said at last: ‘There is one very difficult +matter which I wish to discuss with you. I fear I may not have the +courage to embark upon it, and I am still more afraid that if I succeed +in broaching this topic I may give you great offence. But it concerns +something which it would be very wrong to conceal; a secret indeed such +as makes me fear the eye of Heaven. What use is there, now that I am +so near my end, in locking it up so tightly in my heart? I fear that +Buddha himself might cast me out should I approach him defiled by this +unholy concealment.’ He <span class="pagenum" id="Page_54" role="doc-pagebreak">54</span>began trying to tell the Emperor something; +but he seemed unable to come to the point. It was strange that there +should be any worldly matter concerning which the old priest retained +such violent emotions. Perhaps, despite his reputation, he had once +secretly pursued some hideous vendetta, had caused an innocent person +to be entrapped, done away with ... a thousand monstrous possibilities +crowded to the Emperor’s mind. ‘Reverend Father,’ he said at last, ‘you +have known me since I was a baby, and I have never once hidden anything +from you. And now I learn that there is something which you have for +a long time past been concealing from me. I confess, I am surprised.’ +‘There is nothing that I have kept from you,’ the old man cried +indignantly. ‘Have I not made you master of my most secret spells, of +the inner doctrines that Buddha forbids us to reveal? Do you think that +I, who in these holy matters reposed so great a confidence in your +Majesty, would have concealed from you any dealing of my own?</p> + +<p>‘The matter of which I speak is one that has had grave results already +and may possibly in the future entail worse consequences still. The +reputations concerned are those of your late august Mother and of some +one who now holds a prominent place in the government of our country +... it is to Prince Genji that I refer. It is for their sake, and lest +some distorted account of the affair should ultimately reach you from +other sources, that I have undertaken this painful task. I am an old +man and a priest; I therefore have little to lose and, even should this +revelation win me your displeasure, I shall never repent of having made +it; for Buddha and the Gods of Heaven showed me by unmistakable signs +that it was my duty to speak.</p> + +<p>‘You must know, then, that from the time of your Majesty’s conception +the late Empress your mother was in evident <span class="pagenum" id="Page_55" role="doc-pagebreak">55</span>distress concerning +the prospect of your birth. She told me indeed that there were reasons +which made the expected child particularly in need of my prayers; +but what these reasons were she did not say; and I, being without +experience in such matters, could form no conjecture. Soon after your +birth there followed a species of convulsion in the state; Prince Genji +was in disgrace and later in exile. Meanwhile your august Mother seemed +to grow every day more uneasy about your future, and again and again I +was asked to offer fresh prayers on your behalf. Strangest of all, so +long as Prince Genji was at the Capital he too seemed to be acquainted +with the instructions I had received; for on every occasion he at once +sent round a message bidding me add by so much to the prayers that had +been ordered and make this or that fresh expenditure on some service or +ritual....’</p> + +<p>The disclosure<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote31" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor31"><sup>31</sup></a> was astonishing, thrilling, terrifying. Indeed so +many conflicting emotions struggled for the upper hand that he was +unable to make any comment or reply. The old priest misunderstood this +silence and, grieved that he should have incurred Ryōzen’s displeasure +by a revelation which had been made in His Majesty’s own interest, he +bowed and withdrew from the Presence. The Emperor immediately ordered +him to return. ‘I am glad that you have told me of this,’ said Ryōzen. +‘Had I gone on living in ignorance of it I see that a kind of contempt +would have been attached for ever to my name; for in the end such +things are bound to be known. I am only sorry that you should have +concealed this from me for so long; and tremble to think of the things +that in my ignorance I may have said or done....<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote32" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor32"><sup>32</sup></a> Tell me, does +anyone besides yourself know of this, ... <span class="pagenum" id="Page_56" role="doc-pagebreak">56</span>any one who is likely to +have let out the secret?’ ‘Besides myself and your mother’s maid Ōmyōbu +there is no one who has an inkling of the matter,’ the priest hastened +to assure him. ‘Nevertheless the existence of such a secret causes me +grave misgivings. Upheavals of nature, earthquakes, drought and storm, +have become alarmingly frequent; and in the State, we have had constant +disorder and unrest. All these things may be due to the existence of +this secret. So long as your Majesty was a helpless infant Heaven took +pity on your innocence; but now that you are grown to your full stature +and have reached years of understanding and discretion, the Powers +Above are manifesting their displeasure; for, as you have been taught, +it frequently happens that the sins of one generation are visited upon +the next. I saw plainly that you did not know to what cause our present +troubles and disorders are due, and that is why I at last determined +to reveal a secret which I hoped need never pass my lips.’ The old man +spoke with difficulty, tears frequently interrupted his discourse, and +it was already broad daylight when he finally left the Palace.</p> + +<p>No sooner had he realized the full significance of this astonishing +revelation than a medley of conflicting thoughts began to harass +Ryōzen’s mind. First and foremost, he felt indignant on behalf of the +old Emperor, whom he had always been taught to regard as his father; +but he also felt strangely uncomfortable at the idea that Genji, who +had a much better right to the Throne than he, should have been cast +out of the Imperial family, to become a Minister, a mere servant of +the State. Viewed from whatever standpoint, the new situation was +extremely painful to him, and overcome by shock and bewilderment he +lay in his room long after the sun was high. Learning that his Majesty +had not risen, Genji assumed that he was indisposed <span class="pagenum" id="Page_57" role="doc-pagebreak">57</span>and at once +called to enquire. The Emperor was in tears, and utterly unable to +control himself even in the presence of a visitor. But this was after +all perhaps not so very surprising. The young man had only a few +weeks ago lost his mother, and it was natural that he should still +be somewhat upset. Unfortunately it was Genji’s duty that morning to +announce to his Majesty the decease of Prince Momozono.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote33" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor33"><sup>33</sup></a> It seemed +to Ryōzen as though the whole world, with all its familiar landmarks +and connections, were crumbling about him. During the first weeks of +mourning Genji spent all his time at the Palace and paid an early +visit to the Emperor every day. They had many long, uninterrupted +conversations, during the course of which Ryōzen on one occasion said: +‘I do not think that my reign is going to last much longer. Never +have I had so strong a foreboding that calamity of some stupendous +kind was at hand; and quite apart from this presentiment, the unrest +which is now troubling the whole land is already enough to keep me +in a continual state of agitation and alarm. Ever since this began +I have had great thoughts of withdrawing from the Throne; but while +my mother was alive I did not wish to distress her by doing so. Now, +however, I consider that I am free to do as I choose, and I intend +before long to seek some quieter mode of life....’ ‘I sincerely hope +you will do nothing of the kind,’ said Genji. ‘The present unrest casts +no reflection upon you or your government. Difficulties of this kind +sometimes arise during the rule of the most enlightened government, +as is proved by the history of China as well as by that of our own +country. Nor must you allow yourself to be unduly depressed by the +demise of persons such as your respected uncle, who had, after all, +reached a time of life when we <span class="pagenum" id="Page_58" role="doc-pagebreak">58</span>could not reasonably expect ...’ +Thus Genji managed, by arguments which for fear of wearying you I will +not repeat, to coax the Emperor into a slightly less desperate state of +mind. Both were dressed in the simplest style and in the same sombre +hue. For years past it had struck the Emperor, on looking at himself +in the mirror, that he was extraordinarily like Prince Genji. Since +the revelation of his true parentage, he had more frequently than ever +examined his own features. Why, of course! There was no mistaking +such a likeness! But if he was Genji’s son, Genji too must be aware +of the fact, and it was absurd that the relationship should not be +acknowledged between them. Again and again he tried to find some way of +introducing the subject. But to Genji, he supposed, the whole matter +must be a very painful one. He often felt that it was impossible to +refer to such a thing at all, and conversation after conversation went +by without any but the most general topics being discussed; though it +was noticeable that Ryōzen’s manner was even more friendly and charming +than usual. Genji who was extremely sensitive to such changes did not +fail to notice that there was something new in the young Emperor’s +attitude towards him—an air of added respect, almost of deference. +But it never occurred to him that Ryōzen could by any possibility be +in possession of the whole terrible secret. At first the Emperor had +thought of discussing the matter with the maid Ōmyōbu and asking her +for a fuller account of his birth and all that had led up to it. But +at the last moment he felt that it was better she should continue to +think herself the only inheritor of the secret, and he decided not +to discuss the matter with any one. But he longed, without actually +letting out that he knew, to get some further information from Genji +himself. Among other things he wanted to know whether what had happened +with regard to his birth <span class="pagenum" id="Page_59" role="doc-pagebreak">59</span>was wholly unexampled, or whether it was +in point of fact far more common than one would suppose. But he could +never find the right way to introduce such a subject. It was clear that +he must get his knowledge from other sources, and he threw himself +with fresh ardour into the study of history, reading every book with +the sole object of discovering other cases like his own. In China, he +soon found, irregularities of descent have not only in many cases been +successfully concealed till long afterwards, but have often been known +and tolerated from the beginning. In Japan he could discover no such +instance; but he knew that if things of this kind occurred, they would +probably not be recorded, so that their absence from native history +might only mean that in our country such matters are hushed up more +successfully than elsewhere.</p> + +<p>The more he thought about it, the more Genji regretted that Ryōzen +should have discovered (as from His Majesty’s repeated offers of +abdication he now felt certain to be the case) the real facts +concerning his birth. Fujitsubo, Genji was sure, would have given +anything rather than that the boy should know; it could not have been +by her instructions that the secret had been divulged. Who then had +betrayed him? Naturally his thoughts turned towards Ōmyōbu. She had +moved into the apartments which had been made out of the old offices of +the Lady of the Bedchamber. Here she had been given official quarters +and was to reside permanently in the Palace. Discussing the matter with +her one day, Genji said: ‘Are you sure that you yourself, in the course +of some conversation with his Majesty, may not by accident have put +this idea into his head?’ ‘It is out of the question,’ she replied. ‘I +know too well how determined my Lady was that he should never discover +... indeed, the fear that he might one day stumble upon the facts for +himself was her constant torment <span class="pagenum" id="Page_60" role="doc-pagebreak">60</span>And this despite the dangers into +which she knew that ignorance might lead him.’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote34" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor34"><sup>34</sup></a> And they fell to +talking of Lady Fujitsubo’s scrupulous respect for propriety, and how +the fear of scandals and exposures which another woman would in the +long run have grown to regard with indifference, had embittered her +whole life.</p> + +<p>For Lady Akikonomu he had done all and more than all that he led her to +expect, and she had already become a prominent figure at Court. During +the autumn, having been granted leave of absence from the Palace, she +came to stay for a while at the Nijō-in. She was given the Main Hall, +and found everything decked with the gayest colours in honour of her +arrival. She assumed in the household the place of a favourite elder +daughter, and it was entirely in this spirit that Genji entertained +and amused her. One day when the autumn rain was falling steadily and +the dripping flowers in the garden seemed to be washed to one dull +tinge of grey, memories of long forgotten things came crowding one +after another to Genji’s mind, and with eyes full of tears he betook +himself to Lady Akikonomu’s rooms. Not a touch of colour relieved the +dark of his mourner’s dress, and on pretext of doing penance for the +sins of the nation during the recent disorders he carried a rosary +under his cloak; yet he contrived to wear even this dour, penitential +garb with perfect elegance and grace, and it was with a fine sweep of +the cloak that he now entered the curtained alcove where she sat. He +came straight to her side and, with only a thin latticed screen between +them, began to address her without waiting to be announced: ‘What an +unfortunate year this is! It is too bad that we should get weather +like this just when everything in the garden is at its best. Look at +the flowers. Are not you <span class="pagenum" id="Page_61" role="doc-pagebreak">61</span>sorry for them? They came when it was +their turn, and this is the way they are welcomed.’ He leant upon the +pillar of her seat, the evening light falling upon him as he turned +towards her. They had many memories in common; did she still recall, he +asked, that terrible morning when he came to visit her mother at the +Palace-in-the-fields? ‘Too much my thoughts frequent those vanished +days,’ she quoted,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote35" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor35"><sup>35</sup></a> and her eyes filled with tears. Already he was +thinking her handsome and interesting, when for some reason she rose +and shifted her position, using her limbs with a subtle grace that made +him long to see her show them to better advantage.... But stay! Ought +such thoughts to be occurring to him? ‘Years ago,’ he said, ‘at a time +when I might have been far more happily employed, I became involved, +entirely through my own fault, in a number of attachments, all of the +most unfortunate kind, with the result that I never knew an instant’s +peace of mind. Among these affairs there were two which were not +only, while they lasted, far more distressing than the rest, but also +both ended under a dark cloud of uncharitableness and obstinacy. The +first was with Lady Rokujō, your mother. The fact that she died still +harbouring against me feelings of the intensest bitterness will cast a +shadow over my whole life, and my one consolation is that in accordance +with her wishes, I have been able to do something towards helping <em>you</em> +in the world. But that by any act of mine the flame of her love should +thus forever have been stifled will remain the greatest sorrow of my +life.’ He had mentioned two affairs; but he decided to leave the other +part of his tale untold and continued: ‘During the period when my +fortunes were in eclipse I had plenty of time to think over all these +things and worked out a new plan which I hoped <span class="pagenum" id="Page_62" role="doc-pagebreak">62</span>would make every one +satisfied and happy. It was in pursuance of this plan that I induced +the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers to take up residence in +the new eastern wing. Her own resources are quite inadequate, and I +used to feel very uncomfortable about her; it is a great relief to know +that she is getting all she needs. Fortunately she is very easy to +deal with, we understand each other perfectly and there is (or at any +rate I hope so) complete satisfaction on both sides. Soon after I came +back a great deal of my time began to be taken up in looking after the +young Emperor and helping him to conduct the business of the State. I +am not particularly interested in that sort of thing, but I was glad +to be of use. It was only when it came to filling his Household that I +found myself confronted with a task that was definitely uncongenial. +I wonder whether you realize what very strong impulses of my own I +had to overcome before I surrendered you to the Palace? You might at +least tell me that you feel for me and are grateful; then I should no +longer think that this sacrifice was made quite in vain....’ She was +vexed. Why must he needs start talking in that strain? She made no +reply. ‘Forgive me,’ he said; ‘I see that I have displeased you ...,’ +and he began hastily to talk of other matters: ‘How much I should like +to retire to some quiet place,—to know that for the rest of my life +on earth I should have no more anxieties or cares and could devote +myself for as long as I liked each day to preparation for the life to +come. But of course all this would be very dull if one had nothing +interesting to look back upon. There are many things to be thought +of first. For example, I have young children, whose place in the +world is very insecure; it will be a long time before I can establish +them satisfactorily. And here you can be of great use to me; for +should you—forgive me for speaking of such a thing— <span class="pagenum" id="Page_63" role="doc-pagebreak">63</span>one day bring +increase to his Majesty’s house, it would be in your power to render +considerable services to my children, even though I should chance no +longer to be with you.... It was evident that this sort of conversation +was far more to her liking. She did not indeed say more than a word or +two at a time; but her manner was friendly and encouraging, and they +were still immersed in these domestic projects when darkness began +to fall. ‘And when all these weighty matters are off my hands,’ said +Genji at last, ‘I hope I shall have a little time left for things which +I really enjoy—flowers, autumn leaves, the sky, all those day-to-day +changes and wonders that a single year bring forth; that is what I +looked forward to. Forests of flowering trees in Spring, the open +country in Autumn.... Which do you prefer? It is of course useless to +argue on such a subject, as has so often been done. It is a question +of temperament. Each person is born with “his season” and is bound +to prefer it. No one, you may be sure, has ever yet succeeded in +convincing any one else on such a subject. In China it has always been +the Spring-time with its “broidery of flowers” that has won the highest +praise; here however the brooding melancholy of Autumn seems always to +have moved our poets more deeply. For my own part I find it impossible +to reach a decision; for much as I enjoy the music of birds and the +beauty of flowers, I confess I seldom remember at what season I have +seen a particular flower, heard this or that bird sing. But in this +I am to blame; for even within the narrow compass of my own walls, I +might well have learnt what sights and sounds distinguish each season +of the year, having as you see not only provided for the springtime +by a profusion of flowering trees, but also planted in my garden many +varieties of autumn grass and shrub, brought in, root and all, from +the countryside. Why, I have even carried hither whole <span class="pagenum" id="Page_64" role="doc-pagebreak">64</span>tribes of +insects that were wasting their shrill song in the solitude of lanes +and fields. All this I did that I might be able to enjoy these things +in the company of my friends, among whom you are one. Pray tell me +then, to which season do you find that your preference inclines?’ She +thought this a very difficult form of conversation; but politeness +demanded some sort of reply and she said timidly: ‘But you have just +said you can never yourself remember when it was you saw or heard the +thing that pleased you most. How can you expect me to have a better +memory? However, difficult as it is to decide, I think I agree with +the poet<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote36" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor36"><sup>36</sup></a> who found the dusk of an autumn evening “strangest and +loveliest thing of all.” Perhaps I am more easily moved at such moments +because, you know, it was at just such a time ...’ Her voice died away, +and knowing well indeed what was in her mind Genji answered tenderly +with the verse: ‘The world knows it not; but to you, oh Autumn, I +confess it: your wind at night-fall stabs deep into my heart.’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote37" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor37"><sup>37</sup></a> +‘Sometimes I am near to thinking that I can hold out no longer,’ he +added. To such words as these she was by no means bound to reply and +even thought it best to pretend that she had not understood. This +however had the effect of leading him on to be a little more explicit; +and matters would surely have come a good deal further had she not at +once shown in the most unmistakable manner her horror at the sentiments +which he was beginning to profess. Suddenly he pulled himself up. He +had been behaving with a childish lack of restraint. How fortunate that +she at least had shown some sense! He felt very much cast down; but +neither his sighs nor his languishing airs had any effect upon her. He +saw that she was making as though to steal quietly and unobtrusively +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65" role="doc-pagebreak">65</span>from the room, and holding her back he said: ‘I see that you are +terribly offended; well, I do not deny that you have good cause. I +ought not to be so impetuous; I know that it is wrong. But, granted I +spoke far too suddenly—it is all over now. Do not, I beg of you, go +on being angry with me; for if you are unkind....’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote38" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor38"><sup>38</sup></a> And with that +he retired to his own quarters. Even the scent of his richly perfumed +garments had become unendurable to her; she summoned her maids and +bade them open the window and door. ‘Just come over here and smell +the cushion that his Highness was sitting on!’ one of them called to +another. ‘What an exquisite fragrance! How he contrives to get hold of +such scents I simply cannot imagine. “If the willow-tree had but the +fragrance of the plum and the petals of the cherry!” So the old poet +wished, and surely Prince Genji must be the answer to his prayer, for +it seems that in him every perfection is combined.’</p> + +<p>He went to the western wing; but instead of going straight into +Murasaki’s room, he flung himself down upon a couch in the vestibule. +Above the partition he could see the far-off flicker of a lamp; there +Murasaki was sitting with her ladies, one of whom was reading her +a story. He began to think about what had just occurred. It was a +sad disappointment to discover that he was still by no means immune +from a tendency which had already played such havoc with his own and +other people’s happiness. Upon what more inappropriate object could +his affections possibly have lighted? True, his chief offence in old +days had been of far greater magnitude. But then he had the excuse +of youth and ignorance, and it was possible that, taking this into +consideration, Heaven might by this time have forgiven the offence. But +on this occasion he could <span class="pagenum" id="Page_66" role="doc-pagebreak">66</span>hardly plead inexperience; indeed, as +he ruefully admitted to himself, he ought by now to have learnt every +lesson which repeated failure can teach.</p> + +<p>Lady Akikonomu now bitterly repented of having confessed her partiality +for the autumn. It would have been so easy not to reply at all, and +this one answer of hers seemed somehow to have opened up the way for +the distressing incident that followed. She told no one of what had +occurred, but was for a time very much scared and distressed. Soon +however the extreme stiffness and formality of address which Genji +henceforth adopted began somewhat to restore her confidence.</p> + +<p>On entering Murasaki’s room at a later hour in the day of the incident, +he said to her: ‘Lady Akikonomu has been telling me that she likes +Autumn best. It is a taste which I can quite understand, but all the +same, I am not surprised that you should prefer, as you have often +told me that you do, the early morning in Spring. How I wish that I +were able to spend more time with you! We would pass many hours in the +gardens at all seasons of the year, deciding which trees and flowers we +liked the best. There is nothing which I more detest than having all my +time taken up by this endless succession of business. You know indeed +that if I had only myself to consider I should long ago have thrown up +everything and retired to some temple in the hills....’</p> + +<p>But there was the Lady of Akashi; she too must be considered. He +wondered constantly how she was faring; but it seemed to become every +day more impossible for him to go beyond the walls of his palace. What +a pity she had got it into her head that she would be miserable at +Court! If only she would put a little more confidence in him and trust +herself under his roof as any one else would do, he would prove to her +that she had no reason for all these reservations <span class="pagenum" id="Page_67" role="doc-pagebreak">67</span>and precautions. +Presently one of his accustomed excursions to the oratory at Saga +gave him an excuse for a visit to Ōi. ‘What a lonely place to live in +always!’ he thought as he approached the house, and even if the people +living there had been quite unknown to him he would have felt a certain +concern on their behalf. But when he thought how she must wait for him +day after day and how seldom her hopes could ever be fulfilled, he +suddenly felt and showed an overwhelming compassion towards her. This +however had only the effect of making her more than ever inconsolable. +Seeking for some means of distracting her mind, he noticed that behind +a tangle of close-set trees points of flame were gleaming—the flares +of the cormorant-fishers at work on Ōi River; and with these lights, +sometimes hardly distinguishable from them, blended the fireflies that +hovered above the moat. ‘It is wonderful here,’ said Genji; ‘you too +would feel so, were not one’s pleasure always spoiled by familiarity.’ +‘Those lights on the water!’ she murmured. ‘Often I think that I am +still at Akashi. “As the fisher’s flare that follows close astern, so +in those days and in these has misery clung to my tossing bark, and +followed me from home to home.”’ ‘My love,’ he answered, ‘is like the +secret flame that burns brightly because it is hidden from sight; yours +is like the fisherman’s torch, that flares up in the wind and presently +is spent. No, no; you are right,’ he said after a pause; ‘life (yours +and mine alike) is indeed a wretched business.’ It happened to be a +time at which he was somewhat less tied and harassed than of late, and +he was able to devote himself more wholeheartedly than usual to the +proceedings at his oratory. This kept him in the district for several +days on end, a circumstance which did not often occur and which he +hoped would, for the moment at any rate, make her feel a little less +neglected.</p> + +<div class="footnote" role="doc-endnotes"> +<ul class="footnote_items"> +<li id="Footnote21"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor21" class="fnanchor">21</a> Genji had promised in due course to marry the child to the Heir +Apparent, son of the Emperor Ryōzen.</li> + +<li id="Footnote22"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor22" class="fnanchor">22</a> Buddhist ceremonies corresponding to the Christian ‘Confirmation.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote23"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor23" class="fnanchor">23</a> That Genji fetched the child.</li> + +<li id="Footnote24"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor24" class="fnanchor">24</a> There is a play on words: <dfn>fumi</dfn> = ‘letter’; also ‘treading.’ +<dfn>Ato</dfn> = ‘the tracks of feet,’ but also ‘tracks of the pen,’ <span lang="el">σήματα</span>.</li> + +<li id="Footnote25"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor25" class="fnanchor">25</a> Babies’ heads were shaved, save for two tufts.</li> + +<li id="Footnote26"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor26" class="fnanchor">26</a> The sword was the emblem of the child’s royal blood. The Heavenly +Children were dolls which were intended to attract evil influences and +so save the child from harm.</li> + +<li id="Footnote27"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor27" class="fnanchor">27</a> Genji must now have been 30.</li> + +<li id="Footnote28"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor28" class="fnanchor">28</a> ‘Stop your boat, oh cherry-man! I must sow the ten-rood island +field. Then I will come again. To-morrow I will come again!’ The lady +answers: ‘To-morrow, forsooth! Those are but words. You keep a girl +upon the other side, and to-morrow you will not come, no, not to-morrow +will you come.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote29"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor29" class="fnanchor">29</a> The secret that the Emperor was his son. The safety of the State +depended upon the cult of ancestors. This could only be performed by +their true descendants. Moreover the occupation of the throne by one +who was not by birth entitled to it would arouse the wrath of the Sun, +from whom the Emperor of Japan claims descent.</li> + +<li id="Footnote30"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor30" class="fnanchor">30</a> Quoting a poem of Uyeno Mine-o’s upon the death of Fujiwara no +Mototsune, 891 A.D.</li> + +<li id="Footnote31"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor31" class="fnanchor">31</a> That Ryōzen was in reality Genji’s son.</li> + +<li id="Footnote32"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor32" class="fnanchor">32</a> See above, note on p. <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, and below note on p. <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li> + +<li id="Footnote33"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor33" class="fnanchor">33</a> Prince Momozono Shikibukyō, brother of the old Emperor and father +of Princess Asagao.</li> + +<li id="Footnote34"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor34" class="fnanchor">34</a> Into performing ceremonies at the grave of his supposed father +which unless performed by a true son, were sacrilegious and criminal.</li> + +<li id="Footnote35"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor35" class="fnanchor">35</a> From a poem by Ono no Komachi’s sister, say the commentaries; but +such a poem is not to be found in her surviving works.</li> + +<li id="Footnote36"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor36" class="fnanchor">36</a> Anon, in <cite>Kokinshū</cite>, No. 546.</li> + +<li id="Footnote37"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor37" class="fnanchor">37</a> He identifies Akikonomu with the Autumn.</li> + +<li id="Footnote38"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor38" class="fnanchor">38</a> ‘If you are unkind, I too by unkindness will teach you the pain +that unkindness can inflict.’ Anonymous poem.</li> +</ul> +</div> +</section> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-chapter" aria-labelledby="c02-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_68" role="doc-pagebreak">68</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c02-hd">CHAPTER II<br>ASAGAO</h2> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The death of Prince Momozono meant, of course, the return to Court +of the Kamo Vestal, Lady Asagao; and Genji followed up his letter +of welcome by numerous other notes and messages. For it was, as I +have said before, a peculiarity of his character that if he had once +become fond of any one, neither separation nor lapse of time could +ever obliterate his affection. But Asagao remembered only too well the +difficulty that she had before experienced in keeping him at arm’s +length, and she was careful to answer in the most formal and guarded +terms. He found these decorous replies exceedingly irritating. In +the ninth month he heard that she had moved into her father’s old +residence, the Momozono Palace, which was at that time occupied by +Princess Nyogo, a younger sister of the old Emperor.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote39" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor39"><sup>39</sup></a> Here was an +opening; for it was perfectly natural and proper that Genji should +visit this princess, who had been his father’s favourite sister and +with whom he had himself always remained on excellent terms. He found +that the two ladies were living in opposite wings of the Palace, +separated by the great central hall. Though old Prince Momozono had so +recently passed away the place had already assumed a rather decayed +and depressing <span class="pagenum" id="Page_69" role="doc-pagebreak">69</span>air. Princess Nyogo received him immediately. He +noticed at once that she had aged very rapidly since he last saw her. +She was indeed quite decrepit, and it was difficult to believe that +she was really younger than Aoi’s mother, who seemed to him never to +have changed since he had known her; whereas in the quavering accents +and palsied gait of the aged lady who now greeted him it was well nigh +impossible to recognize the princess of former days.</p> + +<p>‘Everything has been in a wretched way since the old Emperor, your +poor father, was taken from us, and as the years go by the outlook +seems to grow blacker and blacker; I confess, I never have an easy +moment. And now even my brother Prince Momozono has left me! I go on, +I go on; but it hardly seems like being alive, except when I get a +visit like yours to-day, and then I forget all my troubles....’ ‘Poor +thing,’ thought Genji, ‘how terribly she has gone to pieces!’ But he +answered very politely: ‘For me too the world has been in many ways a +different place since my father died. First, as you know, came this +unexpected attack upon me, followed by my exile to a remote district. +Then came my restoration to rank and privilege, bringing with it all +manner of ties and distractions. All this time I have been longing to +have a talk with you, and regret immensely that there has never before +been an opportunity....’ ‘Oh, the changes, the changes,’ she broke in; +‘such terrible destruction I have seen on every side. Nothing seems +safe from it, and often I feel as though I would give anything to +have died before all this began. But I do assure you I am glad I have +lived long enough to witness your return. To die while you were still +in such trouble, not knowing how it was all going to end—that would +indeed have been a melancholy business.’ She paused for a while and +then went on in her quavering, thin voice: ‘You know, you have grown to +be a very handsome <span class="pagenum" id="Page_70" role="doc-pagebreak">70</span>man. But I remember that the first time I saw +you, when you were only a little boy, I was astonished at you, really +I was. I could never have believed that such loveliness would be seen +shining in the face of any mortal child! And every time I see you I +always feel just as I did then. They say that his present Majesty, the +Emperor Ryōzen, is the image of you; but I don’t believe a word of it. +He may be just a little like; but no one is going to persuade me that +he is half as handsome as you.’ So she rambled on. Coming from any one +else such flattery would have very much embarrassed him. But at this +strange old lady’s out-pourings one could only be amused. ‘Since my +exile I have quite lost whatever good looks I may once have possessed,’ +he said; ‘one cannot live for years on end under those depressing +conditions without its changing one very much. As for the Emperor, I +assure you that his is a beauty of an altogether different order. I +should doubt if a better-looking young man has ever existed, and to +assert that he is less handsome than me is, if you will forgive my +saying so, quite ridiculous.’ ‘If only you came to see me every day I +believe I should go on living for ever,’ she burst out. ‘I am suddenly +beginning to feel quite young, and I am not at all sure that the world +is half so bad a place as I made out just now.’ Nevertheless it was not +long before she was again wailing and weeping. ‘How I envy my sister +Princess Ōmiya,’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote40" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor40"><sup>40</sup></a> she cried; ‘no doubt, being your mother-in-law, +she sees a great deal of you. I only wish I were in that position. +You know, I expect, that my poor brother often talked of affiancing +his daughter to you and was very sorry afterwards that he did not do +so.’ At this Genji pricked up his ears. ‘I desired nothing better,’ +said he, ‘than to be connected on close terms with your family, and +it would still give me great pleasure to be on a <span class="pagenum" id="Page_71" role="doc-pagebreak">71</span>more intimate +footing in this house. But I cannot say that I have hitherto received +much encouragement....’ He was vexed that he had not discovered this +at the time. He looked towards the other wing of the house. The garden +under the younger princess’s windows was carefully tended. He scanned +those borders of late autumn flowers, and then the rooms behind; he +pictured her sitting not far from the window, her eyes fixed upon +these same swiftly-fading petals. Yes, he must certainly contrive to +see her; and bowing to Princess Nyogo he said: ‘I naturally intend to +pay my respects to your niece to-day; indeed, I should not like her to +regard my visit as a mere afterthought, and for that reason I shall, +with your permission, approach her apartments by way of the garden +instead of going along the corridor and through the hall.’ Skirting +the side of the house he came at length to her window. Although it was +now almost dark, he could see, behind grey curtains, the outline of a +black screen-of-state. He was soon observed, and Asagao’s servants, +scandalized that he should have been left standing even for a moment +in the verandah, hurried him into the guest-room at the back of the +house. Here a gentlewoman came to enquire what was his pleasure, and he +handed to her the following note: ‘How this carries me back to the days +of our youth—this sending in of notes and waiting in ante-chambers! I +had hoped, I confess, that my reticence during the years of your sacred +calling would have won for me, still your ardent admirer, the right +to a somewhat less formal reception.’ It would be hard indeed if she +gave him no more encouragement than this! Her answer was brought by +word of mouth: ‘To come back to this house and find my father no longer +here, is so strange an experience that it is difficult to believe those +old days were not a mere dream from which I now awake to a fleeting +prospect of the most comfortless realities. But in a world <span class="pagenum" id="Page_72" role="doc-pagebreak">72</span>where +all is change, it would, I confess, be ungracious not to cherish and +encourage a devotion so undeviating as that which you have described.’</p> + +<p>She need not, he thought, remind him of life’s uncertainties. For who +had in every circumstance great and small more grievously experienced +them than he? In reply he sent the poem: ‘Have I not manfully held +back and kept cold silence year on year, till the Gods gave me leave?’ +‘Madam,’ he added, ‘you are a Vestal no longer and cannot plead that +any sanctity now hedges you about. Since last we met I have experienced +many strange vicissitudes. If you would but let me tell you a little +part of all that I have seen and suffered....’ The gentlewoman who took +his answer noticed that his badges and decorations were somewhat more +dazzling than in old days; but though he was now a good deal older, his +honours still far out-stripped his years.</p> + +<p>‘Though it were but to tell me of your trials and sorrows that you +have made this visit, yet even such tidings the Gods, my masters till +of late, forbid me to receive.’ This was too bad! ‘Tell your lady,’ he +cried peevishly, ‘that I have long ago cast my offence<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote41" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor41"><sup>41</sup></a> of old days +to the winds of Shinado; or does she think perhaps that the Gods did +not accept my vows?’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote42" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor42"><sup>42</sup></a> The messenger saw that though he sought to +turn off the matter with these allusions and jests he was in reality +very much put about, and she was vexed on his behalf. She had for years +past been watching her mistress become more and more aloof from the +common interests and distractions of life, and it had long distressed +her to see Prince Genji’s letters so often left unanswered. ‘I did ill +to call at so late an hour,’ he said; ‘I can see that <span class="pagenum" id="Page_73" role="doc-pagebreak">73</span>the purpose +of my visit has been wholly misunderstood.’ And sighing heavily he +turned to go, saying as he did so: ‘This is the way one is treated +when one begins to grow old.... It is useless, I know, after what has +passed, even to suggest that her Highness should come to the window for +a moment to see me start ...’ and with that he left the house, watched +by a bevy of ladies who made all the usual comments and appraisements. +Not only was it delightful weather, but at this moment the wind was +making a most agreeable music in the neighbouring trees, and these +ladies soon fell to talking of the old days when Prince Momozono was +alive; particularly of Genji’s visits long ago and the many signs he +had given of a deep and unaltering attachment to their mistress.</p> + +<p>After his return from this unsuccessful expedition, Genji felt in no +mood for sleep, and soon he jumped up and threw open his casement. +The morning mist lay thick over the garden of flowers, which, at the +season’s close, looked very battered and wan. Among them, its blossoms +shimmering vaguely, was here and there a Morning Glory,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote43" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor43"><sup>43</sup></a> growing +mixed in among the other flowers. Choosing one that was even more +wilted and autumnal than the rest, he sent it to the Momozono palace, +with the note: ‘The poor reception which you gave me last night has +left a most humiliating and painful impression upon me. Indeed, I can +only imagine it was with feelings of relief that you so soon saw my +back turned upon your house, though I am loth to think that things can +even now have come to such a pass: “Can it be that the Morning Glory, +once seen by me and ever since remembered in its beauty, is now a dry +and withered flower?” Does it count with you for nothing that I have +admired you unrequited, year in year out, for so great a stretch of +time? That at least might be put to my <span class="pagenum" id="Page_74" role="doc-pagebreak">74</span>credit....’ She could not +leave so mannerly an appeal quite unheeded, and when her people pressed +round her with ink-stone and brush, she yielded to their persuasion so +far as to write the poem: ‘Autumn is over, and now with ghostly flower +the Morning Glory withers on the mist-bound hedge.’ ‘Your comparison,’ +she added, ‘is so just that the arrival of your note has brought +fresh dewdrops to the petals of the flower to whom this reminder was +addressed.’ That was all, and it was in truth not very interesting +or ingenious. But for some reason he read the poem many times over, +and during the course of the day found himself continually looking at +it. Perhaps what fascinated him was the effect of her faint, sinuous +ink-strokes on the blue-grey writing-paper which her mourning dictated. +For it often happens that a letter, its value enhanced to us either by +the quality of the writer or by the beauty of the penmanship, appears +at the time to be faultless. But when it is copied out and put into a +book something seems to have gone wrong.... Efforts are made to improve +the sense or style, and in the end the original effect is altogether +lost.</p> + +<p>He realized the impropriety of the letters with which he had in old +days assailed her and did not intend to return to so unrestrained a +method of address. His new style had indeed met with a certain measure +of success; for whereas she had formerly seldom vouchsafed any answer +at all, he had now received a not unfriendly reply. But even this +reply was far from being such as to satisfy him, and he was unable to +resist the temptation of trying to improve upon so meagre a success. +He wrote again, this time in much less cautious terms, and posting +himself in the eastern wing<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote44" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor44"><sup>44</sup></a> of his palace he sent a carriage to +fetch one of Asagao’s ladies, and presently sent her back again with +the letter. Her <span class="pagenum" id="Page_75" role="doc-pagebreak">75</span>gentlewomen would themselves never have dreamed +of discouraging far less distinguished attentions, let alone those of +such a personage as Prince Genji, and they now urged his claims upon +their mistress as one ‘for whose sake a little virtue was surely worth +sacrificing.’ But after all her efforts in the past to keep free of +such an entanglement, this was hardly the moment to give in; for she +felt that both he and she had now reached an age when such things +are best put aside. She feared that even her inevitable allusions to +the flowers and trees of the season might easily be misinterpreted, +and even if Genji himself was under no misapprehension, there are +always those who made a business of getting hold of such things and +turning them to mischief, and in consequence she was careful to avoid +the slightest hint of anything intimate or sentimental. About this +time a rumour ran through the Court to the effect that Genji was in +active correspondence with the former Vestal, abetted and encouraged +by Princess Nyogo and the lady’s other relatives. The pair seemed +very well suited to one another and no one expressed any surprise at +the existence of such an attachment. The story eventually reached +Murasaki’s ears. At first she refused to credit it, making sure that +if he were indeed carrying on any such intrigue it would be scarcely +possible for him to conceal it from her. But observing him with this +tale in her mind she thought that he seemed unusually abstracted and +depressed. What if this affair, which he had always passed off as a +mere joke between himself and his cousin, were to turn out after all +to be something important—the beginning of what she dreaded day and +night? In rank and in accomplishments perhaps there was little to +choose between Asagao and herself. But he had begun to admire and court +this princess long, long ago; and if an affection grounded so far back +in the past were now to resume its sway over him, Murasaki <span class="pagenum" id="Page_76" role="doc-pagebreak">76</span>knew +that she must be prepared for the worst. It was not easy to face what +she now believed to threaten her. For years past she had held, beyond +challenge or doubt, the first place in Genji’s affections—had been the +centre of all his plans and contrivings. To see herself ousted by a +stranger from a place which long use had taught her to regard as her +own by inalienable right—such was the ordeal for which she now began +silently to prepare herself. He would not, of course, abandon her +altogether; of that she was sure. But the very fact that they had for +so many years lived together on terms of daily intimacy and shared so +many trifling experiences made her, she felt, in a way less interesting +to him. So she speculated, sometimes thinking that all was indeed lost, +sometimes that the whole thing was her fancy and nothing whatever was +amiss. In his general conduct towards her there was not anything of +which she could reasonably complain. But there were from time to time +certain vague indications that he was not in the best of tempers, and +these were enough whenever they occurred to convince her that she was +undone for good and all,—though she showed no outward sign of the +despair which had now settled upon her. Genji, meanwhile, spent much of +his time in the front<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote45" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor45"><sup>45</sup></a> of the house and was also frequently at the +Emperor’s Palace. His leisure was employed in writing endless letters. +Murasaki wondered how she could have ever doubted the rumours that were +now rampant throughout the Court. If only he would tell, give even the +slightest hint of what was in these days passing through his mind!</p> + +<p>Winter drew on, and at last the eleventh month came round. But +this year there were none of the usual religious festivals and +processions<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote46" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor46"><sup>46</sup></a> to distract him, and Genji became <span class="pagenum" id="Page_77" role="doc-pagebreak">77</span>more and more +restless. One evening when the delicate twilight was sprinkled with +a few thin flakes of snow, he determined to set out for the Momozono +palace. All day he had been more than usually preoccupied with thoughts +of its occupant, and somehow he could not help feeling that she too +would on this occasion prove less unyielding. Before starting, he +came to take leave of Murasaki in the western wing. ‘I am sorry to +say Princess Nyogo is very unwell,’ he said; ‘I must go and offer her +my sympathy.’ She did not even look round, but went on playing with +her little foster-child as though determined not to be interrupted. +Evidently there was going to be trouble. ‘There has been something +very strange in your manner lately,’ he said. ‘I am not conscious +of having done anything to offend you. I thought we understood one +another well enough for me to be able to spend a day or two now and +then at the Emperor’s Palace without your taking offence. But perhaps +it is something else?’ ‘I certainly understand you well enough,’ she +answered, ‘to know that I must expect to put up with a great deal of +suffering ...’ and she sank back upon the divan, her face turned away +from him. He could never bear to leave her thus, and knew he would be +wretched every step of the way to Princess Nyogo’s house. But the hour +was already late, and as he had promised beforehand that he would call +there that evening, it was impossible to defer his departure.</p> + +<p>Murasaki meanwhile lay on her couch, continually debating within +herself whether this affair might not really have been going on for +years past—perhaps ever since his return—without her having any +suspicion of it. She went to the window. He was still dressed chiefly +in <span class="pagenum" id="Page_78" role="doc-pagebreak">78</span>grey; but the few touches of colour which his mourning permitted +showed up all the more brightly, and as she watched his handsome +figure moving against a background of glittering snow, the thought +that she might be losing him, that soon, very soon perhaps, he would +vanish never to return, was more than she could endure. His cortège +consisted only of a few favourite outriders, to whom he said: ‘I am +not feeling inclined just now to go about paying calls; indeed, you +will have noticed that apart from a few necessary visits to Court, I +have hardly left home at all. But my friends at the Momozono palace are +passing through a very trying time. Her Highness has for years relied +upon her brother’s aid and, now that he is taken from her, the least +I can do is to help her occasionally with a little encouragement and +advice....’ But his gentlemen were not so easily deceived and whispered +among themselves as they rode along: ‘Come, come, that will not do. +Unless he has very much changed his ways it is not to chatter with old +ladies that his Highness sets out at this hour of a winter night. There +is more here than meets the eye,’ and they shook their heads over his +incurable frivolity.</p> + +<p>The main gate of the palace was on the north side; but here there was +usually a great deal of traffic, and not wishing to attract attention +he drove up to a side-entrance, the one which Prince Momozono himself +commonly used, and sent in a servant to announce his arrival. As he +had promised to appear at a much earlier hour Princess Nyogo had by +now quite given up expecting him, and, much put about by this untimely +visit, she bade her people send the porter to the western gate. The man +made his appearance a moment later, looking wretchedly pinched and cold +as he hastened through the snow with the key in his hand. Unfortunately +the lock would not work, and when he went back to look for help no +other manservant could anywhere be found. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_79" role="doc-pagebreak">79</span>‘It’s very rusty,’ said +the old porter dolefully, fumbling all the while with the lock, that +grated with an unpleasant sound but would not turn. ‘There’s nothing +else wrong with it, but it’s terribly rusty. No one uses this gate now.’</p> + +<p>The words, ordinary enough in themselves, filled Genji with an +unaccountable depression. How swiftly the locks rust, the hinges grow +stiff on doors that close behind us! ‘I am more than thirty,’ he +thought; and it seemed to him impossible to go on doing things just +as though they would last ... as though people would remember. ‘And +yet,’ he said to himself, ‘I know that even at this moment the sight +of something very beautiful, were it only some common flower or tree, +might in an instant make life again seem full of meaning and reality.’</p> + +<p>At last the key turned and with a great deal of pushing and pulling the +gate was gradually forced open. Soon he was in the Princess’s room, +listening to her usual discourses and lamentations. She began telling +a series of very involved and rambling stories about things all of +which seemed to have happened a great while ago. His attention began +to wander; it was all he could do to keep awake. Before very long the +Princess herself broke off and said with a yawn: ‘It’s no good; I can’t +tell things properly at this time of night, it all gets mixed up....’</p> + +<p>Then suddenly he heard a loud and peculiar noise. Where did it come +from? What could it be? His eye fell upon the Princess. Yes; it was +from her that these strange sounds proceeded; for she was now fast +asleep and snoring with a resonance such as he would never have +conceived to be possible.</p> + +<p>Delighted at this opportunity of escape he was just about to slip out +of the room when he heard a loud ‘Ahem,’ also uttered in a very aged +and husky voice, and perceived that <span class="pagenum" id="Page_80" role="doc-pagebreak">80</span>some one had just entered the +room. ‘There! What a shame! I’ve startled you. And I made sure you +heard me come in. But I see you don’t know who in the world I am. Well, +your poor father, the old Emperor, who loved his joke, used to call me +the Grandam. Perhaps that will help you to remember....’ Could this +be.... Yes, surely it was that same elderly Lady of the Bedchamber +who had flirted with him so outrageously years ago, at the time of +the Feast of Red Leaves.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote47" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor47"><sup>47</sup></a> He seemed to remember hearing that she +had joined some lay order and become a pensioner in the late prince’s +household. But it had not occurred to him that she could possibly still +be in existence, and this sudden encounter was something of a shock. ‘I +am distressed to find,’ he answered, ‘that those old days are becoming +very dim in my mind, and anything that recalls them to me is therefore +very precious. I am delighted to hear your voice again. Pray remember +that, like the traveller whom Prince Shōtoku<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote48" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor48"><sup>48</sup></a> found lying at the +wayside, I have ‘no parent to succour me’ and must therefore look to +old friends such as you for shelter from the world’s unkindness.’ It +was extraordinary how little she had changed in appearance, and her +manner was certainly as arch and coquettish as ever. Her utterance, +indeed, suggested that she now had very few teeth left in her head; +but she still managed to impart to her words the same insinuating and +caressing tone as of old. It amused him that she spoke of herself +as though she had been a mere girl when they first met and that she +continually apologized for the changes which he must now be noticing in +her. He was amused, but also saddened. For he could not help thinking +that of all the gentlewomen who had been this lady’s rivals scarce one +was now left at Court. Most were dead; others had fallen into disgrace +and were eking out a <span class="pagenum" id="Page_81" role="doc-pagebreak">81</span>miserable existence no one knew where. Or +again, that a creature such as Lady Fujitsubo should vanish so soon, +while this absurd grandam, even in her younger days totally devoid +of charm or intelligence, should be left behind! And judging by her +appearance, there was every prospect that she would go on happily +pottering about and telling her rosary for another twenty years. No; +there was no sense, no purpose in all this.</p> + +<p>She saw that thoughts which moved him deeply were passing through his +mind and at once assumed that he was recalling the details of what +she was pleased to think of as their ‘love affair’; and now in her +most playful voice she recited the poem: ‘Though your father called me +Granny, I am not so old but that you and I were sweethearts long ago.’ +He felt somewhat embarrassed but he answered kindly: ‘Such motherly +care as yours not in this life only but in all lives to come none save +a scapegrace would forget.’ ‘We must meet again at a more convenient +time and have a good talk,’ he said; and with that he hastened towards +the western wing. The blinds were drawn and everything was shut up for +the night, save that at one window she<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote49" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor49"><sup>49</sup></a> had left a lattice half +unclosed, feeling that to show no light at all on the evening of his +visit would be too pointedly uncivil. The moon had risen and its rays +blended with the glitter of the newly-fallen snow. It was indeed a most +charming night. ‘An old woman in love and the moon at mid-winter’: he +remembered the saying that these are the two most dismal things in the +world; but to-night he felt this collocation to be very unjust. He +sent in an urgent letter: if despite her scruples she intended ever to +admit him for a few moments to her presence, why not take advantage of +this excellent opportunity and not subject him to the irritation of +purposeless delays?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82" role="doc-pagebreak">82</span>She did not doubt the reality of his feelings; but if at a time +when they were both young enough to be forgiven a few indiscretions, +when moreover her father was actually seeking to promote an alliance +between them, she had without a moment’s hesitation refused to yield +herself to him—what sense could there be, now that they were both +past the age to which such irresponsible gallantries by right belong, +what sense (she asked herself) could there be in parleying with him, +indeed, in admitting him into her presence at all? He saw that she was +absolutely unmoved by his appeal, and was both astonished and hurt. She +meanwhile disliked intensely this frigid interchange of messages and +notes, but for the moment saw no way of bringing it to a close. It was +now getting late, a fierce wind had begun to blow and Genji, feeling +a very real disappointment and distress, was about to make his way +homeward, flinging out as he did so the parting verse:</p> + +<p>‘No penance can your hard heart find save such as you long since have +taught me to endure.’ As usual her gentlewomen insisted that she must +send a reply, and reluctantly she wrote the verse; ‘Is it for me to +change, for me who hear on every wind some tale that proves you, though +the years go by, not other than you were?’</p> + +<p>He burst into a great rage when he received her note, but a moment +afterwards felt that he was behaving very childishly, and said to the +gentlewoman who had brought it: ‘I would not for the world have any +one know how I have been treated to-night. Promise me, I beg of you, +that you will speak of it to no one; stay, you had best even deny that +I was here at all....’ He whispered this in a very low voice; but some +servants who were hanging about near by noticed the aside, and one of +them said to another: ‘Look at that now! Poor gentleman! You can see +she has sent him a very stinging reply. Even if she does not <span class="pagenum" id="Page_83" role="doc-pagebreak">83</span>fancy +him, she might at least treat him with common civility. For he does not +look at all the kind of gentleman who would take advantage of a little +kindness....’</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, she had no distaste for him whatever. His beauty +delighted her and she was sure that she would have found him a most +charming companion. But she was convinced that from the moment she +betrayed this liking he would class her among the common ruck of his +admirers and imagine that she would put up with such treatment as they +were apparently content to endure. A position so humiliating she knew +that she could never tolerate. She was resolute, therefore, in her +determination never to allow the slightest intimacy to grow up between +them. But at the same time she was now careful always to answer his +letters fully and courteously, and she allowed him to converse with her +at second hand whenever he felt inclined. It was hardly conceivable +that, submitted to this treatment, he would not soon grow weary of +the whole affair. For her part she wished to devote herself to the +expiation of the many offences against her own religion<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote50" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor50"><sup>50</sup></a> that her +residence at Kamo had involved. Ultimately she meant to take orders; +but any sudden step of that kind would certainly be attributed to an +unfortunate love-affair and so give colour to the rumours which already +connected her name with his. Indeed, she had seen enough of the world +to know that in few people is discretion stronger than the desire to +tell a good story, and she therefore took no one into her confidence, +not even the gentlewoman who waited daily upon her. Meanwhile she +devoted herself more and more ardently to preparation for the mode of +life which she hoped soon to embrace.</p> + +<p>She had several brothers; but they were the children of <span class="pagenum" id="Page_84" role="doc-pagebreak">84</span>Prince +<span class="corr" id="corr84" title="Source: Zembo’s">Zembō’s</span> first wife<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote51" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor51"><sup>51</sup></a> and she knew very little of them. Other visitors +at the Momozono palace became increasingly rare; but the fact that no +less a person than Genji was known to be Princess Asagao’s admirer +aroused a widespread curiosity concerning her.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, he was not very desperately in love with her; but +her apparent indifference had piqued him and he was determined to go +on till he had gained his point. He had recently gathered from several +sources of information, including persons of every rank in society, but +all of them in a position to know what they were talking about, that +his own reputation now stood very high in the country. He felt indeed +that his insight into affairs had very greatly improved since old days, +and it would certainly be a pity if a scandal once more deprived him of +popular confidence. Nevertheless, if gossip were to concern itself with +the matter at all, he could not help feeling he should prefer to figure +in the story as having succeeded than as having been ignominiously +repulsed.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile his frequent absences from the Nijō-in had already convinced +Murasaki that the affair was as serious as it could possibly be. She +tried to conceal her agitation, but there were times when it was +evident that she had been secretly weeping, and Genji said to her one +day: ‘What has come over you lately? I cannot imagine any reason why +you should be so depressed’; and as he gently stroked the hair back +from her forehead they looked such a pair as you might put straight +into a picture.</p> + +<p>‘Since his mother’s death,’ Genji went on presently, ‘the Emperor +Ryōzen has been in very low spirits and I have felt bound to spend a +good deal of time at the Palace. But that is not the only thing which +takes up my time in these days; you must remember that I have now to +attend <span class="pagenum" id="Page_85" role="doc-pagebreak">85</span>personally to a mass of business which the old Minister of +the Left used formerly to take off my hands. I am as sorry as you are +that we see so much less of one another; but I do my best, and you must +really try henceforward to bear with me more patiently. You are no +longer a child; yet you make as little effort to enter into my feelings +and see my point of view as if you were still in the nursery.’ And with +that, just as though she were indeed a small child, he put back in +its place a lock of her hair that had become disordered while she was +weeping.</p> + +<p>But still she turned away from him and would not speak a word. ‘This +is quite new,’ he said; ‘who has been teaching you these pettish airs +and graces?’ He spoke lightly; but how long, he wondered, was this +going to last, how much time were they going to spend in this dismal +fashion, while at any moment one of those countless horrors that +life perpetually holds over us might suddenly descend upon them and +reconciliation be no longer possible? Determined to bring the matter to +a head, he said at last: ‘I think you have perhaps been misled by very +foolish rumours concerning my friendship with the former Vestal. As a +matter of fact, it is of the most distant kind, as in the end you will +yourself probably realize. She has always, since I first got to know +her years ago, treated me with an exaggerated coldness. This hurts me, +and I have more than once remonstrated with her on the subject. As very +little now goes on at the Momozono palace, she has a good deal of time +on her hands and it amuses her to keep up a desultory correspondence. +This is all that has happened between us; and even you will surely +admit that is not worth crying about! If it is really this affair that +has been on your mind, I assure you that there is no cause whatever +for anxiety....’ He spent the whole day in trying to win back her +confidence, and his patience was at last rewarded.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86" role="doc-pagebreak">86</span>By this time the snow was lying very deep, and it was still +falling, though now very lightly. So far from obliterating the +shapes of pine-tree and bamboo, the heavy covering of snow seemed +only to accentuate their varying forms, which stood out with strange +distinctness in the evening light. ‘We decided the other day,’ said +Genji to Murasaki, ‘that Lady Akikonomu’s season is Autumn, and yours +Spring. This evening I am more sure than ever that mine is Winter. +What could be more lovely than a winter night such as this, when the +moon shines out of a cloudless sky upon the glittering, fresh-fallen +snow? Beauty without colour seems somehow to belong to another world. +At any rate, I find such a scene as this infinitely more lovely and +moving than any other in the whole year. How little do I agree with the +proverb that calls the moon in winter a dismal sight!’ So saying he +raised the window-blind, and they looked out. The moon was now fully +risen, covering the whole garden with its steady, even light. The +withered flower-beds showed, in these cold rays, with painful clearness +the ravages of wind and frost. And look, the river was half-choked +with ice, while the pond, frozen all over, was unutterably strange +and lonesome under its coat of snow. Near it some children had been +allowed to make a monster snow-ball. They looked very pretty as they +tripped about in the moonlight. Several of the older girls had taken +off their coats and set to in a very business-like way, showing all +sorts of strange under-garments; while their brothers, coming straight +from their tasks as page-boys and what not, had merely loosened their +belts, and there was now a sight of smart coat-tails flapping and long +hair falling forwards till its ends brushed the white garden floor—an +effect both singular and delightful. Some of the very little ones were +quite wild with joy and rushed about dropping all their fans and other +belongings in their mad excitement.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87" role="doc-pagebreak">87</span>The glee imprinted on these small faces was charming to behold. The +children made so big a snow-ball that when it came to rolling it along +the ground they could not make it budge an inch, and the sight of their +frantic endeavours to get it moving provoked much jeering and laughter +from another party of children which had just made its appearance at +the eastern door.</p> + +<p>‘I remember,’ said Genji, ‘that one year Lady Fujitsubo had a +snow-mountain built in front of her palace. It is a common enough +amusement in winter time; but she had the art of making the most +ordinary things striking and interesting. What countless reasons I +have to regret her at every moment! I was during the greater part of +her life not at all intimate with her and had little opportunity of +studying her at close quarters. But during her residence at the Palace, +she often allowed me to be of service to her in various small ways, +and I frequently had occasion to use her good offices. In this way we +were constantly discussing one piece of business or another, and I +discovered that though she had no obvious or showy talents, she had the +most extraordinary capacity for carrying through even quite unimportant +and trivial affairs with a perfection of taste and management that has +surely never been equalled. At the same time she was of a rather timid +disposition and often took things too much to heart. Though you and she +both spring from the same stem and necessarily have much in common, I +have noticed that you are a good deal less even in temperament than she.</p> + +<p>‘Lady Asagao, now, has a quite different nature. If in an idle moment I +address to her some trifling fancy she replies with such spirit that I +have hard work not to be left lagging. I know no one else at Court to +compare with her in this respect.’</p> + +<p>‘I have always heard,’ said Murasaki, ‘that Lady Oborozuki <span class="pagenum" id="Page_88" role="doc-pagebreak">88</span>is +extremely accomplished and quick-witted. I should have thought, too, +from all I know of her that she was very sensible and discreet; and +that makes me all the more surprised at certain stories that I have +heard repeated....’</p> + +<p>‘You are quite right,’ said Genji. ‘Among all the ladies now at Court +she is the one I should pick out both for liveliness and beauty. As +to the rumours you speak of—I know quite well what you are referring +to. I bitterly regret what happened; as indeed I regret much else that +belongs to that part of my life. And what quantities of things most +people must begin to repent of, as the years go by! For compared with +almost any of my friends, I have led a very quiet and decorous life.’ +He paused for a moment; the mention of Oborozuki seemed to have moved +him deeply. Presently he continued: ‘I have a feeling that you look +down upon country people such as the Lady of Akashi. I assure you that, +unlike most women in that station of life, she is extremely cultivated +and intelligent; though of course people of her class are bound in many +ways to be very different from us, and I admit she has certain strained +and exaggerated ideas, of which I cannot approve.</p> + +<p>‘About women of the common sort I know nothing; but among our own +people it has always seemed to me that few indeed were in any way +remarkable or interesting. An exception however is our guest in the +new wing<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote52" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor52"><sup>52</sup></a>; she remains charming as ever. But though such beauty and +intelligence are very rare, she has never cared to parade them; and +since the time when I first realized her gifts and hastened to make her +acquaintance, she has always continued to show the same indifference to +the worldly conquests which she might so easily have secured. We have +now been friends for so long that I do not think we are ever <span class="pagenum" id="Page_89" role="doc-pagebreak">89</span>likely +to part; I at any rate should be very sorry if she were to leave my +house.’ While he thus talked of one thing and another, it grew very +late. The moon shone brighter and brighter, and a stillness now reigned +that, after the recent wintry storms, was very agreeable. Murasaki +recited the verse: ‘The frozen waters are at rest; but now with waves +of light the moon-beam ebbs and flows.’ She was looking out at the +window, her head a little to one side, and both the expression of her +face and the way her hair fell reminded him, as so often before, of her +whom he had lost. Suddenly his affections, which for many weeks past +had to some small extent been divided, were once more hers, and hers +alone.</p> + +<p>Just then a love-bird<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote53" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor53"><sup>53</sup></a> cried, and he recited the verse: ‘Does it +not move you strangely, the love-bird’s cry, to-night when, like the +drifting snow, memory piles up on memory?’ Long after he and Murasaki +had retired to rest, recollections of Lady Fujitsubo continued to crowd +into his mind, and when at last he fell asleep, a vision of her at once +appeared to him, saying in tones of deep reproach: ‘It may be that +you on earth have kept our secret; but in the land of the dead shame +cannot be hid, and I am paying dearly for what you made me do....’ He +tried to answer, but fear choked his voice, and Murasaki, hearing him +suddenly give a strange muffled cry, said rather peevishly: ‘What are +you doing that for? You frightened me!’ The sound of her voice roused +him. He woke in a terrible state of grief and agitation, his eyes full +of tears which he at once made violent efforts to control. But soon he +was weeping bitterly, to the bewilderment of Murasaki, who nevertheless +lay all the time stock still at his side. He was now too miserable +and distracted to think of sleep, and slipping out of bed presently +began writing notes to various temples in the district, directing that +certain texts <span class="pagenum" id="Page_90" role="doc-pagebreak">90</span>and spells should be recited; he did not however dare +to state on whose behalf these things were to be done.</p> + +<p>Small wonder that in the dream she turned upon him so bitter and +reproachful a gaze, feeling (as by her words he judged she did) that +this one sin had robbed her of salvation. He remembered her constant +devotions; never since that fatal day had she omitted one single +prayer, penance or charity that might serve as atonement for her guilt. +Yet all had been in vain, and even in the world beyond, this one crime +clung to her like a stain that could not be washed away. In the past +he had never thought clearly about such things; but now they lived +in his mind with a terrible vividness and certainty. Were there but +some spell, some magic that could enable him to seek her out in the +obscure region where her soul was dwelling, and suffer in her stead +the penalties of his own offence! Yet the truth was that he could not +so much as have a few poor Masses said for her soul; for, had he named +her, the suspicions of the Court would at once have been aroused.</p> + +<p>Concerning the Emperor, too, Genji’s conscience was very uneasy; for +had Ryōzen indeed discovered the true story of his birth, he must now +be living in a state of continual apprehension. It was at about this +time that Genji put himself under the especial protection of Amida, +Buddha of Boundless Light, beseeching the Blessed One that in due time +his soul and that of the lady whom he had undone might spring from the +same lotus in His holy Paradise. But of such an issue he had little +hope, and often he would disconsolately recite the verse: ‘Fain would I +follow her, could I but hope to thread my way among the sunless Rivers +of the World Below.’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote54" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor54"><sup>54</sup></a></p> + +<div class="footnote" role="doc-endnotes"> +<ul class="footnote_items"> +<li id="Footnote39"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor39" class="fnanchor">39</a> Consequently an aunt both of Asagao and Genji, who were first +cousins; Prince Momozono, Asagao’s father, being a brother of Genji’s +father, the old Emperor. Asagao was the one lady whom Genji had courted +in vain. See vol. i, p. 68.</li> + +<li id="Footnote40"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor40" class="fnanchor">40</a> Aoi’s mother.</li> + +<li id="Footnote41"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor41" class="fnanchor">41</a> I.e. making love to her.</li> + +<li id="Footnote42"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor42" class="fnanchor">42</a> Allusion to the poem: ‘By the River of Cleansing I tied +prayer-strips inscribed “I will love no more”; but it seems that the +Gods would not accept my vow.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote43"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor43" class="fnanchor">43</a> Asagao.</li> + +<li id="Footnote44"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor44" class="fnanchor">44</a> Where Murasaki would not be likely to come.</li> + +<li id="Footnote45"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor45" class="fnanchor">45</a> In the men’s quarters.</li> + +<li id="Footnote46"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor46" class="fnanchor">46</a> During the 10th month the Gods withdraw themselves and cannot +hear our prayers; their return in the 11th month is celebrated +with rejoicing; but this year, owing to the National Mourning for +Fujitsubo’s death, these ceremonies were omitted.</li> + +<li id="Footnote47"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor47" class="fnanchor">47</a> See vol. i, p. 229.</li> + +<li id="Footnote48"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor48" class="fnanchor">48</a> 572–621 A.D.</li> + +<li id="Footnote49"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor49" class="fnanchor">49</a> Asagao.</li> + +<li id="Footnote50"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor50" class="fnanchor">50</a> Buddhism. She had been Vestal in the Shintō temple at Kamo, where +no Buddhist prayers or observances were allowed.</li> + +<li id="Footnote51"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor51" class="fnanchor">51</a> Rokujō was his second.</li> + +<li id="Footnote52"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor52" class="fnanchor">52</a> The lady from the Village of Falling Flowers.</li> + +<li id="Footnote53"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor53" class="fnanchor">53</a> Generally called by the ugly name ‘Mandarin Duck.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote54"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor54" class="fnanchor">54</a> Through each of the Three Evil Realms (of Animals, Hungry Ghosts +and Demons) runs a meandering river.</li> +</ul> +</div> +</section> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-chapter" aria-labelledby="c03-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_91" role="doc-pagebreak">91</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c03-hd">CHAPTER III<br>THE MAIDEN</h2> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In the spring of the next year<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote55" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor55"><sup>55</sup></a> the National Mourning for Lady +Fujitsubo came to an end. Gay colours began to appear once more at +Court, and when the time for summer dresses came round it was seen +that the fashions were smarter than ever; moreover, the weather was +unusually agreeable and there was every prospect of a fine spell +for the Kamo Festival.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote56" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor56"><sup>56</sup></a> Lady Asagao gave no outward sign of what +reflections passed through her mind while she witnessed the ceremonies +in which she herself had a few years ago taken the leading part. But +she gazed fixedly at the laurel tree<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote57" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor57"><sup>57</sup></a> in front of her window; and +though there was much beauty in those lank branches, swept to and fro +by the roving winds, yet it seemed as if it must be for some other +cause that again and again her eyes returned to it. In her ladies, at +any rate, the sight of this tree aroused a host of reminiscences and +suitable reflections.</p> + +<p>From Genji came a note in which he said: ‘Does it not give you a +strange feeling to witness a Day of Cleansing in which you take no +part?’ And remembering that she was still in mourning for her father, +he added the poem: ‘Little thought I that, like a wave in the swirl of +the flood, you <span class="pagenum" id="Page_92" role="doc-pagebreak">92</span>would come back so soon, a dark-robed mourner swept +along time’s hurrying stream.’</p> + +<p>It was written on purple paper in a bold script, and a spray of +wistaria<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote58" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor58"><sup>58</sup></a> was attached to it. Moved by all that was going on around +her she replied: ‘It seems but yesterday that I first wore my sombre +dress; but now the pool of days has grown into a flood wherein I soon +shall wash my grief away.’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote59" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor59"><sup>59</sup></a> The poem was sent without explanation +or comment and constituted, indeed, a meagre reply; but, as usual, he +found himself constantly holding it in front of him and gazing at it as +though it had been much more than a few poor lines of verse.</p> + +<p>When the end of the mourning actually came, the lady who acted as +messenger and intermediary in general was overwhelmed by the number +of packages<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote60" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor60"><sup>60</sup></a> from the Nijō-in which now began to arrive. Lady +Asagao expressed great displeasure at this lavishness and, if the +presents had been accompanied by letters or poems of at all a familiar +or impertinent kind, she would at once have put a stop to these +attentions. But for a year past there had been nothing in his conduct +to complain of. From time to time he came to the house and enquired +after her, but always quite openly. His letters were frequent and +affectionate, but he took no liberties, and what nowadays troubled her +chiefly was the difficulty of inventing anything to say in reply.</p> + +<p>To Princess Nyogo, too, Genji sent good wishes on the occasion of her +coming out of mourning. This delighted her, and the old lady observed +to her maids, whilst reading the letter: ‘How strange it is to get this +very nice letter <span class="pagenum" id="Page_93" role="doc-pagebreak">93</span>from Prince Genji! Why, it seems only yesterday +that he was a baby-in-arms, and here he is, writing such a sensible, +manly letter! I had heard that he had grown up very good-looking; +but what pleases me is that he evidently has a quite exceptionally +nice disposition.’ These outbursts of praise were always greeted with +laughter by the younger ladies-in-waiting, among whom Princess Nyogo’s +weakness for Genji was a standing joke.</p> + +<p>The old lady next bustled off to her niece’s rooms. ‘What do you +say to this?’ she asked, holding out the letter; ‘could anything be +more friendly and considerate? But he has always regarded this house +as a second home. I have often told you that your poor father was +bitterly disappointed that the circumstances of your birth made it +impossible for him to offer your hand to this Prince. It was indeed +definitely arranged that he should do so, and it was with the greatest +reluctance that he consented to your departure. He talked to me about +this constantly in after years, and it was obvious that he bitterly +regretted not having arranged the marriage at a much earlier period in +your life. What held him back from doing so was that my sister Princess +Ōmiya had already arranged for the marriage of her daughter, Lady Aoi, +to Prince Genji and, frightened of giving offence, he let time slip by +without doing anything towards the accomplishment of this favourite +project. But Lady Aoi’s death has removed the one insurmountable +obstacle which before made it out of the question that any person of +consequence should offer to this Prince his daughter’s hand. For though +there are now several ladies in his household, none of them is of the +highest rank. Such a person as yourself, for example, would necessarily +assume the foremost place, and I confess I cannot see why, if an offer +came your way, it would be such a bad thing for you to accept it. At +any rate, that is how I feel. He must <span class="pagenum" id="Page_94" role="doc-pagebreak">94</span>be very fond of you, or he +certainly would not have started writing again directly you came back +from Kamo....’</p> + +<p>Princess Asagao thought her aunt’s way of looking at things very old +fashioned and mistaken: ‘Having held out for so long against the +reproaches of my father, who was, as you will remember, by no means +used to being gainsaid, it would be a strange thing if I were now to +yield, after all that has happened since, to your or any one else’s +friendly persuasions.’ She looked so reluctant to discuss the subject +further that her aunt did not proceed. The whole staff of the Palace, +from dames-of-honour down to kitchen-maids, being all of them more or +less in love with Genji themselves, watched with great interest to see +how he would fare at Princess Asagao’s hands, the majority prophesying +for him a heavy discomfiture. But Genji himself firmly believed that +if only he went on quietly displaying his devotion, sooner or later +there would come some sign that she was ready to yield. He had long +ago realized that she was not a person who could ever be hustled into +acting against her own better judgment and inclination.</p> + +<p>It was high time to be thinking about the Initiation of Yūgiri, Aoi’s +son, who was now twelve years old. It would in many ways have been +better that the ceremony should be performed in Genji’s palace. But it +was natural that the boy’s grandmother should be anxious to witness +it, and in the end it was decided that it should be performed at the +Great Hall. Here the boy had the support of his uncle Tō no Chūjō +and of Aoi’s other brothers, all of whom were now in influential +positions, and as the function was to take place under their own roof +they were additionally ready to do whatever they could to help in +making the occasion a success. It was an event which aroused very wide +interest throughout the country, and what with visitors pouring in from +all sides and a mass of preparations to be made for <span class="pagenum" id="Page_95" role="doc-pagebreak">95</span>the actual +ceremony, there was hardly room to turn round for days beforehand.</p> + +<p>He had thought at first of placing Yūgiri in the Fourth Rank; but +he was afraid that this would be considered an abuse of power, and +there was indeed no hurry; for the boy was still very immature, and +affairs being now entirely in Genji’s hands he could easily promote +him by small steps, till within a comparatively short time it would +be possible to put him in the Fourth Rank without attracting an undue +amount of attention. When, however, Yūgiri made his appearance at the +Great Hall in the light blue decorations of the Sixth Rank, this was +more than his grandmother Princess Ōmiya could bear. Genji fortunately +realized that she would very likely be somewhat upset. When he went +to call upon her she at once began voicing her grievance. ‘You must +remember,’ replied Genji, ‘that he is far too young to begin his public +career. I would not indeed have performed his Initiation so early save +that I designed to make a scholar of him. This will give him profitable +employment during two or three years which might otherwise have been +completely thrown away. As soon as he is old enough to take public +office, he is certain to come quickly to the fore.</p> + +<p>‘I myself was brought up at the Palace in complete ignorance of the +outside world. Living as I did continually at my father the Emperor’s +side I could not but pick up a certain vague familiarity with writing +and books; it was, however, of the most meagre kind. For I could not +at the best learn more than he chanced himself to have picked up in +the same casual way, so that in every subject I only knew disconnected +scraps and had no notion of how they ought to be fitted together. This +was the case particularly as regards literature; but even in music my +knowledge was hopelessly incomplete, and I acquired no real command +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96" role="doc-pagebreak">96</span>over either zithern or flute. It may turn out that he is quicker +than I; but on the whole it seems far commoner for children to have +less natural aptitude than their parents; and I determined that this +child of mine should be educated in a far more thorough way. For if I +merely handed on to him the scraps of information which I in my day had +picked up from the old Emperor I feared that knowledge might reach him +in so attenuated a form as would stand him in very poor stead for the +future.</p> + +<p>‘I have noticed that children of good families, assured of such +titles and emoluments as they desire, and used to receive the homage +of the world however little they do to deserve it, see no advantage +in fatiguing themselves by arduous and exacting studies. Having then +in due time been raised to offices for which they have qualified +themselves only by a long course of frolics and indiscretions, they +are helped out of all their difficulties by a set of time-servers (who +are all the while laughing at them behind their backs), and they soon +imagine themselves to be the most accomplished statesmen on earth. But +however influential such a one may be, the death of some relative or +a change in the government may easily work his undoing, and he will +soon discover with surprise how poor an opinion of him the world really +has. It is <em>then</em> that he feels the disadvantages of the desultory +education which I have described. For the truth is, that without a +solid foundation of book-learning this “Japanese spirit” of which one +hears so much is not of any great use in the world.</p> + +<p>‘So you see that, though at the present moment I may seem to be doing +less for him than I ought, it is my wish that he may one day be fit to +bear the highest charges in the State, and be capable of so doing even +if I am no longer here to direct him. For the moment, though you think +that I do not adequately use my influence on his <span class="pagenum" id="Page_97" role="doc-pagebreak">97</span>behalf, I will at +any rate see to it that he is not looked down upon as a mere starveling +aspirant of the Schools.’ But the Princess would not part with her +grievance: ‘I am sure you have thought it all out very carefully,’ +she said; ‘but his uncles and most other people will not understand a +word of this, and will merely think he is being badly treated; and I +am sure the poor boy himself is very disappointed. He has always been +brought up with the idea that Tō no Chūjō’s children and his other +little cousins are in some way inferior to him, and now he sees them +all going steadily upwards in rank, while he is treated like this.... +I assure you he found it very painful wearing that light blue dress, +and my heart went out to him.’ Genji could not help laughing: ‘You must +not take these things so seriously,’ he said. ‘What does it all matter? +Please remember that you are talking about a child of twelve years old. +You may be sure he understands nothing whatever of all this business. +When he has been at his studies for a little while, you will see how +much improved he is and be angry with me no longer.’</p> + +<p>The ceremony of bestowing the School-name took place in the new part +of the Nijō-in palace, a portion of the eastern wing being set aside +for the purpose. As such a function seldom takes place in the houses +of the great, the occasion was one of great interest, and Princes and +Courtiers of every degree vied with one another for the best seats; the +professors who had come to conduct the proceedings were not expecting +so large and distinguished an audience, and they were evidently very +much put out. ‘Gentlemen,’ said Genji, addressing them, ‘I want you +to perform this ceremony in all its rigour, omitting no detail, +and above all not in any way altering the prescribed usages either +in deference to the company here assembled or out of consideration +for the pupil whom you are about to admit into <span class="pagenum" id="Page_98" role="doc-pagebreak">98</span>your craft.’ The +professors did their best to look business-like and unconcerned. Many +of them were dressed in gowns which they had hired for the occasion; +but fortunately they had no idea how absurd they looked in these +old-fashioned and ill-fitting clothes; which saved them from a great +deal of embarrassment. Their grimaces and odd turns of speech, both +combined with a certain mincing affability which they thought suitable +to the occasion—even the strange forms and ceremonies that had to be +gone through before any one of them could so much as sit down in his +seat—all this was so queer that Yūgiri’s cousins, who had never seen +anything of the sort in their lives before, could not refrain from +smiling. It was therefore as well that, as actual participators in the +ceremony, only the older and steadier among the princes of the Great +Hall had been selected. They at least could be relied upon to control +their laughter, and all was going smoothly, when it fell to the lot +of Tō no Chūjō and his friend Prince Mimbuykō to fill goblets out of +the great wine-flagon and present them to their learned guests. Being +both of them entirely unversed in these academic rites they paused +for a moment, as though not quite certain whether they were really +expected to perform this task with their own hands. So at any rate +the professors interpreted their hesitation, and at once broke out +into indignant expostulations: ‘The whole proceeding is in the highest +degree irregular,’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote61" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor61"><sup>61</sup></a> they cried. ‘These gentlemen possess no academic +qualifications and ought not to be here at all. They must be made to +understand that we know nothing of the distinctions and privileges +which prevail at Court. They must be told to mend their manners....’ At +this some one in the audience ventured to titter, and the professors +again expostulated: <span class="pagenum" id="Page_99" role="doc-pagebreak">99</span>‘These proceedings cannot continue,’ they +said, ‘unless absolute silence is preserved. Interruptions are in the +highest degree irregular, and if they occur again we shall be obliged +to leave our seats.’ Several more testy speeches followed, and the +audience was vastly entertained; for those who had never witnessed +such performances before were naturally carried away by so diverting +a novelty; while the few who were familiar with the proceedings had +now the satisfaction of smiling indulgently at the crude amazement of +their companions. It was long indeed since Learning had received so +signal a mark of encouragement, and for the first time its partisans +felt themselves to be people of real weight and consequence. Not a +single word might any one in the audience so much as whisper to his +neighbour without calling down upon himself an angry expostulation, and +excited cries of ‘disgraceful behaviour!’ were provoked by the mildest +signs of restlessness in the crowd. For some time the ceremony had +been proceeding in darkness, and now when the torches were suddenly +lit, revealing those aged faces contorted with censoriousness and +self-importance, Genji could not help thinking of the Sarugaku<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote62" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor62"><sup>62</sup></a> +mountebanks with their burlesque postures and grimaces. ‘Truly,’ he +thought, looking at the professors, ‘truly in more ways than one an +extraordinary and unaccountable profession!’ ‘I think it is rather +fun,’ he said, ‘to see every one being kept in order by these crabbed +old people,’ and hid himself well behind his curtains-of-state, lest +his comments too should be heard and rebuked.</p> + +<p>Not nearly enough accommodation had been provided, and many of the +young students from the college had been turned away for lack of +room. Hearing this, Genji sent after them with apologies and had them +brought back to the Summer House where they were entertained with food +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100" role="doc-pagebreak">100</span>and drink. Some of the professors and doctors whose own part in +the ceremony was over had also left the palace, and Genji now brought +them back and made them compose poem after poem. He also detained such +of the courtiers and princes as he knew to care most for poetry; the +professors were called upon to compose complete poems<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote63" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor63"><sup>63</sup></a> while the +company, from Genji downwards, tried their hands at quatrains, Teachers +of Literature being asked to choose the themes. The summer night was so +short that before the time came to read out the poems it was already +broad daylight. The reading was done by the Under-secretary to the +Council, who, besides being a man of fine appearance, had a remarkably +strong and impressive voice, so that his recitations gave every one +great pleasure.</p> + +<p>That mere enthusiasm should lead young men of high birth, who might so +easily have contented themselves with the life of brilliant gaieties +to which their position entitled them, to study ‘by the light of the +glow-worm at the window or the glimmer of snow on the bough,’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote64" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor64"><sup>64</sup></a> +was highly gratifying; and such a number of ingenious fancies and +comparisons pervaded the minds of the competitors that any one of these +compositions might well have been carried to the Land Beyond the Sea +without fear of bringing our country into contempt. But women are not +supposed to know anything about Chinese literature, and I will not +shock your sense of propriety by quoting any of the poems—even that by +which Genji so deeply moved his hearers.</p> + +<p>Hard upon the ceremony of giving the School Name came that of actual +admittance to the College, and finally Yūgiri took up residence in the +rooms which had been prepared for him at the Nijō-in. Here he was put +in charge of the <span class="pagenum" id="Page_101" role="doc-pagebreak">101</span>most learned masters that could be procured, and +his education began in earnest. At first he was not allowed to visit +his grandmother at all; for Genji had noticed that she spoiled him +shockingly, treating him, indeed, as though he were still a little +child, and there seemed a much better chance that he would settle +down to his new life if it were not interrupted by constant treats +and cossettings at the Great Hall. But Princess Ōmiya took the boy’s +absence so much to heart that in the end three visits a month were +allowed.</p> + +<p>Yūgiri found this sudden restriction of liberty very depressing, and +he thought it unkind of his father to inflict these labours upon him, +when he might so easily have allowed him to amuse himself for a little +while longer and then go straight into some high post. Did Genji think +him so very stupid as to need, before he could work for the Government, +a training with which every one else seemed able to dispense? But he +was a sensible, good-natured boy, who took life rather seriously, and +seeing that he was not going to be allowed to mix in the world or +start upon his career till he had read his books, he determined to get +through the business as quickly as possible. The consequence was that +in the space of four or five months he had read not only the whole of +the <cite>Historical Records</cite>,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote65_66" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor65"><sup>65</sup></a> but many other books as well. When the +time came for his Examinations, Genji determined to put him to the test +privately a little while beforehand. He was assisted by Tō no Chūjō, +by the Chief Secretary of Council, the Clerk of the Board of Rites +and a few other friends. The chief tutor was now sent for, and asked +to select passages from the <cite>Historical Records</cite>.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote65_66" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor66"><sup>66</sup></a> He went through +every chapter, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_102" role="doc-pagebreak">102</span>picking out the most difficult paragraphs—just +such parts indeed as the College Examiners were likely to hit upon and +made his pupil read them out loud. Yūgiri not only read without the +slightest stumbling or hesitation but showed clearly in every doubtful +or misleading passage that he understood the sense of what he was +reading. Every one present was astonished at his proficiency and it +was generally agreed that he had the makings of a first-rate scholar. +‘If only his poor grandfather could see him!’ said Tō no Chūjō with +a sigh; and Genji, unable to restrain his feelings, exclaimed with +tears in his eyes: ‘All this makes me feel very old! Before it has +always been other people over whom one shook one’s head, saying that +they were “getting on in life” or “not so active as they were.” But +now that I have a grown-up child of my own, I feel (though I am still +fortunately some way off my second childhood) that henceforward he +will every day grow more intelligent, and I more stupid.’ The tutor +listened attentively to this speech and felt much comforted by it. Tō +no Chūjō had been helping him liberally to wine, and the learned man’s +gaunt, rugged features were now suffused with smiles of joy and pride. +He was a very unpractical man and his worldly success had never been +proportionate to his great attainments. At the time when Genji first +came across him he was without patronage or any means of subsistence. +Then came this sudden stroke of good fortune; he of all people was +singled out and summoned to this all-important task. Ever since his +arrival he had enjoyed a degree of consideration far in excess of +what, in his capacity of tutor, he had any right to expect, and now +that the diligence of his pupil had procured for him this fresh ground +for Genji’s esteem, he looked forward at last to a distinguished and +prosperous career.</p> + +<p>On the day of the actual examination the College courtyards <span class="pagenum" id="Page_103" role="doc-pagebreak">103</span>were +crammed to overflowing with fashionable equipages; it seemed indeed +as though the whole world had turned out to witness the ceremony, and +the princely candidate’s entry at the College gates wore the air of a +triumphal procession. He looked very unfit to mingle with the crowd +(shabby and uncouth as such lads generally are) among whom he now had +to take his place, sitting right at the end of the bench, for he was +the youngest scholar present; and it was small wonder that he came near +to wincing as he took his place amid his uncouth class-mates.</p> + +<p>On this occasion also the presence of so large and profane an audience +sorely tried the nerves of the academic authorities, and it was to the +accompaniment of constant appeals for silence and good manners that +Yūgiri read his portion. But he did not feel in the least put out and +performed his task with complete success.</p> + +<p>This occasion had an important effect upon the fortunes of the College. +It began to recover much of its old prestige, and henceforward the +students were drawn not only from the lower and middle, but also to +a considerable degree from the upper classes, and it became more and +more frequent for the holders of high office to have received a certain +amount of education. It was found that the possession of Degrees, such +as that of Doctor of Letters or even Bachelor, was now an advantage in +after life and frequently led to more rapid promotion. This incited +both masters and pupils to unprecedented efforts. At Genji’s palace +too the making of Chinese poems became frequent; both scholars and +professors were often his guests, and learning of every kind was +encouraged and esteemed in a manner seldom before witnessed at Court.</p> + +<p>The question of appointing an Empress now became urgent.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104" role="doc-pagebreak">104</span>The claims of Akikonomu were considerable, since it was the dying +wish of Fujitsubo, the Emperor’s mother, that her son should be guided +by this lady’s counsel; and in urging her claims Genji was able to +plead this excuse. The great disadvantage of such a choice was that +Akikonomu, like Fujitsubo before her, was closely connected with the +reigning family, and such alliances are very unpopular in the country. +Lady Chūjō<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote67" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor67"><sup>67</sup></a> had the merit of priority, and to her partisans it +appeared that there could be no question of any one else being called +upon to share the Throne. But there were many supporters of Lady +Akikonomu who were equally indignant that her claims should for an +instant be questioned.</p> + +<p>Prince Hyōbukyō<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote68" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor68"><sup>68</sup></a> had now succeeded to the post of President of the +Board of Rites, previously held by Asagao’s father; he had become a +figure of considerable importance at Court and it was no longer deemed +politic that his daughter should be refused admittance to the Imperial +Household.</p> + +<p>This lady, like Akikonomu, had the disadvantage of a close connection +with the ruling House; but on the other hand her elevation to the +Throne was just as likely to have been supported by the Emperor’s +late mother as that of Akikonomu, for the new-comer was her brother’s +child, and it was thought by many people not to be unreasonable that +this elder cousin should be called upon to take Fujitsubo’s place, as +far as watching over the health and happiness of the young Emperor was +concerned. The claims, then, were pretty equally divided, and after +some hesitation Genji followed his own inclinations by appointing +Akikonomu to share the Throne. How strange that in the end this lady +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105" role="doc-pagebreak">105</span>should have risen to an even higher position than her celebrated +mother! Such was the comment of the world, and in the country at large +some surprise was felt at the announcement of her good fortune, for +little was known of her outside the Court.</p> + +<p>About this time Tō no Chūjō became Palace Minister and Genji began to +hand over to him most of the business of state. Chūjō had a vigorous +and rapid mind, his judgment tended to be very sound, and his natural +intelligence was backed by considerable learning. Thus, though it will +be remembered that at the game of ‘covering rhymes’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote69" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor69"><sup>69</sup></a> he was badly +defeated, in public affairs he carried all before him. By his various +wives<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote70" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor70"><sup>70</sup></a> he had some ten children, who were now all grown-up and +taking their places very creditably in the world. Besides the daughter +whom he had given in marriage to the Emperor there was another, Lady +Kumoi by name, who was a child of a certain princess with whom he had +at one time carried on an intrigue. This lady then was not, as far +as birth went, in any way her sister’s inferior; but the mother had +subsequently married a Provincial Inspector who already had a large +number of children. It seemed a pity to allow the girl to be brought +up by a step-father among this promiscuous herd of youngsters, and Tō +no Chūjō had obtained leave to have her at the Great Hall and put her +under his mother Princess Ōmiya’s keeping. He took far less interest +in her, it is true, than he did in Lady Chūjō; but both in beauty and +intelligence she was generally considered to be at least her sister’s +equal. She had during her childhood naturally been brought much into +contact with Yūgiri. When each of them was about ten years old they +began to live in separate <span class="pagenum" id="Page_106" role="doc-pagebreak">106</span>quarters of the house. She was still +very much attached to him; but one day her father told her that he did +not like her to make great friends with little boys, and the next time +they met she was careful to be very distant towards him. He was old +enough to feel puzzled and hurt; and often when she was in the garden +admiring the flowers or autumn leaves or giving her dolls an airing he +would follow her about, entreating to be allowed to play with her. At +such times she could not bring herself to drive him away, for the truth +was that she cared for him quite as much as he for her. Her nurses +noticed her changed manner towards him, and could not understand how +it was that two children who for years had seemed to be inseparable +companions should suddenly begin to behave as though they were almost +strangers to one another. The girl was so young that the relationship +certainly had no particular meaning for her; but Yūgiri was a couple of +years older, and it was quite possible (they thought) that he had tried +to give too grown-up a turn to the friendship. Meanwhile the boy’s +studies began, and opportunities for meeting were rarer than ever. They +exchanged letters written in an odd childish scrawl which nevertheless +in both cases showed great promise for the future. As was natural with +such juvenile correspondents they were continually losing these letters +and leaving them about, so that among the servants in both houses +there was soon a pretty shrewd idea of what was going on. But there +was nothing to be gained by giving information and, having read these +notes, the finders hastened to put them somewhere out of sight.</p> + +<p>After the various feasts of congratulation were over things became +very quiet at Court. Rain set in, and one night when a dank wind was +blowing through the tips of the sedges, Tō no Chūjō, finding himself +quite at leisure, went to call upon his mother, and sending for Lady +Kumoi <span class="pagenum" id="Page_107" role="doc-pagebreak">107</span>asked her to play to them on her zithern. Princess Ōmiya +herself performed excellently on several instruments and had taught all +she knew to her granddaughter. ‘The lute,’ said Tō no Chūjō, ‘seems +to be the one instrument which women can never master successfully; +yet it is the very one that I long to hear properly played. It seems +as though the real art of playing were now entirely lost. True, there +is Prince So-and-so, and Genji....’ And he began to enumerate the +few living persons whom he considered to have any inkling of this +art. ‘Among women-players I believe the best is that girl whom Prince +Genji has settled in the country near Ōi. They say that she inherits +her method of playing straight from the Emperor Engi, from whom it +was handed on to her father. But considering that she has lived by +herself in the depths of the country for years on end, it is indeed +extraordinary that she should have attained to any great degree of +skill. Genji has constantly spoken to me of her playing and, according +to him, it is absolutely unsurpassed. Progress in music more than in +any other subject depends upon securing a variety of companions with +whom to study and rehearse. For any one living in isolation to obtain +mastery over an instrument is most unusual and must imply a prodigious +talent.’ He then tried to persuade the old princess to play a little. +‘I am terribly stiff in the fingers,’ she said; ‘I can’t manage the +“stopping” at all.’ But she played very nicely. ‘The Lady of Akashi,’ +said Tō no Chūjō presently, ‘must, as I have said, be exceptionally +gifted; but she has also had great luck. To have given my cousin Genji +a daughter when he had waited for one so long was a singular stroke +of good fortune. She seems moreover to be a curiously self-effacing +and obliging person; for I hear that she has resigned all claim to +the child and allows her betters to bring it up as though it were +their own.’ And he told the <span class="pagenum" id="Page_108" role="doc-pagebreak">108</span>whole story, so far as the facts +were known to him. ‘Women,’ he went on, ‘are odd creatures; it is no +use trying to advance them in the world unless they have exactly the +right temperament.’ After naming several examples, he referred to +the failure of his own daughter. Lady Chūjō: ‘She is by no means bad +looking,’ he said, ‘and she has had every possible advantage. Yet now +she has managed things so badly that she is thrust aside in favour of +some one<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote71" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor71"><sup>71</sup></a> who seemed to have no chance at all. I sometimes feel that +it is quite useless to make these family plans. I hope indeed that I +shall be able to do better for this little lady<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote72" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor72"><sup>72</sup></a>; and there did at +one time seem to be a chance that so soon as the Crown Prince<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote73" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor73"><sup>73</sup></a> was +almost old enough for his Initiation I might be able to do something +for her in that direction. But now I hear that the little girl from +Akashi is being spoken of as the future Empress Presumptive, and if +that is so I fear that no one else has any chance.’ ‘How can you say +such a thing?’ asked the Princess indignantly. ‘You have far too low +an opinion of your own family. The late Minister, your father, always +believed firmly that we should one day have the credit of supplying +a partner to the Throne, and he took immense pains to get this child +of yours accepted in the Imperial Household at the earliest possible +moment. If only he were alive, things would never have gone wrong like +this.’ It was evident, from what she went on to say, that she felt very +indignant at Genji’s conduct in the matter.</p> + +<p>It was a very pretty sight to see little Lady Kumoi playing her +mother’s great thirteen-stringed zithern. Her hair fell forward across +her face with a charming effect as she bent over her instrument. Chūjō +was just thinking how graceful and distinguished the child’s appearance +was <span class="pagenum" id="Page_109" role="doc-pagebreak">109</span>when, feeling that she was being watched, Lady Kumoi shyly +turned away, showing for a moment as she did so a profile of particular +beauty. The poise of her left hand, as with small fingers she depressed +the heavy strings, was such as one sees in Buddhist carvings. Even her +grandmother, who had watched her at her lessons day by day, could not +hold back a murmur of admiration.</p> + +<p>When they had played several duets the big zithern was removed, and +Tō no Chūjō played a few pieces on his six-stringed Japanese zithern, +using the harsh ‘major’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote74" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor74"><sup>74</sup></a> tuning which was appropriate to the season. +Played not too solemnly and by so skilful a hand as Chūjō’s, this +somewhat strident mode was very agreeable. On the boughs outside the +window only a few ragged leaves were left; while within several groups +of aged gentlewomen clustering with their heads together behind this +or that curtain-of-state, moved by Chūjō’s playing were shedding the +tears that people at that time of life are only too ready to let fall +upon any provocation. ‘It needs but a light wind to strip the autumn +boughs,’ quoted Chūjō, and continuing the quotation, he added: ‘“It +cannot be the music of my zithern that has moved them. Though they know +it not, it is the sad beauty of this autumn evening that has provoked +their sudden tears.” But come, let us have more music before we part.’ +Upon this Princess Ōmiya and her daughter played <cite>The Autumn Wind</cite> and +Tō no Chūjō sang the words with so delightful an effect that every one +present was just thinking how much his presence added to the amenity of +any gathering, when yet another visitor arrived. Yūgiri thinking that +such an evening was wasted if not spent in agreeable company, had come +over from Genji’s palace to the Great <span class="pagenum" id="Page_110" role="doc-pagebreak">110</span>Hall. ‘Here she is,’ said +Tō no Chūjō, leading the boy towards the curtain-of-state behind which +Kumoi was now sitting. ‘You see she is a little shy of you and has +taken refuge behind her curtains.’ And then looking at Yūgiri: ‘I don’t +believe all this reading is suiting you. Your father himself agrees +with me; I know that learning easily becomes a useless and tedious +thing if pushed beyond a reasonable point. However, in your case he +must have had some particular reason for supposing that academic +honours would be useful. I do not know what was in his mind, but be +that as it may, I am sure it is bad for you to be bending all day over +your books!’ And again: ‘I am sure that you ought sometimes to have a +change. Come now, play a tune on my flute. Your masters can have no +objection to that, for is not the flute itself the subject of a hundred +antique and learned stories?’ Yūgiri took the flute and played a tune +or two with a certain boyish faltering, but with very agreeable effect. +The zitherns were laid aside and while Chūjō beat the measure softly +with his hands, Yūgiri sang to them the old ballad ‘Shall I wear my +flowered dress?’ ‘This is just the sort of concert that Genji so much +enjoys,' said Tō no Chūjō, ‘and that is why he is always trying to get +free from the ties of business. Nor do I blame him; for the world is an +unpleasant place at best, and surely one might as well spend one’s time +doing what one likes, instead of toiling day after day at things that +do not interest one in the least.’</p> + +<p>He passed round the wine-flagon, and as it was now getting dark, the +great lamp was brought in, soon followed by supper. When the meal was +over, Tō no Chūjō sent Lady Kumoi back to her room. It did not escape +the notice of Princess Ōmiya’s gentlewomen that Chūjō was anxious to +keep Yūgiri and his little daughter as far as possible apart. ‘Why, +he has sent her away,’ they whispered, ‘because he <span class="pagenum" id="Page_111" role="doc-pagebreak">111</span>does not want +her to hear the little gentleman play on the zithern. There will be +a sad awakening for him one day, if he goes on treating them like +that.... When Tō no Chūjō at length withdrew, he remembered that he had +not given certain instructions to one of the Princess’s ladies, and +stealing back into the room he delivered his message as quietly as +possible and was on his way out of the room again, when he caught the +sound of his own name. A group of ancient gentlewomen at the far end of +the apartment had not noticed his return and their whispering had gone +on uninterrupted. He stood still and, listening intently, heard the +words: ‘He is supposed to be a very clever man. But people are always +fools when it comes to dealing with their own children. I could never +see any sense at all in that proverb—you know the one I mean—“No one +knows a child but its parents.” All nonsense, I say,’ and she nudged +her neighbour expressively. This was a shock to Chūjō. It meant, he +realized as he hurried from the room, that the friendship between +these two children, which he had hoped to keep within bounds, had +already, in the eyes of the household, taken on a romantic tinge. The +old ladies within suddenly heard the sharp cry of Chūjō’s outriders. +‘Well! What do you think of that?’ they said. ‘He’s only just starting! +Where has he been hiding all this time? I’ll tell you what. He’s up +to some of his old tricks again, you mark my words!’ And another: ‘I +thought a fresh puff of scent blew this way; but little Prince Yūgiri +has got some just like it, and I fancied it was his. Do you think His +Excellency was anywhere round here? It would be a terrible thing for +all of us if he heard what we said after we thought he had gone away. +He’s got a hasty temper....’ ‘Well, after all, there is really nothing +to worry about,’ thought Tō no Chūjō, as he drove to the Palace. ‘It +is perfectly natural that they <span class="pagenum" id="Page_112" role="doc-pagebreak">112</span>should have made friends.’ But it +really would be very galling if after the failure of Lady Chūjō to +get herself made Empress, Lady Kumoi should through this boy-and-girl +affair lose her chance of becoming Empress Presumptive.</p> + +<p>Now as always, he was really on very good terms with Genji; but, just +as in old days, their interests sometimes clashed, and Chūjō lay awake +a long while calling to mind their boyish rivalry and later jealousies. +The old princess saw all that was going on; but Yūgiri was her +favourite grand-child, and whatever he did she accepted as perfectly +justified. But she too was very much irritated by various conversations +that she overheard, and henceforward watched over the situation with +all the concentration of which her vigorous and somewhat acrid nature +was capable.</p> + +<p>Only two days later Tō no Chūjō came to his mother’s rooms again. The +princess was extremely flattered and pleased; it was seldom that he +honoured her with two visits in such rapid succession. Before receiving +him she had her hair set to rights and sent for her best gown; for +though he was her own child he had become so important that she never +felt quite sure of herself in his presence, and was as anxious to make +a good impression as if he had been a complete stranger. It was soon +evident on this occasion that he was in a very bad temper: ‘I hesitated +to come again so soon,’ he said; ‘I am afraid your servants must think +it very strange. I know I am not so competent as my father and cannot +look after you as he did; but we have always seen a great deal of one +another and, I hope, always shall. Look back over all that time, and +I do not think you will be able to recall one occasion upon which +there has been any sort of breach or misunderstanding between us. It +never occurred to me as possible that I should ever come here with the +express purpose of scolding you, least of all about an affair of this +particular sort; but that is why I <span class="pagenum" id="Page_113" role="doc-pagebreak">113</span>am here.... The old princess +opened her eyes very wide and, under all the powder and paint that +she had hurriedly applied when she heard of his coming, she visibly +changed colour. ‘To what are you alluding?’ she asked. ‘It would indeed +be surprising if you suddenly insisted upon picking a quarrel with a +woman of my age. I should like to hear what it is all about.’ He quite +agreed; it would be lamentable if after so many years of unbroken +affection a difference should arise between them. Nevertheless he +proceeded: ‘The matter is quite simple. I entrusted to your care a +child from whom I myself had unfortunately been separated during her +early years. I was at the time very much occupied with the future of my +other daughter and was much exercised in mind to discover that, despite +all my efforts, I could not do for her all that I had planned. But I +had absolute confidence that this other child at any rate could be +coming to no harm: I now find that quite the opposite is the case, and +I think I have every right to complain. You will tell me, I know, that +the young gentleman in question is a very fine scholar. He may for all +I know be on his way to becoming the most learned man in the world; but +that does not alter the fact that these two are first-cousins and have +been brought up together. Should it become known that they are carrying +on an intrigue, it would look as though very lax standards prevailed +in your house. Such a thing would be considered scandalous even in any +ordinary family.... I am thinking of Yūgiri’s future quite as much +as that of my own child. What both of them need is a connection with +quite new people; they would in the end find such an alliance as this +too obvious and uninteresting. And if I on my side object to the match +on these grounds, you may be sure that Genji, when he hears of it, +will insist upon the boy looking further afield. If you could yourself +do nothing to forestall this <span class="pagenum" id="Page_114" role="doc-pagebreak">114</span>attachment, you might at least +have informed me of its existence. I could then have had a chance of +arranging the match, despite all its disadvantages, before the matter +became the talk of the whole town. You could not have done worse than +to leave these young people to their own devices.’</p> + +<p>That the matter was so serious as this had never occurred to Princess +Ōmiya at all, and she was horrified. ‘I entirely agree with you’; +she said. ‘But how could I possibly know what was going on all the +while in the minds of these two children? I am sure I am very sorry +it has happened; indeed I have quite as much reason to lament over it +as you have. But I think it is the young pair themselves, and not I, +who ought to bear the blame for what has happened. You have no idea +of all that I have done for this girl since you first sent her to me. +She has had advantages such as it would never have occurred to you to +suggest, and if, through a blindness very natural in a grandmother, I +have too long regarded the boy’s friendship for her as a matter of no +particular consequence, what reason is there to think that any harm has +as yet been done? All your information on the subject is founded on +the chatter of good-for-nothings who take a pleasure in damaging the +reputations of every one round them. If you were to look into these +stories you would probably find they were pure inventions, and stupid +inventions at that!’ ‘Not at all!’ said Tō no Chūjō hotly. ‘It is not +a question of slanders or lies. The way in which these two carry on +together is a common matter for jest among your own ladies-in-waiting. +It is a most disagreeable situation and I am worried about it’; and +with that he left the room.</p> + +<p>The news of all this rumpus soon went the round of the aged servants at +the Great Hall and there was much wringing of hands. In particular the +ladies whose conversation <span class="pagenum" id="Page_115" role="doc-pagebreak">115</span>had been overheard felt that, without +meaning any harm, they had done irreparable damage, and could not +imagine how they could have been so rash as to begin discussing such a +subject directly His Excellency left the room.</p> + +<p>Tō no Chūjō next looked in upon the young lady herself, and could +not help being somewhat melted by her innocent and appealing air. He +therefore passed on and went to look for her nurse. ‘I understood when +I engaged you,’ he said, ‘that you were young; but one can be young +without being infantile, and I supposed you had your wits about you +like other people. I seem to have made a great mistake....’ To these +sarcastic remarks it was impossible to make any reply; but the nurse +said afterwards to one of her assistants: ‘How is one expected to +prevent these things? Just the same might have happened if she had +been the Emperor’s favourite daughter! In old stories the lovers are +generally brought together by some go-between, but we certainly cannot +be accused of having played any such part as that, for these two have +been allowed to be together as much as they chose for years past; and +if my Lady thought they were so young that there was no harm in it, +what reason was there for us to interfere? But they have been seeing +much less of each other for some while past, and the last thing in the +world I should have suspected was that anything wrong could possibly +have been going on. Why, the little gentleman looks quite a child; I +can’t believe such things have ever entered his head.’</p> + +<p>So the nurse afterwards declared. But while she was actually being +scolded she merely hung her head, and Tō no Chūjō said at last: ‘That +will do. I am not going to mention this business to anyone else at +present. I am afraid a good many people must have heard about it, but +you might at least contradict any rumours that you hear <span class="pagenum" id="Page_116" role="doc-pagebreak">116</span>going +about.... As for the young lady, I intend to have her moved to my +palace as soon as I can arrange it. I think my mother has acted very +imprudently; but she could not possibly have foreseen that you nurses +would behave with such imbecility.’</p> + +<p>So they were all going to move to the Prime Minister’s palace! Such +was the young nurse’s first thought, and she found this prospect so +attractive that, though she knew the loss of Lady Kumoi would be +a sad blow to the old princess, she could not feel otherwise than +elated. ‘There now, only think of it!’ she said, harping back to Tō no +Chūjō’s injunction to secrecy. ‘And I had half a mind to go round to +the Inspector’s house and tell the little lady’s mama! I should have +thought this Prince Yūgiri was good enough for anyone; but of course +he does not count as a member of the Royal Family, and they say Lady +Kumoi’s mama has very grand ideas indeed.’ It was clearly no use saying +any more to such a featherhead as this, and Kumoi herself was so young +that it would be mere waste of breath to lecture her.</p> + +<p>The old princess was upset by the affair; but she was fond of both her +grand-children, perhaps especially of Yūgiri, and at the bottom of her +heart she was extremely gratified at their having taken such a fancy +to each other. On reflection it seemed to her that Tō no Chūjō had +been very heartless about the matter and had also treated it far more +seriously than it deserved. After all he had taken very little trouble +about this girl himself, and had never once indicated that he had any +ambitious plans for the future. Indeed, it really seemed as though +the idea of offering her to the Imperial Household never occurred to +him till this trouble arose, and had been invented, thought the old +Princess indignantly, merely in order to furnish Tō no Chūjō with a +colourable grievance. He had certainly <span class="pagenum" id="Page_117" role="doc-pagebreak">117</span>never really counted on +this Palace plan; and granted that it was only an afterthought, he +must often have contemplated the possibility of the child marrying +a commoner. If so, where could a better match be found? Yūgiri was +certainly, as regards birth and general advantages, more than the equal +of Kumoi; indeed, she could not conceive that any lady would not feel +proud to have him as her husband. This no doubt was due to a certain +grandmotherly partiality on Ōmiya’s part; but be that as it may, she +felt very cross with Tō no Chūjō. She was however determined not to let +him know it, lest he should become even further incensed against the +young people.</p> + +<p>Quite unconscious of all the fuss that had been going on at the Great +Hall, Yūgiri a few days afterwards again presented himself at his +grandmother’s apartments. On the last occasion there had been so many +people about that he had not managed to get a word in private with Lady +Kumoi, and he now arrived very late in the evening, hoping that things +would be quieter at such an hour. Old Lady Ōmiya was usually delighted +to see him, and full of jokes and nonsense. But to-day she was terribly +grave. ‘I am very much upset,’ she said at last, after talking stiffly +of various indifferent matters, ‘because your uncle is displeased with +you. It is unkind of you to take advantage of us all like this, because +naturally I get the blame just as much as you. But that is not why I am +talking about it. I mention the matter because you might not otherwise +discover that you are in disgrace....’ The affair was so much on his +mind already that after she had spoken two words he guessed all that +was coming. The colour mounted to his cheeks: ‘I don’t know what he +means,’ he said. ‘Since I began my lessons I have been shut up all the +time and have scarcely seen anyone. Certainly nothing has happened that +my uncle could possibly object to....’ It went to her <span class="pagenum" id="Page_118" role="doc-pagebreak">118</span>heart to see +what pain it cost him to discuss the subject with her. ‘There, there,’ +she said kindly. ‘Be careful for the future that is all I ask,’ and she +turned the conversation on to other matters.</p> + +<p>Since in the last month he had done little more than exchange notes +with his sweetheart, Yūgiri supposed that even this was considered +improper and was very depressed. Supper was served, but he would not +eat, and presently it seemed that he had fallen asleep. But in truth +he was very wide awake indeed, listening with all his ears till the +last sounds of people retiring and settling down for the night had +everywhere ceased. Then he stole softly to the door of Lady Kumoi’s +room, which was usually fastened on a latch, but not bolted or barred. +To-night it would not yield an inch. No sound was audible within. +With beating heart he leant close up against the door. Despite his +care, he had made a certain amount of noise, and this woke her. But +now, as she lay listening, she could hear no other sound save that of +the wind rustling among the bamboos, and very faint and far away, the +mournful cry of wild-geese overhead. Perhaps because, young though she +was, the events of the last few weeks had left her far more unhappy +than her elders knew, there now came into her head the lines:<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote75" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor75"><sup>75</sup></a> +‘The wild-geese that with sorrowful cry ...,’ and thinking that no +one could hear her, she repeated the poem to herself aloud, causing +Yūgiri’s heart to beat yet more wildly than before. By what stratagem +could he prevail upon her to open the door? ‘I am Kojijū,’ he said in +a feigned childish voice. ‘Do let me in!’ This Kojijū was the child +of Kumoi’s old wet-nurse; so desperate was he that any ruse seemed +justifiable if he could but bring her to the door. But now all was +silent, for <span class="pagenum" id="Page_119" role="doc-pagebreak">119</span>Kumoi, ashamed that he should have heard her speaking +to herself, lay with her face pressed deep into the pillows. His ruse +had not deceived her, and it was misery to picture him standing behind +the bolted door. Presently some of the servants in an adjoining room +began moving about, and for a moment both he, standing without, and she +on her bed within remained rigidly motionless. Soon however all was +quiet again and he made his way back to his own bedroom. As he passed +by Princess Ōmiya’s apartments he heard the noise of some one sighing +heavily. Evidently she was still awake; most likely indeed she had +heard all that had happened! He crept past the door with the utmost +caution and it was with feelings of intense shame and guilt that he at +last reached his room. He rose early and wrote a letter to Kumoi which +he hoped to convey to her by the hand of that same Kojijū whose voice +he had counterfeited in the night. But the child was nowhere to be +seen, and Yūgiri left the house in great distress.</p> + +<p>What Kumoi on her side could not endure was being scolded by her father +and grandmother, and she did all she could to avoid it. But she had +not the least idea what they meant when they talked about her ‘future’ +or her ‘reputation.’ To be whispered about by nurses and servants +flattered her vanity and was in itself far from acting as a deterrent. +One thing about which her guardians made terrible scenes, seemed to +her most harmless of all; this was the writing of letters and poems. +But though she had no idea why they forbade it, she saw that it led to +scoldings, and henceforward Yūgiri did not receive a single line from +her. Had she been a little older she would have found out some way of +circumventing these restrictions; and Yūgiri, who already possessed far +more capacity to shift for himself, was bitterly disappointed by her +tame surrender.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120" role="doc-pagebreak">120</span>To Princess Ōmiya’s great distress Tō no Chūjō no longer paid +his customary visits to the Great Hall. Nor did he ever discuss the +matter with his wife,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote76" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor76"><sup>76</sup></a> who was only able to guess, from his general +ill-humour and irritability, that something had gone amiss. He did +however one day allude to his disappointment concerning their own +daughter, Lady Chūjō: ‘I think,’ he said, ‘that during the ceremonies +of Investiture<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote77" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor77"><sup>77</sup></a> it would be better that our daughter should not be +at Court. A quiet time at home would not do her any harm; and although +she has been passed over on this occasion she really stands very well +with the Emperor. Indeed, she is in such constant attendance upon him +that it is a great strain on her gentlewomen who are kept running +about at every hour of the day and night ...’; and he applied for +her release. The Emperor Ryōzen was extremely loth to part with her +and at first refused. But Tō no Chūjō seemed to attach such extreme +importance to the matter that in the end he agreed to let her spend a +short holiday at home. ‘I am afraid it will be rather dull for you,’ he +said to his daughter when she arrived; ‘but I have arranged for Kumoi +to visit us, so you will have someone to play with. They have been +very good to her at her grandmother’s; but I find that the house is +frequented by a certain rather undesirably precocious child, with whom, +as was inevitable, she has struck up a great friendship. She is far too +young for that kind of thing....’ And he began at once to arrange for +Lady Kumoi’s removal from the Great Hall.</p> + +<p>Princess Ōmiya whose one consolation, since the death of her daughter +Aoi, had been the arrival of Lady Kumoi, was appalled at this sudden +loss. No hint had been given to her that it was not final, and she saw +herself deprived at a stroke of the one happiness which promised to +alleviate the <span class="pagenum" id="Page_121" role="doc-pagebreak">121</span>miseries of old age and decay. And added to all this +was the fact that her own son had taken sides against her and become +quite indifferent to her sufferings. She charged him with this, but +he hotly denied it. ‘No, no,’ he said, ‘it is nonsense to say that I +have turned against you. I think that you have behaved foolishly in one +particular matter, and shall continue to think so. Lady Chūjō is going +through rather a difficult time at Court just now and I have thought it +best to withdraw her for a little while. It is very dull at my house +and it is a great comfort for her to have a young companion. This is +only a temporary measure ...’ and he added: ‘Do not think that I am +ungrateful for all your kindness to the child. I know that I can never +thank you enough....’</p> + +<p>Such speeches did little to re-assure her. But it was evident that +he was determined to part the two children and it was no use arguing +about that. ‘How heartless men are!’ she said. ‘Whatever may have been +your reasons for acting like this, the chief result has been that I +have lost the confidence of both these children. Perhaps that has not +occurred to you? Besides, even if Kumoi is no longer here, Prince +Genji, though he is far from being an unreasonable man, is certain to +feel that my house is no safe place for young people, and now that he +has got Yūgiri at the Nijō-in, he will keep him there permanently.’</p> + +<p>Soon afterwards Yūgiri called again at the Great Hall. He was +far exceeding the number of visits for which his grandmother had +stipulated; but he still hoped that by some accident he might get +the chance of speaking a word or two to the playmate who had been so +cruelly wrested from him. To his disgust the first thing he saw when he +approached the Great Hall was Tō no Chūjō’s carriage. He stole away to +his old room, which was still kept in readiness for him, and remained +in hiding for some while. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_122" role="doc-pagebreak">122</span>Not only Tō no Chūjō but all his sons +were there—Kashiwagi, Kōbai, and the rest, but Princess Ōmiya would not +receive any of them behind her curtains-of-state. Sayemon no Kami and +Gon Chūnagon, who were not her own children but had been born to the +late Minister of the Left by another wife, were also in the habit of +calling, out of respect to their father’s memory, and on this occasion, +thinking to please and interest their step-mother, they had brought +their little sons with them. But the only result was that, comparing +them in her mind with her favourite Yūgiri, she thought them very +ugly, unattractive little boys. Yūgiri and Kumoi, these were the only +grandchildren for whom she really cared. And now the little girl who +had been her delight, upon whom she had lavished so much tenderness and +care,—Kumoi, who for all these years had never left her side, was to be +taken from her and put into a stranger’s hands.</p> + +<p>‘I have to go to the Palace now,’ said Tō no Chūjō quickly. ‘I will +come back towards nightfall and fetch Kumoi away.’</p> + +<p>He had thought the matter out very carefully and decided that even +if it should afterwards prove necessary for him to consent to this +match, it was not one which he would ever be able to regard with any +satisfaction. However, when Yūgiri had begun his career it would +be possible to see of what stuff he was made and also to judge the +strength of his feeling for Kumoi. If the boy still remained anxious +to marry her the betrothal could be announced in a proper way and the +whole affair be carried through without discredit to anybody. But so +long as they were allowed to frequent the same house, however much +they were scolded and watched, it was, considering their age, only to +be expected that they would get into a scrape. He could not put it +like this to his mother, because to do so would have <span class="pagenum" id="Page_123" role="doc-pagebreak">123</span>hurt her +feelings; and wishing to avoid any suggestion that Princess Ōmiya had +been to blame, he used both at the Great Hall and at his own house the +convenient excuse that Lady Chūjō was at home and needed a companion.</p> + +<p>Soon after Tō no Chūjō left, Kumoi received a note from Princess +Ōmiya: ‘Your father is going to take you home with him this evening. +I hope you understand that this is entirely his doing. Nothing that +happens will ever change my feelings towards you.... Come and see me at +once....’</p> + +<p>The child presented herself immediately. She was dressed in her +smartest clothes and, though only eleven and still undeveloped, she had +quite the gracious air of a little lady paying a farewell call. She +felt very uncomfortable while Princess Ōmiya told her how lonely she +would be without any one to play with, and how (though the houses were +not far apart) it would seem as though she had gone to live a long, +long way off. All this trouble, the child felt dimly, as she listened +to the recital of Ōmiya’s woe, came from having made friends with that +little boy, and hanging her head, she began to weep bitterly. At this +moment Yūgiri’s old nurse happened to come in. ‘Well, I <em>am</em> sorry you +are going away from us!’ she said to Kumoi. ‘I always thought of you +as <em>my</em> lady, just as much as Prince Yūgiri was <em>my</em> little gentleman. +We all know what his Excellency means by taking you away like this; +but don't you let him down you!’ The girl felt all the more wretched +and ashamed, but did not know how to reply. ‘Don’t say such things to +the child!’ cried Princess Ōmiya. ‘It may all come right in the end, +without any need to upset the poor little thing like that!’ ‘The truth +is,’ answered the nurse indignantly, ‘that all of you think my young +gentleman is not good enough for her. You and his Excellency may take +it from me that Yūgiri is going to be the finest gentleman in the +land....’ Just as the outraged <span class="pagenum" id="Page_124" role="doc-pagebreak">124</span>nurse was voicing this opinion +Yūgiri entered the room. He at once recognized the figure of Kumoi +behind her curtains-of-state; but there seemed only a very remote +chance of getting any conversation with her, and he stood upon the +threshold looking so disconsolate that his old nurse could not bear it. +A long, whispered consultation took place. At last Ōmiya yielded and +under cover of a fading light, at a moment when the movements of the +other guests created a useful division, Yūgiri was smuggled behind the +little princess’s curtains-of-state. They sat looking at one another +with nothing to say; they felt very shy and the eyes of both of them +began to fill with tears. ‘Listen,’ said Yūgiri at last. ‘Your father +thinks that by taking you away from me he can make me stop caring for +you. But by all his cruelty he has only made me love you far more than +before. Why have I not seen you for so many weeks? Surely we could have +found some way....’ He spoke childishly; but there was a passion in his +voice that strangely stirred her. ‘Darling, I wanted to see you,’ was +all she could say in reply. ‘Then you still love me?’ She answered with +a quick, childish nod.</p> + +<p>But now the great lamp was brought in, and a moment afterwards there +was a shouting and clatter of hoofs in the courtyard outside. ‘There +are the outriders, he’ll be here in a minute!’ cried one of the maids +in great alarm, and Kumoi shuddered from head to foot. She attempted +indeed to rush from the room; but Yūgiri held her fast. The nurse, who +was to go with her to the Prime Minister’s Palace, now came to fetch +her and to her dismay saw the outline of a boy’s figure behind the +curtains-of-state. What folly to allow this kind of thing at the last +moment! The old princess must suddenly have taken leave of her wits! +‘Well, you ought to be ashamed of yourself,’ she muttered to Yūgiri as +she dived behind the curtains to fetch her <span class="pagenum" id="Page_125" role="doc-pagebreak">125</span>charge away. ‘I don’t +know what your uncle would say if he knew this. I have half a mind in +any case to tell Madam Inspector,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote78" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor78"><sup>78</sup></a> and you’ll catch it then. You may +be Prince Genji’s boy and I don’t know what else, but you are only in +the Sixth Rank, and have no right to meddle with such a little lady as +this!’ It was true enough. He had been kept back, while every one else +was promoted; and awakening suddenly to an intense indignation against +the powers which had put this affront upon him, he recited the lines: +‘Pale was the robe they made me wear; but tears of blood long since +have stained it to a hue no tongue should dare deride.’ ‘Hard driven as +we are and thwarted at every hour, how can our love spring upward and +put on a deeper hue?’ So Kumoi answered; but she had scarcely said the +lines when some one announced that His Excellency was waiting, and the +nurse bustled her out of the room. There were three coaches altogether +to carry away Tō no Chūjō, the little girl and her belongings. Yūgiri +heard them start one after another. Princess Ōmiya presently sent for +him to come to her, but he pretended to be asleep. All night he lay +sobbing bitterly, and very early next morning, through a world white +with frost, he hurried back to the Nijō-in. His eyes were swollen with +weeping and he feared that if he stayed longer at the Great Hall his +grandmother would insist upon seeing him. All the way home the most +melancholy ideas came one after another into his mind. Thick clouds +covered the sky and it was still quite dark: ‘Unbroken is my misery as +this dull sky that day on day has bound the waters of the earth in ice +and snow.’</p> + +<p>It fell to Genji’s lot to supply a dancer for the Gosechi Festival, +and though he was merely supposed to choose the girl from among the +children of his retainers and leave the rest to her parents, he went +much further than this, taking <span class="pagenum" id="Page_126" role="doc-pagebreak">126</span>a great interest even in the +costumes of the little girls who were to wait upon the dancer and +hurrying on the seamstresses when he found that they were leaving +things to the last moment. The Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers +was put in charge of the dresses of those who were to be present at +the Early Levee before the ceremony. Genji determined that the dancer +supplied by his household should make a brave show, and he equipped her +with a body of pages and attendants such as the Empress herself might +well have been proud of. Last year, owing to the National Mourning for +Fujitsubo, there had been no public festivals or amusements of any +kind, so that people looked forward to the coming occasion with an +unusual zest, and the families whose turn it was to supply a dancer +vied with one another in the pains they took over her training and +equipment. One came from the household of the Inspector, one from that +of Tō no Chūjō’s step-brother Sayemon no Kami, and one from Yoshikiyo, +who was now Governor of Ōmi. This year the Emperor had expressed a +desire to retain all the dancers in his service at the Palace, and +consequently both these gentlemen had chosen daughters of their own +to send to the Festival. The dancer from Genji’s household was the +daughter of Koremitsu, who had now become Governor of the province +of Tsu. She had the reputation of being a particularly lively and +good-looking child. When Genji first suggested it, Koremitsu did not +at all take to the idea, feeling that his family had no claim to such +an honour. But every one pointed out to him that the Inspector had +shown no hesitation, though he was only offering a bastard daughter; +and in the end Koremitsu reluctantly consented, believing like the +others that it would give his daughter a chance of permanent service +at the Palace. He trained the girl at home, taking endless trouble in +teaching her dance-steps and also in selecting the <span class="pagenum" id="Page_127" role="doc-pagebreak">127</span>attendants +who were to look after her, and on the night before the ceremony +he took her to the Nijō-in himself. Meanwhile Genji was inspecting +the little train-bearers and pages. They had been chosen from among +the prettiest children in the service of the various ladies in his +household, and seldom can so engaging a troupe have been collected. +His next business was to teach them the curtsey which they would have +to make when they were presented to the Emperor, and each one of them +showed such readiness and perfect grace in executing the unaccustomed +movements that Genji said, laughing: ‘We should have no difficulty in +producing a second dancer from this household, if one were wanted!’ +There were still however more of them than were actually required for +the ceremony, and since all seemed equally good-looking and equally +intelligent, he was obliged to select them according to the rank of +their parents.</p> + +<p>All this while Yūgiri sat hour after hour in his room, giving no heed +to what was going on in this busy house. He was too depressed to work +at his books, and lay all day on his couch staring blankly in front of +him. But at last he grew tired of doing nothing, and thinking that a +little company might distract him, he strolled out to join the throngs +who filled the palace.</p> + +<p>He was well-born, handsome, and, in a subdued way, very agreeable in +his manners. The gentlewomen of the household took no small interest in +him, but he remained somewhat of a mystery to them. With Murasaki he +had few dealings and was indeed barely acquainted with her. Why it was +that he held aloof from her he would have been at a loss to explain. +Was it that some dim instinct warned him against a repetition of his +father’s disastrous entanglements?<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote79" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor79"><sup>79</sup></a></p> + +<p>The Gosechi dancer had already arrived and a space had been screened +up for her to rest in while she was waiting <span class="pagenum" id="Page_128" role="doc-pagebreak">128</span>for her rehearsal. +Yūgiri sauntered towards the screens and peeped to see what was behind +them. There she lay or rather crouched in her corner, looking very +miserable. She seemed about the same age as Kumoi but rather taller, +and was indeed far more obviously good-looking. It was growing dark and +he could not see her features very clearly, but there was certainly +something about her which reminded him of the girl he loved. The +resemblance was not enough to make him feel in any way drawn towards +her; but his curiosity was aroused, and to attract her attention he +rustled the train of her skirt. She looked up startled and on the spur +of the moment he recited the lines: ‘Though you become a servant of +Princess Hill-Eternal<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote80" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor80"><sup>80</sup></a> who dwells above the skies, forget not that +to-night I waited at your door.’ She heard that he had a pleasant +voice, and evidently he was young. But she had not the least idea who +he was, and was beginning to feel somewhat nervous when her attendants +came bustling along with her dancing-clothes, and as there were now +several other people in the room, Yūgiri was obliged to slip away as +unobtrusively as he could. He did not like to show himself at the +Festival in that wretched blue dress and was feeling very disconsolate +at the prospect of being left all alone, when he heard that by Imperial +permission cloaks of any colour might be worn at to-day’s ceremony, and +set off to the Palace. He had no need to hide; for he had a charming +young figure upon which, slender though he was, his man’s dress sat +very well indeed, and every one from the Emperor downwards noticed him +on this occasion with particular pleasure and admiration.</p> + +<p>At the ceremony of Presentation the dancers all acquitted themselves +very creditably and there was little to choose <span class="pagenum" id="Page_129" role="doc-pagebreak">129</span>between the +children in any way, though Koremitsu’s and the Inspector’s were +generally voted to have the best of it as regards good looks. But +pretty as they all were, none of the others was handsome to anything +like the same degree as the girl from Genji’s household.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote81" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor81"><sup>81</sup></a> She +had been brought up in a far humbler way than the others and at any +ordinary gathering would have been quite eclipsed by them. But now, +when all were dressed for the same part, her real superiority became +evident. They were all a little older than the Gosechi dancers usually +are, which gave to this year’s ceremony a character of its own. Genji +was present at the ceremony of Introduction, and the spectacle at once +recalled to his mind that occasion, years ago, when he had so much +admired one of the Gosechi maidens,—the daughter of the Provincial +Secretary.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote82" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor82"><sup>82</sup></a> And now on the evening of the Festival Day he sent +a messenger to her house with the poem: ‘Be thankful that upon the +maidens of the Sky time leaves no mark; for upon me, to whom long since +you waved your dancing-sleeve, age and its evils creep apace.’</p> + +<p>She began to count the years. What a long time ago it had all happened! +She knew that this letter did but betoken a brief moment of reminiscent +tenderness; but it gave her pleasure that he had succumbed to this +feeling, and she answered: ‘It needed but your word to bring them +back, those winter days; though long since faded is the wreath that +crowned them with delight.’ Her answer was written on a blue diapered +paper in a boldly varied hand, heavy and light strokes being dashed in +with an almost cursive sweep,—a somewhat mixed style but, considering +the writer’s position in life, highly creditable, thought Genji as he +examined the note.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile with <em>his</em> Gosechi dancer Yūgiri made no <span class="pagenum" id="Page_130" role="doc-pagebreak">130</span>further +progress, though he thought a good deal about her and would have +cultivated her acquaintance, had it been possible to do so without +attracting attention. Unfortunately she seemed as a rule to be under +extremely close surveillance and he was as yet wholly inexperienced in +the art of circumventing such precautions. But he had certainly taken a +great fancy to her; and though no one could replace Kumoi, a friendship +with this girl might, he felt, do something towards distracting him +from his misery.</p> + +<p>All four dancers were to be retained at the Palace; but for the +moment they had to retire from Court in order to perform the ceremony +of Purification. Yoshikiyo’s daughter was taken off to Karasaki, +Koremitsu’s to Naniwa, and soon the dancers had all left Court. A +post in the Lady of the Bedchamber’s office was vacant, and when the +Emperor suggested that Koremitsu’s daughter might care to take it Genji +naturally accepted for her with alacrity. This was bad news for Yūgiri. +Young and unimportant as he was, he could not possibly try to restrain +her from accepting such a post; but it would be too bad if she never +even found out who it was that had made friends with her that evening +at the Nijō-in; and though Kumoi still occupied the chief place in +his thoughts, there were times when this subsidiary failure weighed +heavily upon him. The girl had a brother who was a page at Court and +had also often waited upon Yūgiri at Genji’s palace. ‘When is your +sister going into residence at Court?’ he asked the page one day, after +making conversation with him for some time. ‘I do not know; some time +this year, I suppose,’ the boy answered. ‘She has an extraordinarily +beautiful face,’ said Yūgiri. ‘I envy you for seeing her so constantly. +I wish you would arrange for me to meet her again.’ ‘How can I?’ said +the boy. ‘I am much younger than she. We have not been brought up +together, and I do not myself see <span class="pagenum" id="Page_131" role="doc-pagebreak">131</span>her except on special occasions. +I have no chance of introducing her to gentlemen such as you....’ ‘But +a letter, surely you could manage a letter?’ and Yūgiri handed him a +note. The boy had been brought up to consider this kind of thing very +underhand; but Yūgiri was so insistent that, much against his will, +he at last consented. The girl had more taste in such matters than is +usual at her age, and the appearance of the note greatly delighted her. +It was on a greenish paper, very thin and fine, laid down on a stout +backing. The hand was naturally still somewhat unformed; but it did not +promise ill for the future. With the letter was a poem: ‘Hidden though +I was, surely the Maid of Heaven perceived with what enthralment I +witnessed the waving of her feathery sleeves?’</p> + +<p>Brother and sister were reading the note together when Koremitsu +suddenly entered the room and snatched it out of their hands. The girl +sat motionless, while the blood rushed to her cheeks. But her brother, +indignant at Koremitsu’s high-handed manner of dealing with the +situation, strode angrily out of the room. ‘Who sent this?’ Koremitsu +called after him. ‘Prince Genji’s son,’ the boy answered, turning +back; ‘the one who is studying for the College. At any rate it was he +who gave me the note and asked me to bring it here.’ Koremitsu, who +regarded Yūgiri as a mere child, burst into a hearty laugh. ‘Well, you +have chosen a pretty little prince for your sweetheart,’ he said; ‘I +thought this letter came from some grown-up person. Of course there +can be no harm in fun of that sort ...’, and showing the letter to his +wife he proceeded to tell her what a nice child Yūgiri was. ‘If it ever +should happen,’ he said to her in an aside, ‘that one of these young +princes took a fancy to our daughter, we should do much better for her +that way than by keeping her at the Palace, where she can never play +more than a very humble part. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_132" role="doc-pagebreak">132</span>There’s this comfort about it, that +if Prince Yūgiri is anything like his father he will continue to show +an interest in her when he grows up. You know I have always told you +that once Prince Genji takes a fancy to people, he never forgets them, +come what may. Look at what he has done for that girl from Akashi.’ +Nevertheless they hurried on the preparations for their daughter’s +departure to Court.</p> + +<p>After this brief diversion Yūgiri became more than ever pre-occupied +with his main misfortune. To Kumoi it was impossible even to send a +letter, and all his time was now spent in endless speculations as to +where and how he should ever see her again. He no longer visited the +Great Hall, for the sight of the rooms where they used to play together +evoked memories that he could not endure. But he was almost equally +miserable at home, and shut himself up for days on end in his own +room. Genji now put him under the care of the Lady from the Village of +Falling Flowers. ‘His grandmother is not likely to live very long,’ +Genji said to her. ‘You have known him since he was quite small and +will be much the best person to look after him.’ She always accepted +with docility whatever duties he put upon her, and now did her best +to look after the boy, of whom she was indeed very fond. Yūgiri liked +her, but he did not think she was at all pretty. It seemed to him that +Genji, who had gone on being fond of this uninteresting lady for so +many years, would surely be able to understand that if one fell in +love with a handsome creature like Kumoi one was not likely to give +her up all in a minute. No doubt the Lady from the Village of Falling +Flowers had quite other qualities to recommend her. She was docile and +equable, and Yūgiri saw that it would be very convenient only to fall +in love with people of that sort. However, if they were as plain as +the lady who had been commissioned to look after him, love would be a +painful business. But perhaps his <span class="pagenum" id="Page_133" role="doc-pagebreak">133</span>father thought her beautiful +or intelligent? The question was hard to answer, but one thing was +certain: Genji managed not to spend much time alone with her. ‘No,’ +said Yūgiri to himself, ‘I cannot remember his doing more than bring +her some little present or chat with her for a few moments from outside +her screen ever since I have been in the house.’</p> + +<p>About this time old Princess Ōmiya took her vows, and though this +necessitated a change of costume, it did not prevent her being as +anxious as ever to make a good impression, and she continued to take +the greatest possible pains with her appearance. Yūgiri had indeed +always known people with whom appearances counted for a great deal; +while the lady who had been put in charge of him, having never been +particularly handsome, had, now that she was no longer quite young, +grown somewhat angular, and her hair was becoming scanty. These things +made a disagreeable impression upon him.</p> + +<p>As the year drew towards a close, Princess Ōmiya’s whole attention +became occupied with the delightful task of making ready the young +scholar’s New Year clothes. It was a splendid costume, <em>that</em> he +could not deny. But it did not seem to interest him very much. ‘I +don’t know why you have ordered all these clothes,’ he said at last; +‘I have no intention of going to Court at all on New Year’s day. Why +did you suppose I meant to?’ ‘What a way to talk!’ she said in bitter +disappointment. ‘One would think you were already an old gentleman +hardly able to drag yourself about!’ ‘One can have the feeling that +one’s life is over, without being old,’ he muttered, his eyes filling +with tears. She knew quite well what was on his mind, and felt very +sorry for him. But she thought it better not to discuss the matter and +said gently: ‘A man ought to bear himself with pride even if he knows +that he <span class="pagenum" id="Page_134" role="doc-pagebreak">134</span>deserves a higher rank than that which for the moment has +been accorded to him. You must not let it depress you so much. Why do +you go about looking so wretched nowadays? It really becomes quite +insufferable.’ ‘I don’t know what you are talking about,’ answered +Yūgiri. ‘Why should I go to Court if I do not choose to? As a matter +of fact, it is very unpleasant to be only in the Sixth Rank. People +notice it and make remarks. I know it is only for the present; but all +the same I had rather stay at home. I am sure that if my grandfather +were alive, he would never allow me to be treated like this. One would +think my father might do <span class="corr" id="corr134" title="Source: someting">something</span> about it; but he does not seem to +care what becomes of me. I saw little enough of him before; but now he +has put me to live right away in the new eastern wing, and never comes +near me at all. The only person who takes any trouble about me is this +‘Falling Flowers’ whom he keeps there....’ ‘Poor child,' said Princess +Ōmiya, ‘it is a terrible misfortune to have no mother, in whatever +rank of life one may be. But before long you will be old enough to +go out into the world and shift for yourself. Then people will soon +learn to respect you. Meanwhile you must try to be patient and not +take these things so much to heart. Your grandfather would indeed have +done more for you if he were here. For though your father holds the +same position, he does not seem to have the same influence over people +as your poor grandfather did. They still tell me that your uncle Tō +no Chūjō is a man of very remarkable talents, and I used to think so +myself. But I have noticed a change in him lately, and it becomes +greater every day. However, things must indeed be in a bad way if a +young boy like you, with all his life before him, can talk so gloomily +about the future....’</p> + +<p>On New Year’s day Genji, being Grand Minister Extraordinary, did not +go to Court, but following the precedent <span class="pagenum" id="Page_135" role="doc-pagebreak">135</span>set by Fujiwara no +Yoshifusa<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote83" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor83"><sup>83</sup></a> celebrated the rites of the season at his own palace. +On the seventh day a White Horse was presented to the Grand Minister +with exactly the same ceremonies as to the Emperor at Court; indeed, +in many respects the festivities arranged by Genji exceeded in their +magnificence anything that had ever been seen on such occasions save +at the Palace itself. Towards the end of the second month came the +Imperial Visit to the ex-Emperor Suzaku. It was too early for the +blossoms to be quite at their best, but immediately afterwards came +the ‘month of fasting’ in memory of the Emperor’s mother, so the Visit +could not be postponed. Fortunately the cherry blossom was unusually +early this year and in Suzaku’s gardens it already made a delightful +show. A tremendous cleaning and polishing was set afoot at his palace +in preparation for the Emperor’s arrival; and meanwhile the noblemen +and princes who were to accompany his Majesty thought of nothing but +their new clothes. They had been ordered to wear dove-grey lined with +pale green; the Emperor himself was to be dressed all in crimson. By +special command Genji was also in attendance on the day of the Visit, +and he too wore red; so that frequently during the day the figure of +the Emperor seemed to merge into that of his Minister, and it was as +though the two of them formed but one crimson giant. Every one present +had taken unusual pains with his appearance, and their host, the +ex-Emperor, who had grown into a far better-looking man than at one +time seemed possible, evidently took much more interest in such matters +than before, and was himself magnificently apparelled.</p> + +<p>Professional poets had not been summoned for the occasion, but only +some ten scholars from the College who had the reputation of being able +to turn out good verses.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136" role="doc-pagebreak">136</span>The subjects chosen were modelled on those given out to the +competitors for posts in the Board of Rites. It was thought that it +would be a good thing to give Yūgiri some idea of the themes given out +at Palace examinations. That his mind might not be disturbed, each poet +was set adrift on the lake all by himself, and it was with considerable +alarm that these timid scholars, few of whom had ever set foot in a +boat before, saw their moorings loosed and felt themselves gliding +further and further away from the shore. As dusk drew on, boats with +musicians on board began to circle the lake, and their tunes mingled +agreeably with the sighing of the mountain wind. Here, thought Yūgiri, +was a profession which brought one into pleasant contact with the world +and at the same time entailed studies far less arduous than those to +which he had been so heartlessly condemned; and he wandered about +feeling very discontented.</p> + +<p>Later on, the dance called ‘<cite class="normal">Warbling of the Spring Nightingales</cite>,’ was +performed, and Suzaku, remembering that famous Feast of Flowers<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote84" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor84"><sup>84</sup></a> +years ago said to Genji with a sigh: ‘What wonderful days those were! +We shall not see their like again.’ There were indeed many incidents +belonging to that time which even now Genji looked back upon with +considerable emotion, and when the dance was over, he handed the +wine bowl to Suzaku, reciting as he did so: ‘Spring comes, and still +the sweet birds warble as of old; but altered and bereft<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote85" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor85"><sup>85</sup></a> are +they that sit beneath the blossoming tree.’ To this Suzaku replied: +‘To-day the nightingales have come to tell me of the Spring. Else had +no sunshine pierced the mists that hide my hermit’s-dwelling from +the world’s pomp and pride.' It was now the turn of Prince Sochi no +Miya, who had recently become <span class="pagenum" id="Page_137" role="doc-pagebreak">137</span>President of the Board of War, to +present the bowl. He did so, reciting the verse: ‘Speak not of change; +unaltered through all ages<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote86" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor86"><sup>86</sup></a> shall the flute preserve their song, the +nightingales that in the spring-time warble on the swaying bough.’ This +was said with a glance towards the Emperor, and in loud clear voice, +that the compliment might not be missed. Ryōzen was indeed gratified by +the graceful allusion, but as he took the bowl he answered modestly: +‘If birds still sing and a few faded blossoms deck the tree, it is but +in remembrance of those happier days when Virtue ruled the world.’ This +was said with great earnestness and humility. All the above poems were +exchanged privately and only overheard by a few privileged persons, and +there were others which did not get recorded at all. The pavilion of +the musicians was some way off, and Suzaku suggested that those about +him should send for their instruments and make a little music of their +own. Sochi no Miya accordingly played on the lute, Tō no Chūjō on the +Japanese zithern, while Suzaku himself played to the Emperor on the +thirteen-stringed zithern. The Chinese zithern was as usual played by +Genji. It was seldom that so gifted a band of performers chanced to +meet in one place, and the concert that followed was of unforgettable +beauty. Several of the courtiers present had good voices, and the songs +‘<cite class="normal">Was ever such a day!</cite>’ and the ‘<cite class="normal">Cherry Man</cite>’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote87" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor87"><sup>87</sup></a> were now performed. +Finally torches were lit all round the edge of the island in the lake, +and so the feast at last came to an end. But late as it was, Ryōzen +felt that it would be uncivil on his part if he went away without +paying his respects to Suzaku’s mother, Lady Kōkiden, who was living in +the same house with him. Genji was naturally obliged to <span class="pagenum" id="Page_138" role="doc-pagebreak">138</span>accompany +him. The old lady received them in person and was evidently very much +gratified by the visit. She had aged immensely since he last saw her; +but here she still was, and it irritated him to think that she should +hang on to life in this way, when a much younger woman like Fujitsubo +was already in her grave. ‘My memory is not so good as it was,’ said +Kōkiden, ‘but this visit of yours has brought back the old days to my +mind more clearly than anything that has happened to me for a long +time past.’ ‘Those upon whom I leaned have now been taken from me one +after another,’ the Emperor replied, ‘and hitherto the year has had +no spring-time for me. But my visit to your house to-day has at last +dispelled my grief; I hope you will permit me to come here often....’ +Genji too had to make a suitable speech, and had even to ask if he also +might venture to call again. The procession left the house amid great +scenes of popular enthusiasm, which painfully reminded the old lady +of her complete failure to injure Prince Genji’s career. To govern he +was born, and govern he would despite all her scheming. ‘Well, such +is fate,’ she thought, and was almost sorry that she had wasted time +contending against it.</p> + +<p>It was natural that this visit should bring Oborozuki to his mind. +Not that he had altogether ceased corresponding with her; for lately +whenever an opportunity occurred, he had sent her a word or two of +greeting. And now there rose before him on his way home many delightful +recollections of the hours they had spent together.</p> + +<p>As for Kōkiden, despite her professions of good will she did as a +matter of fact intensely dislike all contact with the present Emperor +and his government. But it was sometimes necessary to communicate with +them concerning her own salary, or the preferment of her friends, and +on such occasions she often wished that she had not <span class="pagenum" id="Page_139" role="doc-pagebreak">139</span>lived to see +an age which was in all respects the reversal of what she herself had +striven for. Old age had not improved her temper, and even Suzaku found +her very difficult to get on with, and sometimes wondered how much +longer he would be able to endure so trying a partnership.</p> + +<p>So greatly had Yūgiri distinguished himself in the literary +competitions which marked that day’s festivity, that upon the strength +of them alone he was awarded the Doctor’s degree. Among those who had +competed were many who were far older than he and some who were thought +to possess remarkable ability. But besides Yūgiri only two others were +passed. When the time of the autumn appointments came round he received +the rank of Chamberlain. He longed as much as ever to see Lady Kumoi. +But he knew that Tō no Chūjō had his eye upon him, and to force his +way into her presence under such circumstances would have been so very +disagreeable that he contented himself with an occasional letter. She, +meanwhile, was fully as wretched as her young lover.</p> + +<p>Genji had long had it in his mind, if only he could find a site +sufficiently extensive and with the same natural advantages as the +Nijō-in, to build himself a new palace where he could house under one +roof the various friends whose present inaccessibility, installed as +they were in remote country places, was very inconvenient to him. He +now managed to secure a site of four <i>machi</i><a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote88" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor88"><sup>88</sup></a> in the Sixth Ward +close to where Lady Rokujō had lived and at once began to build.</p> + +<p>The fiftieth birthday of Murasaki’s father Prince Hyōbukyō was in the +autumn of the following year. The preparations for this event were +of course chiefly in her hands; but Genji too, seeing that on this +occasion at any rate he must appear to have overcome his dislike of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140" role="doc-pagebreak">140</span>prince, determined to give the affair an additional magnificence +by holding the celebrations in his new house; and with this end in +view he hurried on the work of construction as fast as he could. +The New Year came, and still the place was far from finished. What +with spurring on architects and builders, arranging for the Birthday +Service, choosing the musicians, the dancers and the like, he had +plenty to keep him busy. Murasaki herself had undertaken the decking of +the scripture-rolls and images that would be used at the Service; as +well as the customary distribution of presents and mementos. In these +tasks she was aided by the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers, +and it was at this time that an intimacy sprang up between them such as +had never existed before.</p> + +<p>The rumour of these preparations soon reached Prince Hyōbukyō’s ears. +After the general amnesty which succeeded his return from Suma, Genji +in general made no difference between those who had remained loyal to +his cause and those who had stood aloof from him. But from the first +Hyōbukyō felt that in his case an exception was made. Over and over +again he found himself treated with marked coldness, and the refusal +to accept his younger daughter as a candidate for the Emperor’s hand, +together with a number of other small but vexatious incidents, finally +convinced him that he must at some time have given Genji particular +offence. How this had occurred he was at a loss to conjecture; it +was indeed the last thing in the world which he would have wished +to happen. The fact that, among the many women upon whom Genji had +bestowed his favours, it was Murasaki who had been chosen to be the +mistress of his house, gave to Hyōbukyō, as her father, a certain +worldly prestige. But it could by no means be said that he had hitherto +taken a personal share in any of his daughter’s triumphs. This time +however, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_141" role="doc-pagebreak">141</span>a celebration in which Hyōbukyō necessarily played the +foremost part was being planned and prepared by Genji himself on a +scale which had set the whole country talking. The prince began to hope +that his old age would be lightened by a period of belated conspicuity, +and he began to feel very well pleased with himself. This intensely +irritated his wife, who could not endure that honours should come to +him through the influence of her step-child, and saw no reason why +Genji should so quickly be forgiven his obstructive attitude concerning +the Presentation of her own little daughter.</p> + +<p>The new palace was finished in the eighth month. The portions +corresponding to the astrological signs Sheep and Monkey<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote89" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor89"><sup>89</sup></a> were +reserved for Lady Akikonomu’s occasional use, for they stood on ground +that her own suite of rooms had once occupied. The Dragon and Snake +quarters were for Genji himself; while the Bull and Tiger corner was to +be used by the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers. Finally the +Dog and Wild Boar quarters were made ready for the Lady from Akashi, +in the hope that she would at last consent to instal herself under his +roof.</p> + +<p>He effected great improvement in the appearance of the grounds by a +judicious handling of knoll and lake, for though such features were +already there in abundance, he found it necessary here to cut away +a slope, there to dam a stream, that each occupant of the various +quarters might look out of her windows upon such a prospect as pleased +her best. To the south-east he raised the level of the ground, and on +this bank planted a profusion of early flowering trees. At the foot of +this slope the lake curved with especial beauty, and in the foreground, +just beneath <span class="pagenum" id="Page_142" role="doc-pagebreak">142</span>the windows, he planted borders of cinquefoil, of +red-plum, cherry, wistaria, kerria, rock-azalea, and other such plants +as are at their best in spring-time; for he knew that Murasaki was +in especial a lover of the spring; while here and there, in places +where they would not obstruct his main plan, autumn beds were cleverly +interwoven with the rest.</p> + +<p>Akikonomu’s garden was full of such trees as in autumn-time turn to +the deepest hue. The stream above the waterfall was cleared out and +deepened to a considerable distance; and that the noise of the cascade +might carry further, he set great boulders in mid-stream, against which +the current crashed and broke. It so happened that, the season being +far advanced, it was this part of the garden that was now seen at its +best; here indeed was such beauty as far eclipsed the autumn splendour +even of the forests near Ōi, so famous for their autumn tints.</p> + +<p>In the north-eastern garden there was a cool spring, the neighbourhood +of which seemed likely to yield an agreeable refuge from the summer +heat. In the borders near the house upon this side he planted Chinese +bamboos, and a little further off, tall-stemmed forest-trees whose +thick leaves roofed airy tunnels of shade, pleasant as those of the +most lovely upland wood. This garden was fenced with hedges of the +white deutzia flower, the orange tree ‘whose scent rewakes forgotten +love,’ the briar-rose, and the giant peony; with many other sorts of +bush and tall flower so skilfully spread about among them that neither +spring nor autumn would ever lack in bravery.</p> + +<p>On the east a great space was walled off, behind which rose the +Racing Lodge<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote90" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor90"><sup>90</sup></a>; in front of it the race-course was marked off with +ozier hurdles; and as he would be resident here during the sports of +the fifth month, all along the stream at this point he planted the +appropriate purple <span class="pagenum" id="Page_143" role="doc-pagebreak">143</span>irises.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote91" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor91"><sup>91</sup></a> Opposite were the stables with +stalls for his racehorses, and quarters for the jockeys and grooms. +Here were gathered together the most daring riders from every province +in the kingdom. To the north of Lady Akashi’s rooms rose a high +embankment, behind which lay the storehouses and granaries, screened +also by a close-set wall of pine-trees, planted there on purpose that +she might have the pleasure of seeing them when their boughs were laden +with snow; and for her delight in the earlier days of the winter there +was a great bed of chrysanthemums, which he pictured her enjoying on +some morning when all the garden was white with frost. Then there was +the mother-oak<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote92" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor92"><sup>92</sup></a> (for was not she a mother?) and, brought hither from +wild and inaccessible places, a hundred other bushes and trees, so +seldom seen that no one knew what names to call them by.</p> + +<p>The move was to take place about the time of the Festival of the +Further Shore.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote93" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor93"><sup>93</sup></a> He had at first intended to transfer all the +occupants at one time. But it soon became apparent that this would +be too vast an undertaking, and it was arranged that Lady Akikonomu +should not arrive till somewhat later than the rest. With her usual +amiability and good-sense the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers +readily fell in with the suggestion that she and her party should +not form a separate cortège, but should join with Murasaki in the +ceremony of removal. Genji regretted that the latter was not going to +see her new domain at the season for which it had been principally +designed; but still, the move itself was a diverting experience. There +were fifteen coaches in the procession and almost all the outriders +were <span class="pagenum" id="Page_144" role="doc-pagebreak">144</span>gentlemen of the fourth or fifth rank. The ordering of the +procession was not so elaborate as might have been expected, for it +seemed likely at the moment that too lavish a display might try the +temper of the common people, and some of the more ostentatious forms +and ceremonies were either omitted or abridged.</p> + +<p>But Genji was careful not to let it seem that any of these restrictions +had been carried out to the detriment of one lady rather than another. +The Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers had indeed nothing to +complain of, for Yūgiri had been told off to wait upon her exclusively +during the whole ceremony. The gentlewomen and maids found their +quarters in the new house admirably fitted out with every comfort and +convenience, and they were louder than ever in Genji’s praises. About +six days later the Empress Akikonomu arrived from the Palace. The +ceremony of her arrival, though it had been intended that the whole +move should be as little ostentatious as possible, was necessarily +a very sumptuous and imposing affair. Not only had she risen from +obscurity to the highest place which a woman can hold in the land, +but she had herself advanced so much in beauty and acquired so great +a dignity of carriage and mien that she now figured very large in the +popular imagination, and crowds flocked the road wherever she was to +pass.</p> + +<p>The various quarters of which the New Palace was composed were joined +by numerous alleys and covered ways, so that access from one to +another was easy, and no one felt that she had been bundled away into +a corner. When the ninth month came and the autumn leaves began to be +at their best, the splendours of Akikonomu’s new garden were at last +revealed, and indeed the sights upon which her windows looked were +indescribably lovely. One evening when the crimson carpet was ruffled +by a gusty wind, she filled a little box with red leaves from different +trees and <span class="pagenum" id="Page_145" role="doc-pagebreak">145</span>sent it to Murasaki. As messenger she chose one of the +little girls who waited upon her. The child, a well grown, confident +little thing, came tripping across the humped wooden bridge that led +from the Empress’s apartments with the utmost unconcern. Pleased +though Murasaki was to receive this prompt mark of friendship, she +could for a while do nothing but gaze with delight at the messenger’s +appearance, and she quite forgot to be resentful, as some in her place +would have been, that an older and more dignified messenger had not +been entrusted with the Empress’s gift. The child wore a silk shirt, +yellow outside and lined with green. Her mantle was of brown gauze. +She was used to running about on messages in the Palace, had that +absolute faultlessness of turn-out and bearing which seems never to be +found elsewhere, and was far from being overawed at finding herself in +the presence of such a person as Lady Murasaki. Attached to the box +was the poem: ‘Though yours be a garden where only Spring-time is of +price, suffer it that from my house Autumn should blow a crimson leaf +into your hand.’ It was amusing to see how while Murasaki read the +missive, her ladies crowded round the little messenger and plied her +with refreshments and caresses. For answer, Murasaki placed in the lid +of the box a carpet of moss and on it laid a very little toy rock. Then +she wrote on a strip of paper tied to a sprig of five-pointed pine: +‘The light leaf scatters in the wind, and of the vaunted spring no +tinge is left us, save where the pine-tree grips its ledge of stone.’</p> + +<p>The Empress thought at first that it was a real pine-branch. But +when she looked closer she saw that, like the rock, it was a work of +art—as delicate and ingenious a piece of craftsmanship as she had +ever encountered. The readiness of Murasaki’s answer and the tact +with which, while not exalting her own favourite season above that +of <span class="pagenum" id="Page_146" role="doc-pagebreak">146</span>Akikonomu’s choice, she had yet found a symbol to save her +from tame surrender, pleased the Empress and was greeted as a happy +stroke by all the ladies who were with her. But Genji when she showed +it to him pretended to think the reply very impertinent, and to tease +Murasaki he said to her afterwards: ‘I think you received these leaves +most ungraciously. At another season one might venture perhaps upon +such disparagement; but to do so now that the Goddess of Tatsuta<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote94" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor94"><sup>94</sup></a> +holds us all in sway seems almost seditious. You should have bided +your time; for only from behind the shelter of blossoming boughs could +such a judgment be uttered with impunity.’ So he spoke; but he was in +reality delighted to find these marks of interest and good will being +exchanged between the various occupants of his house, and he felt that +the new arrangement was certain to prove a great success.</p> + +<p>When the Lady of Akashi heard of the removal to the New Palace and +was told that only her own quarters, as spacious and handsome as any +of the rest, now remained untenanted, she determined at last to hold +aloof no longer. It was the Godless month when she arrived. She looked +around her and, mistrustful though she was, she certainly could see +no sign here that as regards either elegance or comfort she would be +expected to put up with less than her neighbours. And indeed Genji +saw to it that on all occasions she should rank in the eyes of the +household rather as mother of the little Princess for whom so brilliant +a future was in store, than as the scion of a poor and undistinguished +provincial family.</p> + +<div class="footnote" role="doc-endnotes"> +<ul class="footnote_items"> +<li id="Footnote55"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor55" class="fnanchor">55</a> Genji is now 33.</li> + +<li id="Footnote56"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor56" class="fnanchor">56</a> In the 4th month.</li> + +<li id="Footnote57"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor57" class="fnanchor">57</a> The laurel and the hollyhock form the garlands worn by worshippers +at this festival.</li> + +<li id="Footnote58"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor58" class="fnanchor">58</a> Her mourning was of dark blue wistaria-colour.</li> + +<li id="Footnote59"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor59" class="fnanchor">59</a> Her period of mourning is almost over. There is a play of words; +<dfn>fuji</dfn> = wistaria, and <dfn>fuchi</dfn> = pool.</li> + +<li id="Footnote60"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor60" class="fnanchor">60</a> The presents of gay clothing which are customarily made to a +person who has just emerged from a period of mourning.</li> + +<li id="Footnote61"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor61" class="fnanchor">61</a> The professors speak in a mixture of antiquated Japanese and +classical Chinese the effect of which I do not attempt to reproduce.</li> + +<li id="Footnote62"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor62" class="fnanchor">62</a> See my <cite>Nō Plays</cite>, p. 15 seq.</li> + +<li id="Footnote63"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor63" class="fnanchor">63</a> In eight lines.</li> + +<li id="Footnote64"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor64" class="fnanchor">64</a> Like Chʻe Yün and Sun Kʻang, two Chinese scholars who had not +money enough to buy candles (4th century A.D.).</li> + +<li id="Footnote65_66"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor65" class="fnanchor">65</a>, <a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor66" class="fnanchor">66</a> By Ssu-ma Chʻien, 1st century B.C., a book somewhat longer than +Gibbon’s <cite>Decline and Fall</cite>; by far the most distinguished Chinese +historical work.</li> + +<li id="Footnote67"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor67" class="fnanchor">67</a> The eldest daughter of Tō no Chūjō.</li> + +<li id="Footnote68"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor68" class="fnanchor">68</a> Murasaki’s father, who was anxious to place his younger daughter +at Court.</li> + +<li id="Footnote69"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor69" class="fnanchor">69</a> See vol. ii, p. 86. The rhyme-words at the end of the verses were +covered and the competitors had to guess them.</li> + +<li id="Footnote70"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor70" class="fnanchor">70</a> His first wife was a daughter of the Minister of the Right.</li> + +<li id="Footnote71"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor71" class="fnanchor">71</a> Akikonomu.</li> + +<li id="Footnote72"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor72" class="fnanchor">72</a> Kumoi.</li> + +<li id="Footnote73"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor73" class="fnanchor">73</a> The ex-Emperor Suzaku’s little son.</li> + +<li id="Footnote74"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor74" class="fnanchor">74</a> Using ‘major’ and ‘minor’ as translations of <i>Yō</i> and <i>In</i>. The +six strings were tuned to the 1st, 5th, 9th, and 3rd, 7th, 11th, +semitones of the diatonic scale.</li> + +<li id="Footnote75"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor75" class="fnanchor">75</a> ‘Some such sorrow as mine they too must know, the wild-geese that +with sorrowful cry trail through the country of the clouds.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote76"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor76" class="fnanchor">76</a> A sister of Kōkiden.</li> + +<li id="Footnote77"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor77" class="fnanchor">77</a> Of Akikonomu as Empress.</li> + +<li id="Footnote78"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor78" class="fnanchor">78</a> Kumoi’s mother.</li> + +<li id="Footnote79"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor79" class="fnanchor">79</a> With Fujitsubo, his father’s concubine.</li> + +<li id="Footnote80"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor80" class="fnanchor">80</a> There is a legend which tells how certain dancing-maidens took the +fancy of the gods and were snatched up to the sky.</li> + +<li id="Footnote81"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor81" class="fnanchor">81</a> Koremitsu’s daughter.</li> + +<li id="Footnote82"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor82" class="fnanchor">82</a> See vol. ii, pp. 96 and 129.</li> + +<li id="Footnote83"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor83" class="fnanchor">83</a> 804–872 A.D.</li> + +<li id="Footnote84"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor84" class="fnanchor">84</a> See vol. i, p. 239 seq.</li> + +<li id="Footnote85"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor85" class="fnanchor">85</a> Allusion to the death of the old Emperor, Genji’s and Suzaku’s +father.</li> + +<li id="Footnote86"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor86" class="fnanchor">86</a> The song and dance ‘<cite class="normal">Warbling of the Spring Nightingales</cite>’ are +attributed to the mythical Chinese Emperor Yao, 3rd millennium B.C.</li> + +<li id="Footnote87"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor87" class="fnanchor">87</a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> + +<li id="Footnote88"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor88" class="fnanchor">88</a> A <dfn>machi</dfn> is 119 yards.</li> + +<li id="Footnote89"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor89" class="fnanchor">89</a> The points of the compass indicated by these animal designations +are, successively S.W., S.E., N.E., N.W. Houses were planned with +reference to Chinese astrological conceptions.</li> + +<li id="Footnote90"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor90" class="fnanchor">90</a> Used for residence during the Kamo Festival.</li> + +<li id="Footnote91"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor91" class="fnanchor">91</a> Plucked on the 5th day of the 5th month.</li> + +<li id="Footnote92"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor92" class="fnanchor">92</a> <i>Quercus dentata</i>.</li> + +<li id="Footnote93"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor93" class="fnanchor">93</a> Lasts for a week, centring round the autumnal equinox. The Further +Shore is Nirvāna, to which Buddha carries us in the Ship of Salvation. +The festival is peculiar to Japan.</li> + +<li id="Footnote94"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor94" class="fnanchor">94</a> Goddess of the autumn; here compared to Akikonomu. The secondary +meaning is ‘You must be more civil to Akikonomu now that she is +Empress.’</li> +</ul> +</div> +</section> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-chapter" aria-labelledby="c04-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_147" role="doc-pagebreak">147</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c04-hd">CHAPTER IV<br>TAMAKATSURA</h2> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Though seventeen years had now passed since Yūgao’s death,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote95" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor95"><sup>95</sup></a> +Genji had not by any means forgotten her. He had indeed since those +early days seen much of the world and encountered the most divers +temperaments. But he had yet to find a disposition such as hers; and it +was with feelings of longing and contrition that he looked back upon +their intimacy.</p> + +<p>Though Ukon was not a creature of much account, she was the one person +to whom he could speak of the dead lady. He felt a considerable degree +of affection towards her, and during the years after Yūgao’s death +Ukon had practically lived at the <span class="corr" id="corr147" title="Source: Nijo-in">Nijō-in</span>, being allowed to spend most +of her time with the older servants in the housekeeper’s room. Then +came the exile, and with Genji’s other servants she went across to the +western wing and entered Murasaki’s service. She gave the impression of +being a harmless, self-effacing creature, and it would have surprised +every one very much to know what was all the while going on in her +mind. For Ukon, particularly after the move to the New Palace, was +constantly appraising the relative positions of the great ladies who +ruled the house, and deciding what place her own dear mistress would +now be occupying, were she still alive. ‘Certainly,’ said Ukon to +herself, looking critically at the Lady of Akashi, ‘my poor lady would +not have been eclipsed by such as <span class="pagenum" id="Page_148" role="doc-pagebreak">148</span>you!’ And indeed Ukon had seen +for herself that even where his feelings were far less strong than in +Yūgao’s case, there never came a time when Genji turned aside from +those who had opened their hearts to him, or behaved as though his +obligations towards them were at an end. However full might be the cup +of his affections, he did not allow a drop to spill; and though Yūgao +might not perhaps have been able to vie with so great a personage as +Murasaki, yet it was certain that were she alive she would now be +occupying one of the main apartments in the newly-finished house.</p> + +<p>Such were the sad reflections that dwelt constantly in this solitary +lady’s heart. She had never attempted to get into communication with +the family of her late mistress, nor even to discover the present +whereabouts of the child<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote96" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor96"><sup>96</sup></a> whom Yūgao had left behind at the house +in the Fifth Ward; partly through fear of being questioned concerning +her own part in the unhappy affair, partly because there seemed to be +no object in doing so. Moreover, Genji had strictly forbidden her to +mention the story to anybody, and though she had sometimes thought of +writing to the people at the house, she felt that it would be disloyal +to him to do so, and was entirely without news. She did, however, hear +long afterwards a report that the husband of the nurse in whose care +the child had been left was now working in a provincial Treasury and +that his wife was with him. It seemed probable that they had also taken +the child.</p> + +<p>This was indeed the case. Tamakatsura was four years old when she made +the journey to Tsukushi. The nurse, after months of vain endeavour to +discover Yūgao’s whereabouts, during which she had trudged weary and +weeping from quarter to quarter and house to house without finding +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149" role="doc-pagebreak">149</span>the least glimmer of news, had at last given up all hope. She +would have been glad enough for her own sake to keep the child, to whom +she had become fondly attached, as a remembrance of the mistress whom +she must now regard as forever lost. But there were also the little +girl’s own interests to consider. ‘We are humble people,’ thought the +nurse, ‘and Tsukushi<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote97" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor97"><sup>97</sup></a> is a long way off. Perhaps it is my duty +to tell her father<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote98" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor98"><sup>98</sup></a> of what has happened and give him the chance +of making some more suitable provision for her future.’ But it was +difficult for such people to communicate with a young gentleman of Tō +no Chūjō’s quality. ‘If I mention the child to its father,’ she said +to her husband one day, ‘he is certain to ask at once how I could have +been so foolish as to let our poor young lady out of my sight. And +indeed, I don’t know how I should answer him. Then again, it isn’t +as if he had ever seen much of the little creature. It would be like +handing her over to strangers, and I do not think that, when the time +came, I should ever find it in my heart to let her go. He may of course +refuse to do anything for her himself; but one thing is certain: if +he hears we are going off to Tsukushi, he will never give me leave to +take her with us!’ So the nurse declared to her husband and companions. +Though Tamakatsura was not much over three years old when her mother +disappeared, she had acquired all the airs and graces of a little +lady; she was remarkably good-looking and it was apparent that she +already had a strong will of her own. But now she was bundled on to a +common trading-ship in which no provision whatever had been made for +the comfort of the passengers; and as they rowed out into the bay, she +began to look very disconsolate. She still thought <span class="pagenum" id="Page_150" role="doc-pagebreak">150</span>a great deal +about her mother, and, to re-assure herself, she said out loud: ‘I know +why we are travelling on this ship; we are going to see mother!’ She +returned to this idea again and again, but it received no confirmation +on any side, and at last she burst into tears. Two young women sitting +near by were also weeping, though they suddenly ceased to do so when +one of the sailors reminded them that ‘tears bring bad luck at sea.’</p> + +<p>Skirting along the coast they passed much lovely scenery’, and the +nurse, remembering what delight her young mistress had taken in such +sights as these, wished for a moment that she were here to see them. +But then she remembered that but for Yūgao’s disappearance she and her +husband would never have been driven to accept this wretched post in +the provinces, and she gazed regretfully in the direction of the City, +envying even the waves that stole back so peacefully towards shores +‘that she, perhaps, would never tread again.’ Soon the rowers began +chanting in their rough, wild voices the song ‘Over the distant waves,’ +and the two young women, who were sitting face to face, again began to +weep bitterly. At last the ship rounded the Golden Cape, and knowing +that the coast which now came into view belonged not to the mainland, +but to the island of Tsukushi, the travellers felt that exile had +indeed begun. The old nurse’s heart sank; but she had her little charge +to see to and was most of the time far too busy to think of anything +else. Now and again she would drop off to sleep and then, as for some +time past, she would at once dream that her mistress appeared before +her. But always at Yūgao’s side there stood the figure of another +woman, who seemed to follow her wherever she went. The nurse woke +from these dreams sickened and afraid, and she felt, after each such +occasion, more certain than ever that Yūgao was no longer alive.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151" role="doc-pagebreak">151</span>Shōni, the nurse’s husband, had only been appointed to his post +in Tsukushi for a term of five years. But the position he held was a +very humble one and when the time came, he found it difficult to meet +the expenses of a long journey. Thus their departure for the capital +had to be postponed again and again. At last, after many months of +disappointment and delay, Shōni fell seriously ill. Tamakatsura was +now ten years old and was growing handsomer every day. Shōni, who knew +that his end was near, kept asking himself what would become of her +in this desolate place. He had always felt that in bringing her with +them they had acted somewhat unfairly to the child. For after all +she was Tō no Chūjō’s daughter, and her birth entitled her to better +surroundings than the cramped and dingy home of a provincial clerk. +But five years is not a very long time, and he had always confidently +expected that when his term of office ran out he would be able to take +her with him to Kyōto and put her into touch with her father. True, it +was possible that Chūjō would refuse to acknowledge her. But the City +is a big place, and Shōni made no doubt that, once he had settled her +there, a girl such as this would not have to wait very long before a +satisfactory opening occurred. For this reason he had done everything +in his power to raise funds for the journey. But now the last expedient +had failed and he knew that for his part he was fated never to leave +Tsukushi. During his last days he worried much over the injustice which +had been done to the child in detaining her so long away from the +Capital, and sending for his sons he said to them: ‘As soon as this is +over I want you to take Tamakatsura back to the City. The same day. +Don’t wait for the funeral....’</p> + +<p>It was only known to the members of Shōni’s family that the little +girl was Tō no Chūjō’s daughter. To the other <span class="pagenum" id="Page_152" role="doc-pagebreak">152</span>government clerks +and to the world in general she was a grand-daughter of Shōni’s whose +parents were in trouble of some kind and had left her in his charge. +But in the family she continued to be treated as ‘the young lady’, and +every sacrifice was made that she might have, so far as possible, the +upbringing to which her birth entitled her. Shōni’s sudden illness and +death naturally threw his wife into a piteous state of distraction; but +in the midst of her grief, one thought obsessed her; would they ever +be able to secure a passage back to the City and restore the little +girl to her relations? Unfortunately Shōni had been unpopular with the +local people and none of them would give any assistance. Thus the time +dragged on, wretched years full of anxiety and discouragement; and +still there seemed no prospect of return.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Tamakatsura grew to womanhood. She had all her mother’s +beauty, and something more besides; for she seemed to have inherited +from her father’s side a singular air of high breeding, an aristocratic +fineness of limb and gesture, that in Yūgao, whose beauty was that of +the by-street rather than of the palace, had been entirely lacking. +She was of a very generous disposition, and in every way a most +delightful companion. Her fame soon spread through the island, and +hardly a day passed but some local squire or farmer attempted to get +into correspondence with her. These letters, written for the most part +in a rustic sprawling hand and very crudely expressed, were thrust +upon every member of the household in turn in the hope that he or she +would consent to act as a go-between. Clumsy documents of this kind +were calculated to arouse nothing but disgust in the breast of any +one save an islander, and no attention whatever was paid to them. At +last the persistence of her suitors became a nuisance, and the nurse +put it about that though the girl looked just like other people, she +suffered <span class="pagenum" id="Page_153" role="doc-pagebreak">153</span>from a secret deformity which made it impossible for her +ever to marry. It had indeed (so the story ran) already been decided +that she was to live quietly with her ‘grandmother’ till the old lady +died, and after that was to enter a nunnery. But it soon became so +irritating to hear every one saying: ‘Isn't it sad about poor Shōni's +grand-daughter? They say she has got some terrible deformity,’ that the +old nurse could bear it no longer and again began racking her brains +to discover some way of getting the girl back to her father. Was it +conceivable that he would refuse to look after her? After all, he had +made quite a fuss over her when she was a baby. The old lady prayed +fervently to every Buddha and God that some way might present itself of +taking Tamakatsura to Kyōto. But the chance of any member of her family +getting away from Tsukushi was now remoter than ever. Her daughters had +married local people and her sons were employed in the neighbourhood. +In her heart of hearts she still cherished all sorts of schemes for +compassing the return of the whole family; but every day it became +more and more impossible that anything of the kind would ever happen. +Thus Tamakatsura grew up amid continual lamentations and repinings +and learnt to look upon life as one long succession of troubles and +disappointments, varied only by three great bouts of penance and +fasting, each January, May and September. The years went by. She was +now twenty; her beauty was at its height, and still it was being wasted +in this barbarous and sequestered land.</p> + +<p>Some while after Shōni’s death the family had moved along the coast +from Chikuzen to Hizen, hoping for a more peaceful existence in a place +where they were not known. But Tamakatsura’s reputation had preceded +her and, little inclined to credit the stories about her deformity, the +notabilities of the neighbouring countryside began <span class="pagenum" id="Page_154" role="doc-pagebreak">154</span>pestering her +guardians with such assiduity that life soon became as harassing as +before.</p> + +<p>Among these suitors there was a certain Tayū no Gen who held a small +position under the Lord-Lieutenant of Tsukushi. He came of a family +that was very influential in Higo and the surrounding country, and +on this side of the island he ranked as a person of considerable +importance. He had, moreover, greatly distinguished himself in a +campaign against the insurgents. To a singular degree of hardihood +and endurance there was added in his nature more than a fair share +of sensuality. Women were his hobby; he kept a prodigious quantity +of them always about him, and was continually on the look-out for +opportunities of adding to the collection. The story of the beautiful +Tamakatsura and of the secret deformity which prevented her marriage +soon reached Tayū’s ears. ‘Mis-shapen, is she?’ he cried. ‘Frightened +that people will stare? She need not worry about that if she comes to +me. I’ll keep her locked up all right!’ and he wrote at once to Shōni’s +wife. The old lady, who knew his reputation, was sadly put about. She +replied that her grand-daughter was destined for the convent and that +no proposals of this kind could be entertained on her behalf. Tayū was +not used to be put off like this and, determined at all costs to get +his way, he came galloping over to Hizen at full speed. He immediately +summoned Shōni’s three sons to his lodging and said to them: ‘Let me +have that girl, and you may count on me as a friend for life. My name +goes for something on the Higo side....’ Two of the sons were easily +won over and promised to do as Tayū asked. They had, it is true, a +moment’s qualm at the thought of handing over Tō no Chūjō’s child to +this lawless provincial swashbuckler. But they had their own way to +make in the world, and they knew that Tayū had by no means exaggerated +the value of <span class="pagenum" id="Page_155" role="doc-pagebreak">155</span>his own friendship and protection. On the other hand, +life on this part of the island with Tayū against one was a prospect +not to be faced with equanimity. If the girl had failed to take in the +world the place to which her rank entitled her, that was her father’s +fault, not theirs. She ought to be grateful that such a man as this +(after all, he was the principal person in the neighbourhood) should +have taken such a fancy to her. In Tsukushi at any rate there was no +prospect of doing better for her, and Tayū, angered by the refusal of +his proffered patronage would certainly stick at nothing.... So they +argued, doing their best to scare their mother into assent by stories +of Tayū’s violence and implacability. Only the second brother, Bugo +no Suke, stood out: ‘I know a good deal about this fellow,’ he said. +‘It’s too much of a shame. We simply cannot hand her over to him.... +Somehow or other one of us ought to do what our father asked us to—take +her back to Kyōto. There must be some way of managing it....’ Shōni’s +two daughters stood by weeping. Their mother was utterly heart-broken. +What had become now of all her plans for the girl’s happy future? Of +what use had been all these years of isolation and subterfuge, if at +the end Tamakatsura must be handed over to this coarse and unscrupulous +barbarian?</p> + +<p>It would indeed have astonished Tayū to know that any one in Hizen +considered him in such a light as this. He had always regarded +his attentions to women as favours bestowed; he flattered himself +moreover that he knew as well as any man how to conduct a gallant +correspondence, and his letters began to arrive thick and fast. They +were written in a clean, bold hand on thick Chinese paper, heavily +scented. It was evident indeed that he regarded himself as no mean +calligrapher. His style of composition was not an agreeable one, being +very tortuous and affected. Soon he made up his mind that the time had +come for him to call <span class="pagenum" id="Page_156" role="doc-pagebreak">156</span>in person, and he arranged with the brothers +to meet him at their mother’s house. Tayū was a man of about thirty, +tall and solidly built. He was far from ill-looking; but he had the +power (which he frequently exercised) of assuming the most repulsively +ferocious expression. This, however, was reserved for his followers +and opponents. When in a good temper and engaged upon errands of love +he adopted an entirely different voice and manner. You would have +thought indeed that some little bird was chirruping, so dexterously +did he reduce his rough bass to a small silvery fluting: ‘As a lover, +I ought to have come after dark, ought I not? Isn’t that what courting +means—coming at night? So I was always told. What extraordinary weather +for a spring evening! In autumn of course one expects it....’</p> + +<p>Upon a strict undertaking that she would not provoke Tayū in any way, +the old lady’s sons had allowed her to see him. He now turned to her +saying: ‘Madam, though I never had the pleasure of meeting your late +husband, I knew him to be a kind-hearted and upright gentleman. I +always hoped that I might one day have an opportunity of showing him +how much I appreciated his excellent qualities, and it was with deep +regret that I heard of his untimely decease. But though I can no longer +do him any service, I hope that you will allow me to show my regard +for him in some practical way. There is, I think, a young lady here, +(I am right, am I not?) a ward of yours, or relative of some sort? +If I venture to speak of her, it is with the greatest deference and +respect; for I understand that she is of extremely high birth. I assure +you that, were I ever privileged to make the acquaintance of such a +person, I should kneel before her like a slave, dedicate my life to her +service, humbly petition her.... But I see that you are looking at me +somewhat askance. You have <span class="pagenum" id="Page_157" role="doc-pagebreak">157</span>heard stories no doubt.... Believe me, +there is no truth in them. I have in the past admired one or two of our +simple country girls; but surely you can understand that <em>this</em> would +be a very different matter. Should you admit me to the friendship of +your exalted kinswoman, I would set her up as my paragon, my empress, +my all-in-all....’ He made many fair speeches of this kind. At last +the old nurse answered: ‘I should indeed consider my granddaughter +singularly fortunate to have aroused the interest of so distinguished +a gentleman as yourself, were it not for the fact that nature has +played upon her a cruel trick at birth.... Sir, I have seldom spoken +of this to any one before; but I must assure you that the poor girl’s +unhappy condition has for years past been a sore trouble to me. As for +offering her hand in marriage to any one—that is entirely out of the +question....’ ‘Pray don’t make so many apologies,’ cried Tayū. ‘Were +she the most blear-eyed, broken-legged creature under Heaven, I’d have +her put right for you in a very short while. The truth of the matter +is, the Gods and Buddhas in the temples round here owe a good deal to +me, and I can make them do pretty much whatever I choose....’ So he +bragged; but when, assuming that his offer had already been accepted, +he began pressing the old lady to name a day, she hastily changed the +subject, saying that summer would soon be coming, that the farmers +were needing rain, plying him in fact with all the usual topics of +the countryside. He felt that before he left he ought to recite a few +verses of poetry, and after a long period of silent meditation, he +produced the following:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">If she does not want to be married,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I shall go to the pine-tree Bay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And complain to the God of the Mirror;<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote99" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor99"><sup>99</sup></a></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then I need hardly say</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I shall get my way.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158" role="doc-pagebreak">158</span>‘I don’t think that’s such a bad poem,’ he said smiling awkwardly. +The nurse was in far too agitated a condition to indulge in literary +pastimes. Utterly unable to produce any sort of reply, she begged her +daughters to answer in her stead. ‘But mother darling,’ the young +ladies protested, ‘if <em>you</em> cannot think of anything to say, still +less can we....’ At last after much painful cogitation, the old lady +recited the following poem, speaking as though she were addressing +herself as much as him: ‘Unkind were it indeed should the Guardian +of the Mirror frustrate the prayers of one<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote100" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor100"><sup>100</sup></a> who year on year hath +been his and his alone.’ ‘What’s that?’ cried Tayū rushing towards +her. ‘How dare you say such a thing?’ So sudden was his onrush that +Shōni’s wife jumped almost out of her skin, and she turned pale with +fright. Fortunately her daughters were not so easily scared, and one of +them, laughing as though an absurd misunderstanding had occurred, at +once said to Tayū: ‘What mother meant was this: she hopes that after +all the trouble she has taken praying to the Gods of Matsura on our +little niece’s behalf, they will not allow the poor girl’s deformity +to turn you against her. But dear mother is getting old and it is not +always easy to make out what she is saying.’ ‘Oho! Yes, yes, I see,’ +he said, nodding his head reflectively. ‘I don’t know how I came to +misunderstand it. Ha! ha! Very neatly expressed. I expect you look +upon me as a very uncultivated, provincial person. And so I should be, +if I were at all like the other people round here. But I’ve been very +fortunate; you would not find many men even at the City who have had a +better education than I. You’d be making a great mistake if you set me +down as a plain, countrified sort of man. As a matter of fact, there’s +nothing I have not studied.’ He would very much have liked to try his +hand <span class="pagenum" id="Page_159" role="doc-pagebreak">159</span>at a second poem; but his stock of ideas was exhausted and he +was obliged to take leave.</p> + +<p>The fact that two of her sons had openly sided with Tayū increased +the old lady’s terror and despair. All she could now think of was to +spirit the girl away from Tsukushi as rapidly and secretly as possible. +She besought the other son, Bugo no Suke, to devise some means of +conducting the girl to Kyōto; but Bugo no Suke answered: ‘I wish I +could; but I do not see how it is to be done. There is not a soul on +the island who will help me. We three used to hang together in old +times; but now they say I am Tayū’s enemy and will have nothing to do +with me. And with Tayū against one it is a difficult thing in these +parts to stir hand or foot, let alone take passage for several persons +in an out-going ship. I might find I was doing Lady Tamakatsura a very +ill turn....’</p> + +<p>But though no one had told the girl of what was going on, she somehow +or other seemed to know all about it. She was in a state of the wildest +agitation, and Bugo no Suke heard her declare in tones of the utmost +horror that she intended to take her own life rather than accept +the fate which was in store for her. Bugo was certain that this was +no empty threat, and by a tremendous effort he managed to collect a +sum sufficient to cover the expenses of the journey. His mother, now +getting on in years, was determined not to end her days in Tsukushi. +But she was growing very infirm, and it would be impossible for her to +accompany them did not one of her daughters consent to come and look +after her. The younger sister, Ateki, had been married for several +years; but Bugo no Suke prevailed upon her at last to abandon her +home and take charge of their mother on the journey. The elder sister +had been married much longer; her family was already large and it was +obviously impossible for her to get away. The travellers <span class="pagenum" id="Page_160" role="doc-pagebreak">160</span>were +obliged to leave home hastily late one night and embark at once; for +they had suddenly heard that Tayū, who had gone home to Higo, was +expected back in Hizen early next day (the twelfth of the fourth +month), and he would doubtless lose no time in claiming his bride.</p> + +<p>There were distressing scenes of farewell. It seemed unlikely that +the elder sister would ever see her mother again. But Ateki took the +parting much more calmly; for though Tsukushi had been her home for so +long, she was by no means sorry to leave the place, and it was only +when someone pointed back to the Matsura temple and Ateki scanning the +quay-side recognized the very spot where she had said goodbye to her +sister, that she felt at all downcast at the thought of the journey +before her. ‘Swiftly we row,’ she sang; ‘the Floating Islands vanish +in the mist and, pilotless as they, I quit life’s anchorage to drift +amid the tempests of a world unknown.’ ‘No longer men but playthings +of the wind are they who in their misery must needs take ship upon the +uncertain pathways of the deep.’ So Tamakatsura replied, and in utter +despair she flung herself face downward upon her seat, where she lay +motionless for many hours.</p> + +<p>The news of her flight soon leaked out, and eventually reached Tayū’s +ears. He was not the man to let his prey slip from him in this manner, +and though for an instant he was so angry and surprised that he could +do nothing at all, he soon pulled himself together, hired a light skiff +and set out in pursuit. It was a vessel specially constructed for swift +launching, and the wind was blowing hard from shore. He shot across +the harbour at an immense speed, with every inch of sail spread, and +a moment later was through the Clanging Breakers. Launched upon the +calmer waters of the open sea his craft scudded along more swiftly than +ever. Seeing a small boat chasing after them at <span class="pagenum" id="Page_161" role="doc-pagebreak">161</span>reckless speed +the captain of the pursued vessel imagined that pirates were on his +track and pressed on towards the nearest port. Only Tamakatsura and +her companions knew that in that rapidly approaching craft there was +one who, by them at any rate, was far more to be dreaded than the most +ruthless pirate. Louder and louder beat the poor girl’s heart; so loud +indeed that the noise of the breakers seemed to her to have stopped. At +last they entered the bay of Kawajiri. Tayū’s vessel was no longer in +sight, and as their ship approached the harbour, the fugitives began to +breathe again. One of the sailors was singing a snatch of the song:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So I pressed on from China Port to Kawajiri Bay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With never a thought for my own sad love or the babe that wept on her knee.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>He sang in an expressionless, monotonous voice, but the melancholy +tune caught Bugo no Suke’s fancy and he found himself joining in: +‘With never a thought....’ Yes; he too had left behind those who were +dearest to him, with little thought indeed of what was to become of +them. Even the two or three sturdy youths who worked for him in the +house would have been some comfort to his wife and babes. But these +young fellows had clamoured to go with him and he weakly consented. He +pictured to himself how Tayū, maddened by the failure of his pursuit, +would rush back to Hizen and wreak his vengeance upon the defenceless +families of those who had worked against him. How far would he go? +What exactly would he do? Bugo no Suke now realized that in planning +this flight he had behaved with the wildest lack of forethought; all +his self-confidence vanished, and so hideous were the scenes which his +imagination conjured up before him that he broke down altogether and +sat weeping with his head <span class="pagenum" id="Page_162" role="doc-pagebreak">162</span>on his knees. Like the ransomed prisoner +in Po Chü-i’s poem,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote101" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor101"><sup>101</sup></a> though returning to his native place, he had +left wife and child to shift for themselves amid the Tartar hordes. His +sister Ateki heard him sobbing and could well understand his dismay. +The plight of those who had remained at Hizen was indeed a wretched +one. Most of all she pitied the few old followers and servants who had +consented to come with them from the Capital long ago, believing that +in five years they would be back again in their homes. To leave these +faithful old people in the lurch seemed the basest of treacheries. They +had always (she and her brother) been used to speaking of the City as +their ‘home’; but now that they were drawing near to it they realized +that though it was indeed their native place, there was not within it +one house where they were known, one friend or acquaintance to whom +they could turn. For this lady’s sake they had left what for most of +their lives had been their world, their only true home—had committed +their lives to the hazard of wind and wave; all this without a moment’s +reflection or misgiving. And now that their precious cargo was within +hail of port, what were they to do with her? How were they to approach +her family, make known her presence, prove her identity? Endlessly +though they had discussed these points during the journey, they could +arrive at no conclusion, and it was with a sense of helplessness and +bewilderment that they hurried into the City.</p> + +<p>In the Ninth Ward they chanced to hear of an old acquaintance of their +mother’s who was still living in the neighbourhood, and here they +managed to procure temporary lodgings. The Ninth Ward does indeed +count as part of Kyōto; but it is an immense distance from the centre, +and no one of any consequence lives there. Thus in their effort to +find <span class="pagenum" id="Page_163" role="doc-pagebreak">163</span>some influential person who would help them to fulfil their +mission, the brother and sister encountered only the strangest types +of market-women and higglers. Autumn was coming on, they had achieved +nothing and there seemed no reason to suppose that the ensuing months +would be any more profitable than those which they had just wasted. +Ateki who had relied entirely upon her brother and imagined him capable +of dealing with any situation that arose, was dismayed to discover +that in the City he was like a waterbird on shore. He hung about +the house, had no notion how to make enquiries or cultivate fresh +acquaintances, and was no better able to look after himself than the +youths he had brought with him from Tsukushi. These young fellows, +after much grumbling, had indeed mostly either found employment in +the neighbourhood or gone back to their native province. It grieved +Ateki beyond measure that her brother should be thus stranded in the +Capital without occupation or resource, and she bewailed his lot day +and night. ‘Come, come, Sister,’ he would say to her, ‘on my account +you have no cause to be uneasy. I would gladly come a good deal +further than we have travelled and put up with many another month of +hardship and waiting, if only I could get our young lady back among +the friends who ought to be looking after her. We may have spoilt our +own prospects, you and I; but what should we be feeling like to-day, +if we consented to let that monster carry her off to his infamous den? +But it is my opinion that the Gods alone can help us in our present +pass. Not far from here is the great temple of Yawata where the same +God is worshipped as in our own Yawata Temples at Hakozaki and Matsura, +where mother used to take the young lady to do her penances. Those two +temples may be a long way off, but the same God inhabits all three, and +I believe that her many visits to Hakozaki and Matsura <span class="pagenum" id="Page_164" role="doc-pagebreak">164</span>would now +stand her in good stead. What if she were to go to the Temple here and +perform a service of thanksgiving for her safe journey to the Capital?’ +Bugo no Suke made enquiries in the neighbourhood and found out that +one of the Five Abbots, a very holy man with whom Shōni had been well +acquainted, was still alive. He obtained an interview with the old +priest and arranged that Tamakatsura should be allowed to visit the +Temple.</p> + +<p>After this they visited a succession of holy places. At last Bugo no +Suke suggested a pilgrimage to the Temple of the Hasegawa Kwannon. +‘There is no deity in Japan,’ he said, ‘who has in recent times worked +so many miracles as this Goddess of Hatsuse. I am told that the fame of +her shrine has spread even to China,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote102" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor102"><sup>102</sup></a> and far off though Tsukushi +is, I know that Lady Tamakatsura has for years past been deeply +interested in the achievements of this Divinity and shown an exemplary +piety towards her. I believe that a visit to Hatsuse would do more +for our young lady than anything else.’ It was decided that, to give +it a greater significance, the pilgrimage should be made on foot and, +despite her great age and infirmity, the old nurse would not be left +behind. Tamakatsura, wholly unused to such experiences, felt scared +and wretched as, pilgrims in front and behind, she tramped wearily on, +turning to right or left when she was bid, but otherwise too deeply +buried in her own thoughts to notice what went on around her. What +had she done, she asked herself over and over again, to deserve this +downtrodden existence? And as she dragged foot after foot along the +dusty road she prayed earnestly <span class="pagenum" id="Page_165" role="doc-pagebreak">165</span>to Buddha, saying ‘O Much-Honoured +One, if my mother is indeed no longer in this world, grant that, +wherever it be, her soul may look upon me with compassion and her +prayers bring me quick release, that I may take refuge in the place +where her spirit dwells. And if she is still alive, grant, O Buddha, +that I may one day meet her face to face.’ So she prayed, and while she +did so suddenly remembered that it was a useless prayer. For she was +very young when Yūgao disappeared, had only the haziest recollection of +her appearance, and even if the prayer were answered, would certainly +pass her mother unrecognized! Dismal as these reflections would at +any time have been, they were doubly so now, worn out as she was by +the fatigue of the journey. The party had indeed travelled at a very +leisurely pace and it was not till the hour of the Snake, on the +fourth day, that they at last reached Tsuba Market.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote103" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor103"><sup>103</sup></a> Tamakatsura +was by this time more dead than alive; they attempted to improvise a +carrying-chair, but the pain in her legs was so great that she could +not bear to be moved, and there was nothing for it but to let her rest +at the inn.</p> + +<p>The party consisted of Bugo no Suke, two bowmen and three or four very +rough-looking boys to carry the luggage. The three ladies had their +skirts tucked in at the belt like country-women, and were attended only +by two aged crones who looked like broken-down charwomen. It would +indeed have been impossible to guess that any person of quality was +among them.</p> + +<p>They spent the time till dusk in trimming their holy lamps and +preparing such other emblems and offerings as are brought by pilgrims +to the Hasegawa Shrine.</p> + +<p>Going his rounds at nightfall the priest who owned the inn came +upon the two decrepit old serving-women calmly making a bed for +Tamakatsura in a corner of the best <span class="pagenum" id="Page_166" role="doc-pagebreak">166</span>room of the house. ‘These +quarters have been engaged for the night by a gentlewoman who may +arrive at any minute,’ he said in consternation. ‘Be off with you at +once! Just fancy, without so much as a “by your leave”!’ They were +still staring at him helplessly, when there was a noise at the door +and it became evident that the expected guests had actually arrived. +They too seemed to have come on foot. There were two gentlewomen, +very well-conditioned, and quite a number of attendants both male and +female. Their baggage was on the backs of some four or five horses, +and though they wore plain liveries it was evident that the grooms +were in good service. The landlord was determined that the newcomers +should have the quarters which he had intended for them; but the +intruders showed no signs of moving, and he stood scratching his head +in great perplexity. It did indeed go to the hearts of Tamakatsura’s +old servants to turn her out of the corner where she was so comfortably +established and pack her away into the back room. But it was soon +apparent that the only alternative was to seek quarters in a different +inn, and as this would have been both humiliating and troublesome they +made the best of a bad job and carried their mistress to the inner +room, while others of the party either took shelter in the outhouses or +squeezed themselves and their belongings into stray angles and corners +of the main house.</p> + +<p>The new arrivals did not after all seem to be of such rank and +consequence as the priest had made out. But it was hard to guess +what manner of people they might be; for they concealed themselves +scrupulously from the gaze of their fellow-guests and hardly spoke to +one another at all.</p> + +<p>In point of fact, the person to whom Lady Tamakatsura had been thus +unceremoniously compelled to give place <span class="pagenum" id="Page_167" role="doc-pagebreak">167</span>was none other than her +mother’s faithful maid, Ukon! For years past it had been the one +comfort of the solitary and grief-stricken old lady's existence to +make this pilgrimage, and Genji had always assisted her to do so with +as much comfort as possible. So familiar was the journey that it no +longer seemed to her in any way formidable; but having come on foot she +was quite ready for a rest, and immediately lay down upon the nearest +couch. Beside her was a thin partition of plaited reeds. Behind it she +could hear people moving about, and presently some one entered who +seemed to be carrying a tray of food. Then she heard a man’s voice +saying: ‘Please take this to my Lady. Tell her I am very sorry it is so +badly served; but I have done the best I can.’ From the tone in which +he spoke it was evident that the lady to whom these apologies were +to be conveyed was a person far above him in social position. Ukon’s +curiosity was aroused. She peeped through a crack in the partition, +and at once had the impression that she had seen the young man before. +Who could it be? She racked her brains, but could not imagine. It +would indeed have been strange had she been able to identify Bugo no +Suke, who was a mere child when she last saw him, while now he was a +full-grown man, much bronzed from exposure to the sun and winds of +Tsukushi, and dressed in the poorest clothes. ‘Sanjō, my Lady is asking +for you.’ So Bugo no Suke now cried, and to her astonishment Ukon saw +that the old woman who answered to this name was also certainly some +one whom she had once known. But here there could be no mistake. This +Sanjō was the one who had been in service with Ukon in Yūgao’s house, +and had afterwards (like Ukon herself) been one of the few servants +whom Yūgao took with her to the house in the Fifth Ward. It seemed +like a dream. Who was the Lady whom they were <span class="pagenum" id="Page_168" role="doc-pagebreak">168</span>accompanying? +She strained her eyes; but the bed in the room behind the partition +was surrounded by screens and there was no possibility of seeing +its occupant. She had made up her mind to accost the maid Sanjō and +question her, when part of her doubt resolved itself spontaneously: the +man must be that boy of Shōni’s, ... the one they used to call Hyōtōda, +and the lady towards whom they showed such deference could be no other +than Tamakatsura, Yūgao’s child by Tō no Chūjō. In wild excitement she +called to Sanjō by name; but the old woman was busy serving the supper +and for the moment she took no notice. She was very cross at being +called away from her work like this, but whoever it was that wanted her +seemed to be in a great hurry, and presently she arrived, exclaiming: +‘I can’t make it out. I’ve spent the last twenty years in service on +the island of Tsukushi, and here’s a lady from Kyōto calling for me by +my own name, as though she knew all about me. Well, Madam, I am called +Sanjō. But I think it must be another Sanjō that you are wanting.’ As +she drew near Ukon noticed that the old woman was wearing the most +extraordinary narrow-sleeved overall on top of her frumpy old dress. +She had grown enormously stout. The sight of her brought a sudden flush +of humiliation to Ukon’s cheeks, for she realised that she herself +was an old woman, and as Sanjō now looked to her, so must she, Ukon, +for years past have appeared to all eyes save her own. ‘Look again! +Do you not know me?’ she said at last, looking straight into Sanjō’s +face. ‘Why, to be sure I do!’ cried the old lady, clapping her hands, +‘you were in service with my Lady. I was never so glad in my life. +Where have you been hiding our dear mistress all this while?... Of +course she is with you now?’ and in the midst of her excitement Sanjō +began to weep; for the encounter had brought back to her mind the days +when <span class="pagenum" id="Page_169" role="doc-pagebreak">169</span>she was young. What times those had been! And how long, how +cruelly long ago it all was! ‘First,’ answered Ukon gravely, ‘you must +give me a little of your news. Is nurse with you? And what has happened +to the baby girl ... and Ateki, where is she?’ For the moment Ukon could +not bear to dash Sanjō’s hope to the ground; moreover it was so painful +to her to speak of Yūgao’s death that she now listened in silence to +Sanjō’s tale: mother, brother and sister were all there. Tamakatsura +was grown to be a fine young lady and was with them too. ‘But here I +am talking,’ said Sanjō at last, ‘when I ought to have run straight in +to tell nurse, ...’ and with this she disappeared. After their first +surprise the chief feeling of Ateki and her mother, upon the reception +of this news, was one of indignation against Ukon, whom they supposed +to have left their mistress in hiding all these years, callously +indifferent to the suspense and misery of all her friends. ‘I don’t +feel that I want to see her,’ said the old nurse at last, nodding in +the direction of Ukon’s room, ‘but I suppose I ought to go.’ No sooner, +however, was she sitting by Ukon’s couch, with all the curtains drawn +aside, than both of them burst into tears. ‘What has become of her, +where is my lady?’ the nurse sobbed. ‘You cannot imagine what I have +been through in all these years. I have prayed again and again that +some sign, some chance word, some dream might tell me where she was +hiding. But not one breath of news came to us, and at last I thought +terrible things—that she must be very far away indeed. Yes, I have +even imagined that she must be dead, and fallen then into such despair +that I hated my own life and would have ended it too, had not my love +for the little girl whom she left with me held my feet from the Paths +of Night. And even so, you see for yourself what I am.... It is but a +faint flicker of life....’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170" role="doc-pagebreak">170</span>In this strain the nurse spoke on, supposing all the while that +Lady Yūgao herself was somewhere not far away. ‘How shall I tell her? +What am I to say?’ The same questions that tormented Ukon’s brain +during those first days after the funeral returned to her now with +redoubled urgency. But this could not go on; it was impossible not to +speak; and Ukon suddenly broke in upon the old nurse’s outpourings: +‘Listen!’ she said. ‘It is no use my telling you how it happened.... +But Lady Yūgao died a long while ago.’</p> + +<p>After this there was silence, broken at last by the agonized and +convulsive sobbing of these three old women.</p> + +<p>It was growing dark, and now with lamps lit and offerings in their +hands the pilgrims were about to start for the temple. The women clung +to one another till the last moment and, still scarce knowing what +they did, were about to set out upon the road together, when Ukon +suddenly bethought herself of the astonishment which her attendants +must be feeling at this strange addition to the party; moreover Bugo +no Suke had as yet heard nothing of the meeting, and for the moment +the old nurse had not the heart to enter into a long explanation of +what had occurred. The two parties accordingly separated, Ukon scanning +with curiosity the pilgrims who filed past her into the street. Among +them was a girl, very poorly dressed; her hair was caught up in a +thin summer scarf, which held it tight but did not conceal it. In the +procession she walked some way ahead, but even the momentary back view +which Ukon was thus able to obtain convinced her that the girl was not +only of exceptional beauty, but also of a rank in life very different +from that of the shabby pilgrims who tramped beside her. When at last +they arrived the service was already in full swing and the temple +crowded to overflowing; for most of the pilgrims in whose company the +party from Tsukushi <span class="pagenum" id="Page_171" role="doc-pagebreak">171</span>had set out from the city were sturdy-legged +peasants and working people who had pressed on through Tsuba without a +moment’s rest and long ago secured their places in the holy building. +Ukon, being an habitual visitor to the temple, was at once conducted +to a place which had been reserved for her immediately to the right +of the Main Altar. But Tamakatsura and her party, who had never been +there before and had, moreover, the misfortune to fall into the hands +of a very unenterprising verger, found themselves bundled away into the +western transept. Ukon from her place of privilege soon caught sight +of them and beckoned to them to join her. After a hasty consultation +with her son, during the course of which the nurse appeared to be +explaining, so far as was possible in a few words, who Ukon was and why +she had beckoned, the women of the party pushed their way towards the +altar, leaving Bugo no Suke and his two followers where the incompetent +sacristan had placed them. Though Ukon was in herself a person of no +consequence, she was known to be in Genji's service, and that alone, +as she had long ago discovered, was sufficient to secure her from +interference, even in such a place as this. Let the herd gape if they +chose and ask one another with indignation why two ill-dressed women +from the provinces, who had arrived at the last minute, were calmly +seating themselves in places reserved for the gentry. Ukon was not +going to have her young lady wedged into a corner or jostled by the +common crowd. She longed to get into conversation at once; but the +critical moment in the service had just arrived and she was obliged to +remain kneeling with head lowered. So it had come at last, this meeting +for which she had prayed year in and year out! And now it only remained +that Genji, who had so often begged her to find out what had become +of Yūgao's child, should welcome the discovery (as she felt sure he +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172" role="doc-pagebreak">172</span>would) and by his influence restore to this unhappy lady the place +at Court to which her birth entitled her. Such indeed was the purport +of her prayer as she now knelt at the altar by Tamakatsura’s side.</p> + +<p>In the crowded temple were pilgrims from every province in the land. +Among them the wife of the Governor of Yamato Province was conspicuous +for her elegance and consequential air, for most of the worshippers +were simple country people, very unfashionably dressed. Sanjō, who, +after so many years passed in barbarous Tsukushi, had quite forgotten +how town people get themselves up for occasions such as this, could +not take her eyes off the magnificent lady. ‘Hark ye,’ she said at +last in an awe-struck whisper to the nurse, ‘I don’t know what you’re +a-going to pray for to our Lady Kwannon. But I’m a-praying that if +our dear young lady can’t be wife to the Lord-Lieutenant<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote104" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor104"><sup>104</sup></a> (as I +have always hoped she might be), then let her marry a Governor of this +fine province of Yamato. For a grander lady than that one there I’m +sure I've never seen! “Just do that,” I said to Lady Kwannon in my +prayer, “and you’ll be surprised at the wonderful offerings poor old +Sanjō will bring to your altar.”’ And smiting her forehead with her +hand, she began again to pray with immense fervour. ‘Well,’ said Ukon, +astonished by this extraordinary speech. ‘You <em>have</em> become a regular +country-woman; there’s no doubt about it. Don’t you know that Madam +is Tō no Chūjō’s own daughter? That’s enough in itself; but now that +Prince Genji, who for her mother’s sake, would do anything for her, has +come into his own again, do you suppose there is any gentleman in the +land who would be too good for her? It would be a sad come-down indeed +if she were to become some paltry Governor’s wife!’ But Sanjō was not +thus to be put out of countenance. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_173" role="doc-pagebreak">173</span>‘Pardon me,’ she said hotly; ‘I +don’t know much about your Prince Genjis or such-like. But I do know +that I’ve seen the Lord-Lieutenant’s wife and all her train on their +way to the temple of Our Lady Kwannon at Kiyomizu, and I can tell you +the Emperor himself never rode out in such state! So don’t try to put +<em>me</em> in my place!’ and unabashed the old woman resumed her attitude of +prayer.</p> + +<p>The party from Tsukushi had arranged to stay three days within the +precincts of the temple, and Ukon, though she had not at first intended +to stay for so long, now sent for her favourite priest and asked him +to procure her a lodging; for she hoped that these days of Retreat +would afford her a chance of talking things over quietly with the old +nurse. The priest knew by long experience just what she wanted written +on the prayer-strips which he was to place in the holy lamps, and +at once began scribbling ‘On behalf of Lady Fujiwara no Ruri I make +these offerings and burn....’ ‘That is quite right,’ said Ukon (for +Fujiwara no Ruri was the false name by which she had always referred +to Tamakatsura in discussing the matter with her spiritual adviser); +‘all the usual texts will do, but I want you to pray harder than ever +to-day. For I have at last been fortunate enough to meet the young lady +and am more anxious than ever that my prayer for her happiness may be +fulfilled.’</p> + +<p>‘There!’ said the priest triumphantly. ‘Was there ever a clearer case? +Met her? Dear Madam, of course you have. That is just what I have been +praying for night and day ever since you were here last.’ And much +encouraged by this success he set to work once more and was hard at it +till daylight came. Then the whole party, at Ukon’s invitation, moved +to the lodgings that her <i>daitoko</i><a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote105" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor105"><sup>105</sup></a> had reserved for her. Here if +anywhere she felt that she <span class="pagenum" id="Page_174" role="doc-pagebreak">174</span>would be able to embark upon the story +which she found so difficult to tell.</p> + +<p>At last she was able to have a good look at the child for whose +happiness she had prayed during so many years. Tamakatsura was +undeniably ill-dressed and somewhat embarrassed in the presence of +strangers whom she felt to be taking stock of her appearance; but +Ukon was unfeignedly delighted with her, and burst out: ‘Though I am +sure I never had any right to expect it, it so happens that I have +had the good luck to see as much of fine ladies and gentlemen as any +serving-woman in the City. There’s Prince Genji’s own lady, Madam +Murasaki—I see her nearly every day. What a handsome young thing! I +thought there could be no one to compare with her. But now there’s this +little daughter from Akashi.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote106" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor106"><sup>106</sup></a> Of course she is only a child at +present. But she grows prettier every day, and it would not surprise me +if in the end she put all our other young ladies to shame. Of course +they dress that child in such fine clothes and make such a fuss of +her that it is hard to compare her with other children. Whereas our +young lady (she whispered to the nurse) dressed as she is at this +very minute, would hold her own against any of them, I dare swear she +would. I have sometimes heard Prince Genji himself say that of the +many beauties whom he has known, whether at Court or elsewhere since +his father’s time, the present Emperor’s mother<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote107" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor107"><sup>107</sup></a> and the little +girl born at Akashi stand apart from all the rest. Not one other has +he known of whom you could say without fear of contradiction from any +living soul that she was perfection itself from tip to toe. Those +were his words; but for my own part I never knew Lady Fujitsubo; and +charming though the little princess from Akashi may be, she is still +little more than a baby, and when Prince Genji speaks <span class="pagenum" id="Page_175" role="doc-pagebreak">175</span>of her in +these terms, he is but guessing at the future. He did not mention Lady +Murasaki at all in this conversation, but I know quite well that in +his heart of hearts he puts her above all the rest—so far indeed that +he would never dream of mentioning her in such a reckoning as this; +and, great gentleman though he is, I have heard him tell her again and +again that she deserves a husband a thousand times better than he. I +have often thought that having had about him at the start such peerless +ladies as those whom I have mentioned, he might well chance to end his +days without once finding their like. But now I see that I was wrong; +for Madam here is fully their match. Trust me, I shall not say anything +high-flown, nor would he listen to fine phrases such as “The light that +shines from her countenance is brighter than Buddha’s golden rays.” I +shall just say “See her, and you will not be disappointed.”’ So said +Ukon, smiling benevolently at the company. But the nurse, who knew +nothing, it must be remembered, of Genji’s connection with Yūgao nor of +any reason why he should interest himself in Tamakatsura, was somewhat +disconcerted. ‘I am sure I thank you very heartily for suggesting +this,’ she said; ‘and indeed you will believe that no one cares more +for this young lady’s future than I do, when I tell you that I gave up +house and hearth, quitted sons, daughters and friends, and came back to +the City which is now as strange to me as some foreign town—all this +only for Lady Tamakatsura’s sake; for I hated to see her wasting her +youth in a dismal place where there was not a soul for her to speak +to.... No indeed! I should be the last person to interfere with any +plan that promises to bring her to her own again; and I am sure that +among the grand people whom you have mentioned she would have a much +better chance of doing something for herself in the world.... But I +must say that, with her father at Court <span class="pagenum" id="Page_176" role="doc-pagebreak">176</span>all the while, it seems +to me a queer thing to quarter her on a perfect stranger. Perhaps I +do not quite understand what you propose ... but wouldn’t it be more +natural to tell her father that she is here and give him a chance of +acknowledging her? That is what we have been trying to do, and we shall +be very glad if you would help us.’ The conversation was overheard +by Tamakatsura; she felt very uncomfortable at being thus publicly +discussed and, shifting impatiently in her seat, sat with her back +to the talkers. ‘I see you think I am taking too much upon myself,’ +said Ukon. ‘I know quite well that I am no one at all. But all the +same Prince Genji often sends for me to wait upon him and likes me +sometimes to tell him about anything interesting that I have seen or +heard. On one occasion I told him the story of Madam here—how she had +been left motherless and carried off to some distant province (for so +much I had heard). His Highness was much moved by the story, begged me +to make further enquiries and at once let him know all that I could +discover....’ ‘I do not doubt,’ said the nurse, ‘that Prince Genji is +a very fine gentleman. But it seems from what you tell me that he has +a wife of whom he is fond and several other ladies living with him as +well. He may for the moment have been interested in your story; but I +cannot imagine why you should suppose he wants to adopt her, when her +own father is so close at hand. It would oblige me if you would first +help us to inform Tō no Chūjō of Madam’s arrival. If nothing comes of +that....’</p> + +<p>Ukon could keep up her end no longer. Unless she told the nurse +of Genji’s connection with Yūgao, further conversation would be +impossible. And having got so far as to confess that Genji had known +Yūgao, Ukon plunging desperately on finally managed to tell the whole +terrible story. ‘Do not think,’ she said at last, ‘that Genji has +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177" role="doc-pagebreak">177</span>forgotten all this, or will ever do so. It has been his one desire +since that day to find some means of expiating, in however small a +degree, the guilt which brought my lady to her unhappy end; and often +I have heard him long that he might one day be able to bring such +happiness to Lady Yūgao’s child as would in some sort make amends for +all that she had lost. Indeed, having few children, he has always +planned, if she could but be found, to adopt her as his own, and he +begged me to speak of her always as a child of his, whom he had placed +with country folk to be nursed.</p> + +<p>‘But in those days I had seen very little of the world and was so +much scared by all that had happened that I dared not go about making +enquiries. At last I chanced one day to see your husband’s name in a +list of provincial clerks. I even saw him, though at some distance, +the day he went to the Prime Minister’s palace to receive confirmation +of his new appointment. I suppose I ought to have spoken to him then; +but somehow or other I could not bring myself to do so. Sometimes I +imagined that you had left Lady Tamakatsura behind, at the house in the +Fifth Ward; for the thought of her being brought up as a little peasant +girl on the island was more than I could endure....’</p> + +<p>So they spent the day, now talking, now praying, or again amusing +themselves by watching the hordes of pilgrims who were constantly +arriving at the temple gate. Under their windows ran a river called +the Hatsuse, and Ukon now recited the acrostic poem: ‘Had I not +entered the gate that the Twin Fir-Trees guard, would the old river of +our days e’er have resumed its flow?’ To this Tamakatsura answered: +‘Little knew I of those early days as this river knows of the hill from +whence it sprang.’ She sat gently weeping. But Ukon made no effort to +comfort her, feeling that now all was on the right path. Considering +Tamakatsura’s upbringing no one would have blamed her if there <span class="pagenum" id="Page_178" role="doc-pagebreak">178</span>had +been a little country roughness, a shade of over-simplicity in her +manner. Ukon could not imagine how the old nurse had achieved so +remarkable a feat of education, and thanked her again and again for +what she had done. Yūgao’s ways had till the last been timid, docile, +almost child-like; but about her daughter there was not a trace of all +this. Tamakatsura, despite her shyness, had an air of self-assurance, +even of authority. ‘Perhaps,’ thought Ukon to herself, ‘Tsukushi is not +by any means so barbarous a place as one is led to suppose.’ She began +thinking of all the Tsukushi people she had known; each individual she +could recall was more coarse-mannered and uneducated than the last. No; +nurse’s achievement remained a mystery.</p> + +<p>At dusk they all went back to the temple, where they stayed that night +and most of the following day, absorbed in various spiritual exercises. +A cold autumn wind was blowing from the valley, and at its cruel touch +the miseries of the past rose up one by one before Shōni’s widow as she +knelt shivering at the Main Altar. But all these sad memories vanished +instantly at the thought that the child upon whom she had lavished her +care would now take the place that was her birth-due. Ukon had told +her about the careers of Tō no Chūjō’s other children. They seemed all +of them to be remarkably prosperous, irrespective of the rank of their +various mothers, and this filled the old lady with an additional sense +of security.</p> + +<p>At last the moment came to part. The two women exchanged addresses +and set out upon their different ways: Ukon to a little house Genji +had given her, not far away from his new palace; the others to their +lodgings in the Ninth Ward. No sooner had they parted than Ukon was +suddenly seized with a panic lest Tamakatsura should attempt to evade +her, as Yūgao had fled from Chūjō in days <span class="pagenum" id="Page_179" role="doc-pagebreak">179</span>of old; and constantly +running between her house and theirs, she had not a moment’s peace of +mind. It was soon time for Ukon to be back at the new palace, and she +was not loath to end her holiday, for she was in a hurry to obtain an +interview with Genji and inform him of her success. She could not get +used to this new mansion, and from the moment she entered the gates she +was always astonished by the vastness of the place. Yet so great was +nowadays the number of coaches driving<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote108" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor108"><sup>108</sup></a> in and out, that the crush +was appalling and Ukon began to wonder if she would ever get to the +house.</p> + +<p>She was not sent for that night, and lay tossing about on her bed, +thinking how best to make known her discovery. Next day, though it +so happened that a large number of ladies-in-waiting and other young +people had just returned from their holidays, Murasaki sent specially +for old Ukon, who was delighted by this compliment. ‘What a long +holiday you have been having!’ cried Genji to her when she entered. +‘When you were last here you looked like some dismal old widow-lady, +and here you are looking quite skittish! Something very nice must have +happened to you; what was it?’ ‘Sir,’ she answered, ‘it is quite true +that I have been away from the City for a whole week; but I don’t know +whether anything has happened that you would call nice. I have been +over the hills to Hatsuse (on foot too!), and came across someone +whom I was glad to meet again.’ ‘Who was that?’ asked Genji quickly, +and she was about to tell him when it occurred to her that it would +be much better to tell him separately, on some occasion when Murasaki +was not present. But then perhaps the whole thing would come round to +Murasaki’s ears and her mistress would be offended that Ukon had not +told her first.... It was a difficult situation. ‘Well then if you +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180" role="doc-pagebreak">180</span>must know ...’ Ukon was beginning, when suddenly there was a fresh +incursion of visitors, and she was obliged to withdraw. But later in +the day, when the great lamp had been brought in and Genji was sitting +quietly with Murasaki, he said that he would soon be ready for bed, and +sent for Ukon to give him his evening massage.</p> + +<p>Lady Murasaki was now almost twenty-eight, but never (thought the old +woman when she arrived) had she looked so handsome. It seemed indeed +as though her full charm had only just matured. Ukon had not seen her +mistress at close quarters for some months past, and could now have +sworn that even in that short space of time Lady Murasaki had grown +twice as handsome. And yet Ukon had no fears for Yūgao’s daughter. +There was indeed an undeniable difference between this splendid +princess and the shy girl from Tsukushi. But it was only the difference +between obscurity and success; a single turn of fortune would quickly +redress the balance.</p> + +<p>‘I do not like being massaged by the new young maids,’ Genji said to +Ukon when she arrived. ‘They let me see so plainly how much it bores +them to do it. I much prefer some one I have known for a long time ... +you, for example.’ No such preference had ever been noticed by those +about him, and smiles were secretly exchanged. They realized that Genji +had only said this in order to please and flatter the old lady. But +it was far from true that any of them had ever been otherwise than +delighted at the reception of such a command, and they thought the +joke rather a tiresome one. ‘Would you be angry with me, if I took to +consorting with elderly ladies?’ he whispered to Murasaki. ‘Yes,’ she +nodded, ‘I think I should. With you one never knows where one is. I +should be very much perturbed....’ All the while she was at work Genji +amused the old lady with his talk. Never had Ukon seen him so lively +and <span class="pagenum" id="Page_181" role="doc-pagebreak">181</span>amiable. He had now placed the whole direction of public +affairs in Tō no Chūjō’s hands; the experiment was working well, and +such was Genji’s relief at escaping from the burden which had so long +oppressed him that he found it impossible to be serious for a minute. +To joke with Ukon, a very matter-of-fact old lady, was found by most +people to be out of the question. But Genji had a peculiar gift of +sympathy, which enabled him to penetrate the most obstinate gloom, the +most imperturbable gravity.</p> + +<p>‘Tell me about the interesting person whom you have discovered,’ he +went on. ‘I believe it is another of your holy men. You have brought +him back here, and now I am to let him pray for me. Have I not guessed +right?’ ‘No, indeed,’ Ukon answered indignantly; ‘I should never dream +of doing such a thing!’ And then, lowering her voice: ‘I have become +acquainted with the daughter of a lady whom I served long ago.... The +mother came to a miserable end.... You will know of whom it is I am +speaking.’ ‘Yes,’ said Genji ... ‘I know well enough, and your news is +indeed very different from anything I had imagined. Where has the child +been during all these years?’ ‘In the country,’ answered Ukon vaguely; +this did not seem a good moment for going into the whole story. ‘Some +of the old servants took charge of the child,’ she continued, ‘and are +still in her service now that she has grown up. They of course knew +nothing of the circumstances under which their former mistress.... It +was torture to speak of it; but I managed at last to tell them....’ +‘I think we had better talk about this some other time,’ Genji +interrupted, drawing Ukon aside. But Murasaki had overheard them. ‘Pray +do not trouble about me,’ she said with a yawn. ‘I am half-asleep in +any case; and if it is something I am not to hear....’ So saying she +covered her ears with her sleeves.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_182" role="doc-pagebreak">182</span>‘Is she as handsome as her mother?’ Genji then asked. ‘I did not +at all expect that she would be,’ answered Ukon. ‘But I must say that I +have seldom seen....’ ‘I am sure she is <em>pretty</em>,’ he said. ‘I wonder +whether you mean anything more than that. Compared with my Lady...?’ +and he nodded towards Lady Murasaki. ‘No, indeed,’ said Ukon hastily; +‘that would be going too far....’ ‘Come,’ he said; ‘it would not be +going much farther than you go yourself. I can see that by your face. +For my part, I must own to the usual vanity of parents. I hope that +I shall be able to see in her some slight resemblance to myself.’ He +said this because he intended to pass off the girl as his own child, +and was afraid that part of the conversation had been overheard. +Having learnt so much, he could not resist the temptation to hear the +whole of Ukon’s story, and presently he took her into a side-room, +where they could discuss the matter undisturbed. ‘Well,’ he said, when +Ukon had satisfied his curiosity, ‘I have quite made up my mind what +to do with her. She shall come and live with me here. For years past +I have constantly wondered what had become of her, and dreaded lest +she should be throwing away her youth in some dismal, unfrequented +place. I am delighted indeed that you have re-discovered her. My only +misgiving concerns her father. I suppose I ought at once to tell him of +her return. But I do not quite see how to set about it; for he knows +nothing of my connection with Lady Yūgao, and I have never been able +to see that there was any use in enlightening him. He has already more +children than he knows what to do with, and the arrival in his house +of a fully-grown girl, whom he has not set eyes on since she was a +child-in-arms, would merely be a nuisance to him. It seems much simpler +that I, who have so small a family, should take charge of her; and it +is easy enough to give out that she is a daughter <span class="pagenum" id="Page_183" role="doc-pagebreak">183</span>of mine, whom +I have been educating in the quiet of the country. If what you say of +her is true, it is certain that she will be a great deal run after. The +charge of such a girl needs immense tact and care; I do not think it +would be fair to saddle Tō no Chūjō with so great a responsibility.’ +‘That shall be as your Highness decides,’ answered Ukon. ‘I am sure, +at any rate, that if <em>you</em> do not tell Tō no Chūjō, no one else will. +And for my part I had rather she should go to you than to any one else. +For I am certain you are anxious to make what amends you can for your +part in leading Yūgao to her miserable fate; and what better way could +there be to do this, than by promoting her daughter’s happiness by +every means in your power?’ ‘The fact that I ruined the mother might to +some people seem a strange reason for claiming custody of the child,’ +said Genji smiling; but his eyes were filled with tears. ‘My love for +her still fills a great part of my thoughts,’ he said after a pause. +‘You must think that a strange thing for me to say, considering how my +household is now arranged.... And it is true that in the years since +her death I have formed many deep attachments. But, believe it or not +as you will, by no one has my heart ever been stirred as it was by your +dear mistress in those far-off days. You have known me long enough +to see for yourself that I am not one in whom such feelings lightly +come and go. It has been an unspeakable comfort to me during all these +years that to you at least I could sometimes talk of your mistress, +sometimes ease my longing. But that was not enough. I yearned for some +object dear to her upon which I could lavish ceaseless pains and care. +What could be more to my purpose than that this orphaned child of hers +should thus be entrusted to my protection?’</p> + +<p>His next step must be a letter to Tamakatsura herself. He remembered +Suyetsumu’s extreme incapacity in this <span class="pagenum" id="Page_184" role="doc-pagebreak">184</span>direction, and feared +that Tamakatsura, after her strange upbringing, might prove to be a +hundred times more hesitating and inefficient. It was therefore in +order to know the worst as soon as possible that he now lost no time in +addressing her. His letter was full of the friendliest assurances; in +the margin was written the poem: ‘It shows not from afar; but seek and +you shall find it, the marsh-flower of the Island. For from the ancient +stem new shoots for ever spring.’</p> + +<p>Ukon herself was the bearer of this letter; she also reported much of +what Genji had said to her, especially such expressions of cordiality +and goodwill as would tend to allay Tamakatsura’s apprehensions. He +also sent many handsome stuffs and dresses, with presents for her +nurse and other members of the party. With Murasaki’s consent the +Mistress-of-Robes had gone through all the store-cupboards and laid out +before him an immense display of costumes, from which he chose those +that were most distinctive in colour and design, thinking to astonish +and delight an eye used to the home-spuns of Tsukushi.</p> + +<p>Had all this kindness, nay even the smallest part of it, proceeded from +her own father, Tamakatsura would indeed have been happy. But to be +thus indebted to some one whom she had never seen and upon whom she had +not the smallest claim, was an uncomfortable experience. As for taking +up residence in his house—the prospect appalled her. But Ukon insisted +that such an offer could not be refused; and those about her argued +that so soon as she was decently set up in the world, her father would +repent of his negligence and speedily lay claim to her. ‘That a mere +nobody like old Ukon should be in a position to do any service at all +is in itself a miracle,’ they said, ‘and could not have happened were +not some God or Buddha on our side. For her to send a message to Tō +no Chūjō is, compared <span class="pagenum" id="Page_185" role="doc-pagebreak">185</span>with what she has already done, the merest +trifle, and so soon as we are all more comfortably settled....’ Thus +her friends encouraged her. But, whether she accepted his invitation or +not, civility demanded that she must at least reply to his poem. She +knew that he would regard her cadences and handwriting very critically, +expecting something hopelessly countrified and out-of-date. This made +the framing of an answer all the more embarrassing. She chose a Chinese +paper, very heavily scented. ‘Some fault there must be in the stem of +this marsh-flower. Else it had not been left unheeded amid the miry +meadows by the sea.’ Such was her poem. It was written in rather faint +ink and Genji, as he eagerly scanned it, thought the hand lacking in +force and decision. But there was breeding and distinction in it, more +indeed than he had dared to look for; and on the whole he felt much +relieved.</p> + +<p>The next thing was to decide in what part of the house she was to +live. In Murasaki’s southern wing there was not a room to spare. The +Empress Akikonomu was obliged by her rank to live in considerable +state. Etiquette forbade that she should ever appear without a numerous +train of followers, and her suite had been designed to accommodate an +almost indefinite number of gentlewomen. There was plenty of room for +Tamakatsura here; but in such quarters she would tend to become lost +amid the horde of Akikonomu’s gentlewomen, and to put her in such a +place at all would indeed seem as though he expected her to assist in +waiting upon the Empress. The only considerable free space in the house +was the wing which he had built to contain his official papers. These +had for the most part been handed over to Tō no Chūjō, and what was +still left could easily be housed elsewhere. The advantage of those +quarters was that Tamakatsura would here be the close neighbour of +the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers, whose <span class="pagenum" id="Page_186" role="doc-pagebreak">186</span>sensible and +affectionate nature would, he was sure, prove a great comfort to the +new arrival. And now that all was ready, it seemed to him impossible +to instal Tamakatsura in his household without revealing to Murasaki +the whole truth about the girl’s identity and his own dealings with her +mother. No sooner had he begun the story than he saw plainly enough +that she was vexed with him for having made a mystery of the matter +for so long. ‘I see that you are vexed,’ he said, ‘that I did not tell +you about all this before. But you have always known quite well that +I had many such attachments as this in the days before I knew you, +and I have never seen that there was any point in mentioning them, +unless some special circumstance made it necessary to do so. In the +present case, it is essential that some one should be acquainted with +all the facts, and I chose you rather than another merely because you +are a thousand times dearer to me than any of the rest.’ Then he told +her the whole story of his dealings with Yūgao. It was apparent to +her that he was deeply moved, and at the same time that he took great +pleasure in recalling every detail of their relationship. ‘Conversation +turns often upon such matters,’ he said at last, ‘and I have heard +innumerable stories of women’s blind devotion, even in cases where +their love was in no degree reciprocated. Passion such as this is +indeed rarely long withstood even by those who have gravely determined +to rule out of their lives every species of romance; and I have seen +many who have instantly succumbed. But such love as Yūgao’s, such utter +self-forgetfulness, so complete a surrender of the whole being to one +single and ever-present emotion—I have never seen or heard of, and were +she alive she would certainly be occupying no less important a place in +my palace than, for example, the Lady of Akashi is occupying to-day.... +In many ways, of course, she fell short of perfection, as indeed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187" role="doc-pagebreak">187</span>is bound to be the case. She was not of great intelligence, nor +was her beauty flawless. But she was a singularly lovable creature....’ +‘Were she as much in your good graces as the Lady of Akashi, she would +have nothing to complain of ...’ broke in Murasaki suddenly; for the +Akashi episode still rankled sore. The little princess,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote109" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor109"><sup>109</sup></a> who +constantly visited Murasaki’s rooms, was playing with her toys not +far away, and Murasaki seeing her look so innocent and pretty, in her +childlessness forgave Genji the infidelity which had brought to her so +charming a little playmate and companion.</p> + +<p>These things happened in the ninth month; but Tamakatsura’s actual +arrival could not take place for some while afterwards, for though her +quarters had been chosen she still lacked attendants. The first thing +was to find her some pretty pages and serving-girls. Even in Tsukushi +the old nurse had managed to procure some very passable children +to wait upon her; for it sometimes happened that some one from the +City, having fallen upon evil days, would get stranded on the Island +and be glad to place his boy or girl in a respectable home. But in +the sudden flight from Tsukushi all these young people had been left +behind. Orders were given to market-women and trades-people to keep +their eyes open and report upon any suitable children whom they came +across; and in this way, as could scarcely fail to happen in so vast a +town, a fine batch of attendants was quickly brought together. Nothing +was said to them about Tamakatsura’s rank, and they were mustered +in Ukon’s own house, whither Tamakatsura herself now repaired, that +her wardrobe might be finally inspected, her staff fitted out with +proper costumes and instructed in their duties. The move to Genji’s +Palace took place in the tenth month. He had already visited the Lady +from the <span class="pagenum" id="Page_188" role="doc-pagebreak">188</span>Village of Falling Flowers and prepared her for the +arrival of her new neighbours: ‘A lady to whom I was much attached, +being seized with a sudden melancholy, fled from the Court and soon +afterwards ended her days in a remote country place. She left behind a +daughter, of whom I could for years obtain no news. All this happened +many years ago and this daughter is now of course a full-grown woman; +but though I have been making enquiries ever since it was only quite +recently (and in the most accidental way) that I at last obtained a +clue. I at once determined to invite her to my palace, and I am going +to give her quarters close to yours, in the unused Record Office. To +one motherless child of mine you have already shown infinite kindness, +and have not, I think, found the care of him unduly irksome. If you +will do for this new-comer what you have been doing for Prince Yūgiri, +I shall be deeply thankful to you. She has been brought up in very +humble and rustic surroundings. In many ways she must be ill-prepared +for the life which she will lead in such a place as this. I hope +that you will instruct her ...’ and he made many suggestions for +Tamakatsura’s polite education. ‘I had no idea,’ the Lady replied, +‘that you had more than one daughter. However, I am extremely glad, if +only for the Akashi child’s sake. I am sure she will be delighted to +find that she has a sister....’ ‘The mother,’ said Genji, ‘was the most +gentle and confiding creature I have ever encountered. This girl, Lady +Tamakatsura, doubtless resembles her; and since you yourself are the +easiest person to get on with....’ ‘I have so much time on my hands,’ +she answered quickly. ‘Some one of my own sort to look after and advise +a little.... That is just what I long for.’</p> + +<p>Genji’s own servants and retainers had been told nothing save that a +strange lady was shortly to arrive. ‘I wonder whom he has picked up +this time?’ one of them said. ‘I <span class="pagenum" id="Page_189" role="doc-pagebreak">189</span>don’t believe this is a fresh +affair,’ said another. ‘In all probability she is only some discarded +mistress who needs looking after for a time....’</p> + +<p>The party arrived in three carriages. As Ukon had superintended every +detail, the whole turn-out was quite adequately stylish, or at any rate +did not betray such rusticity as to attract attention. On their arrival +they found their quarters stacked with all sorts of presents from +Genji. He gave them time to settle in, and did not call till late the +same night. Long, long ago Tamakatsura used often to hear him spoken of +in terms of extravagant admiration; ‘Genji the Shining One,’ that was +what people had called him. All the rest she had forgotten; for hers +had been a life from which tales of Courts and palaces seemed so remote +that she had scarcely heeded them. And now when through a chink in her +curtains-of-state she caught a glimpse of him—vague enough, for the +room was lit only by the far distant rays of the great lamp beyond the +partition—her feeling was one of admiration, but (could it be so, she +asked herself) of downright terror.</p> + +<p>Ukon had flung open both halves of the heavy maindoor and was now +obsequiously ushering him into the room. ‘You should not have done +that,’ he protested. ‘You are making too much of my entry. No such +ceremonies are necessary when one inmate of this house takes it into +his head to visit another,’ and he seated himself alongside her +curtained chair. ‘This dim light too,’ he continued, addressing Ukon, +‘may seem to you very romantic. But Lady Tamakatsura has consented +to make believe that she is my daughter, and family meetings such as +this require a better illumination. Do you not agree?’ And with this +he slightly raised one corner of her curtain. She looked extremely shy +and was sitting, as he now discovered, with face half-turned away. +But he knew at once that as far <span class="pagenum" id="Page_190" role="doc-pagebreak">190</span>as looks were concerned she was +not going to cause him any anxiety. ‘Could we not have a little more +light?’ he said, turning again to Ukon. ‘It is so irritating....’ Ukon +lit a candle and came towards them holding it aloft in her hand. ‘It +is rather heavy work to get started!’ he whispered, smiling. ‘Things +will go better presently.’ Even the way she hung her head, as though +frightened of meeting his eyes, reminded him so vividly of Yūgao that +it was impossible for him to treat her as a stranger; instinctively +indeed he began to speak to her in a tone of complete familiarity as +though they had shared the same house all their lives: ‘I have been +hunting high and low for you ever since you were a baby,’ he said, ‘and +now that I have found you, and see you sitting there with a look that I +know so well, it is more than I can bear. I wanted so much to talk to +you, but now ...’ and he paused to wipe the tears from his eyes, whilst +there rushed to his mind a thousand tender recollections of Yūgao and +her incomparable ways. ‘I doubt,’ he said at last, reckoning up the +years since her death, ‘whether true parent has ever reclaimed a child +after so long a search as I have made for you. Indeed so long a time +has passed that you are already a woman of judgment and experience, and +can tell me a far more interesting story of all that has befallen you +on that island of yours than could be told by a mere child. I have that +compensation at least for having met you so late....’</p> + +<p>What would she tell him? For a long while she hung her head in silence. +At last she said shyly: ‘Pray remember that like the leech-child,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote110" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor110"><sup>110</sup></a> +at three years old I was set adrift <span class="pagenum" id="Page_191" role="doc-pagebreak">191</span>upon the ocean. Since then I +have been stranded in a place where only such things could befall me +as to you would seem nothing at all.’ Her voice died away at the end +of the sentence with a half-childish murmur, exactly as her mother’s +had done long ago. ‘I was “sorry for you” indeed,’ he said, ‘when I +heard whither you had drifted. But I am going to see to it now that no +one shall ever be sorry for you again.’ She said no more that night; +but her one short reply had convinced him that she was by no means a +nonentity, and he went back to his own quarters feeling confident that +there could be no difficulty in launching her upon a suitable career. +‘Poor Tamakatsura has lived in the country for so long,’ he said to +Murasaki later,’ that it would not at all have surprised me to find her +very boorish, and I was prepared to make every allowance.... But on the +contrary she seems very well able to hold her own. It will be amusing +to watch the effect upon our friends when it becomes known that this +girl is living in the house. I can well imagine the flutter into which +she will put some of them,—my half-brother Prince Sochi no Miya for +example. The reason that quite lively and amusing people often look so +gloomy when they come here is that there have been no attractions of +this kind. We must make as much play with her as possible; it will be +such fun to see which of our acquaintances become brisker, and which +remain as solemn as ever.’ ‘You are certainly the strangest “father”!’ +exclaimed Murasaki. The first thing you think of is how to use her as +a bait to the more unprincipled among your friends. It is monstrous!’ +‘If only I had thought of it in time,’ he laughed, ‘I see now how +splendidly you would have served for the same purpose. It was silly of +me not to think of it; but, somehow or other, I preferred to keep you +all to myself. She flushed slightly as he said this, looking younger +and <span class="pagenum" id="Page_192" role="doc-pagebreak">192</span>more charming than ever. Sending for his ink-stone Genji now +wrote on a practising-slip the poem: ‘Save that both she and I have +common cause to mourn, my own is she no more than a false lock worn +upon an aged head.’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote111" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor111"><sup>111</sup></a> Seeing him sigh heavily and go about muttering +to himself, Murasaki knew that his love for Yūgao had been no mere +boyish fancy, but an affair that had stirred his nature to its depths.</p> + +<p>Yūgiri, having been told that a half-sister (of whose existence he +had never heard) was come to live with them in the palace, and that +he ought to make friends with her and make her feel at home, at once +rushed round to her rooms, saying: ‘I do not count for very much, I +know; but since we are brother and sister, I think you might have sent +for me before. If only I had known who you were, I would have been so +glad to help you to unpack your things. I do think you might have told +me....’ ‘Poor young gentleman,’ thought Ukon, who was close at hand; +‘this is really too bad. How long will they let him go on in this +style, thinking all the while she is his sister? I don’t think it’s +fair....’</p> + +<p>The contrast between her present way of life and the days at Tsukushi +was staggering. Here every elegance, every convenience appeared as +though by magic; there the simplest articles could be procured only +by endless contriving, and when found were soiled, dilapidated, +out-of-date. Here Prince Genji claimed her as his daughter, Prince +Yūgiri as his sister.... ‘Now these,’ thought old Sanjō, ‘really are +fine gentlemen. However I came to have such a high opinion of that +Lord-Lieutenant I do not know!’ And when she remembered what airs a +miserable creature like Tayū had given himself on the Island, she +almost expired with indignation.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_193" role="doc-pagebreak">193</span>That Bugo no Suke had acted with rare courage and wisdom in +planning the sudden flight from Tsukushi was readily admitted by +Genji when Ukon had laid all the circumstances before him. It was +unlikely that any stranger would serve Tamakatsura with such devotion +as this foster-brother had shown, and in drawing up for her a list +of gentlemen-in-attendance, Genji saw to it that Bugo no Suke’s name +should figure among them.</p> + +<p>Never in his wildest dreams had it occurred to Bugo no Suke that he, +a plain Tsukushi yeoman, would ever set foot in a Minister’s palace; +nay, would in all his living days so much as set eyes on such a place. +And here he was, not merely walking in and out just as he chose, but +going with the lords and ladies wherever they went, and even arranging +their affairs for them and ordering about their underlings as though +they were his own. And to crown his content, no day passed but brought +to his mistress some ingenious intention, some well-devised if trifling +act of kindness from their host himself.</p> + +<p>At the end of the year there took place the usual distribution of +stuff for spring clothes, and Genji was determined that the new-comer +should not feel that she had come off worse than the greatest ladies in +the house. But he feared that, graceful and charming though she was, +her taste in dress must necessarily be somewhat rustic, and among the +silks which he gave her he determined also to send a certain number of +woven dresses, that she might be gently guided towards the fashions +of the day. The gentlewomen of the palace, each anxious to prove that +there was nothing she did not know about the latest shapes of bodice +and kirtle, set to work with such a will that when they brought their +wares for Genji’s inspection, he exclaimed: ‘I fear your zeal has been +excessive. If all my presents are to be on this scale (and I have no +desire to excite <span class="pagenum" id="Page_194" role="doc-pagebreak">194</span>jealousy), I shall indeed be hard put to it.’ So +saying he had his store-rooms ransacked for fine stuffs; and Murasaki +came to the rescue with many of the costly robes which he had from +time to time given her for her own wardrobe. All these were now laid +out and inspected. Murasaki had a peculiar talent in such matters, +and there was not a woman in all the world who chose her dyes with a +subtler feeling for colour, as Genji very well knew. Dress after dress +was now brought in fresh from the beating-room, and Genji would choose +some robe now for its marvellous dark red, now for some curious and +exciting pattern or colour-blend, and have it laid aside. ‘This one in +the box at the end,’ he would say, handing some dress to one of the +waiting-women who were standing beside the long narrow clothes-boxes; +or ‘Try this one in your box.’ ‘You seem to be making a very just +division, and I am sure no one ought to feel aggrieved. But, if I may +make a suggestion, would it not be better to think whether the stuffs +will suit the complexions of their recipient rather than whether +they look nice in the box?’ ‘I know just why you said that,’ Genji +laughed. ‘You want me to launch out into a discussion of each lady’s +personal charms, in order that you may know in what light she appears +to me. I am going to turn the tables. You shall have for your own +whichever of my stuffs you like, and by your choice I shall know how +<em>you</em> regard <em>yourself</em>.’ ‘I have not the least idea what I look like,’ +she answered, blushing slightly; ‘after all, I am the last person in +the world to consult upon the subject. One never sees oneself except +in the mirror....’ After much debating, the presents were distributed +as follows: to Murasaki herself, a kirtle yellow without and flowered +within, lightly diapered with the red plum-blossom crest—a marvel of +modern dyeing. To the Akashi child, a long close-fitting dress, white +without, yellow within, the whole <span class="pagenum" id="Page_195" role="doc-pagebreak">195</span>seen through an outer facing of +shimmering red gauze. To the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers +he gave a light blue robe with a pattern of sea-shells woven into it. +Lovely though the dress was as an example of complicated weaving, +it would have been too light in tone had it not been covered with a +somewhat heavy russet floss.</p> + +<p>To Tamakatsura he sent, among other gifts, a close-fitting dress +with a pattern of mountain-kerria woven upon a plain red background. +Murasaki seemed scarcely to have glanced at it; but all the while, +true to Genji’s surmise, she was guessing the meaning of this choice. +Like her father Tō no Chūjō, Tamakatsura (she conjectured) was +doubtless good-looking; but certainly lacked his liveliness and love +of adventure. Murasaki had no idea that she had in any way betrayed +what was going on in her mind and was surprised when Genji suddenly +said: ‘In the end this matching of dresses and complexions breaks down +entirely and one gives almost at hazard. I can never find anything +that does justice to my handsome friends, or anything that it does +not seem a shame to waste on the ugly ones ...’ and so saying he +glanced with a smile at the present which was about to be dispatched +to Suyetsumu, a dress white without and green within, what is called a +‘willow-weaving,’ with an elegant Chinese vine-scroll worked upon it.</p> + +<p>To the Lady of Akashi he sent a white kirtle with a spray of +plum-blossom on it, and birds and butterflies fluttering hither and +thither, cut somewhat in the Chinese fashion, with a very handsome +dark purple lining. This also caught Murasaki’s observant eye and she +augured from it that the rival of whom Genji spoke to her so lightly +was in reality occupying a considerable place in his thoughts.</p> + +<p>To Utsusemi, now turned nun, he sent a grey cloak, and, +in addition, a coat of his own which he knew she would +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196" role="doc-pagebreak">196</span>remember—jasmine-sprinkled, faced with Courtier’s crimson and +lined with russet. In each box was a note in which the recipient was +begged to favour him by wearing these garments during the Festival of +the New Year. He had taken a great deal of trouble over the business +and could not imagine that any of the presents was likely to meet with +a very bad reception. And indeed the satisfaction which he had given +was soon evidenced not only by the delighted letters which came pouring +in, but also by the handsome gratuities given to the bearers of these +gifts. Suyetsumu was still living at the old Nijō-in palace, and the +messenger who brought her present, having a quite considerable distance +to travel, expected something rather out of the ordinary in the way of +a reward. But to Suyetsumu these things were matters not of commerce, +but of etiquette. A present such as this was, she had been taught long +ago, a species of formal address which must be answered in the same +language, and fetching an orange-coloured gown, very much frayed at +the cuffs, she hung it over the messenger’s shoulders, attaching to +it a letter written on heavily scented Michinoku paper, which age had +not only considerably yellowed, but also bloated to twice its proper +thickness. ‘Alas,’ she wrote, ‘your present serves but to remind me of +your absence. What pleasure can I take in a dress that you will never +see me wear?’ With this was the poem: ‘Was ever gift more heartless? +Behold, I send it back to you, your Chinese dress,—worn but an instant, +yet discoloured with the brine of tears.’ The handwriting, with its +antique flourishes, was admirably suited to the stilted sentiment of +the poem. Genji laughed afresh each time he read it and finally, seeing +that Murasaki was regarding him with astonishment, he handed her the +missive. Meanwhile he examined the bedraggled old frock with which +the discomfited messenger had been entrusted, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_197" role="doc-pagebreak">197</span>with so rueful an +expression that the fellow edged behind the bystanders and finally +slipped out of the room, fearing that he had committed a grave breach +of etiquette in introducing so pitiful an object into the presence +of the Exalted Ones. His plight was the occasion of much whispering +and laughter among his fellow servants. But laugh as one might at +the absurd scenes which the princess’s archaic behaviour invariably +provoked, the very fact that adherence to bygone fashions could produce +so ludicrous a result suggested the most disquieting reflexions. ‘It is +no laughing matter,’ said Genji. ‘Her “Chinese dress” and “discoloured +with the brine of tears” made me feel thoroughly uncomfortable. With +the writers of a generation or two ago every dress was “Chinese,” and, +no matter what the occasion of the poem, its sleeves were invariably +soaked with tears. But what about your poems and mine? Are they not +every bit as bad? Our tags may be different from those of the princess; +but we use them just as hard and when we come to write a poem are as +impervious as she is to the speech of our own day. And this is true not +only of amateurs such as ourselves, but of those whose whole reputation +depends on their supposed poetical gifts. Think of them at Court +festivals, with their eternal <i>madoi, madoi</i>.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote112" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor112"><sup>112</sup></a> It is a wonder they +do not grow tired of the word. A little while ago <dfn>adabito</dfn> “Faithless +one” was used by well-bred lovers in every poem which they exchanged. +They declined it (“of the faithless one,” “from the faithless one” and +so on) in the third line, thus gaining time to think out their final +couplet. And so we all go on, poring over nicely stitched <cite>Aids to +Song</cite>, and when we have committed a sufficient number of phrases to +memory, producing them on the next occasion when they are required. It +is not a method which leads to very much variety.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_198" role="doc-pagebreak">198</span>‘But if we need a change, how much more does this unfortunate +princess whose scruples forbid her to open any book except these +old-fashioned collections of standard verse, written on dingy, +native paper, to which her father Prince Hitachi introduced her long +ago? Apart from these the only other reading which he seems to have +permitted her was the <cite>Marrow of Native Song</cite>. Unfortunately this book +consists almost entirely of “Faults to be avoided;” its comminations +and restrictions have but served to aggravate her natural lack of +facility. After such an education as this it is no wonder that her +compositions have a well-worn and familiar air.’</p> + +<p>‘You are too severe,’ said Murasaki, pleading for the princess. +‘Whatever you may say, she managed this time to send an answer, and +promptly too. Pray let me have a copy of her poem that I may show it +to the Akashi child. I too used to have such books as the <cite>Marrow of +Poesy</cite>, but I do not know what has become of them. Probably book-worms +got into them and they were thrown away. I believe that to any one +unfamiliar with the old phrase-books Suyetsumu’s poem would seem +delightfully fanciful and original. Let us try....’ ‘Do nothing of +the kind,’ said Genji. ‘Her education would be ruined if she began to +take an interest in poetry. It is an accepted principle that however +great the aptitude which a girl may show for some branch of science +or art, she must beware of using it; for there is always a risk that +her mind may be unduly diverted from ordinary duties and pursuits. She +must know just so much of each subject that it cannot be said she has +entirely neglected it. Further than this, she can only go at the risk +of undermining the fortress of chastity or diminishing that softness of +manner without which no woman can be expected to please.’</p> + +<p>But all this while he had forgotten that Suyetsumu’s <span class="pagenum" id="Page_199" role="doc-pagebreak">199</span>letter +itself required a reply; indeed, as was pointed out by Murasaki, the +princess’s poem contained a hidden meaning which might be construed as +a direct plea for further consolation. It would have been very unlike +him not to have heeded such an appeal, and feeling that the standard +she had set was not a very exacting one, he dashed off the following +reply: ‘If heartlessness there be, not mine it is but yours, who +speak of sending back the coat that, rightly worn, brings dreams of +love.’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote113" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor113"><sup>113</sup></a></p> + +<div class="footnote" role="doc-endnotes"> +<ul class="footnote_items"> +<li id="Footnote95"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor95" class="fnanchor">95</a> See vol. i, chapter iv.</li> + +<li id="Footnote96"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor96" class="fnanchor">96</a> Tō no Chūjō’s child by Yūgao. Her name was Tamakatsura.</li> + +<li id="Footnote97"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor97" class="fnanchor">97</a> The large southern island upon which the modern town of Nagasaki +stands.</li> + +<li id="Footnote98"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor98" class="fnanchor">98</a> Tō no Chūjō.</li> + +<li id="Footnote99"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor99" class="fnanchor">99</a> The God of the Sacred Mirror, at Matsura, in Hizen.</li> + +<li id="Footnote100"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor100" class="fnanchor">100</a> Herself.</li> + +<li id="Footnote101"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor101" class="fnanchor">101</a> See my <cite>170 Chinese Poems</cite>, p. 130.</li> + +<li id="Footnote102"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor102" class="fnanchor">102</a> There is a story in Japan that the wife of the Chinese +Emperor Hsi Tsung (874–888 A.D.) was so ugly that she was nicknamed +‘Horse-head.’ In obedience to a dream she turned to the East and prayed +to the Kwannon of Hasegawa in Japan. Instantly there appeared before +her a figure carrying Kwannon's sacred water-vessel. He dashed the +water over her face and she became the most beautiful woman in China.</li> + +<li id="Footnote103"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor103" class="fnanchor">103</a> A short distance from the Hasegawa Temple.</li> + +<li id="Footnote104"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor104" class="fnanchor">104</a> Of Tsukushi.</li> + +<li id="Footnote105"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor105" class="fnanchor">105</a> I hesitate to use the word ‘Confessor.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote106"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor106" class="fnanchor">106</a> Now about six years old.</li> + +<li id="Footnote107"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor107" class="fnanchor">107</a> Fujitsubo.</li> + +<li id="Footnote108"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor108" class="fnanchor">108</a> Pulled by servants, the oxen being unyoked at the Gate.</li> + +<li id="Footnote109"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor109" class="fnanchor">109</a> The Lady of Akashi's daughter.</li> + +<li id="Footnote110"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor110" class="fnanchor">110</a> The Royal Gods Izanagi and Izanami bore a leech-child; as at the +age of three it could not stand, they cast it adrift in a boat. It made +a song which said: ‘I should have thought my daddy and mammy would have +been sorry for me, seeing that at three years old I could not stand.’ +See vol, ii, p. 185.</li> + +<li id="Footnote111"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor111" class="fnanchor">111</a> <dfn>Tamakazura</dfn> = jewelled wig.</li> + +<li id="Footnote112"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor112" class="fnanchor">112</a> ‘I go astray.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote113"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor113" class="fnanchor">113</a> A coat worn inside out brings dreams of one’s lover.</li> +</ul> +</div> +</section> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-chapter" aria-labelledby="c05-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_200" role="doc-pagebreak">200</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c05-hd">CHAPTER V<br>THE FIRST SONG OF THE YEAR</h2> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">With the morning of the New Year’s<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote114" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor114"><sup>114</sup></a> Day began a spell of the most +delightful weather. Soft air, bright sunshine, and not a cloud to +be seen in the whole sky. In every garden, on the humblest piece of +waste ground, young shoots that formed each day a clearer patch of +green were pushing up amid the snow; while over the trees hung a mist, +stretched there, so it seemed, on purpose that the wonders it was +hiding might later come as a surprise. Nor was this pleasant change +confined to garden and wood; for men and women also, without knowing +why, suddenly felt good-humoured and hopeful. It may be imagined then +what an enchantment these first spring days, everywhere so delightful, +cast upon the gardens of Genji’s palace, with their paths of jade-dust, +their groves and lakes. It would be impossible here to describe in +any way that would not be both tedious and inadequate the beauties +of the four domains which Genji had allotted to his favourites. But +this I may say, that the Spring Garden,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote115" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor115"><sup>115</sup></a> with its great orchards +of fruit trees at this moment far excelled the rest, and even behind +her screens-of-state Murasaki breathed an atmosphere that was heavily +laden with the scent of plum-blossom. Indeed the place was a Heaven +upon earth; but a Heaven adapted to human requirements by the addition +of numerous comforts and amenities. The Princess<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote116" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor116"><sup>116</sup></a> from Akashi was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201" role="doc-pagebreak">201</span>still living in Murasaki’s apartments. The younger among the +gentlewomen-in-waiting had been placed at her disposal; while the +older among them, and such as had distinguished themselves in any way, +were retained by Murasaki. On the third day they were already gathered +together in front of the Mirror Cake<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote117" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor117"><sup>117</sup></a> reciting ‘For a thousand +years may we dwell under thy shadow’ and other New Year verses, with +a good deal of laughter and scuffling, when Genji’s unexpected entry +suddenly caused many pairs of hands to fly back into an attitude of +prayer. The ladies looked so uncomfortable at having been caught +treating the ceremonies of the day with undue levity, that Genji said +to them laughing: ‘Come now, there is no need to take the prayers on +our behalf so seriously. I am sure each of you has plenty of things +she would like to pray for on her own account. Tell me, all of you, +what you most desire in the coming year, and I will add my prayers to +yours.’ Among these ladies was a certain Chūjō,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote118" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor118"><sup>118</sup></a> one of his own +gentlewomen, whom he had transferred to Murasaki’s service at the time +of his exile. She knew well enough, poor lady, what thing <em>she</em> most +desired. But she only said: ‘I tried just now to think of something to +pray for on my own account; but it ended by my saying the prayer: “May +he endure long as the Mountain of Kagami in the country of Ōmi.”<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote119" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor119"><sup>119</sup></a></p> + +<p>The morning had been occupied in receiving a host of New Year visitors; +but now Genji thought he would call upon the various inhabitants of +his palace, to give them his good wishes and see how they looked in +their New Year clothes. ‘Your ladies,’ he said to Murasaki, ‘do not +seem <span class="pagenum" id="Page_202" role="doc-pagebreak">202</span>to take these proceedings seriously. I found them romping +together, instead of saying their prayers. You and I will have to hold +a service of our own.’ So saying he recited the prayer, not without +certain additions which showed that he took the business only a trifle +more seriously than the ladies whom he had just criticized. He then +handed her the poem: ‘May the course of our love be clear as the waters +of yonder lake, from which, in the spring sunshine, the last clot of +ice has melted away.’ To this she answered: ‘On the bright mirror of +these waters I see stretched out the cloudless years love holds for us +in store.’ Then (as how many times before!) Genji began telling her +that, whatever was reported of him or whatever she herself observed, +she need never have any anxiety. And he protested, in the most violent +and impressive terms, that his passion for her underlay all that he +felt or did, and could not be altered by any passing interest or fancy. +She was for the moment convinced, and accepted his protestations +ungrudgingly.</p> + +<p>Besides being the third of the year it was also the Day of the Rat<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote120" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor120"><sup>120</sup></a> +and therefore as fine an occasion for prayers and resolutions as could +possibly have been found.</p> + +<p>His next visit was to the little girl from Akashi. He found her maids +and page-boys playing New Year games on the mound in front of her +windows, and pulling up the dwarf pine-trees, an occupation in which +they seemed to take a boundless delight. The little princess’s rooms +were full of sweetmeat boxes and hampers, all of them presents from her +mother. To one toy, a little nightingale perched upon a sprig of the +five-leafed pine, was fastened a plaintive message: ‘In <em>my</em> home the +nightingale’s voice I never hear, ...’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote121" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor121"><sup>121</sup></a> and with it the poem:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_203" role="doc-pagebreak">203</span>O nightingale, to one that many months,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While strangers heard you sing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Has waited for your voice, grudge not to-day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The first song of the year!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Genji read the poem and was touched by it; for he knew that only under +the stress of great emotion would she have allowed this note of sadness +to tinge a New Year poem. ‘Come, little nightingale!’ he said to the +child, ‘you must make haste with your answer; it would be heartless +indeed if in the quarter whence these pretty things come you were +ungenerous with your spring-time notes!’ and taking his own ink-stone +from a servant who was standing by, he prepared it for her and made her +write. She looked so charming while she did this that he found himself +envying those who spent all day in attendance upon her, and he felt +that to have deprived the Lady of Akashi year after year of so great a +joy was a crime for which he would never be able to forgive himself. He +looked to see what she had written. ‘Though years be spent asunder, not +lightly can the nightingale forget the tree where first it nested and +was taught to sing.’ The flatness of the verse had at least this much +to recommend it—the mother would know for certain that the poem had +been written without grown-up assistance!</p> + +<p>The Summer Quarters<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote122" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor122"><sup>122</sup></a> were not looking their best; indeed at this +time of year they could hardly be expected not to wear a somewhat +uninteresting air. As he looked about him he could see no object +that was evidence of any very pronounced taste or proclivity; +the arrangements betokened, rather, a general discrimination and +good-breeding. For many years past his affection for her had remained +at exactly the same pitch, never flagging in the slightest degree, +and at the same time never tempting him <span class="pagenum" id="Page_204" role="doc-pagebreak">204</span>to the extremer forms +of intimacy. In this way there had long ago grown up between them a +relationship far more steady and harmonious than can ever exist between +those who are lovers in the stricter sense of the term. This morning +he spoke to her for a while from behind her curtains-of-state. But +presently he cautiously raised a corner of one curtain, and he looked +in. How little she had changed! But he was sorry to see that the New +Year’s dress he had given her was not a great success. Her hair had +of late years grown much less abundant, and in order to maintain the +same style of coiffure, she had been obliged to supplement it by false +locks. To these Genji had long ago grown accustomed. But he now began +trying to imagine how she appeared to other people, and saw at once +that to them she must seem a very homely, middle-aged person indeed. So +much the better, then, that he who loved her had this strange power of +seeing her as she used to be, rather than as she was now. And she on +her side—what if she should one day grow weary of him, as women often +did of those who gave them so little as he had done!</p> + +<p>Such were the reflexions that passed through Genji’s mind while he sat +with her. ‘We are both singularly fortunate,’ he concluded to himself. +‘I, in my capacity for self-delusion; she in hers for good-tempered +acceptance of whatever comes her way.’ They talked for a long while, +chiefly of old times, till at last he found that he ought to be on his +way to the Western Wing.</p> + +<p>Considering the short time that Tamakatsura had been in residence +she had made things look uncommonly nice. The number and smartness +of her maids gave the place an air of great animation. The large +and indispensable articles of furniture had all arrived; but many +of the smaller fittings were not yet complete. This was in a way +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205" role="doc-pagebreak">205</span>an advantage; for it gave to her rooms a look of spaciousness +and simplicity which had a peculiar charm. But it was the mistress +of these apartments who, when she suddenly appeared upon the scene, +positively confounded him by her beauty. How perfectly she wore that +long, close-fitting robe, with its pattern of mountain-kerria! Here, +he thought, contrasting her inevitably with the lady to whom he had +just said farewell, here was nothing that it might be dangerous to +scrutinize, nothing that kindness bade him condone; but radiance, +freshness, dazzling youth from tip to toe. Her hair was somewhat +thinned out at the ends, in pursuance, perhaps, of some vow made during +the days of her tribulation; and this gave to her movements an ease and +freedom which strangely accorded with the bareness of her quarters. Had +he chosen any but his present rôle,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote123" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor123"><sup>123</sup></a> he would not now be watching +her flit unconstrainedly hither and thither across her room.... She, +however, having by this time grown used to his informal visits, enjoyed +his company to the full and would even have had him treat her with a +shade less deference ... when suddenly she remembered that he was only +a make-believe father after all, and then it seemed to her that she +had already countenanced far greater liberties than their situation +demanded. ‘For my part,’ said Genji at last, ‘I feel as though you +had been living with us for years, and am certain that I shall never +have cause to repent your coming. But you have not progressed so fast +in friendship with the other inmates of my household as I have done +in mine with you. I notice you do not visit Lady Murasaki. I am sorry +for this, and hope that in future you will make use of her apartments +without formality of any sort whenever you feel inclined. You could +be of great help to the little girl who lives with her. For example, +if you would take charge <span class="pagenum" id="Page_206" role="doc-pagebreak">206</span>of her music-lessons.... You would find +every one in that quarter most affable and forthcoming.... Do promise +me to try!’ ‘If you wish it,’ was all she said; but in a voice which +indicated that she really meant to obey.</p> + +<p>It was already becoming dark when he arrived at the Lady of Akashi’s +rooms. Through an open door a sudden puff of wind carried straight +towards him from her daïs a blend of perfumes as exquisite as it was +unfamiliar. But where was the Lady herself? For a while he scanned the +room in vain. He noticed a writing-case, and near it a great litter of +books and papers. On a long flat cushion bordered with Chinese brocade +from Lo-yang lay a handsome zithern; while in a brazier which, even in +the dim light, he could see to be an object of value and importance, +there burned some of that incense which is known as ‘The Courtier’s +Favourite.’ This was the scent which pervaded the whole room and, +blending with a strong odour of musk, created the delicious perfume +which Genji had noticed when he first turned into the corridor. Coming +close enough to examine the papers which lay scattered about the daïs, +he saw that though there were many experiments in different styles, +some of them quite interesting, there were no efforts towards the +more extravagant and pretentious forms of cursive. Her child’s letter +of thanks for the toy bird and tree had already arrived, and it was +evident that, in her delight, she had just been copying out a number +of classic poems appropriate to such an occasion. But among these was +written a poem of her own: ‘Oh joy untold! The nightingale that, lured +by the spring flowers, to distant woods was gone, now to its valley +nest again repairs.’ She had also copied out the old poems: ‘I waited +for thy song’ and ‘Because my house is where the plum-tree blooms,’ +and many other snatches and fragments such <span class="pagenum" id="Page_207" role="doc-pagebreak">207</span>as were likely to run +in the head of one to whom a sudden consolation had come. He took up +the papers one by one, sometimes smiling, yet ashamed of himself for +doing so. Then he wetted the pen and was just about to write a message +of his own, when the Lady of Akashi suddenly appeared from a back +room. Despite the splendours by which she was now surrounded she still +maintained a certain deference of manner and anxiety to please which +marked her as belonging to a different class. Yet there was something +about the way her very dark hair stood out against the white of her +dress, hanging rather flat against it, that strangely attracted him. +It was New Year’s night. He could not very well absent himself from +his own apartments, for there were visitors coming and Murasaki was +expecting him....</p> + +<p>Yet it was in the Lady of Akashi’s rooms that he spent the night, thus +causing considerable disappointment in many quarters, but above all in +the southern wing, where Murasaki’s gentlewomen made bitter comments +upon this ill-timed defection.</p> + +<p>It was still almost dark when Genji returned, and he persuaded himself +that, though he had stayed out late, it could not be said that he +had been absent for a night. To the Lady of Akashi, on her side it +seemed that he was suddenly rising to leave her just as the night was +beginning. Nevertheless, she was enraptured by his visit. Murasaki +would no doubt have sat up waiting for him, and he was quite prepared +to find her in rather a bad humour. But one never knows, and in order +to find out he said: ‘I have just had the most uncomfortable doze. It +was too childish.... I fell asleep in my chair. I wish some one had +woken me. It was the most mistaken kindness....’ But no! She did not +reply, and seeing that for the moment there was no more to be done, he +lay back and pretended <span class="pagenum" id="Page_208" role="doc-pagebreak">208</span>to be asleep; but as soon as it was broad +daylight got up and left the room.</p> + +<p>Next day there was a great deal of New Year’s entertaining to be done, +which was fortunate, for it enabled him to save his face. As usual, +almost the whole Court was there,—princes, ministers and noblemen. +There was a concert and on Genji’s part a grand distribution of +trinkets and New Year presents. This party was an occasion of great +excitement for the more elderly and undistinguished of the guests; and +it may be imagined with what eagerness it was this year awaited by the +younger princes and noblemen, who were perpetually on the look-out for +adventure and flattered themselves that the new inmate<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote124" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor124"><sup>124</sup></a> of Genji’s +palace was by no means beyond their reach. A gentle evening breeze +carried the scent of fruit-blossom into every corner of the house; in +particular, most fragrant of all, the plum-trees in Murasaki’s garden +were now in full bloom. It was at that nameless hour which is neither +day nor night. The concert had begun; delicate harmonies of flute and +string filled the air, and at last came the swinging measure of ‘Well +may this Hall grow rich and thrive,’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote125" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor125"><sup>125</sup></a> with its animated refrain +‘Oh, the saki-grass so sweet,’ in which Genji joined with excellent +effect. This indeed was one of his peculiar gifts, that whatever was +afoot, whether music, dancing or what not, he had only to join in and +every one else was at once inspired to efforts of which they would not +have imagined themselves capable.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the ladies of the household, in the seclusion of their +rooms, heard little more than a confused din of horse-hoofs and +carriage-wheels, their plight being indeed much like that of the least +deserving among the Blest, who though they are reborn in Paradise, +receive an unopened lotus-bud as their lodging.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote126" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor126"><sup>126</sup></a> But still worse +was the position of those who inhabited the old Eastern Wing; for +having once lived at any rate within ear-shot of such festivities as +this, they now saw themselves condemned to an isolation and lack of +employment which every year would increase. Yet though they might +almost as well have renounced the Court and ensconced themselves ‘by +mountain paths where Sorrow is unknown,’ they did nothing of the kind +nor, real though their grievances were, did the slightest complaint +ever cross their lips. Indeed, save that they were left pretty much +to their own devices, they had little else to complain of. They were +housed in the utmost comfort and security. Those of them who were +religious had at least the certainty that their pious practices would +not be interrupted; while those who cared for study had plenty of time +to fill a thousand copy-books with native characters. As regards their +lodging and equipment, they had only to express a desire for it to be +immediately gratified. And sometimes their benefactor actually called +upon them, as indeed happened this spring, so soon as the busy days of +the New Festival were over.</p> + +<p>Suyetsumu was after all the daughter of Prince Hitachi, and as such +was entitled to keep up a considerable degree of state. Genji had +accordingly provided her with a very ample staff of attendants. Her +surroundings indeed were all that could be desired. She herself had +changed greatly in recent years. Her hair was now quite grey, and +seeing that she was embarrassed by this and was evidently wondering +what impression it would make upon him, he at first kept his eyes +averted while he spoke to her. His gaze <span class="pagenum" id="Page_210" role="doc-pagebreak">210</span>naturally fell upon her +dress. He recognized it as that which he had given her for New Year; +but it looked very odd, and he was wondering how he had come to give +her so unsuitable a garment, when he discovered that the fault was +entirely that of the wearer. Over it she had put a thin mantle of dull +black crepe, unlined, and so stiff that it crackled when she moved. +The woven dress which he had given her was meant to wear under a heavy +cloak, and naturally in her present garb she was, as he could see, +suffering terribly from the cold. He had given her an ample supply of +stuff for winter cloaks. What could she have done with it all? But with +Suyetsumu nothing seemed to thrive, every stuff became threadbare, +every colour turned dingy, save that of one bright flower....<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote127" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor127"><sup>127</sup></a> But +one must keep such things out of one’s head; and he firmly replaced the +open flap of her curtain.</p> + +<p>She was not offended. It was quite enough that year after year, he +should preserve the same unmistakable signs of affection; for did he +not always treat her as an intimate and equal, taking her completely +into his confidence and addressing her always in the most informal +manner imaginable? If this were not affection, what else could it be?</p> + +<p>He meanwhile was thinking what a uniquely depressing and wearisome +creature she was, and deciding that he must really make up his mind +to be a little kinder to her, since it was certain that no one else +intended to take the business off his hands.</p> + +<p>He noticed that while she talked her teeth positively chattered with +cold. He looked at her with consternation. ‘Is there no one,’ he asked, +‘whose business it is to take charge of your wardrobe? It does not +seem to me that stiff clumsy over-garments are very well suited to +your present surroundings. This cloak of yours, for example. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_211" role="doc-pagebreak">211</span>If +you cannot do without it, then at any rate be consistent and wear it +over a dress of the same description. You cannot get yourself up in +one style on top and another underneath.’ He had never spoken to her +so bluntly before, but she only tittered slightly. ‘My brother Daigo +no Azari,’ she said at last, ‘promised to look after those warm stuffs +for me, and he carried them all off before I had time to make them +into dresses. He even took away my sables.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote128" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor128"><sup>128</sup></a> I am so cold without +them....’ Her brother evidently felt the cold even more than she did, +and Genji imagined him with a very red nose indeed. Simplicity was no +doubt an engaging quality; but really this lady carried it a little too +far. However, with her it was certainly no affectation, and he answered +good-humouredly: ‘As far as those sables are concerned, I am delighted +to hear what has become of them. I always thought they were really +meant to keep out the rain and snow. Next time your brother goes on a +mountain pilgrimage.... But there is no need for <em>you</em> to shiver. You can +have as much of this white material as you like, and there is nothing +to prevent your wearing it sevenfold thick, if you find you cannot keep +warm. Please always remind me of such promises. If I do not do things +at once, I am apt to forget about them. My memory was never very good +and I have always needed keeping up to the mark. But now that there are +so many conflicting claims upon my time and attention, nothing gets +done at all unless I am constantly reminded....’ And thinking it safest +to act while the matter was still in his mind, he sent a messenger +across to the New Palace for a fresh supply of silks and brocades.</p> + +<p>The Nijō-in was kept in perfect order and repair; but the fact that +it was no longer the main residence somehow or other gave it an air +of abandonment and desolation. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_212" role="doc-pagebreak">212</span>The gardens, however, were as +delightful as ever. The red plum-blossom was at its best, and it seemed +a pity that so much beauty and fragrance should be, one might almost +say, wasted. He murmured to himself the lines: ‘To see the springtide +to my old home I came, and found within it a rarer flower than any that +on orchard twigs was hung!’</p> + +<p>She heard the words; but luckily did not grasp the unflattering +allusion.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote129" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor129"><sup>129</sup></a></p> + +<p>He also paid a brief visit to Utsusemi, now turned nun. She had +installed herself in apartments so utterly devoid of ornament or +personal touches of any kind that they had the character of official +waiting-rooms. The only conspicuous object which they contained was a +large statue of Buddha, and Genji was lamenting to himself that sombre +piety, to the exclusion of all other interest, should have possessed so +gracious and gentle a spirit, when he noticed that the decoration of +her prayer-books, the laying of her altar with its dishes of floating +petals—these and many another small sign of elegance seemed to betray a +heart that was not yet utterly crushed by the severities of religion. +Her blue-grey curtains-of-state showed much taste and care. She sat +so far back as scarcely to be seen. But one touch of colour stood out +amid the gloom; the long sleeves of the gay coat he had sent her showed +beneath her mantle of grey, and moved by her acceptance of this token +he said with tears in his eyes: ‘I know that I ought not now even to +remember how once I felt towards you. But from the beginning our love +brought to us only irritation and misery. It is as well that, if we +are to be friends at all, it must now be in a very different way.’ She +too was deeply moved and said at last: ‘How can I doubt your good will +towards me, seeing at what pains you have <span class="pagenum" id="Page_213" role="doc-pagebreak">213</span>been to provide for +me, protect me.... I should be ungrateful indeed....’ ‘I daresay many +another lover suffered just as I did,’ he said, attempting a lighter +tone; ‘and Buddha condemns you to your present life as a penance for +all the hearts you have broken. And how the others must have suffered +if their experience was anything like mine! Not once but over and over +again did I fall in love with you; and those others.... There, I knew +that I was right. You are thinking, I am sure, of an entanglement +beside which our escapade pales into insignificance.’ His only +intention was to divert the conversation from their own relationship, +and he was speaking quite at random. But she instantly imagined that +he had in some circuitous way got wind of that terrible story ...<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote130" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor130"><sup>130</sup></a> +and blushing she said in a low voice: ‘Do not remind me of it. The mere +fact that you should have been told of it is punishment enough ...’ and +she burst into tears.</p> + +<p>He did not know to what she referred. He had imagined that her +retirement from the world was merely due to increasing depression and +timidity. How was he to converse with her, if every chance remark threw +her into a fit of weeping? He had no desire to go away; but he could +not think of any light topic upon which to embark, and after a few +general enquiries he took his leave. If only it were Lady Suyetsumu who +was the nun and he could put Utsusemi in her place! So Genji thought +as on his way back he again passed by the red-nosed lady’s door. He +then paid short visits to the numerous other persons who lived upon +his bounty, saying to such of them as he had not seen for some time: +‘If long intervals sometimes elapse between my visits to you, you must +not think that my feelings towards you have changed. On the contrary, +I often think what a pity it is that we so seldom meet. For <span class="pagenum" id="Page_214" role="doc-pagebreak">214</span>time +slips away, and bound up with every deep affection is the fear that +Death may take us unawares....’ Nor was there anything the least +insincere in these speeches; in one way or another he did actually feel +very deeply about each of the persons to whom they were made. Unlike +most occupants of the exalted position which he now held, Genji was +entirely devoid of pomposity and self-importance. Whatever the rank of +those whom he was addressing, under whatever circumstances he met them, +his manner remained always equally kind and attentive. Indeed, by that +thread and that alone hung many of his oldest friendships.</p> + +<p>This year there was to be the New Year’s mumming.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote131" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor131"><sup>131</sup></a> After performing +in the Imperial Palace the dancers were to visit the Suzaku-in<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote132" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor132"><sup>132</sup></a> and +then come on to Genji’s. This meant covering a good deal of ground, +and it was already nearing dawn when they arrived. The weather had at +first been somewhat uncertain, but at dusk the clouds cleared away, +and bright moonlight shone upon those exquisite gardens, now clad in +a thin covering of snow. Many of the young courtiers who had recently +come into notice showed unusual proficiency on instruments of one kind +and another. There were flute-players in abundance, and nowhere that +night did they give a more admirable display than when they welcomed +the arrival of the mummers in front of Genji’s palace. The ladies +of the household had been apprised of the ceremony, and they were +now assembled in stands which had been set up in the cross-galleries +between the central hall and its two wings. The lady of the western +side<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote133" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor133"><sup>133</sup></a> was invited to witness the proceedings in company with +the little princess from Akashi, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_215" role="doc-pagebreak">215</span>whose windows looked out on +to the courtyard where the dancing was to take place. Murasaki was +their neighbour, being separated from them only by a curtain. After +performing before the ex-Emperor the dancers had been summoned to give +a second display in front of Kōkiden’s apartments. It was consequently +even later than had been anticipated when they at last arrived. Before +they danced, they had to be served with their ‘mummers’’ portions. It +was expected that, considering the lateness of the hour, this part +of the proceedings, with its curious rites and observances, would be +somewhat curtailed. But on the contrary Genji insisted upon its being +carried out with even more than the prescribed elaboration. A faint +light was showing in the east, the moon was still shining, but it had +begun to snow again, this time harder than ever. The wind, too, had +risen; already the tree-tops were swaying, and it became clear that a +violent storm was at hand. There was, in the scene that followed, a +strange discrepancy; the delicate pale green cloaks of the mummers, +lined with pure white, fluttered lightly, elegantly to the movements +of the dance; while around them gathered the gloom and menace of the +rising storm. Only the cotton plumes of their head-gear, stiff and in a +way graceless as they were, seemed to concord with the place and hour. +These, as they swayed and nodded in the dance, had a strangely vivid +and satisfying beauty.</p> + +<p>Among those who sang and played for the dancers Yūgiri and Tō no +Chūjō’s sons took the lead. As daylight came the snow began to clear, +and only a few scattered flakes were falling when through the cold +air there rose the strains of <cite>Bamboo River</cite>.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote134" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor134"><sup>134</sup></a> I should like to +describe <span class="pagenum" id="Page_216" role="doc-pagebreak">216</span>the movements of this dance—how the dancers suddenly rise +on tip-toe and spread their sleeves like wings and with how delightful +an effect voice after voice joins in the lively tune. But it has truly +been said that such things are beyond the painter’s art; and still +less, I suppose, can any depiction of them be expected of a mere +story-teller.</p> + +<p>The ladies of the household vied with one another in the decoration +of their stalls. Gay scarfs and favours hung out on every side; +while shimmering New Year dresses now dimly discovered behind drawn +curtains-of-state, now flashing for a moment into the open as some +lady-in-waiting reached forward to adjust a mat or rescue a fan, looked +in the dawning light like a meadow of bright flowers ‘half-curtained +by the trailing mists of Spring.’ Seldom can there have been seen so +strange and lovely a sight. There was, too, a remote, barbaric beauty +in the high turbans of the dancers, with their stiff festoons of +artificial flowers; and when at last they entoned the final prayer, +despite the fact that the words were nonsense and the tune apparently +a mere jangle of discordant sounds, there was in the whole setting of +the performance something so tense, so stirring that these savage cries +seemed at the moment more moving than the deliberate harmonies by which +the skilled musician coldly seeks to charm our ear.</p> + +<p>After the usual distribution of presents, the mummers at last withdrew. +It was now broad daylight, and all the guests retired to get a little +belated sleep. Genji rose again towards mid-day. ‘I believe that Yūgiri +is going to make every bit as good a musician as Kōbai,’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote135" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor135"><sup>135</sup></a> he said, +while discussing the scenes of the night before. ‘I am astonished by +the talent of the generation which is now <span class="pagenum" id="Page_217" role="doc-pagebreak">217</span>growing to manhood. +The ancients no doubt far excelled us in the solid virtues; but our +sensibilities are, I venture to assert, far keener than theirs. I +thought at one time that Yūgiri was quite different from his companions +and counted upon turning him into a good, steady-going man of affairs. +My own nature is, I fear, inherently frivolous, and not wishing him +to take after me I have been at great pains to implant in him a more +serious view of life. But signs are not wanting that under a very +correct and solemn exterior he hides a disposition towards just +those foibles which have proved my own undoing. If it turns out that +his wonderful air of good sense and moderation are mere superficial +poses, it will indeed be annoying for us all.’ So he spoke, but he +was in reality feeling extremely pleased with his son. Then, humming +the tune<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote136" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor136"><sup>136</sup></a> that the mummers sing at the moment when they rise to +depart, Genji said: ‘Seeing all the ladies of the household gathered +together here last night has made me think how amazing it would be +if we could one day persuade them to give us a concert. It might be +a sort of private After Feast.’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote137" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor137"><sup>137</sup></a> The rumour of this project soon +spread through the palace. On every hand lutes and zitherns were being +pulled from out the handsome brocade bags into which they had been so +carefully stowed away; and there was such a sprucing, polishing and +tuning as you can scarcely imagine; followed by unremitting practice +and the wildest day-dreams.</p> + +<div class="footnote" role="doc-endnotes"> +<ul class="footnote_items"> +<li id="Footnote114"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor114" class="fnanchor">114</a> The year began in the spring. Genji was now 36.</li> + +<li id="Footnote115"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor115" class="fnanchor">115</a> Murasaki’s.</li> + +<li id="Footnote116"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor116" class="fnanchor">116</a> The child born at Akashi.</li> + +<li id="Footnote117"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor117" class="fnanchor">117</a> Served on the evening of the third day of the year, with radish +and oranges.</li> + +<li id="Footnote118"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor118" class="fnanchor">118</a> She had always been in love with Genji.</li> + +<li id="Footnote119"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor119" class="fnanchor">119</a> <dfn class="normal">Kagami</dfn> = ‘Mirror.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote120"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor120" class="fnanchor">120</a> The first of the cyclical signs.</li> + +<li id="Footnote121"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor121" class="fnanchor">121</a> You are silent as this toy bird and send me no New Year greetings.</li> + +<li id="Footnote122"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor122" class="fnanchor">122</a> Allotted to the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers.</li> + +<li id="Footnote123"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor123" class="fnanchor">123</a> That of father.</li> + +<li id="Footnote124"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor124" class="fnanchor">124</a> Tamakatsura.</li> + +<li id="Footnote125"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor125" class="fnanchor">125</a><div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza0"> + <div class="verse indent0">Well may this house grow rich and thrive—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh, the saki-grass, the saki-grass so sweet—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the saki-grass, three leaves, four leaves, so trim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are the walls of this house made.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +</li> + +<li id="Footnote126"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor126" class="fnanchor">126</a> And consequently cannot see the Buddha nor hear his Word.</li> + +<li id="Footnote127"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor127" class="fnanchor">127</a> <dfn>Hana</dfn> = ‘nose’ and ‘flower.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote128"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor128" class="fnanchor">128</a> See vol. i, p. 200.</li> + +<li id="Footnote129"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor129" class="fnanchor">129</a> <dfn>Hana</dfn> = ‘flower’ and ‘nose.’ See above.</li> + +<li id="Footnote130"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor130" class="fnanchor">130</a> Her relations with Ki no Kami, her stepson. See vol. ii, p. 257.</li> + +<li id="Footnote131"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor131" class="fnanchor">131</a> A band of young noblemen going round dancing and singing in +various parts of the Palace and at the houses of the great on the 14th +day of the 1st month. See vol. i, p. 207.</li> + +<li id="Footnote132"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor132" class="fnanchor">132</a> The residence of the ex-Emperor and his mother, Kōkiden.</li> + +<li id="Footnote133"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor133" class="fnanchor">133</a> Tamakatsura.</li> + +<li id="Footnote134"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor134" class="fnanchor">134</a> ‘In the garden of flowers at the end of the bridge that crosses +Bamboo River—in the garden of flowers set me free, with youths and +maidens round me.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote135"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor135" class="fnanchor">135</a> Tō no Chūjō’s son, famous for the beauty of his voice. See vol. +ii, p. 87.</li> + +<li id="Footnote136"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor136" class="fnanchor">136</a> The <cite>Bansuraku</cite> or ‘Joy of Ten Thousand Springs.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote137"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor137" class="fnanchor">137</a> The After Feast is held in the Emperor’s Palace.</li> +</ul> +</div> +</section> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-chapter" aria-labelledby="c06-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_218" role="doc-pagebreak">218</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c06-hd">CHAPTER VI<br>THE BUTTERFLIES</h2> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Towards the end of the third month, when out in the country the +orchards were no longer at their best and the song of the wild birds +had lost its first freshness, Murasaki’s Spring Garden seemed only to +become every day more enchanting. The little wood on the hill beyond +the lake, the bridge that joined the two islands, the mossy banks that +seemed to grow greener not every day but every hour—could anything +have looked more tempting? ‘If only one could get there!’ sighed the +young people of the household; and at last Genji decided that there +must be boats on the lake. They were built in the Chinese style. Every +one was in such a hurry to get on board that very little time was +spent in decorating them, and they were put into use almost as soon as +they would float. On the day when they were launched the Water Music +was played by musicians summoned from the Imperial Board of Song. The +spectacle was witnessed by a large assembly of princes, noblemen and +courtiers, and also by the Empress Akikonomu, who was spending her +holidays at the New Palace.</p> + +<p>Akikonomu remembered Murasaki’s response to her present:<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote138" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor138"><sup>138</sup></a> it had +been tantamount to saying ‘Do not visit me now, but in the spring-time +when my garden will be at its best.’ Genji too was always saying that +he wanted <span class="pagenum" id="Page_219" role="doc-pagebreak">219</span>to show her the Spring Garden. How simple it would all +have been if she could merely have walked across to Murasaki’s domain +when the fancy seized her, enjoyed herself among the flowers and gone +away! But she was now an Empress, an August Being hedged round by +sacred statutes and conventions. However, if such liberties were hers +no longer, there were in her service many who could enjoy them in her +stead, and sending for one of the new boats she filled it with some of +the younger and more adventurous of her gentlewomen. It was possible +to go by water all the way to the Spring Garden, first rowing along +the Southern Lake, then passing through a narrow channel straight +towards a toy mountain which seemed to bar all further progress. But in +reality there was a way round, and eventually the party found itself +at the Fishing Pavilion. Here they picked up Murasaki’s ladies, who +were waiting at the Pavilion by appointment. The boats were carved +with a dragon’s head at the prow and painted with the image of an +osprey at the stem, completely in the Chinese style; and the boys +who manned them were all in Chinese costume, with their hair tied up +with bright ribbons behind. The lake, as they now put out towards the +middle of it, seemed immensely large, and those on board, to whom +the whole experience was new and deliciously exciting, could hardly +believe that they were not heading for some undiscovered land. At last +however the rowers brought them close in under the rocky bank of the +channel between the two large islands, and on closer examination they +discovered to their delight that the shape of every little ledge and +crag of stone had been as carefully devised as if a painter had traced +them with his brush. Here and there in the distance the topmost boughs +of an orchard showed above the mist, so heavily laden with blossom that +it looked as though a bright carpet were spread in mid air. Far away +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220" role="doc-pagebreak">220</span>they could just catch sight of Murasaki’s apartments, marked by +the deeper green of the willow boughs that swept her courtyards, and +by the shimmer of her flowering orchards, which even at this distance +seemed to shed their fragrance amid the isles and rocks. In the world +outside, the cherry-blossom was almost over; but here it seemed to +laugh at decay, and round the palace even the wistaria that ran along +the covered alleys and porticos was all in bloom, but not a flower +past its best; while here, where the boats were tied, mountain-kerria +poured its yellow blossom over the rocky cliffs in a torrent of colour +that was mirrored in the waters of the lake below. Water-birds of +many kinds played in and out among the boats or fluttered hither and +thither with tiny twigs or flower sprays in their beaks, and love-birds +roamed in pairs, their delicate markings blending, in reflection, with +the frilled pattern of the waves. Here, like figures in a picture +of fairyland, they spent the day gazing in rapture, and envied the +woodman<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote139" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor139"><sup>139</sup></a> on whose axe green leaves at last appeared.</p> + +<p>Many trifling poems were interchanged, such as: ‘When the wind +blows, even the wave-petals, that are no blossoms at all, put on +strange colours; for this is the vaunted cape, the Cliff of Kerria +Flowers.’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote140" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor140"><sup>140</sup></a> And ‘To the Rapids of Idé<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote141" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor141"><sup>141</sup></a> surely the channels of +our spring lake must bend; for where else hang the kerria-flowers so +thick across the rocks?’ Or this: ‘Never again will I dream of the +Mountain<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote142" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor142"><sup>142</sup></a> on the Tortoise’s Back, for here in this boat have I +found a magic that shall preserve both me and my name forever from the +onset of mortality.’ And again: ‘In the soft spring sunshine even the +spray that falls from the rower’s <span class="pagenum" id="Page_221" role="doc-pagebreak">221</span>oars, sinks soft as scattered +petals on to the waveless waters of the lake.’</p> + +<p>So captivated were they by this novel experience that they had soon +lost all sense of whither they were faring or whence they had come. It +was indeed as though the waters had cast a spell of forgetfulness upon +their hearts, and when evening came they were still, as it seemed to +them, gliding away and away across the lake, to the pleasant strains +of the tune called <cite>The Royal Deer</cite>.... Suddenly the boats halted, the +ladies were invited to go ashore, and to their complete surprise found +that they were back again at the Fishing Pavilion.</p> + +<p>This place was finished in a manner which combined elegance with +extreme simplicity. The rooms were indeed almost bare, and as now the +rival parties pressed into them, spreading along the empty galleries +and across the wide, deserted floors, there was such an interweaving of +gay colours as would have been hard to out-do. The musicians were again +called upon, and this time played a sequence of little-known airs which +won universal applause. Soon they were joined by a troupe of dancers +whom Genji had himself selected, drawing up at the same time a list of +pieces which he thought would interest such an audience.</p> + +<p>It seemed a pity that darkness should be allowed to interfere with +these pleasures, and when night came on, a move was made to the +courtyard in front of the palace. Here flares were lit, and on the +mossy lawn at the foot of the great Steps not only professional +musicians, but also various visitors from Court and friends of the +family performed on wind and string, while picked teachers of the flute +gave a display in the ‘double mode.’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote143" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor143"><sup>143</sup></a> Then all the zitherns and +lutes belonging to different members of the <span class="pagenum" id="Page_222" role="doc-pagebreak">222</span>household were brought +out on to the steps and carefully tuned to the same pitch. A grand +concert followed, the piece <cite>Was ever such a day?</cite> being performed with +admirable effect. Even the grooms and labourers who were loitering +amid the serried ranks of coaches drawn up outside the great gates, +little as they usually cared for such things, on this occasion pricked +up their ears and were soon listening with lips parted in wonder and +delight. For it was indeed impossible that the strange shrill descants +of the Spring Mode, enhanced as they were by the unusual beauty of the +night, should not move the most impercipient of human creatures.</p> + +<p>The concert continued till dawn. As a return-tune<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote144" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor144"><sup>144</sup></a> <cite>Gay Springtide +Pleasures</cite> was added to the programme, and Prince Sochi no Miya carried +the vocal music back very pleasantly to the common mode by singing +<cite>Green Willows</cite><a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote145" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor145"><sup>145</sup></a> in the words of which Genji also joined.</p> + +<p>Already the morning birds were clamouring in a lusty chorus to +which, from behind the curtains, the Empress Akikonomu listened with +irritation.</p> + +<p>It would have been hard in these days to find a mote in the perfect +sunshine of Genji’s prosperity and contentment. But it was noticed +with regret by his friends, as a circumstance which must of necessity +be painful to him, that Murasaki still bore him no child. It was +felt, however, that this misfortune was to some extent remedied by +the arrival of his handsome natural daughter (for so Tamakatsura was +regarded by the world at large). The evident store which Genji himself +set by this lady, becoming a matter <span class="pagenum" id="Page_223" role="doc-pagebreak">223</span>of common report, together +with the tales of her almost unbelievable beauty, soon induced a large +number of suitors to seek her hand; which was precisely what he had +anticipated. Those of them whose position in life entitled them to +confidence had, through suitable channels, already gone so far as to +make hints in this direction; while there were doubtless many petty +courtiers the flame of whose love burned secretly as a camp fire buried +under a pile of stones.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote146" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor146"><sup>146</sup></a></p> + +<p>Tō no Chūjō’s sons were, of course, like every one else, under the +delusion that she was Genji’s child and took a considerable interest in +her. But the principal suitor was Genji’s half-brother Prince Sochi no +Miya. It so happened that he had been a widower for three years; he was +tired of this comfortless state of life and had made it clear not only +that he considered himself a suitable match for Lady Tamakatsura, but +also that he should like the wedding to take place immediately. This +morning he was still in a very emotional condition; with a wreath of +wistaria flowers about his head, he was indulging in languorous airs +which confirmed Genji’s previous suspicion that this prince had lately +fallen seriously in love. Till now, however, Genji had deliberately +pretended not to notice that anything was wrong. When the great tankard +was handed round, Prince Sochi said in a doleful voice to Genji: +‘You know, if I were not so fond of you, I should long ago have left +this entertainment. It has been a terrible night for me ...’ and he +recited the poem: ‘Because my heart is steeped in a dye too near to its +own blood,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote147" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor147"><sup>147</sup></a> life do I prize no longer and in the surging stream +shall shortly cast myself away.’ <span class="pagenum" id="Page_224" role="doc-pagebreak">224</span>So saying he took the wreath of +wistaria from his own head and laid it on Genji’s, quoting the poem: +‘My wreath shall be thine.’ Genji laughingly accepted it and replied: +‘Watch by the flowers of Spring till the last petal be unfolded; then +will be time enough to talk of whirlpools and despair.’ So saying he +caught hold of his brother and held him fast in his seat, promising +that if he would but stay, he should to-day witness a performance far +more entertaining than what had gone before.</p> + +<p>It so happened that this day marked the opening of the Empress +Akikonomu’s Spring Devotions. Most of the visitors not wishing to +miss the ceremonies connected with this occasion, asked leave to +stay on, and retiring to the guest-rooms, changed into their morning +clothes. A few who had urgent business at home reluctantly withdrew +from the palace; but on returning later they found that they had +missed nothing, for it was close upon noon before the actual ceremony +began. The visitors reached the Empress’s apartments in a long +procession, headed by Genji himself. The whole Court was there, and +though the magnificence of the occasion was partly due to Akikonomu’s +own position, it was in large measure a tribute to Genji’s influence +and popularity. At Murasaki’s request an offering of flowers was to +be made to the presiding Buddha. They were brought by eight little +boys disguised some as birds, some as butterflies. The birds carried +cherry-blossom in silver bowls; the butterflies, mountain-kerria in +golden bowls. They were in reality quite ordinary flowers such as you +might find in any country place; but in this setting they seemed to +acquire an unearthly glint and splendour. The boys arrived by water, +having embarked at the landing-stage in front of Murasaki’s rooms. +As they landed at the Autumn domain a sudden gust of wind caught the +cherry-blossom in the silver bowls and some of it scattered along +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225" role="doc-pagebreak">225</span>the bank. The day was cloudless and it was a pretty sight indeed +to see the little messengers come out into the sunshine from behind a +trailing patch of mist.</p> + +<p>It had not been found convenient to set up the regular Musicians’ +Tent; but a platform had been constructed under the portico that ran +in front of the Empress’s apartments, and chairs had been borrowed +that the musicians might be seated in foreign fashion.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote148" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor148"><sup>148</sup></a> The +little boys advanced as far as the foot of the steps, their offerings +held aloft in their hands. Here they were met by incense-bearers who +conveyed the bowls to the grand altar and adding their contents to +that of the holy flower-vessels, pronounced the ritual of dedication. +At this point Yūgiri arrived, bearing a poem from Murasaki: ‘Lover of +Autumn, whom best it pleases that pine-crickets should chirp amid the +withered grass, forgive the butterflies that trespass from my garden of +flowers.’ The Empress smiled. To her own gift of autumn leaves these +Active birds and butterflies were the belated response.</p> + +<p>Her ladies, who were at first loyal to the season with which their +mistress was identified, had been somewhat shaken in their allegiance +by yesterday’s astonishing excursion and came back assuring the Empress +that her preference would not survive a visit to the rival park.</p> + +<p>After the acceptance of their offerings, the Birds performed the +Kalyavinka<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote149" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor149"><sup>149</sup></a> Dance. The accompanying music was backed by the +warbling of real nightingales; while afar off, with strangely happy +effect, there sounded the faint and occasional cry of some crane or +heron on the lake. All too soon came the wild and rapid passage which +marks the close.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_226" role="doc-pagebreak">226</span>Now it was the turn of the Butterflies, who after fluttering +hither and thither for a while, settled at the foot of a tangled +thorn-hedge, over which the yellow kerria streamed down in splendid +profusion, and here executed their dance.</p> + +<p>The Comptroller of the Empress’s household, assisted by several +courtiers, now distributed largesse to the boy-dancers on her behalf. +To the Birds, cherry-coloured jackets; to the Butterflies, cloaks +lined with silk of kerria hue. These were so appropriate that they +could hardly have been produced on the spur of the moment, and it +almost seemed as though some hint of Murasaki’s intention had reached +the Empress’s quarters beforehand. To the musicians were given white, +unlined dresses, and presents of silk and cloth according to their +rank. Yūgiri received a blue jacket for himself and a lady’s costume +for his store-cupboards. He was also charged to carry a reply from the +Empress: ‘I could have cried yesterday at missing it all.... But what +can I do? I am not my own mistress. “If anything could tempt me to +batter down the flowery, eight-fold wall of precedent, it would be the +visit of those butterflies who fluttered from your garden into mine.”’</p> + +<p>You may think that many of the poems which I here repeat are not +worthy of the talented characters to whom they are attributed. I can +only reply that they were in every case composed upon the spur of the +moment, and the makers were no better pleased with them than you are.</p> + +<p>On looking back, I see that I have forgotten to mention the presents +which Murasaki distributed among her visitors after the ceremonies +of the day before. They were, as you may well imagine, very handsome +indeed; but to describe all such matters in detail would be very +tiresome. Henceforward communication between the Spring and Autumn +quarters was of daily occurrence, joint concerts and excursions were +constantly planned, and the two parties of gentlewomen <span class="pagenum" id="Page_227" role="doc-pagebreak">227</span>began to +feel as much at home in one domain as in the other.</p> + +<p>Tamakatsura, after that first encounter on the night when the mummers +danced in front of the palace, had continued her friendship with +Murasaki. The newcomer’s evident desire for cordial relations would in +any case have been hard to withstand. But it was also apparent that +she was extremely intelligent and at the same time very easy to get on +with; so that she was soon a general favourite in the palace.</p> + +<p>As has been said, her suitors were numerous; but Genji had not as yet +shown any sign of encouraging one rather than another. His feelings +upon the subject were indeed very fluctuating. To begin with, he +had no confidence in his own capacity to go on playing his present +fatherly part with success. Something must be done soon; and he often +thought that the first step must be to enlighten Tō no Chūjō as to +the girl’s identity. So long as he hesitated to do so, the situation +was very embarrassing. For whereas Yūgiri had formed the habit of +going constantly in and out of her room in a manner which very much +embarrassed her, but which it was impossible to criticize, since all +the world believed him to be her brother (and it must be confessed +that he never attempted to behave with anything else than brotherly +affection), Tō no Chūjō’s sons whose intimacy with Yūgiri brought them +frequently to the house, pressed upon her attentions of an unmistakable +sort, which she, knowing her true relationship to these young men, +was at a loss how to receive. She would very much have liked her real +father at any rate to know of her present position; but she made no +attempt to get into communication with him, for she had complete +confidence that Genji, who would not do so much for her unless he +wished her well, must know far better than she what policy it was best +to <span class="pagenum" id="Page_228" role="doc-pagebreak">228</span>pursue. Her docility touched and delighted him; for though it +did not by any means equal Yūgao’s, it served constantly to remind him +of her. But Tamakatsura was, as he soon discovered, a person of very +much stronger character than he had supposed.</p> + +<p>The summer came round, bringing with it the distraction of new clothes +and an uncertain yet on the whole extremely agreeable weather. Genji +had very little business at this season, and there was a great deal of +music and entertaining at the New Palace. He heard that love-letters +were pouring in to the Western Wing<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote150" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor150"><sup>150</sup></a> and with the pleasure that +one always feels at discovering that one’s anticipations are being +fulfilled he hastened thither to examine these missives. He took upon +himself not only to read all her correspondence, but also to advise +her which letters ought to be neglected and which acknowledged with +civility. To this advice she listened somewhat coldly. By far the most +passionate and profuse of her correspondents seemed to be Prince Sochi +no Miya, and Genji smiled as he looked through the thick packet into +which that prince’s letters had been collected. ‘Sochi and I,’ he said, +‘have always been great friends. With none of the royal princes have +I ever been so intimate, and I know that he has always been devoted +to me. The only subject upon which we have ever had any difference of +opinion is just this matter of love-making. He allowed it to play far +too important a part in his life. I am amused and at the same time, in +a way, distressed to find him after all these years behaving exactly +as he did when we were both boys. However, I should like you to answer +him. I know of no other person about the Court with whom it would so +well become a lady of consequence to correspond. He is a remarkable man +in many ways. His appearance alone would entitle him ...’ <span class="pagenum" id="Page_229" role="doc-pagebreak">229</span>and more to +this effect, designed of course not to blacken Sochi’s character, but +to portray him in just such a light as would interest an inexperienced +girl. These remarks had, however, an exactly opposite effect to that +which Genji intended.</p> + +<p>Then there was Prince Higekuro. He had always seemed to be a +steady-going, capable fellow, successful in everything he undertook. +But glancing at his letters Genji feared that upon the hill of Love, +where, let it be remembered, even Confucius stumbled,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote151" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor151"><sup>151</sup></a> this wise +prince too might easily find his undoing. By far the most elegant +letter in the whole collection was one written on very dark blue +Chinese paper, heavily perfumed with some delicious scent. It was +folded up very small, and Genji, whose curiosity would have been +aroused by this fact alone, now spread it out, displaying the poem: ‘Of +my love perchance you know not, for like a stream that is buried under +the ground, a moment it springs into the sunlight; then sinks into the +cavern whence it sprang.’</p> + +<p>It was very well written, in a hand which combined fanciful originality +with adherence to the latest fashions. ‘Who wrote this?’ he asked; +but he received only the vaguest replies. Ukon had now joined them +and addressing her, Genji said: ‘I want you to give your mistress +some guidance in the answering of such letters of this kind as may in +future arrive. For the unfortunate situations which sometimes result +from our present freedom of manners we men are not always to blame. It +often happens that a little timely severity on the lady’s part would +avert the quandaries into which we are led by our determination to +treat love as our principal pastime and distraction. At the time (who +should know it better than I?) such severity is of course resented by +the gentleman, who will rail in the accepted <span class="pagenum" id="Page_230" role="doc-pagebreak">230</span>style at his lady’s +“cruelty” and “insensibility.” But in the end he will be grateful that +the matter was not allowed to go further.</p> + +<p>‘On the other hand it may happen that some suitor, whose rank is not +such that he can be considered as a possible husband, may entertain +very serious feelings indeed, yet through fear of giving offence may +go no further in his communications than to make a few conventional +remarks about the weather or the garden. In such a case, if the lady, +insisting upon seeing in such epistles more than is actually expressed, +administers a rebuff, the result will only be that the affair is +henceforward on a footing of passion, not (as hitherto) of formality. +A civil answer, couched in the same conventional terms as the original +letter, may instead dispel the lover’s romantic notions and lead him +to abandon the quest. But whatever happens the lady has done all that +ought to be expected of her.</p> + +<p>‘On the other hand to mistake the idle compliments and attentions which +it is now fashionable to scatter in such profusion, and to treat these +courtly formalities as signs of genuine feeling, is even more dangerous +than to ignore them altogether, and though such a course may lead to a +little momentary excitement, it is bound in the long run to produce a +disagreeable situation.</p> + +<p>‘It often happens that a young girl will cast aside all reserve +and pursue without thought of the consequences some quite trivial +inclination, merely in order to convince the world that she is a woman +of feeling. At first the discovery of a new pleasure is in itself +sufficient to carry her through; but repetition palls, and after a few +months excitement gives place to tedium or even disgust.</p> + +<p>‘I have, however, reason to believe that both my step-brother and +Prince Higekuro are in this case completely sincere, and whatever her +own feelings may be it is improper <span class="pagenum" id="Page_231" role="doc-pagebreak">231</span>that any one in your mistress’s +position should deal too curtly with offers such as these. As for +the rest, I assume that their rank is not such as to make acceptance +conceivable, and there can therefore be no objection to your mistress +meting out among them such varying degrees of kindness or severity as +her fancy dictates.’</p> + +<p>While this exposition was in progress at the far end of the room, +Tamakatsura sat with her back towards the speakers, occasionally +glancing across her shoulder with a turn of the head that showed +off her delicate profile to great advantage. She was wearing a long +close-fitting robe, pink plum-blossom colour without, and green within; +her short mantle matched the flower of the white deutzia, then in full +bloom. There was in her style of dress something which made it seem +homely without being dowdy or unfashionable. If in her manners any +trace of rusticity could still be found, it lay perhaps in a certain +lack of self-assurance which she seemed to have retained as a last +remnant of her country breeding. But in every other respect she had +made ample use of the <span class="corr" id="corr231" title="Source: opportunites">opportunities</span> afforded her by life at the New +Palace. The way she dressed her hair and her use of make-up showed +that she observed those around her with an acute and intelligent eye. +She had, in fact, since her arrival at Court, grown into a perfectly +well turned-out and fashionable beauty, all ready to become, alas, not +his own (reflected Genji with chagrin) but some fortunate young man’s +immaculate bride. Ukon, too, was thinking, as she watched them, that +Genji looked much more fit to be her lover than her father. Yes, they +were surely made for one another; and Ukon doubted whether, however +long he searched, Genji would find her a partner whose looks matched +her so well. ‘Most of the letters that come,’ said the old lady, ‘I do +not pass on at all. The three or four that you have been looking at, +you will agree I could <span class="pagenum" id="Page_232" role="doc-pagebreak">232</span>not possibly have returned. But though I +delivered them to my mistress, she has not answered them, and though of +course she will do so if you insist upon it....’ ‘Perhaps you can tell +me,’ broke in Genji, ‘who sent this curious note. Despite its minute +size there seems to be a great deal of writing in it.’ ‘Ah, that one +...’ said Ukon, ‘if I returned it once I returned it a hundred times! +But there was no getting rid of the messenger. It comes from Captain +Kashiwagi, His Excellency Tō no Chūjō’s eldest son. This gentleman +knows little Miruko, my lady’s chambermaid, and it was through her +that the messenger was first admitted. I assure you no one else but +this child Miruko knows anything about the matter at all....’ ‘But how +delightful!’ said Genji, much relieved. ‘Kashiwagi of course holds a +rather low rank, and that is a disadvantage. But no child of such a +man as Tō no Chūjō is to be scorned; and there are, in point of fact +a great many important officials who in public esteem occupy a far +lower place than these young men. Moreover, Kashiwagi is generally +considered to be the most serious and competent of the brothers. To +receive compliments from such a man is very gratifying, and though he +must of course sooner or later learn of his close relationship to you, +for the present I see no need to enlighten him.’ And still examining +the letter, he added ‘There are touches in his handwriting, too, which +are by no means to be despised.’ ‘You agree with everything I say,’ he +continued: ‘but I feel that inwardly you are raising objections all the +while. I am very sorry not to please you; but if you are thinking that +I ought to hand you over to your father without more ado, I simply do +not agree with you. You are very young and inexperienced. If you were +suddenly to find yourself in the midst of brothers and sisters whom +you have never known, I am certain you would be miserable. Whereas if +you will <span class="pagenum" id="Page_233" role="doc-pagebreak">233</span>only wait till I have settled your future (in such a way +as your father, upon whom there are so many claims, could not possibly +manage), there will be time enough afterwards to disclose the story of +your birth.’</p> + +<p>Though he did not say in so many words that he would far rather have +kept her for himself, he more than once came perilously near to hinting +something of the kind. Such indiscretions she either misunderstood +or ignored. This piqued him; but he enjoyed the visit and was quite +unhappy when he discovered that it was high time for him to go back to +his own quarters. Before he left she reminded him, in guarded language, +of his promise to tell her real father what had become of her. He felt +at this more conscience-stricken than he need have done. For in her +heart of hearts Tamakatsura was by no means in a hurry to leave the New +Palace. She would have been glad to have the inevitable introduction to +her real parent safely behind her, chiefly because the prospect of it +destroyed her peace of mind. However kind her father might be, it was +impossible that he should take more trouble about her than Prince Genji +was doing; indeed, Tō no Chūjō, not having once set eyes on her since +she was a mere infant, might well have ceased to take any interest in +her whatever. She had lately been reading a number of old romances and +had come across many accounts of cases very similar to her own. She +began to see that it was a delicate matter for a child to force itself +upon the attention of a parent who had done his best to forget that it +existed, and she abandoned all idea of taking the business into her own +hands.</p> + +<p>Genji arrived at Murasaki’s rooms full of enthusiasm for the lady whom +he had just been visiting: ‘What a surprising and delightful creature +this Tamakatsura is!’ he exclaimed. ‘Her mother, with whom I was so +intimate years ago, had almost too grave and earnest a character. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234" role="doc-pagebreak">234</span>This girl will, I can see, be more a “woman of the world”; but +she is at the same time evidently very affectionate. I am sure she has +a brilliant future before her....’ From his manner Murasaki instantly +saw that his interest in Tamakatsura had assumed a new character. ‘I +am very sorry for the girl,’ she said. ‘She evidently has complete +confidence in you. But I happen to know what you mean by that phrase +“a woman of the world,” and if I chose to do so, could tell the +unfortunate creature what to expect....’ ‘But you surely cannot mean +that I shall <em>betray</em> her confidence?’ asked Genji indignantly. ‘You +forget,’ she replied, ‘that I was once in very much the same position +myself. You had made up your mind to treat me as a daughter; but, +unless I am much mistaken, there were times when you did not carry +out this resolution very successfully....’ ‘How clever every one is!’ +thought Genji, much put out at the facility with which his inmost +thoughts were read. But he hastened to rejoin: ‘If I were in love +with Tamakatsura, she would presumably become aware of the fact quite +as quickly as you would.’ He was too much annoyed to continue the +conversation; however, he admitted to himself in private that when +people come to a conclusion of this kind, it is hardly ever far from +the mark. But surely, after all, he could judge better than she? And +Murasaki, he reflected, was not judging this case on its merits, but +merely assuming, in the light of past experience, that events were +about to take a certain course....</p> + +<p>To convince himself that Murasaki had no ground for her suspicions +he frequently went across to the Side Wing and spent some hours in +Tamakatsura’s company.</p> + +<p>During the fourth month the weather was rather depressing. But one +evening, when it had been raining heavily all day, he looked out and +saw to his relief that <span class="pagenum" id="Page_235" role="doc-pagebreak">235</span>at last the sky was clearing. The young +maples and oak trees in the garden blent their leafage in a marvellous +curtain of green. Genji remembered the lines ‘In the fourth month +the weather grew clearer and still ...’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote152" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor152"><sup>152</sup></a> and thence his thoughts +wandered to the girl in the Western Wing. He felt a sudden longing, on +this early summer evening, for the sight of something fresh, something +fragrant; and without a word to anyone he slipped away to her rooms. He +found her practising at her desk in an easy attitude and attire. She +was in no way prepared to receive such a visit, and upon his arrival +rose to her feet with a blush. Caught thus unawares and informally +dressed, she was more like her mother than he had ever seen her +before, and he could not help exclaiming: ‘I could not have believed +it possible! To-night you are simply Yūgao herself. Of course, I have +always noticed the resemblance; but never before has it reached such a +point as this. It so happens that Yūgiri is not at all like his mother, +and consequently I am apt to forget how complete such resemblances can +sometimes be.’</p> + +<p>A sprig of orange-blossom was stuck among some fruit that was lying on +a tray near by. ‘As the orange-blossom gives its scent unaltered to the +sleeve that brushes it, so have you taken on your mother’s beauty, till +you and she are one.’ So he recited, adding: ‘Nothing has ever consoled +me for her loss, and indeed, though so many years have passed I shall +die regretting her as bitterly as at the start. But to-night, when I +first caught sight of you, it seemed to me for an instant that she had +come back to me again—that the past was only a dream.... Bear with me; +you cannot conceive what happiness was brought <span class="pagenum" id="Page_236" role="doc-pagebreak">236</span>me by one moment +of illusion. But now it is over ...’ and so saying he took her hand in +his. She was somewhat taken aback, for he had never attempted to do +such a thing before; but she answered quietly: ‘Wretched will be my lot +indeed, should the flower’s perfume prove hapless as the flower that +was destroyed.’</p> + +<p>She felt that things were not going well, and sat staring at the floor, +her chin propped on her fist. This was just the attitude in which she +most attracted him. He noticed the plumpness of her hand, the softness +of her skin, the delicacy of her whole figure. Such beauty could not, +at these close quarters, in any case have failed to move him; coupled +with the memories which every feature inspired, it proved irresistible, +and to-day his discretion broke down as never before. True, he did no +more than make a somewhat vague avowal of his feelings towards her. +But Tamakatsura was instantly terror-stricken; of this there could be +no doubt, for she was trembling from head to foot. ‘Come!’ he said, +‘you need not look so horrified. There is no harm in my having such +feelings, so long as only you and I are aware of them. You have known +for some time past that I was very fond of you, and now you have learnt +that I care for you even more than you supposed. But were I drawn +towards you by the blindest passion that has ever darkened the heart of +man, this would not damage your chances with Sochi no Miya, Higekuro +and the rest. For in their eyes you are my daughter, and it would never +occur to them that my affection for you could in any way hinder their +courtship. My only fear is that you will never find a husband who cares +for you half as much as I do. Such feelings as mine for you are not as +common in the world as you perhaps imagine them to be....’</p> + +<p>He spoke all the while as though what he had said to <span class="pagenum" id="Page_237" role="doc-pagebreak">237</span>her implied +nothing more than an unusual access of paternal feeling. It had now +quite stopped raining; ‘the wind was rustling in the bamboos,’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote153" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor153"><sup>153</sup></a> +and the moon was shining brightly. It was a lovely and solemn night. +Tamakatsura’s ladies, seeing that the conversation was beginning +to take a somewhat intimate turn, had tactfully withdrawn from her +presence.</p> + +<p>His visits had for some while been very frequent; but circumstances +seldom favoured him as they did to-night. Moreover, now that he had, +quite without premeditation, confessed to these feelings, they seemed +suddenly to have taken a far stronger hold upon him. Unobtrusively, +indeed almost without her being aware of what was happening, he slipped +from her shoulders the light cloak which she had been wearing since +summer came in, and lay down beside her. She was horrified, but chiefly +through the fear that some one might discover them in this posture. +Her own father, she ruefully reflected, might refuse to admit his +responsibilities towards her and even order her out of his sight, but +she could be certain that he would not submit her to such ordeals as +she was here undergoing.... She did her best to hide her tears, but +before long they burst forth in an uncontrollable flood. Genji was +dismayed. ‘If that is what you feel about it,’ he said, ‘you must +really dislike me very much indeed. I have not attempted to do anything +that the world would consider in the least reprehensible, even were +I in no way connected with you. But as it is, we have been friends +for almost a year. Surely there is nothing very strange in the way I +have behaved? You know quite well that I should never force you to do +anything you would be sorry for afterwards. Do not, please, be angry +with me. Now that you have grown so like your mother, it is an immense +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238" role="doc-pagebreak">238</span>comfort to me simply to be with you....’ He spoke then for a long +while, tenderly, caressingly. For now that she was lying beside him +the resemblance to Yūgao was more than ever complete. But happy though +he would have been to remain far longer at her side, he was still able +to see that his behaviour had been in the highest degree rash and +inconsiderate. It was growing late; at any moment some one might return +to the room and discover them. ‘Do not think the worse of me for what +has happened this evening,’ he said at last, rising from the couch; ‘it +would distress me very much if you did. I know quite well that there +are people who never allow their feelings to get the better of them. +I can only say that I am differently made. But of this at least I can +assure you: whatever you may think of me, such outbursts are not due +in my case merely to some frivolous impulse of the moment. Once my +affections are aroused they are boundless both in time and extent. You +need not fear that I shall ever act in such a way as to harm your good +name. All I ask is that I may sometimes be allowed to talk as I have +talked to-night; and perhaps I may even hope that you will occasionally +answer me in the same spirit.’</p> + +<p>He spoke gently, reasonably, but she was now beside herself with +agitation, and made no intelligible reply.</p> + +<p>‘I see that I have made a great mistake,’ he said at last. ‘I always +thought that we got on unusually well together; but it is now clear +that the friendship was all on my side. For I cannot think that my +showing a little affection would so much perturb you unless you +definitely disliked me....’ He broke off, and left the room with a +final entreaty that she would speak to no one of what had occurred.</p> + +<p>Though Tamakatsura was no longer very young, she was still entirely +innocent, and this made her judge Genji’s conduct more harshly than she +would otherwise have done. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_239" role="doc-pagebreak">239</span>He had indeed merely lain down on the +same couch; but she, in her inexperience, imagined that in so doing he +had taken advantage of her to the utmost possible extent. On returning +to the room her gentlewomen at once noticed that she was looking very +distraught, and pestered her with tiresome enquiries about her health. +No sooner had they withdrawn than Ateki,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote154" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor154"><sup>154</sup></a> the daughter of her +old nurse, began (irritatingly enough) to congratulate her upon her +guardian’s extraordinary kindness: ‘How gratifying it is,’ she said, +‘that his Excellency is so admirably attentive to you! With all respect +to your own father, I very much doubt whether he would put himself to +half as much trouble on your account.... Prince Genji seems to take a +positive pleasure in looking after you.’ But Tamakatsura had been too +much surprised and shocked by Genji’s conduct to feel, for the moment, +any gratitude for the more than parental solicitude by which Ateki was +so deeply impressed. She had no desire whatever to see him again, and +yet in his absence felt strangely lonely and depressed.</p> + +<div class="footnote" role="doc-endnotes"> +<ul class="footnote_items"> +<li id="Footnote138"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor138" class="fnanchor">138</a> The box of autumn leaves. See above, p. <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> + +<li id="Footnote139"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor139" class="fnanchor">139</a> See vol. ii, p. 292.</li> + +<li id="Footnote140"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor140" class="fnanchor">140</a> Yamabuki no Saki, a place in Ōmi, referred to in the <cite>Gossamer +Diary</cite>. See vol. ii, p. 28.</li> + +<li id="Footnote141"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor141" class="fnanchor">141</a> A place in Yamashiro, also famous for its kerria flowers.</li> + +<li id="Footnote142"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor142" class="fnanchor">142</a> Hōrai, fairyland, the Immortal Island.</li> + +<li id="Footnote143"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor143" class="fnanchor">143</a> The mode of the second, beginning on alto A. Being so high it was +very difficult to play. It symbolized Spring.</li> + +<li id="Footnote144"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor144" class="fnanchor">144</a> The tune which marked the return from the unusual ‘Spring’ tuning +to the ordinary mode.</li> + +<li id="Footnote145"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor145" class="fnanchor">145</a> +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza0"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘With a thread of green from the willow-tree—Ohé!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The nightingale has stitched himself a hat—Ohé!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A hat of plum-blossom, they say—Ohé!’</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +</li> + +<li id="Footnote146"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor146" class="fnanchor">146</a> Lest the enemy should see it.</li> + +<li id="Footnote147"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor147" class="fnanchor">147</a> He thinks that Tamakatsura is Genji’s daughter, and therefore +his own niece. Union with a brother’s child was ill-viewed. There are +numerous puns, which it would be tedious to explain.</li> + +<li id="Footnote148"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor148" class="fnanchor">148</a> The Japanese, as is well known, squat cross-legged on the ground. +But the use of chairs had spread with Buddhism from Central Asia.</li> + +<li id="Footnote149"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor149" class="fnanchor">149</a> One of the magical birds in Amida Buddha’s Paradise.</li> + +<li id="Footnote150"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor150" class="fnanchor">150</a> Tamakatsura’s quarters.</li> + +<li id="Footnote151"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor151" class="fnanchor">151</a> The married life of Confucius, like that of Socrates, was very +unhappy.</li> + +<li id="Footnote152"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor152" class="fnanchor">152</a> From a poem written by Po Chü-i in 821, describing the pleasure +of returning to his own house after a spell of duty in the Palace: ‘I +sit at the window and listen to the wind rustling among the bamboo; I +walk on the terrace and watch the moon rising between the trees.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote153"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor153" class="fnanchor">153</a> See note on p. <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li> + +<li id="Footnote154"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor154" class="fnanchor">154</a> See above p. <a href="#Page_159">159</a>. Ateki of course knew the secret of +Tamakatsura’s birth.</li> +</ul> +</div> +</section> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-chapter" aria-labelledby="c07-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_240" role="doc-pagebreak">240</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c07-hd">CHAPTER VII<br>THE GLOW-WORM</h2> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Genji was now in a singularly fortunate position. The government +of the country lay wholly in his hands; but though his power was +supreme, he was now seldom troubled by the uninteresting details of +public business; for he had some while ago delegated all such minor +decisions to Tō no Chūjō, and the arrangement continued to work very +successfully. In varying ways and degrees his dependants naturally +benefited by his increased leisure and security. Not only was he able +to devote far more time to looking after their affairs, but they could +also feel that, such as it was, their position was now something +permanent and dependable; whereas in the old days, when the powers +arrayed against him were still unshaken, they knew quite well that he +might at any moment find himself far more in need of patronage than +able any longer to dispense it. Most of them, even those who received a +very small share of his attentions, were nowadays fairly well content +with their lot; but the Princess<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote155" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor155"><sup>155</sup></a> in the Western Wing continued to +view with great apprehension the imprudent turn which her guardian had +lately given to their relationship, and different as were his manners +from those of her persecutor<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote156" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor156"><sup>156</sup></a> on the Island, she was now scarcely +less alarmed than in the weeks which preceded her flight. She felt that +in first insisting on their playing the part of father and daughter, +and then suddenly <span class="pagenum" id="Page_241" role="doc-pagebreak">241</span>revealing himself in another character, he +had taken advantage of her in a very mean way, and despite his +protestations it seemed vain to suppose that, out of consideration for +her at any rate, he would restrain himself sufficiently to avoid an +open scandal. She had no one to whom she could turn, and now that she +was face to face with the actual difficulties of life she realized far +more acutely than she had even done as a child the irreparable loss +which she had sustained in her mother’s death.</p> + +<p>Genji, on his side, was exceedingly vexed with himself for having +acted so imprudently. He had not breathed a word about the matter to +any one, and being anxious to convince himself that his behaviour +on that unlucky night had been altogether exceptional, he visited +her frequently and, apart from a few rather ambiguous remarks (which +however he was careful never to let fall in the presence of her +gentlewomen and attendants) he behaved in a manner to which exception +could not be taken. Each time that he began to venture on dangerous +ground she felt her heart beat violently and, if he had been any one +else, would have cut him short and sent him about his business. But as +it was she merely pretended not to notice what he was saying.</p> + +<p>She was naturally of a very cheerful and lively disposition, so +that she made friends easily. Prince Sochi and her other suitors, +though they themselves had obtained so little encouragement from her, +continued to hear on all sides nothing but praises of her good looks +and general charm. They therefore redoubled their efforts; but to their +chagrin the rains of the fifth month<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote157" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor157"><sup>157</sup></a> had already set in without +any sign that their industry was likely to be rewarded.</p> + +<p>Among some letters which Tamakatsura was showing to him Genji found +one from Prince Sochi: ‘If you could <span class="pagenum" id="Page_242" role="doc-pagebreak">242</span>but find it in your heart +to admit me for one single moment to your presence, you would earn +my undying gratitude, even though I should never see you again. For +I should thus enjoy a respite, the first for many months, from the +tortures which I now endure....’ ‘I have never seen Prince Sochi making +love,’ said Genji as he read the letter. ‘It would be a sight worth +seeing. Please tell him he may come,’ and he began suggesting the terms +in which she should reply. But the idea did not at all appeal to her, +and alleging that she was feeling giddy and could not, at the moment, +possibly handle a pen, she attempted to lead the conversation into +other channels. ‘But there is no need that you should write yourself,’ +said Genji, returning to his project; ‘we will dictate a letter between +us.’</p> + +<p>Among Tamakatsura’s gentlewomen there was none in whom she placed any +great confidence. The only exception was a certain Saishō no Kimi, a +daughter of her mother’s younger brother, who seemed to have far more +sense than most young women. Hearing that this girl was in difficult +circumstances Tamakatsura had sent for her to see what could be done; +and finding that Saishō was not only the sort of person whom it would +be useful in a general way to have about her, but was also an unusually +good pen-woman, she retained this young cousin in her service. Genji, +who knew that Tamakatsura often used the girl as her amanuensis, now +sent for Saishō and proceeded to dictate a letter. For he was consumed +by an overwhelming curiosity to see how his half-brother, with whose +conduct in all other situations he was so familiar, would conduct +himself at such an interview as this. As for Tamakatsura, she had, +since the occasion of Genji’s unpardonable indiscretion, begun to +pay a good deal more attention to the communications of her suitors. +She had no reason to give any preference to Prince Sochi; but he, as +much as any other <span class="pagenum" id="Page_243" role="doc-pagebreak">243</span>husband, represented a way of escape from the +embarrassment in which she found herself. She was, however, far from +having ever thought of him seriously in this connection.</p> + +<p>Little knowing that his success was due to a whim of Prince Genji’s +rather than to any favourable impression that his own suit had made, +Sochi no Miya in great elation rushed round to the New Palace and +presented himself at Tamakatsura’s door. He could not complain of his +treatment; for he was at once accommodated with a divan which was only +a few paces from her curtains-of-state. He looked about him. On every +side he recognized such presents and appurtenances as far more commonly +emanate from a lover than from a parent. The air was laden with costly +perfumes. There were hangings, brocades, a thousand trifles any one of +which would have been enough to arouse in Sochi’s heart the suspicion +that Genji, from whom he was convinced that those bounties flowed, +was not her father. And if he was not her father, then inevitably, +as Sochi ruefully recognized, he must be reckoned with as a serious +rival. Tamakatsura herself made no effort to converse with him or even +answer his questions. Her maids seemed quite incapable of replying on +her behalf, and when even Saishō, reputed to be so capable in every +emergency, continued to sit in awkward silence, Genji whispered: ‘What +is the matter with you all? Have you become rooted to your seats? Get +up, do something.... Be civil!’ But all this had no effect. They merely +stared helplessly in front of them.</p> + +<p>The evening was now drawing in, and as the sky was very much overcast +the room was almost dark. Beyond her curtains Tamakatsura could just +discern the motionless form of her suitor, gracefully outlined against +the gloom, while from her side a stirring of the evening air would +occasionally carry towards him a fragrance enhanced by <span class="pagenum" id="Page_244" role="doc-pagebreak">244</span>a strange +perfume<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote158" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor158"><sup>158</sup></a> which, though it was familiar to him, he could not then +identify. The room seemed full of diverse and exquisite scents that +inflamed his imagination, and though he had previously pictured her +to himself as handsome, he now (as these perfumes floated round him) +thought of her as a hundred times more beautiful than he had ever done +before. Her curtains were thick and it was now quite dark. He could +not see her and could only guess that she was still near him; but so +vividly did she now appear before his mind’s eye that it was as though +no barrier were between them, and he began to address her in the most +passionate terms. There was now in his style no longer anything of the +professional courtier or hardened man-of-the-world. The long outpouring +to which Genji, ensconced in his corner of her curtained daïs, now +listened with considerable emotion, was natural, direct—almost boyish. +When it was over, Prince Sochi was rewarded by a note from Saishō, +informing him that her mistress had some time ago retired to the inner +room!<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote159" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor159"><sup>159</sup></a> ‘This is too bad!’ whispered Genji, creeping to the door of +her refuge (he had himself been so intent upon his brother’s eloquence +that he had not seen her slip away). ‘You cannot simply disappear while +people are talking to you. You are governed by absurd pre-conceived +notions, and never stop to consider the merits of the case in question. +To treat any visitor, and above all a person of Prince Sochi’s +standing, in the manner I have just witnessed would not be tolerated +in a child; and in your case, seeing that you are a grown woman not +without some experience of Court life, such behaviour is insufferable. +Even if you are too shy to converse with him, you might at least sit +within reasonable distance....’ <span class="pagenum" id="Page_245" role="doc-pagebreak">245</span>Genji had never yet pursued her +into the inner room; but she had no doubt that on the present occasion, +in his eagerness to reform her manners, he would have no scruple in +doing so; and reluctantly she left her place of retreat and once more +seated herself near the edge of her curtained daïs. Sochi now attempted +to begin a more general conversation, but no topic seemed to arouse +her interest. Suddenly her attention was distracted by a light which +had begun to glimmer quite close to where she sat. It seemed to move +when Genji moved. She now saw him go to her curtains-of-state and, at +a certain point, hook back the inner curtain, leaving only a single +thickness of light transparent stuff. Here he suspended something +bright, that looked like a paper candle.... What was he doing? She was +dumbfounded.</p> + +<p>The fact was that on his way to her apartments earlier in the evening +Genji had encountered an unusual number of glow-worms. Collecting +them in a thin paper bag he had concealed this improvised lantern +under the folds of his cloak and, on his arrival, disposed of it in +a safe corner. Startled by the sudden glow of light, Tamakatsura +snatched up her fan and buried her face behind it, not before Sochi +had caught an enchanting glimpse of her beauty. This was just what +Genji had intended. The attentions which his brother had hitherto paid +to Tamakatsura were, he suspected, due solely to the fact that Sochi +had accepted the current story and imagined her indeed to be Genji’s +daughter. He knew that, despite her fame as a delightful accession to +the Court, Prince Sochi could have but a vague conception of her charm; +and in order that he might the sooner escape from his own dilemma he +was determined that Sochi should no longer merely pay formal court to +the girl, but should really lose his head about her. He imagined that +he was now at any rate indisputably playing <span class="pagenum" id="Page_246" role="doc-pagebreak">246</span>the part of a fond +and disinterested parent. A strange delusion! For had he reflected for +a moment he would have seen that nothing would ever have induced him +so crudely to thrust his own daughter, the Princess of Akashi, upon a +suitor’s notice. He now stole away by a back door and returned to his +own apartments.</p> + +<p>Sochi was feeling much encouraged. He now discredited Saishō’s note and +imagined that the lady had been sitting during the whole time of his +discourse in the position where the light of the glow-worms revealed +her. ‘After all,’ he thought to himself, ‘I have interested her. She +listens patiently and apparently even likes to be near me.’ And with +that he pulled back the light gauze flap at the part of her curtains +where Genji had removed the thick inner hanging. She was now but a +few feet away from him, and though a bag of glow-worms makes no very +famous<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote160" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor160"><sup>160</sup></a> illumination, he saw enough by this fitful and glimmering +light to confirm his impression that she was one of the most beautiful +women he had ever seen. In another moment Tamakatsura’s maids, summoned +hastily to the scene, had detached the strange lantern and carried it +somewhere out of sight.</p> + +<p>Genji’s stratagem was indeed abundantly successful. This momentary +vision of Tamakatsura huddled disconsolately upon her couch had +profoundly disturbed him. ‘Does the harsh world decree that even the +flickering glow-worm, too shy for common speech, must quench the timid +torchlight of its love!’ So he now recited; and she, thinking that +if she appeared to be taking much trouble about her reply, he would +suppose she attached more importance to the matter than was actually +the case, answered instantly: ‘Far deeper is the glow-worm’s love that +speaks in silent points of flame, than all the passions idle courtiers +prate <span class="pagenum" id="Page_247" role="doc-pagebreak">247</span>with facile tongue.’ She spoke coldly; moreover she had now +withdrawn to the far side of her daïs. For some while he pleaded in +vain against this inhospitable treatment. But he soon saw that he would +gain nothing, even should he stay where he was till dawn; and though +he could hear by the water dripping from the eaves that it was a most +disagreeable night, he rose and took his leave. Despite the rain the +nightingales were singing lustily; but he was in no mood to enjoy their +song and did not pause an instant to hear them.</p> + +<p>On the fifth day of the fifth month, business at the Stables brought +Genji in the direction of her apartments, and he availed himself of +this opportunity to discover what had happened on the night of Sochi’s +visit. ‘Did the prince stay very late?’ he asked. ‘I hope you did not +let him go too far. He is the sort of man who might very easily lose +control of himself ... not that he is worse than others. It is really +very unusual indeed to meet with any one who is capable of acting with +self-restraint under such circumstances.’ And this was the match-maker +who on the very occasion to which he was now referring, had driven +her into Prince Sochi’s arms! She could not help being amused at +his unblushing inconsistency. But all the while he was warning her +against the very man for whose visit he had himself been responsible. +Tamakatsura scanning him in his holiday clothes thought that he could +not, by any imaginable touch of art or nature, have looked more +beautiful. That thin cloak—what a marvellous blend of colours! Did +fairies preside over his dyeing-vats? Even the familiar and traditional +patterns, she thought, on such days as this take on a new significance +and beauty. And then looking again at Genji: ‘If only we were not on +this tiresome footing,’ she said to herself, ‘I believe I should long +ago have fallen very much in love with him.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_248" role="doc-pagebreak">248</span>A letter arrived. It was from Prince Sochi, written on thin white +paper in a competent hand, and couched in terms which at the time +seemed very spirited and apposite. I fear, however, that were I to +reproduce it here, this admired letter would seem in no way remarkable, +and I will only record the poem which accompanied it: ‘Shall I, like +the flower that grows unnoticed by the stream though holiday-makers in +their dozens pass that way, find myself still, when this day closes, +unwanted and passed-by?’ The letter was attached to the tallest and +handsomest flag-iris<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote161" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor161"><sup>161</sup></a> she had ever seen. ‘He is quite right,’ said +Genji; ‘to-day there is no escape for you.’ And when one after another +of her gentlewomen had pleaded with her that this once at any rate she +should answer him with her own hand, she produced the following reply, +which had, however, very little to do with what was going on in her +mind: ‘Better had the flower remained amid the waters, content to be +ignored, than prove, thus swiftly plucked, how feeble were the roots on +which it stood.’</p> + +<p>It was an idle repartee, and even the handwriting seemed to Prince +Sochi’s expectant eye somewhat vague and purposeless. He was, indeed, +not at all sure, when he saw it, that he had not made a great +mistake.... Tamakatsura, on the other hand, was disposed to be in +rather a good humour with herself. She had this morning received Magic +Balls<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote162" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor162"><sup>162</sup></a> of the utmost variety and splendour from an unprecedented +number of admirers. A more complete contrast than that between her +poverty-stricken years on the island and her present pampered existence +could hardly be imagined. Her ideas on a variety of subjects were +becoming far less rigid than when she first arrived <span class="pagenum" id="Page_249" role="doc-pagebreak">249</span>at the New +Palace; and she began to see that provided her relationship with +Genji could be maintained upon its present harmless footing she had +everything to gain from its continuance.</p> + +<p>Later in the day Genji called upon the lady in the Eastern +Quarter.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote163" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor163"><sup>163</sup></a> ‘The young men in the Royal Body Guard are holding +their sports here to-day,’ he said. ‘Yūgiri will be bringing them +back with him to his rooms and is counting on you to prepare for +their entertainment. They will arrive just before sunset. There will +also probably be a great deal of company besides; for ever since a +rumour spread round the Court that we were secretly harbouring in the +New Palace some fabulous prodigy of wit and beauty, an overwhelming +interest has been taken in us, and we have not had a moment’s peace. So +be prepared for the worst!’</p> + +<p>Part of the race-course was not far away from this side of the +palace and a good view could be obtained from the porticos and outer +galleries. ‘You had better throw open all the garden-doors along the +passage between this wing and the main house,’ he said. ‘The young +people will see very well from there. The Bodyguard of the Right is +exceptionally strong this year. In my opinion they are a far more +interesting lot than most of the present high officers at Court.’ This +whetted, as it was intended to do, the curiosity of the young people in +that part of the house, and the galleries were soon thronged. The pages +and younger waiting-women from Tamakatsura’s wing also came to see the +sights and were accommodated at the open doors along the passage, the +persons of quality being ensconced behind green shutters or curtains +dyed in this new-fashioned way according to which the colour is +allowed to run down into the fringe. Among the dresses of the visitors +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250" role="doc-pagebreak">250</span>were many elaborate Chinese costumes, specially designed for the +day’s festivity, the colour of the young dianthus leaf tending to +prevail. The ladies who belonged to this wing had not been encouraged +to make any special effort for the occasion and were for the most part +in thin summer gowns, green without and peach-blossom colour within. +There was a great deal of rivalry and harmless self-display, which was +rewarded from time to time by a glance from one of the young courtiers +who were assembled on the course.</p> + +<p>Genji arrived on the scene at the hour of the Sheep,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote164" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor164"><sup>164</sup></a> and found +just such a concourse of distinguished visitors as he had predicted. +It was interesting to see the competitors, whom he knew only in their +official uniforms, so differently arrayed, each with his following +of smartly dressed squires and assistants. The sports continued till +evening. The ladies, although they had a very imperfect understanding +of what was going on, were at least capable of deriving a great +deal of pleasure from the sight of so many young men in elegant +riding-jackets hurling themselves with desperate recklessness into the +fray. The finish of the course was not so very far from Murasaki’s +rooms, so that her gentlewomen too were able to get some idea of what +was going on. The races were followed by a game of polo played to +the tune of <cite class="normal">Tagyūraku</cite>.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote165" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor165"><sup>165</sup></a> Then came a competition of rival pairs +in the Nasori.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote166" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor166"><sup>166</sup></a> All this was accompanied by a great din of bells +and drums, sounded to announce the gaining of points on one side and +another. It was now getting quite dark and the spectators could barely +see what was going on. The first part of the indoor entertainment which +came next consisted in the distribution of prizes among the successful +riders. Then followed a great banquet and it was very late indeed when +the guests began <span class="pagenum" id="Page_251" role="doc-pagebreak">251</span>to withdraw. Genji had arranged to sleep that +night in the Eastern Wing. He sat up a long while talking to the Lady +from the Village of Falling Flowers. ‘Did you not think to-day,’ he +said, ‘that Prince Sochi was immeasurably superior to any of the other +visitors? His appearance is of course not particularly in his favour. +But there is something in his manners and mode of address which I at +any rate find very attractive. I was able recently to observe him on an +occasion when he had no reason to believe that he was being watched, +and came to the conclusion that those who so loudly praise his wit and +ingenuity have no idea what constitutes his real charm.’ ‘I know that +he is your younger brother,’ she answered; ‘but he certainly looks +considerably older than you. I am told that he has visited here very +frequently during the last few months. But as a matter of fact I had +not till to-day once set eyes on him since I saw him years ago when my +sister was at Court. I confess I then had no idea that he would turn +out so well as he has done. In those days it was his younger brother, +the Viceroy of Tsukushi, whom I used to admire. But I see now that he +had not the same princeliness of air and carriage which you rightly +attribute to Prince Sochi.’ He saw that, brief as was the time she had +spent in Prince Sochi’s company that day, she had already completely +succumbed to his charms. He smiled, but did not draw her on into a +general discussion of his guests and their merits or defects. He had +always had a great dislike of those who cannot mention an acquaintance +without immediately beginning to pick his character to pieces and make +him seem utterly contemptible. When he heard the Lady from the Village +of Falling Flowers going into raptures over Prince Higekuro, he did +indeed find it hard not to disillusion her, particularly as he was just +then beginning to be somewhat alarmed lest this <span class="pagenum" id="Page_252" role="doc-pagebreak">252</span>prince, whom he +regarded as rather unsuitable, should in the end turn out to be the +strongest candidate for Tamakatsura’s favour.</p> + +<p>He and the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers had for years past +been on terms merely of ordinary confidence and friendliness. It was +assumed on this occasion as on others that they would presently retreat +each to a separate resting-place. How and why had this assumption first +begun? He could not remember, and felt that to-night he would very +gladly have broken the rule. But she seemed to take for granted that +he would presently wish to retire, and so far from resenting this or +seeming to be at all depressed, she evidently felt highly gratified +that her own quarters had been selected as the scene of a festivity +the like of which she had not witnessed in person for a very great +number of years. ‘The withered grass that even the woodland pony +left untouched, to-day with the wild iris of the pool-side has been +twisted in one wreath.’ Thus she expressed her gratitude and pride. +He was touched that so small an event should mean so much to her, and +answered with the verse: ‘The colt whose shadow falls upon the waters +close where the wild-swan’s wing is mirrored in the lake, from iris and +sweet marsh-marigold shall ne’er be far away.’ How easily was she now +contented, and how vague had his own compliments become! ‘Though I so +seldom manage to see you,’ he said, ‘I assure you I am never happier +than when I am here.’ It would have been unlike her to take him to task +for the insincerity of this last speech. She merely accepted it quietly +and they parted for the night. He found that she had given up her own +bed to him, and had all her things carried to another place. Had she +not seemed so convinced that anything in the way of greatest intimacy +was out of the question, he might have felt inclined on this occasion +to suggest a different arrangement.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_253" role="doc-pagebreak">253</span>This year the rainy season lasted much longer than usual, and +whereas the monotony of the downpour is usually relieved by an +occasional day of sunshine, this time there was nothing but one +continuous drizzle for weeks on end. The inhabitants of the New +Palace found it very hard to get through the day and tried one +amusement after another. In the end they mostly betook themselves to +reading illustrated romances. The Lady of Akashi had, among her other +accomplishments, a talent for copying out and finely decorating such +books as these; and being told that every one was clamouring for some +occupation which would help them to get through the day, she now sent +over a large supply to the Princess, her daughter. But the greatest +enthusiast of all was Lady Tamakatsura, who would rise at daybreak and +spend the whole day absorbed in reading or copying out romances. Many +of her younger ladies-in-waiting had a vast stock of stories, some +legendary, some about real people, which they told with considerable +skill. But Tamakatsura could not help feeling that the history of +her own life, should it ever come to be told, was really far more +interesting than any of the tales with which her ladies sought to +entertain her. True the sufferings of the princess in the <cite>Sumiyoshi +Tale</cite><a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote167" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor167"><sup>167</sup></a> had at certain points a resemblance to her own experiences. +But she could see no reason why for generations past so many tears +of indignation and pity should have been shed over the fate of this +princess at the hands of her unscrupulous lover.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote168" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor168"><sup>168</sup></a> Judged as an +episode, thought Tamakatsura, her own escape from the violence of Tayū +was quite as exciting.</p> + +<p>One day Genji, going the round with a number of romances <span class="pagenum" id="Page_254" role="doc-pagebreak">254</span>which +he had promised to lend, came to Tamakatsura’s room and found her, as +usual, hardly able to lift her eyes from the book in front of her. +‘Really, you are incurable,’ he said, laughing. ‘I sometimes think that +young ladies exist for no other purpose than to provide purveyors of +the absurd and improbable with a market for their wares. I am sure that +the book you are now so intent upon is full of the wildest nonsense. +Yet knowing this all the time, you are completely captivated by its +extravagances and follow them with the utmost excitement: why, here +you are on this hot day, so hard at work that, though I am sure you +have not the least idea of it, your hair is in the most extraordinary +tangle.... But there; I know quite well that these old tales are +indispensable during such weather as this. How else would you all +manage to get through the day? Now for a confession. I too have lately +been studying these books and have, I must tell you, been amazed by +the delight which they have given me. There is, it seems, an art of so +fitting each part of the narrative into the next that, though all is +mere invention, the reader is persuaded that such things might easily +have happened and is as deeply moved as though they were actually +going on around him. We may know with one part of our minds that every +incident has been invented for the express purpose of impressing us; +but (if the plot is constructed with the requisite skill) we may all +the while in another part of our minds be burning with indignation +at the wrongs endured by some wholly imaginary princess. Or again we +may be persuaded by a writer’s eloquence into accepting the crudest +absurdities, our judgment being as it were dazzled by sheer splendour +of language.</p> + +<p>I have lately sometimes stopped and listened to one of our young people +reading out loud to her companions and have been amazed at the advances +which this art of fiction <span class="pagenum" id="Page_255" role="doc-pagebreak">255</span>is now making. How do you suppose that +our new writers come by this talent? It used to be thought that the +authors of successful romances were merely particularly untruthful +people whose imaginations had been stimulated by constantly inventing +plausible lies. But that is clearly unfair....’ ‘Perhaps, she said, +‘only people who are themselves much occupied in practising deception +have the habit of thus dipping below the surface. I can assure you that +for my part, when I read a story, I always accept it as an account of +something that has really and actually happened.’</p> + +<p>So saying she pushed away from her the book which she had been +copying. Genji continued: ‘So you see as a matter of fact I think far +better of this art than I have led you to suppose. Even its practical +value is immense. Without it what should we know of how people lived +in the past, from the Age of the Gods down to the present day? For +history-books such as the Chronicles of Japan show us only one small +corner of life; whereas these diaries and romances which I see piled +around you contain, I am sure, the most minute information about all +sorts of people’s private affairs....’ He smiled, and went on: ‘But I +have a theory of my own about what this art of the novel is, and how +it came into being. To begin with, it does not simply consist in the +author’s telling a story about the adventures of some other person. On +the contrary it happens because the story-teller’s own experience of +men and things, whether for good or ill—not only what he has passed +through himself, but even events which he has only witnessed or been +told of—has moved him to an emotion so passionate that he can no longer +keep it shut up in his heart. Again and again something in his own life +or in that around him will seem to the writer so important that he +cannot bear to let it pass into oblivion. There must never <span class="pagenum" id="Page_256" role="doc-pagebreak">256</span>come a +time, he feels, when men do not know about it. That is my view of how +this art arose.</p> + +<p>‘Clearly then, it is no part of the story-teller’s craft to describe +only what is good or beautiful. Sometimes, of course, virtue will be +his theme, and he may then make such play with it as he will. But he +is just as likely to have been struck by numerous examples of vice and +folly in the world around him, and about them he has exactly the same +feelings as about the pre-eminently good deeds which he encounters: +they are important and must all be garnered in. Thus anything +whatsoever may become the subject of a novel, provided only that it +happens in this mundane life and not in some fairyland beyond our human +ken.</p> + +<p>‘The outward forms of this art will not of course be everywhere the +same. At the Court of China and in other foreign lands both the +genius of the writers and their actual methods of composition are +necessarily very different from ours; and even here in Japan the art +of story-telling has in course of time undergone great changes. There +will, too, always be a distinction between the lighter and the more +serious forms of fiction.... Well, I have said enough to show that when +at the beginning of our conversation I spoke of romances as though they +were mere frivolous fabrications, I was only teasing you. Some people +have taken exception on moral grounds to an art in which the perfect +and imperfect are set side by side. But even in the discourses which +Buddha in his bounty allowed to be recorded, certain passages contain +what the learned call Upāya or ‘Adapted Truth’—a fact that has led some +superficial persons to doubt whether a doctrine so inconsistent with +itself could possibly command our credence. Even in the scriptures of +the Greater Vehicle<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote169" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor169"><sup>169</sup></a> there are, I confess, many such instances. We +may indeed <span class="pagenum" id="Page_257" role="doc-pagebreak">257</span>go so far as to say that there is an actual mixture of +Truth and Error. But the purpose of these holy writings, namely the +compassing of our Salvation, remains always the same. So too, I think, +may it be said that the art of fiction must not lose our allegiance +because, in the pursuit of the main purpose to which I have alluded +above, it sets virtue by the side of vice, or mingles wisdom with +folly. Viewed in this light the novel is seen to be not, as is usually +supposed, a mixture of useful truth with idle invention, but something +which at every stage and in every part has a definite and serious +purpose.’</p> + +<p>Thus did he vindicate the story-teller’s profession as an art of real +importance.</p> + +<p>Murasaki, who had first taken to reading romances in order to see +whether they were suitable for her adopted daughter, the Princess from +Akashi, was now deeply immersed in them. She was particularly fond of +the <cite>Tale of Komano</cite><a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote170" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor170"><sup>170</sup></a> and showing to Genji an illustrated copy of +it she said one day: ‘Do you not think that these pictures are very +well painted?’ The reason that she liked the illustrations so much was +that one of them showed the little girl in the story lying peacefully +asleep in her chair, and this somehow reminded Murasaki of her own +childhood. ‘And do you mean to tell me,’ asked Genji, ‘that such an +infant as that has already, at this early point in the story, been +the heroine of gallant episodes? When I remember the exemplary way +in which I looked after you during your childhood I realize that my +self-restraint is even more unusual than I supposed.’ It could not be +denied that his conduct was in many ways unusual; but hardly, perhaps, +exemplary in the common sense of the word. ‘I hope you are very careful +not to allow the little princess to read any of the looser stories,’ +he continued. ‘She would realize, I am <span class="pagenum" id="Page_258" role="doc-pagebreak">258</span>sure, that the heroines +of such books are acting very wrongly in embarking upon these secret +intrigues; but I had much rather she did not know that such things go +on in the world at all.’ ‘This is really too much!’ thought Murasaki. +‘That he should come straight from one of his interminable visits to +Tamakatsura and at once begin lecturing me on how to bring up young +ladies!’</p> + +<p>‘I should be very sorry,’ she said, ‘if she read books in which +licentious characters were too obviously held up to her as an example. +But I hope you do not wish to confine her reading to <cite>The Hollow +Tree</cite>.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote171" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor171"><sup>171</sup></a> Lady Até certainly knows how to look after herself, in +a blundering sort of way; and she gets her reward in the end, but +at the expense of so grim a tenacity in all her dealings that, in +reading the book, we hardly feel her to be a woman at all.’ ‘Not only +did such women actually exist in those days,’ replied Genji, ‘but I +can assure you that we have them still among us. It comes of their +being brought up by unsocial and inhuman people who have allowed a few +one-sided ideas to run away with them. The immense pains which people +of good family often take over their daughters’ education is apt to +lead only to the production of spiritless creatures whose minds seem +to grow more and more child-like in proportion to the care which is +lavished on their upbringing. Their ignorance and awkwardness are only +too apparent; and after wondering in what, precisely, this superior +education consisted, people begin to regard not only the children as +humbugs but the parents as well.</p> + +<p>‘On the other hand if the children happen to have natural talents, +parents of this kind at once attribute the faintest sign of such +endowment to the efficacy of their own inhuman <span class="pagenum" id="Page_259" role="doc-pagebreak">259</span>system, and become +distressingly pleased with themselves, using with regard to some very +ordinary girl or stripling terms of the most extravagant eulogy. The +world consequently expects much more of the unfortunate creatures than +they can possibly perform, and having waited in vain for them to do +or say something wonderful, begins to feel a kind of grudge against +them....’</p> + +<p>‘Overpraise,’ he added, ‘does a great deal of harm to the young. +Servants are very dangerous in this respect....’ Nevertheless he did +not object, as Murasaki had often noticed, to the little Princess +from Akashi being praised by any one who came along, and he often put +himself to immense trouble in order that she might escape a scolding +which he knew she thoroughly deserved.</p> + +<p>Step-mothers in books usually behave very spitefully towards the +children entrusted to them. But he was now learning by his own +experience that in real life this does not always happen. In choosing +books for Murasaki and her charge he was therefore careful to eliminate +those that depict step-mothers in the traditional light; for he feared +she might otherwise think he was trying to give her a quite unnecessary +warning.</p> + +<p>Yūgiri, as has been said before, saw very little of Murasaki; but +it was natural that he should sometimes visit his little sister, +the Princess from Akashi, and Genji did not discourage this. On the +contrary he was anxious to establish an affectionate relationship +between them. For Genji, young though he still was, often thought of +what would happen after his death, and he could imagine circumstances +in which the princess might stand sorely in need of her brother’s help. +He therefore gave the boy permission to visit her and even go behind +her curtains-of-state as often as he chose, though he still forbad him +to enter into conversation with Lady Murasaki’s gentlewomen. So few +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260" role="doc-pagebreak">260</span>were the children of the house that a great deal more trouble was +taken about them than is usually the case. Yūgiri certainly seemed to +have repaid this care. In the ordinary affairs of life he showed great +judgment and good-sense, and Genji had the comfortable feeling that +whatever went amiss, Yūgiri at least could always be relied upon.</p> + +<p>The little girl was only seven years old and dolls were still her +principal interest. Yūgiri, who a year or two ago used so often to play +just such games with his little companion at the Great Hall, made an +excellent major-domo of the doll’s-house, though the part, bringing as +it did a host of recollections to his mind, was often a painful one. +Indeed more than once he was obliged to turn away for an instant, his +eyes full of tears. During these visits he naturally met many of the +princess’s other playmates, and a great deal of chattering took place +on every conceivable subject. He took his share in these conversations; +but he did not get to know any of the little girls at all well, nor +did they, so far as he could see, take any particular interest in him. +Was all that side of life forever to be closed to him? Yūgiri asked +himself. But though this was the thought which instantly recurred to +him during these meetings, his outward behaviour seemed only to betoken +complete indifference. His green badge!<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote172" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor172"><sup>172</sup></a> Yes, it was that which lay +at the bottom not only of these smaller troubles but also of the great +disaster<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote173" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor173"><sup>173</sup></a> which had wrecked all his chances of happiness.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the idea came to him that if he simply went straight to +Kumoi’s father and tackled him about the matter—insisted, shouted, made +a great scene—Tō no Chūjō would suddenly give in. But he had suffered +enough <span class="pagenum" id="Page_261" role="doc-pagebreak">261</span>already in private; there was nothing to be gained by also +making himself publicly ridiculous. No, the better way was to convince +Kumoi herself by his behaviour, above all by a complete and obvious +indifference to the rest of the world, that so far as his own feelings +were concerned nothing was altered by one jot or tittle since the day +when he first told her of his love.</p> + +<p>Between him and her brothers slight difficulties were always arising +which resulted, for the time being, in a certain coldness. For example, +Kashiwagi, Kumoi’s eldest brother, in ignorance of the fact that Lady +Tamakatsura was his sister, continued to pay his addresses to her, +and finding that his letters often failed to reach their destination, +naturally turned to Yūgiri for assistance. Never once did he offer +to perform a similar service in return, though it was presumably as +easy for him to see Kumoi as it was for Yūgiri to see Tamakatsura. The +request irritated him and he firmly refused. Not that they ceased to be +friends; for their relationship, like that of their fathers, had always +been built up of small rivalries and feuds.</p> + +<p>Tō no Chūjō had an unusually large number of children, most of whom had +amply fulfilled, as regards both popularity and attainments, the high +promise of their early years. His position in the State had enabled +him to do extremely well for all his sons. As regards his daughters +(who were, however, not so numerous) he had been less fortunate. His +plans for the future of the eldest girl had entirely miscarried;<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote174" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor174"><sup>174</sup></a> +he had signified his desire to present Lady Kumoi at Court, but had +hitherto received no command to do so. He had not in all these years +ever forgotten the little girl who, along with her mother, had so +mysteriously disappeared, and sometimes spoke of her to those who had +at the time been aware of his attachment to that unhappy <span class="pagenum" id="Page_262" role="doc-pagebreak">262</span>lady. +What had become of them both? He imagined that her strange timidity +had driven the mother to take flight with that exquisite child into +some lonely and undiscoverable place. He fell into the habit of staring +hard into the face of every girl whom he met; and the commoner, the +more ill-clad and wretched the creature was, the surer he became that +this was his lost child. For the lower she had sunk, the less likely it +was that she would be able to persuade any one that she was indeed his +daughter. It was impossible, he felt, that sooner or later one or other +of his agents should not get news of her, and then what reparation he +would make for the down-trodden existence that she must now be leading! +He told his sons her child-name and begged them to report to him +immediately if they should ever come across any one who bore it. ‘In my +early days,’ he said, ‘I am afraid I became involved in a great many +rather purposeless intrigues. But this was quite a different matter. I +cared for the mother very deeply indeed, and it distresses me intensely +that I should not only have lost the confidence of the lady herself, +but also have been able to do nothing at all for the one child that +bore witness to our love.’</p> + +<p>For long periods, especially if nothing happened to remind him of the +matter, he succeeded in putting it out of his head. But whenever he +heard of any one adopting a stray girl or taking some supposed poor +relation into their house, he at once became very suspicious, made +innumerable enquiries and was bitterly disappointed when it was finally +proved to him that his supposition was entirely unfounded.</p> + +<p>About this time he had a curious dream, and sending for the best +interpreters of the day asked them what it meant. ‘It seems to mean,’ +they said, ‘that you have at last heard what has become of a child that +you had lost sight of for <span class="pagenum" id="Page_263" role="doc-pagebreak">263</span>many years, the reason that you have +failed to discover her being that she is thought by the world at large +to be some one else’s child.’ ‘Heard what has become ...’ he faltered. +‘No, on the contrary I have heard no such thing. I cannot imagine what +you are talking about.’</p> + +<div class="footnote" role="doc-endnotes"> +<ul class="footnote_items"> +<li id="Footnote155"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor155" class="fnanchor">155</a> Tamakatsura.</li> + +<li id="Footnote156"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor156" class="fnanchor">156</a> Tayū.</li> + +<li id="Footnote157"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor157" class="fnanchor">157</a> It is unlucky to marry in the fifth month.</li> + +<li id="Footnote158"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor158" class="fnanchor">158</a> The rare perfume which Genji wore.</li> + +<li id="Footnote159"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor159" class="fnanchor">159</a> Sochi had been addressing her through her curtains-of-state. She +crept away in the darkness as an animal at the Zoo might slink into +its back cage. Genji was, of course, all the time with her behind her +curtains.</li> + +<li id="Footnote160"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor160" class="fnanchor">160</a> <dfn>Oboye-naki</dfn> ‘fame-less.’ I retain this idiom as it corresponds +curiously with ours.</li> + +<li id="Footnote161"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor161" class="fnanchor">161</a> Irises were plucked on the fifth day of the fifth month.</li> + +<li id="Footnote162"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor162" class="fnanchor">162</a> Balls made of coloured stuffs, with scent-bags in the middle. +Supposed to ward off disease.</li> + +<li id="Footnote163"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor163" class="fnanchor">163</a> The Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers.</li> + +<li id="Footnote164"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor164" class="fnanchor">164</a> 1 p.m.</li> + +<li id="Footnote165"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor165" class="fnanchor">165</a> ‘<cite class="normal">Hitting the Ball Tune</cite>.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote166"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor166" class="fnanchor">166</a> A Korean dance.</li> + +<li id="Footnote167"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor167" class="fnanchor">167</a> The story of a misused step-child. It is no longer extant, the +text which bears this name being merely a 15th-century adaptation of +the <cite>Room Below Stairs</cite>.</li> + +<li id="Footnote168"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor168" class="fnanchor">168</a> A disagreeable old man to whom her step-mother tried to marry her.</li> + +<li id="Footnote169"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor169" class="fnanchor">169</a> The Mahāyāna, the later development of Buddhism which prevailed +in Tibet, China and Japan.</li> + +<li id="Footnote170"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor170" class="fnanchor">170</a> Now lost.</li> + +<li id="Footnote171"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor171" class="fnanchor">171</a> See vol. ii, p. 15. Lady Até refuses suitor after suitor. Finally +she marries the Crown Prince and lives happily ever after. The book +seemed as old-fashioned to Murasaki as Hannah More’s novels do to us.</li> + +<li id="Footnote172"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor172" class="fnanchor">172</a> The mark of the sixth rank. Genji, it will be remembered, had +refused to promote him.</li> + +<li id="Footnote173"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor173" class="fnanchor">173</a> His failure to win Tō no Chūjō’s daughter, Lady Kumoi.</li> + +<li id="Footnote174"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor174" class="fnanchor">174</a> He had hoped to get Lady Chūjō made Empress.</li> +</ul> +</div> + +</section> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-chapter" aria-labelledby="c08-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_264" role="doc-pagebreak">264</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c08-hd">CHAPTER VIII<br>A BED OF CARNATIONS</h2> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">One very hot day Genji, finding the air at the New Palace intolerably +close, decided to picnic at the fishing-hut on the lake. He invited +Yūgiri to come with him, and they were joined by most of the courtiers +with whom Genji was on friendly terms. From the Western River on his +estate at Katsura <i>ayu</i> had been brought, and from the nearer streams +<i>ishibushi</i> and other fresh-water fish, and these formed the staple of +their repast. Several of Tō no Chūjō’s sons had called to see Yūgiri, +and hearing where he was to be found, joined the picnic. ‘How heavy +and sleepy one has felt lately!’ exclaimed Genji. ‘This is certainly +a great improvement.’ Wine was brought; but he sent for iced water as +well. A delicious cold soup was served, and many other delicacies. +Here by the lake there was a certain amount of movement in the air; +but the sun blazed down out of a cloudless sky, and even when the +shadows began to lengthen there was a continual buzzing of insects +which was very oppressive. ‘I have never known such a day,’ said Genji. +‘It does not after all seem any better here than it was indoors. You +must excuse me if I am too limp to do much in the way of entertaining +you,’ and he lay back against his cushions. ‘One does not feel much +inclined for music or games of any kind in such weather, and yet one +badly needs something to occupy the mind. I have sometimes wondered +lately whether the sun was ever going to set.... All the same, the +young people <span class="pagenum" id="Page_265" role="doc-pagebreak">265</span>on duty at the Emperor’s Palace are in a much worse +position than we. Imagine not being able to loosen one’s belt and +ribbons on a day like this! Here at any rate we can loll about just as +we please. The only difficulty is to avoid going to sleep. Has not any +of you got some startling piece of news to tell us? You need have no +fear that I may have heard it already, for I am becoming quite senile; +I never hear about anything till every one else has forgotten about +it.’ They all began wracking their brains to think of some exciting +piece of intelligence or entertaining anecdote, but without success; +and presently, since their host had invited them to be at their ease, +one after another of the visitors somewhat timidly took up a position +with his back planted against the cool metal railings of the verandah. +‘Well,’ said Genji at last, ‘as a matter of fact, rarely though this +now happens, I myself have picked up a small piece of information. +It seems that his Excellency Tō no Chūjō has lately rediscovered and +taken to live with him a natural daughter of whom he had lost sight +for many years. Come, Kōbai,’ addressing Kashiwagi’s younger brother, +‘you will be able to tell me if there is any truth in this.’ ‘Something +of the kind has happened,’ answered the young man, ‘though there is a +good deal of exaggeration in many of the stories which are being put +about. The facts are that last spring, in consequence of a dream, my +father asked us to inquire carefully into every case we could discover +of a child claiming paternity by him. My brother Kashiwagi did finally +hear of a girl who seemed to possess absolute proof that she was an +illegitimate child of our father’s, and we were told to call upon her +and verify this, which we accordingly did. That is all I know about +it; and I am sure that there is no one present who has not something +a great deal more interesting than that to talk about. I am afraid +what I have just told you cannot possibly be of interest to any one +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266" role="doc-pagebreak">266</span>but the people actually concerned.’ ‘So it is true! thought +Genji, wondering whether Tō no Chūjō could have been so misled as to +suppose that it was Yūgao’s child whom he had rediscovered. ‘There +are so many of you in the family already,’ he said to Kōbai, ‘that I +wonder your father should search the sky for one stray swallow that +has not managed to keep pace with the flock. I, who nurture so small +a brood, might be pardoned for such conduct; but in your father it +seems somewhat grasping. Unfortunately, though I should feel proud to +acknowledge my children, no one shows the slightest inclination to +claim me as a father. However, it is no mere accident that Tō no Chūjō +is more in request than I am. The moon’s image shows dimly in waters +that are troubled at the bottom. Your father’s early adventures were of +a most indiscriminate character, and if you know all your brothers and +sisters, you would probably realize that, taken as a whole, you are a +very queer family....’ Yūgiri, who knew a mass of stories which amply +confirmed Genji’s last statement, could not help showing his amusement +to an extent which Kōbai and his brothers thought to be in exceedingly +bad taste. ‘It is all very well for you to laugh, Yūgiri,’ continued +Genji; ‘but you would be much better employed in picking up some of +those stray leaves than in making trouble for yourself by pressing in +where you are not wanted. In so large a garland you might surely find +some other flower with which to console yourself!’ All Genji’s remarks +about Tō no Chūjō wore superficially the aspect of such friendly banter +as one old friend commonly indulges in concerning another. But as a +matter of fact there had for some while past been a real coolness +between them, which was increased by Chūjō’s scornful refusal to accept +Yūgiri as his son-in-law. He realized that he had just been somewhat +spiteful; but so far from being uncomfortable lest these remarks should +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267" role="doc-pagebreak">267</span>reach his old friend’s ears, he found himself actually hoping that +the boys would repeat them.</p> + +<p>This conversation about the waif whom Tō no Chūjō had recently +acknowledged and adopted, reminded Genji that it was becoming high time +he should himself make a certain long-intended revelation. Tamakatsura +had now lived for over a year at the New Palace; she was definitely +accepted as a member of the Court circle, and there was now no fear +that her father would be in any way ashamed of her. But the views of +Tō no Chūjō were in some ways peculiar. He made an absolutely hard +and fast distinction between the ‘right’ and the ‘wrong’ people. To +those who satisfied his very exacting standards he was extraordinarily +helpful and agreeable. As for the others, he ignored them with a +sublime completeness that no other Grand Minister had ever equalled. +Was it quite certain in which class he would place his own daughter? +Then a brilliant idea occurred to Genji. He would introduce Tō no Chūjō +to Tamakatsura immediately, but not reveal her identity until Chūjō had +once and for all classed her as ‘possible.’</p> + +<p>The evening wind was by this time delightfully fresh, and it was with +great regret that the young guests prepared to take their leave. ‘I +should be perfectly contented to go on sitting here quietly in the +cool; but I know that at your age there are many far more interesting +things to be done,' and with that he set out for the Western Wing, his +guests accompanying him to the door.</p> + +<p>Knowing that in an uncertain evening light all people in Court cloaks +look very much alike, Genji at once summoned Tamakatsura to him and +explained in a low voice why he had arrived with so large an escort. +‘I have been entertaining Tō no Chūjō’s sons,' he said, ‘Kashiwagi, +Kōbai and the rest. It was obvious that they were very anxious to come +on here with me, and Yūgiri is such an <span class="pagenum" id="Page_268" role="doc-pagebreak">268</span>honest soul, it would +have been unkind not to let him come too. Those poor young men, Tō +no Chūjō’s sons, must really soon be told you are their sister. I am +afraid they are all more or less in love with you. But even in the +case of quite ordinary families the sudden arrival of some unknown +young lady causes endless speculation among those who frequent the +house, and though there is intense curiosity to see her, it is apparent +that every one has long beforehand made up his mind to fall in love. +Unfortunately, even before your arrival, my palace had an undeserved +reputation for harbouring bevies of incomparable creatures. Every +visitor who comes here seems to arrive primed up with compliments and +fine speeches, only to discover that there is no quarter in which they +could be employed without impertinence.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote175" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor175"><sup>175</sup></a> But you have often asked +me about those particular young men and lamented that you never get +an opportunity yourself of judging whether they are as intelligent as +every one makes out. So I thought you would not mind me bringing them +here, and would perhaps like to have a word with one or the other of +them....’</p> + +<p>While this whispered conversation was going on, the young men were +standing in the garden outside. It was not planted in formal borders; +but there was a great clump of carnations and a tangled hedge of tall +flowering plants, both Chinese and Japanese, with great masses of +blossom that stood out vividly in the fading light. True, they had +come that evening hoping to pluck a very different flower; but as +they sat resting in front of the house they could scarcely restrain +themselves from stretching out a hand and filling their laps with these +resplendent blossoms.</p> + +<p>‘They are really very remarkable young men,’ Genji went on. ‘There is +not one of them but in his way shows unmistakable signs of genius, +and this is true even of Kashiwagi, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_269" role="doc-pagebreak">269</span>who in outward manner is +particularly quiet and diffident. By the way, has he written to you +again? I remember we read his poem together. You cannot, of course, +under the circumstances risk giving him any definite encouragement; but +do not be too hard upon him.’</p> + +<p>Even amid these very exceptional young men Yūgiri looked surprisingly +handsome and distinguished, and Genji, pointing to him, said to +Tamakatsura in a whisper: ‘I am terribly disappointed that Tō no Chūjō +should take up his present attitude about that boy. It has come to this +nowadays, that those people will not look at any one who is not part +and parcel of their own gang.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote176" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor176"><sup>176</sup></a> A drop of other blood, even if it +be that of the Royal House, seems to them a painful blemish....’ ‘That +was not the way Royal Princes were regarded once upon a time,’ said +Tamakatsura, and quoted the old folk-song <cite>Come to my house</cite>.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote177" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor177"><sup>177</sup></a> +‘They certainly seem in no hurry to make ready a banquet for poor +Yūgiri,’ admitted Genji. ‘I am extremely sorry for those two. They +took a fancy to each other when they were mere children and have never +got over it. I know quite well that they have suffered a great deal +through this long separation. If it is merely because of Yūgiri’s low +rank that Tō no Chūjō refuses his consent, he might on this occasion be +content to disregard the comments of the world and leave the matter in +my hands. He surely does not suppose that I intend the boy to remain +in the Sixth Rank for ever....’ Again he was speaking of Tō no Chūjō +with asperity and, like her brothers a few hours ago, Tamakatsura was +perturbed to discover that the breach between them was widening, partly +because such a state of <span class="pagenum" id="Page_270" role="doc-pagebreak">270</span>affairs made it all the less probable that +Genji would in the near future reveal her identity to Tō no Chūjō.</p> + +<p>As there was no moon that night, the great lamp was presently brought +in. ‘It is now just comfortably warm,’ said Genji, ‘and the only thing +we need is a little more light.’ He sent for a servant and said to him: +‘One tray of bamboo flares! In here, please.’ When they were brought +he noticed a very beautiful native zithern and drawing it towards him +struck a few chords. It was tuned to the difficult <i>ritsu</i> mode, but +with remarkable accuracy. It seemed indeed to be an exceptionally +fine instrument, and when he had played on it for a little while he +said to her: ‘I have all these months been doing you the injustice +of supposing that you were not interested in these things. What I +like is to play such an instrument as yours on a cool autumn evening, +when the moon is up, sitting quite close to the window. One then +plays in concert with the cicadas, purposely using their chirruping +as part of the accompaniment. The result is a kind of music which is +intimate, but at the same time thoroughly modern. There is, of course, +a go-as-you-please, informal quality about the Japanese zithern which +makes it unsuitable for use on ceremonial occasions. But when one +remembers that almost all our native airs and measures originated on +this instrument, one cannot help regarding it with respect. There are +stray references which show that its history stretches back into the +dimmest past; but to hear people talk nowadays one would think it had +been specially invented for the benefit of young ladies, in whom an +acquaintance with foreign arts and usages is considered unbecoming. +Above all, do make a practice of playing it in concert with other +instruments whenever you get the chance. This will immensely improve +your command over it. For though the Japanese zithern is a far less +complicated <span class="pagenum" id="Page_271" role="doc-pagebreak">271</span>instrument than its rivals, it is by no means so easy +to play as most people imagine. At the present time there is no better +performer than your father, Tō no Chūjō. You would be astonished at the +variety of tone he can get out of a mere succession of open strings; +it is as though by some magic he were able in an instant to change his +zithern into whatever instrument he pleases. And the volume of sound +which he obtains from those few slender strings is unbelievable!’</p> + +<p>Tamakatsura had reached a certain point of proficiency herself. But she +knew that she had much to learn, and longed to meet with a first-rate +performer. ‘Do you think I might one day be allowed to hear him?’ she +asked, not very hopefully. ‘I suppose he sometimes plays when he comes +here to entertainments. Even among those outlandish people on the +Island there were several teachers, and I always supposed that they +knew all about it. But from what you have just said I see that such +playing as my father’s must be something quite different....’</p> + +<p>‘It is indeed,’ he said, ‘and you shall certainly hear him play. You +know, I expect, that though it is called the Eastern zithern and is +said to have come from the other side of the country, it is always +played at the beginning of every Imperial concert, being solemnly +carried in by the Mistress of the Rolls. As far as our country is +concerned (about the history of music in other lands I know very +little) it is certainly the parent of all other instruments, and that +perhaps the best performer upon it who has ever lived should be your +own father is certainly a great stroke of luck for you. He does, as you +suggested, play here and at other people’s houses from time to time, +when there is music afoot; but chiefly on other instruments. It is +really very difficult to make him play on the Japanese zithern. Often +he begins a tune and then, for some reason, will not <span class="pagenum" id="Page_272" role="doc-pagebreak">272</span>go on. It is +the same with all great artists. They cannot perform unless they are in +the right mood, and the right mood seldom comes. But later on you will, +of course, certainly be hearing him....’ So saying, he began trying +over a few usual chords and runs. Already she wondered how she had +managed to tolerate the clumsy twanging of the island-professors. How +exciting it would be to live with a father, who, according to Genji’s +own showing, played far, far better even than this! It was intolerable +to feel that all the while she might have been hearing him day after +day, in his own home, with nothing to disturb or interrupt him. When, +oh when would this new life begin?</p> + +<p>Among other old ballads Genji now sang ‘Not softlier pillowed is my +head,’ and when he came to the line ‘O lady parted from thy kin’ he +could not help catching her eye and smiling. Not only did she find his +voice very agreeable, but his improvisations between verse and verse +delighted her beyond measure. Suddenly he broke off, saying: ‘Now it is +your turn. Do not tell me you are shy; for I am certain that you have +talent, and if that is so you will forget that there is any one here, +once you have become interested in what you are playing. The lady<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote178" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor178"><sup>178</sup></a> +who was “too shy to do anything but go over the tune in her head” +wanted all the time to sing the <cite>Sōfuren</cite>,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote179" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor179"><sup>179</sup></a> and that is a very +different matter. You must get into the habit of playing with any one +who comes along, without minding what he thinks of you....’ But try as +he might, he could not persuade her to begin. She was certain that her +teacher on the island, an old lady of whom it was reported that she had +once been in some vague way connected with the Capital and even that +she was distantly related to the Imperial Family, had got everything +wrong from beginning to end. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_273" role="doc-pagebreak">273</span>If only she could persuade Genji +to go on playing a little while longer, she felt sure she could pick +up enough of the right method to prevent a complete catastrophe, and +she sat as near as possible to the zithern, watching his fingers and +listening intently. ‘Why does it not always produce such lovely sounds +as that?’ she said laughing. ‘Perhaps it depends which way the wind is +blowing....’ She looked very lovely as she sat leaning towards him, +with the lamplight full upon her face. ‘I have sometimes known you by +no means so ready to listen,’ he said, and to her disappointment pushed +the zithern from him. But her gentlewomen were passing in and out of +the room. Whether for this or other reasons his behaviour to-night +continued to be very serious and correct. ‘I see no sign of those young +men I brought with me,’ he said at last, ‘I am afraid they grew tired +of gazing at every flower save the one they came to see, and went away +in disgust. But it is their father’s visit to this flower-garden that +I ought all the while to be arranging. I must not be dilatory, for +life is full of uncertainties.... How well I remember the conversation +in the course of which your father first told me how your mother had +carried you away, and of his long search for you both. It does not seem +long ago....’ And he told her more than he had ever done before about +the rainy night’s conversation and his own first meeting with Yūgao.</p> + +<p>‘Gladly would I show the world this Child-flower’s beauty, did I +not fear that men would ask me where stands the hedge on which it +grew.’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote180" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor180"><sup>180</sup></a></p> + +<p>‘The truth is, he loved your mother so dearly that I cannot bear the +thought of telling him the whole miserable story. That is why I have +kept you hidden away like a chrysalis in a cocoon. I know I ought not +to have delayed....’ He paused, and she answered with the <span class="pagenum" id="Page_274" role="doc-pagebreak">274</span>verse: +‘Who cares to question whence was first transplanted a Child-flower +that from the peasant’s tattered hedge was hither brought.’ Her eyes +filled with tears as in a scarcely audible voice she whispered this +reply.</p> + +<p>There were times when he himself took fright at the frequency of +his visits to this part of the house, and in order to make a good +impression stayed away for days on end. But he always contrived to +think of some point in connection with her servants or household +affairs which required an endless going and coming of messengers, so +that even during these brief periods of absence she was in continual +communication with him. The truth is that at this period she was the +only subject to which he ever gave a thought. Day and night he asked +himself how he could have been so insensate as to embark upon this +fatal course. If the affair was maintained upon its present footing +he was faced with the prospect of such torture as he felt he could +not possibly endure. If on the other hand his resolution broke down +and she on her side was willing to accept him as a lover, the affair +would cause a scandal which his own prestige might in time enable him +to live down, but which for her would mean irreparable disaster. He +cared for her very deeply; but not, as he well knew, to such an extent +that he would ever dream of putting her on an equality with Murasaki, +while to thrust her into a position of inferiority would do violence +to his own feelings and be most unfair to her. Exceptional as was the +position that he now occupied in the State, this did not mean that +it was any great distinction to figure merely as a belated appendage +to his household. Far better, he very well knew, to reign supreme in +the affections of some wholly unremarkable Deputy Councillor! Then +again there was the question whether he ought not to hand her over +to his step-brother Prince Sochi or to Prince Higekuro. Even were +this course <span class="pagenum" id="Page_275" role="doc-pagebreak">275</span>in every way desirable, he gravely doubted his own +capacity to pursue it. Such self-sacrifices, he knew, are easier to +plan than to effect. Nevertheless, there were times when he regarded +this as the plan which he had definitely adopted, and for a while he +could really believe that he was on the point of carrying it out. But +then would come one of his visits to her. She would be looking even +more charming than usual, and lately there were these zithern lessons, +which, involving as they did a great deal of leaning across and sitting +shoulder to shoulder, had increased their intimacy with disquieting +rapidity. All his good resolutions began to break down, while she on +her side no longer regarded him with anything like the same distrust +as before. He had indeed behaved with model propriety for so long that +she made sure his undue tenderness towards her was a thing of the past. +Gradually she became used to having him constantly about her, allowed +him to say what he pleased, and answered in a manner which though +discreet was by no means discouraging. Whatever resolutions he may have +made before his visit, he would go away feeling that, at this point in +their relations, simply to hand her over to a husband was more than the +most severe moralist could expect of him. Surely there could be no harm +in keeping her here a little longer, that he might enjoy the innocent +pleasure of sometimes visiting her, sometimes arranging her affairs? +Certainly, he could assure himself, his presence was by no means +distasteful to her. Her uneasiness at the beginning was due not to +hostility but to mere lack of experience. Though ‘strong the watchman +at the gate’, she was beginning to take a very different view of life. +Soon she would be struggling with her own as well as his desires, and +then all her defences would rapidly give way....</p> + +<p>Tō no Chūjō was somewhat uneasy about his newly <span class="pagenum" id="Page_276" role="doc-pagebreak">276</span>discovered +daughter.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote181" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor181"><sup>181</sup></a> The members of his own household seemed to have a very +poor opinion of her, and at Court he had overheard people whispering +that she was not quite right in the head. His son Kōbai told him, of +course, about Genji’s questions, and Tō no Chūjō laughed saying: ‘I +can quite understand his interest in the matter. A year or two ago +he himself took over a daughter whom he had by some peasant woman or +other, and now makes an absurd fuss over her. It is very odd: Genji +says nothing but nice things about every one else. But about me and +every one connected with me he is careful to be as disagreeable as +possible. But I suppose I ought to regard it as a sort of distinction +even to be run down by him.’ ‘Father, if you mean the girl who lives +in the Western Wing,’ said Kōbai, ‘I can assure you she is the most +beautiful creature you can possibly imagine. Prince Sochi and many +of the others have completely lost their hearts to her.... Indeed, +every one agrees that she is probably one of the handsomest women at +Court.’ ‘You surely do not yourself believe such stories?’ said Tō no +Chūjō. ‘The same thing is always said about the daughters of men in +such a position as Genji’s; and so oddly is the world made that those +who spread such reports really believe in them. I do not for a moment +suppose she is anything out of the ordinary. Now that Genji is Grand +Minister, faced by an opposition that has dwindled to a mere speck and +esteemed as few Ministers before, I fancy the one flaw in his happiness +must be the lack of a daughter to lavish his care upon and bring up to +be the envy and admiration of the whole Court. I can well imagine what +a delight the education of such a child would be to him. But in this +matter fate seems to be against him. Of course, there is the little +girl who was born at Akashi. Unfortunately her mother’s parents are +quite humble people <span class="pagenum" id="Page_277" role="doc-pagebreak">277</span>and she can never play the part that would +naturally have been taken by a child of my sister Lady Aoi or of his +present wife, Lady Murasaki. All the same, I have reason to believe +that his schemes for her subsequent career are of the most ambitious +nature.</p> + +<p>‘As for this newly-imported princess, it would not surprise me to +discover that she is not his child at all. You know as well as I do +what Genji’s failings are.... It is far more probable that she is +merely some girl whom he is keeping.’ After other somewhat damaging +remarks about Genji’s habits and character, he continued: ‘However, +if he continues to give out that she is his daughter, it will soon be +incumbent upon him to find her a husband. I imagine his choice will +fall upon Prince Sochi, with whom he has always been on particularly +good terms. She would certainly be fortunate in securing such a +husband; he is a most distinguished character....’</p> + +<p>Nothing more exasperated Tō no Chūjō at the present moment than the +endless speculations concerning Lady Tamakatsura’s future which were +now the staple of every conversation at Court. He was sick of hearing +people ask ‘What are Prince Genji’s intentions?’ ‘Why has he changed +his mind?’ and so on, while the future of his own daughter, Lady Kumoi, +seemed for some reason not to arouse the slightest curiosity. Why +should not a little of the energy which Genji expended in dangling this +supposed daughter of his before the eyes of an expectant Court be used +on Lady Kumoi’s behalf? A word whispered by Genji in the Emperor’s ear +would suffice to secure her future; but that word, it was very evident, +had never been spoken.</p> + +<p>If Genji (and this seemed hardly credible) were waiting to secure Kumoi +for his own son Yūgiri, let him raise the boy to a decent rank. Then, +provided suitable overtures <span class="pagenum" id="Page_278" role="doc-pagebreak">278</span>were made on Genji’s side, he was +quite willing to consider the possibility of such a match. As to what +the young man’s feelings in the matter might be—he did not give the +question a moment’s thought, having always regarded Yūgiri merely as a +nuisance.</p> + +<p>One day when he had been reflecting upon this problem more earnestly +than usual, Tō no Chūjō determined to thresh the matter out with the +girl herself, and taking Kōbai with him he went straight to her room. +It so happened that Kumoi had fallen asleep. She was lying, a small +and fragile figure, with only a single wrap of thin diaphanous stuff +thrown carelessly across her. It was certainly a pleasure on such a +day to see any one looking so delightfully cool! The delicate outline +of her bare limbs showed plainly beneath the light wrap which covered +her. She lay pillowed on one outstretched arm, her fan still in her +hand. Her loosened hair fell all about her, and though it was not +remarkably thick or long, there was something particularly agreeable in +its texture and in the lines it made as it hung across her face. Her +gentlewomen were also reposing, but at some distance away, in the room +which opened out behind her curtained daïs, so that they did not wake +in time, and it was only when Tō no Chūjō himself rustled impatiently +with his fan that she slowly raised her head and turned upon him a +bewildered gaze. Her beauty, enhanced by the flush of sleep, could +not but impress a father’s heart, and Tō no Chūjō looked at her with +a pride which his subsequent words by no means betrayed. ‘I have told +you often before,’ he said, ‘that even to be caught dozing in your seat +is a thing a girl of your age ought to be ashamed of; and here I find +you going to bed in broad daylight ... you really must be a little more +careful. I cannot imagine how you could be so foolish as to allow all +your gentlewomen to desert you in <span class="pagenum" id="Page_279" role="doc-pagebreak">279</span>this way. It is extremely unsafe +for a young girl to expose herself, and quite unnecessary in your case, +since I have provided you with a sufficient number of attendants to +mount guard on all occasions. To behave in this reckless manner is, to +say the least of it, very bad form. Not that I want you to sit all day +with your hands folded in front of you as though you were reciting the +Spells of Fudō.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote182" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor182"><sup>182</sup></a> I am not one of those people who think it a mark +of refinement in a girl to stand on ceremony even with her everyday +acquaintances and never to address a word to any one except through a +barricade of curtains and screens. So far from being dignified, such a +method of behaviour seems to me merely peevish and unsociable. I cannot +help admiring the way in which Prince Genji is bringing up this future +Empress<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote183" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor183"><sup>183</sup></a> of his. He takes no exaggerated precautions of any kind, +nor does he force her talent in this direction or that; but at the same +time he sees to it that there is no subject in which she remains wholly +uninitiated. Thus she is able to choose intelligently for herself +where other girls would be obliged merely to do as they were told. For +the time it may seem that the energies of the mind have been somewhat +diffused and extenuated, but in later life, given the best balanced +and broadest system of education in the world, idiosyncrasies both of +character and behaviour will inevitably reappear. At the present moment +the Princess from Akashi is in the first and less interesting stage. I +am very curious to see how she will develop when she arrives at Court.’ +After these preliminaries he embarked at last upon the subject which +he had really come to discuss. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘that I have not +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280" role="doc-pagebreak">280</span>been very successful in my plans for your own future. But I still +hope that we may be able to arrange something not too contemptible. I +promise you at any rate that you shall not be made ridiculous. I am +keeping my ears open and have one or two projects in mind, but for the +moment it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at a decision. Meanwhile, +do not be deceived by the tears and protestations of young men who have +nothing better to do than amuse themselves at the expense of confiding +creatures such as you. I know what I am talking about’ ... and so on, +speaking more and more kindly as he went along.</p> + +<p>In old days the scoldings which she had received on account of her +intimacy with Yūgiri had been the more distressing to her because she +had not at that time the least idea what all this fuss was about. But +now that she was a little better acquainted with such matters, she +recalled with burning shame time after time when she had mentioned to +her elders things which she now saw it was the wildest folly ever to +have repeated. The old Princess<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote184" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor184"><sup>184</sup></a> frequently complained that Kumoi +never came to see her. This put the child in great embarrassment, for +the truth was that she dared not go, for Tō no Chūjō would be sure to +think that she was using her duty towards the old lady as a pretext for +clandestine meeting with her lover.</p> + +<p>But another question was at this time occupying a good deal of Tō no +Chūjō's attention. What was to be done with this new daughter of his, +the Lady from Ōmi? If, after going out of his way to track her down, he +were now to send her home again merely because certain people had said +disobliging things about her, he would himself figure as intolerably +capricious and eccentric. To let her mix in general society was, +judging by what he had heard and seen of her already, quite out of the +question. But if he <span class="pagenum" id="Page_281" role="doc-pagebreak">281</span>continued to keep her, as he had hitherto +done, in the seclusion of her own rooms, it would soon be rumoured at +Court that she was some paragon who, just at the right moment, would +be produced with dazzling effect and carry all before her. This, too, +would be very irritating. Perhaps the best that could be done under +the circumstances was to put her into touch with his daughter Lady +Chūjō,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote185" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor185"><sup>185</sup></a> who happened at the moment to be home from Court. It would +then be possible to discover whether, when one got to know her better, +this Lady from Ōmi were really such a monster as some people made out. +He therefore said to Lady Chūjō one day: ‘I am going to send this new +sister of yours to see you. It seems that her manners are rather odd, +and I should be very much obliged if you would ask one of your older +gentlewomen to take her in hand. Young girls are useless in such a +case. They would merely lead her on to greater absurdities in order +to amuse themselves. Her manner is at present, I gather, somewhat too +boisterous’; and he smiled as he recollected some of the anecdotes +which had already reached him. ‘I will gladly do all I can,’ answered +Lady Chūjō. ‘I see no reason to suppose that the poor creature is +anything like so outrageous as people are making out. It is only that +Kōbai, wishing to gain credit for his discovery, tended to exaggerate +her charms, and people are a little disappointed. I do not think there +is any need for you to take alarm. I can quite understand that coming +for the first time among surroundings such as these, she feels somewhat +lost, and does not always quite do herself justice....’ She spoke very +demurely. This Lady Chūjō was no great beauty; but there was about her +a serene air of conscious superiority which, combined with considerable +charm of manner, led most people to accept her as handsome, an +impression <span class="pagenum" id="Page_282" role="doc-pagebreak">282</span>shared at this moment by her father as he watched her +lips part in a smile that reminded him of the red plum-blossom in the +morning when its petals first begin to unfold. ‘I daresay you are +right,’ he replied; ‘but all the same I think that Kōbai showed a lack +of judgment such as I should have thought he had long ago outgrown....’ +He was himself inclined to think that the Lady from Ōmi’s defects +had probably been much exaggerated, and as he in any case must pass +her rooms on his way back he now thought he had better go and have +another look at her. Crossing the garden he noticed at once that her +blinds were rolled back almost to the top of the windows. Clearly +visible within were the figures of the Lady herself and of a lively +young person called Gosechi, one of last year’s Winter Dancers. The +two were playing Double Sixes,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote186" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor186"><sup>186</sup></a> and the Lady of Ōmi, perpetually +clasping and unclasping her hands in her excitement, was crying out +‘Low, low! Oh, how I hope it will be low!’ at the top of her voice, +which rose at every moment to a shriller and shriller scream. ‘What a +creature!’ thought Tō no Chūjō, already in despair, and signalling to +his attendants, who were about to enter the apartments and announce +him, that for a moment he intended to watch unobserved, he stood near +the double door and looked through the passage window at a point where +the paper<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote187" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor187"><sup>187</sup></a> did not quite meet the frame. The young dancer was also +entirely absorbed in the game. Shouting out: ‘A twelve, a twelve. This +time I know it is going to be a twelve!’ she continually twirled the +dice-cup in her hand, but could not bring herself to make the throw. +Somewhere there, inside that bamboo tube, the right number lurked, she +saw the two little stones with six pips on each.... But how was one +to know when to <span class="pagenum" id="Page_283" role="doc-pagebreak">283</span>throw? Never were excitement and suspense more +clearly marked on two young faces. The Lady of Ōmi was somewhat homely +in appearance; but nobody (thought Tō no Chūjō) could possibly call her +downright ugly. Indeed, she had several very good points. Her hair, for +example, could alone have sufficed to make up for many shortcomings. +Two serious defects, however, she certainly had; her forehead was far +too narrow, and her voice was appallingly loud and harsh. In a word, +she was nothing to be particularly proud of; but at the same time (and +he called up before him the image of his own face as he knew it in the +mirror) it would be useless to deny that there was a strong resemblance.</p> + +<p>‘How are you getting on?’ he asked on being admitted to the room. ‘I +am afraid it will take you some time to get the hang of things here. +I wish I could see you more often, but, as you know, my time is not +my own....’ ‘Don’t you worry about that,’ she answered, screaming as +usual at the top of her voice. ‘I’m here, a’nt I? And that’s quite +enough for me. I haven’t had the pleasure of setting eyes on you at all +for all these years.... But I’ll own that when I came here and found +I shouldn’t be with you all the time, like what I’d expected, I was +as vexed as though I had thrown a “double-one” at dice.’ ‘As a matter +of fact,’ said Tō no Chūjō, ‘I have not any one at present to run my +messages and look after me generally; I had it in mind that, when you +were a little more used to things here, I might train you to help me +in that way. But I am not at all sure that such a post would suit you. +I do not mean that as a lady-in-waiting in some other family you would +not get on very nicely. But that would be different.... There would be +a lot of other young women.... People would not notice so much.... I +am afraid I am not expressing myself very happily. I only mean that a +daughter or sister is bound to attract attention. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_284" role="doc-pagebreak">284</span>People who come +to the house ask “Now which of them is the daughter?” “Show me which +of them is your sister!” and so on. That sort of thing sometimes makes +a girl feel awkward, and it may even be rather embarrassing for the +parents. Of course, in your case. He broke off.</p> + +<p>Despite all his ingenuity he was in the end saying just what he had +determined on no account to say. He was merely telling her that he +was ashamed of her. But fortunately she did not take it in bad part. +‘That’s quite right,’ she said. ‘If you was to put me down among all +the fine ladies and gentlemen, I shouldn’t know which way to look. I’d +far rather you asked me to empty their chamberpots; I think I might be +able to manage that.’ ‘What odd ideas do come into your head!’ laughed +Tō no Chūjō. ‘But before we go any further, I have a small request to +make: if you have any filial feeling whatever towards a father whom you +see so seldom, try to moderate your voice a little when you address +him. Seriously, you will take years off my life if you persist in +screaming at me in this way....’ How delightful to find that even a +Minister could make jokes! ‘It’s no good,’ she said. ‘I’ve always been +like that. I suppose I was born so. Mother was always going on at me +about it ever since I can remember, and she used to say it all came of +her letting an old priest from the Myōhō Temple into her bedroom when +she was lying-in. He had a terrible loud voice, and all the while he +was reading prayers with her, poor mother was wondering whether, when +I was born, I shouldn’t take after him. And sure enough I did. But I +wish for your sake I didn’t speak so loud....’ It was evident that she +was sorry to distress him, and touched by this exhibition of filial +affection he said to her kindly: ‘The fault, then, is evidently not +yours but your mother’s for choosing her associates <span class="pagenum" id="Page_285" role="doc-pagebreak">285</span>among the +pious at so critical a moment in her existence. For it is written: “The +tongue of the blasphemer shall tremble, his voice shall be silenced,” +and it seems that, conversely, the voices of the pious generally tend +to become more and more resonant.’</p> + +<p>He himself stood somewhat in awe of his daughter Lady Chūjō. He knew +that she would wonder what had induced him to import, without further +enquiries so incongruous a resident into his household. He imagined, +too, the pleasantries at his expense which would be exchanged among +her people and soon repeated broadcast over the whole Court. He was +on the verge of abandoning the plan, when he suddenly decided that it +was too late to withdraw: ‘I wish you would sometimes go out and see +your sister Lady Chūjō while she is staying here,’ he said. ‘I fancy +she could give you one or two useful hints. It is, after all, only by +mixing in the society of those who have had greater advantages than +themselves, that ordinary people can hope to make any progress. I want +you to bear that in mind when you are with her....’ ‘Well that will +be a treat!’ she cried delightedly. ‘I never thought in my wildest +dreams that, even if you one day sent for me, you would ever make me +into a great lady like my sister. The best I hoped for was that I might +wheedle you into letting me carry pitchers from the well....’ The last +words were spoken in a tiny, squeaky voice like that of a new-fledged +sparrow, for she had suddenly remembered her father’s injunctions. +The effect was very absurd; but there was no use in scolding her any +more, and he said good-humouredly: ‘I see no reason why you should +draw water, or hew wood either. But if I send you to Lady Chūjō, you +must promise me that you have made up your mind never again to model +yourself on that pious personage from the Myōhō Temple.’ She took +this very seriously. ‘I’ll do my best,’ she said. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_286" role="doc-pagebreak">286</span>‘When may I go +and see her?’ Tō no Chūjō was now an important person; indeed, he was +reckoned to be the most formidable enemy to the then Minister of State. +But the Lady from Ōmi appeared quite unconscious of the subduing effect +which his presence had upon every one else, and for her part spoke to +him with the utmost confidence and composure. ‘I will enquire which day +will be the best,’ he said. ‘But come to think of it, probably one day +is quite as good as another. Yes, by all means go to-day ...’ and with +that he hastened from the room.</p> + +<p>She gazed after him. He was attended by officers of the fourth and +fifth ranks, who made a brave show as they escorted him towards the +main building. But why were they all nudging one another and laughing? +‘Well,’ she said at last, ‘I have got a fine gentleman for my papa, and +no mistake. It does seem queer to think what a funny little house I +was brought up in, when by rights I ought to have been in this palace +all the while.’ ‘If you ask my opinion,’ said her friend the dancer, +‘I think he is far too grand for you. You’d be a great deal better off +if you had been claimed by some decent hard-working sort of man, who +wouldn’t be ashamed of you....’ This was too bad! ‘There you go again,’ +the Lady from Ōmi cried, ‘trying to put a body down whenever she opens +her mouth. But you shan’t do it any more, indeed you shan’t; for +they’ve made me into a lady now, and you’ll have to wait till I choose +to let you speak. So there!’</p> + +<p>Her face was flushed with anger. Seen thus, showing off in the presence +of one whom she now regarded as an inferior, she became suddenly +handsome and almost dignified. Only her manner of speech, picked up +from the absolute riff-raff among whom she had been educated, remained +irredeemably vulgar.</p> + +<p>It is indeed a strange thing that a perfectly ordinary <span class="pagenum" id="Page_287" role="doc-pagebreak">287</span>remark, if +made in a quiet, colourless voice, may seem original and interesting; +for instance, in conversations about poetry, some quite commonplace +piece of criticism will be accepted as very profound merely because it +is made in a particular tone of voice. Or again, half a verse from the +middle of some little-known poem can make, if produced in the right +tone of voice, a deep impression even among people who have no notion +what the words imply. Whereas if some one speaks in a disagreeable +voice or uses vulgar language, no matter how important or profound +are the thoughts which he expresses, nobody will believe that it can +possibly be worth while to pay any attention to him. So it was with the +Lady from Ōmi. She had a loud rasping voice and in general behaved with +no more regard for the impression she was making on those around her +than a child screaming in its nurse’s lap. She thus seemed far sillier +than she really was. Indeed, her facility in stringing together poems +of thirty-one syllables, of the kind in which the beginning of any one +poem might just as well be the end of any other, was quite prodigious.</p> + +<p>‘But I must be getting ready,’ she now exclaimed. ‘My father told me I +was to call on Lady Chūjō, and if I don’t go at once, her ladyship will +think I don’t want to meet her. Do you know what? I think I’ll go this +very night, for though I can see that my papa thinks the world of me, I +shall never get on in this palace unless the ladies are on my side....’ +Which again shows that she had more good sense than one would have +supposed.</p> + +<p>She now sat down at once and addressed the following letter to Lady +Chūjō: ‘Honoured Madam, though we have been living these many days past +with (as the saying goes) scarce so much as a hurdle between us, I have +not hitherto, as they say, ventured to tread upon your shadow, for to +tell the honest truth I was in two minds whether I should <span class="pagenum" id="Page_288" role="doc-pagebreak">288</span>not find +“No Admittance” in large letters on your door. But though I hardly like +to mention it, we are (in the words of the poet) both “tinged with the +purple of Musashi Moor.” If I am being too bold, pray tell me so and +do not take offence.’ All this was written in a rather speckly hand. +On the back was the postcript: ‘By the way, I have some thoughts of +inflicting myself upon you this very same evening. And please forgive +these blots, which (as the saying goes) all the waters of Minasé River +would not wash away, so what is the use of trying?’ In the margin was +the following extraordinary poem: ‘I wonder with as big a query as How +Cape on the Sea of Hitachi where the grasses are so young and green, +when oh when, like the waves on the shore of Tago, shall we meet face +to face?’</p> + +<p>‘I’ll write no more,’ she added at the side of the poem, ‘for I declare +I feel as flustered as the foam on the great River at Yoshino....’</p> + +<p>It was written on a single sheet of blue poetry-paper, in a very +cursive style, copiously adorned with hooks and flourishes which seemed +to wander about at their own will and stand for nothing at all. The +tails of her ‘<i>shi</i>’s were protracted to an inordinate length, and the +lines slanted more and more as the letter went on, till in the end +they seemed in danger of falling over sideways. But so delighted was +she with her own composition that she could hardly bear to part with +it. At last, however, she gave it a final look of admiration, folded +it up very small and attaching it to a carnation-blossom, handed it to +her favourite messenger, a little peasant-boy who did the dirty work +in her part of the palace. He was a good-looking child, and though he +had only been in service for a very short while, he had made himself +quite at home. Sauntering into Lady Chūjō’s apartments, he found his +way to the servants’ sitting-room and demanded that the note should +at once be taken to her <span class="pagenum" id="Page_289" role="doc-pagebreak">289</span>Ladyship. For a moment they surveyed him +with astonishment, but presently one of the under-servants exclaimed: +‘Why, it’s the little boy from the northern wing!’, and took the +letter, which ultimately reached the hands of a certain gentlewoman +named Tayū no Kimi. This lady actually carried it into Lady Chūjō’s +presence, unfolded it at her bidding and then held it in front of her. +The great lady glanced at it, smiled, and indicated that it might now +be removed. It happened that a certain Lady Chūnagon was at the moment +in attendance. She caught a side view of the letter where it lay, and +hoping to be allowed to read it properly, she remarked: ‘At a distance, +Madam, that looks an uncommonly fashionable note.’ Lady Chūjō motioned +her to take the letter: ‘I cannot make head or tail of it,’ she said; +‘you will be doing me a service if you can tell me what it is about. +Perhaps I am being stupid over these cursive characters....’ And a few +minutes later: ‘How are you getting on? If my answer has no connection +with the contents of her letter, she will think me very discourteous. I +wish you would write an answer for me, I am sure you would do it very +nicely....’ The young ladies-in-waiting, though they dared not openly +show their amusement, were now all tittering behind their sleeves. Some +one came to say that the boy was still waiting for an answer. ‘But the +letter is just one mass of stock phrases that none of them seem to have +anything to do with what she is trying to say,’ exclaimed Chūnagon in +despair. ‘How can I possibly answer it? Besides, I must make it seem to +come from you, Madam, not from a third person, or the poor creature’s +feelings will be terribly hurt.’</p> + +<p>‘It vexes me,’ wrote Chūnagon in her mistress’s name, ‘to think that +we should have been at close quarters for so long without arranging +to meet. By all means come.... And at the side she wrote the poem: +‘Upon the shore of <span class="pagenum" id="Page_290" role="doc-pagebreak">290</span>Suma, that is on the sea of Suruga in the land +of Hitachi, mount, O ye waves, to where the Headland of Hako with +pine-woods is clad.’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote188" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor188"><sup>188</sup></a></p> + +<p>‘I think you have gone too far,' said Lady Chūjō when she saw the +letter. ‘I certainly hope she will not think it was I who wrote this +ridiculous nonsense....’ 'I assure you, Madam,’ replied Chūnagon, +‘there is more sense in it than you think; quite enough at any rate to +satisfy the person to whom it is addressed.’ And with that she folded +the note and sent it on its way. How quickly these great ladies take +one’s meaning!’ exclaimed Ōmi, as she scanned the reply. ‘Look, too, +how subtly she expresses herself! Merely by mentioning those pine-trees +she lets me know, as plain as could be, that she is waiting for me at +this minute....’ There was no time to be lost. She scented herself by +repeated exposure to the fumes of an incense which seemed to contain +far too generous an admixture of honey, daubed her cheeks with a heavy +rouge, and finally combed out her hair, which being, as I have said, +unusually fine and abundant, really looked very nice when she took +sufficient trouble about it.</p> + +<p>The subsequent interview can hardly have been otherwise than extremely +diverting.</p> + +<div class="footnote" role="doc-endnotes"> +<ul class="footnote_items"> +<li id="Footnote175"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor175" class="fnanchor">175</a> Akikonomu, for example, had become Empress.</li> + +<li id="Footnote176"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor176" class="fnanchor">176</a> I.e. the Fujiwaras, the clan to which the writer herself belonged.</li> + +<li id="Footnote177"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor177" class="fnanchor">177</a> ‘In my house the awnings are at the doors and curtains are +hanging about the bed. Come, my Prince! you shall have my daughter for +your bride, and at the wedding-feast you shall have the fish you like +best, be it <i>awabi</i>, oyster or what you will.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote178"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor178" class="fnanchor">178</a> In some story now lost.</li> + +<li id="Footnote179"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor179" class="fnanchor">179</a> Literally: ‘Thinking of a man, and yearning.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote180"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor180" class="fnanchor">180</a> A reference to Tō no Chūjō’s poem, vol. i, p. 59.</li> + +<li id="Footnote181"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor181" class="fnanchor">181</a> The rustic creature unearthed by Kōbai in his search for +Tamakatsura.</li> + +<li id="Footnote182"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor182" class="fnanchor">182</a> Of these there are several, the shortest of which runs +(in Sanskrit) Namas samanta-vajrānām ham. ‘Praise be to all the +Thunderbolt-bearers. Ay verily.’ Its impressiveness was partly due to +the fact that very few Japanese knew what it meant.</li> + +<li id="Footnote183"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor183" class="fnanchor">183</a> The princess from Akashi.</li> + +<li id="Footnote184"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor184" class="fnanchor">184</a> Tō no Chūjō’s mother, Kumoi’s grandmother.</li> + +<li id="Footnote185"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor185" class="fnanchor">185</a> On leave from the Palace; she was one of the Emperor’s consorts.</li> + +<li id="Footnote186"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor186" class="fnanchor">186</a> Sugoroku, a kind of backgammon.</li> + +<li id="Footnote187"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor187" class="fnanchor">187</a> Japanese windows are made of translucent paper, not of glass.</li> + +<li id="Footnote188"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor188" class="fnanchor">188</a> The Lady of Ōmi’s poem contained three irrelevant place-names. +This one contains four, and is intentionally senseless, for Chūnagon +had not been able to make out what Ōmi’s rigmarole was about.</li> + +</ul> +</div> +</section> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-chapter" aria-labelledby="c09-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_291" role="doc-pagebreak">291</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c09-hd">CHAPTER IX<br>THE FLARES</h2> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">It was now the turn of Lady Ōmi’s eccentricities to become the sole +topic of conversation at Court. ‘All this is very puzzling,’ said +Genji. ‘Her father gave orders that she was to be kept in close +confinement; how comes it, then, that every one seems to know so much +about her? One hears nothing but stories of her ridiculous behaviour. +So far from keeping the poor half-witted creature out of harm’s way he +seems to be positively making an exhibition of her. Here again I think +I see the consequences of his obstinate belief in the impeccability of +his own family. He sent for her without making the slightest enquiry, +convinced that since his blood ran in her veins she must necessarily be +beyond reproach. Finding her an exception to this rule he has taken his +revenge by deliberately exposing her to derision. However, I can hardly +believe that after all the trouble he has taken, it can really give him +much satisfaction that the mere mention of her name should evoke peals +of laughter....’</p> + +<p>The fate of Ōmi seemed, incidently, to afford some justification for +Genji’s reluctance to part with Tamakatsura, a fact which she herself +recognized. It was by no means safe to assume that Tō no Chūjō would +treat a second long-lost daughter any better than the first. The old +nurse Ukon, who daily collected for her mistress’s benefit some fresh +anecdote of Ōmi’s discomfiture, vigorously supported the view that Tō +no Chūjō was not a father to be lightly <span class="pagenum" id="Page_292" role="doc-pagebreak">292</span>adopted. ‘True,’ thought +Tamakatsura, ‘Genji’s attitude towards me is not quite such as I could +wish. But I am bound to confess that hitherto he has never tried to go +further than I intend he should, and in practical ways no one could +possibly be more kind and considerate.’ Thus gratitude was slowly +replaced by friendship and even by a certain semblance of intimacy.</p> + +<p>Autumn had now come, and with it a bitterly cold wind—the ‘first wind’ +whose chill breath ‘only a lover’s cloak can nullify.’ He made great +efforts to keep away from the Western Wing, but all to no purpose; and +soon, on the pretext of music-lessons or what not, he was spending the +greater part of every day at Tamakatsura’s side.</p> + +<p>One evening when the moon was some five or six days old he came +suddenly to her room. The weather was chilly and overcast, and the wind +rustled with a melancholy note through the reeds outside the window. +She sat with her head resting against her zithern. To-night too, as on +so many previous occasions, he would make his timorous advances, and +at the end of it all be just where he started. So Genji grumbled to +himself, and continued to behave in a somewhat plaintive and peevish +manner during his whole visit. It was however already very late when +the fear of giving offence in other quarters drove him from the room. +Just as he was leaving he noticed that the flares outside her window +were burning very low, and sending for one of his men, he had them +kindled anew; but this time at a little distance from the house, under +a strangely leaning spindle-tree which spread its branches in the form +of a broad canopy, near to the banks of a deep, chilly stream. The thin +flares of split pine-wood were placed at wide intervals, casting pale +shadows that flickered remotely upon the walls of the unlighted room +where she and Genji sat. He caught a glimpse of her hand, showing frail +and ghostly <span class="pagenum" id="Page_293" role="doc-pagebreak">293</span>against the dark background of her hair. Her face, +suddenly illumined by the cold glare of the distant torches, wore an +uneasy and distrustful air. He had risen to go, but still lingered. +‘You should tell your people never to let the flares go out,’ he said. +‘Even in summer, except when there is a moon, it is not wise to leave +the garden unlighted. And in Autumn.... I shall feel very uneasy if you +do not promise to remember about this. “Did but the torches flickering +at your door burn brightly as the fire within my breast, you should +not want for light!”’ And he reminded her of the old song in which the +lover asks: ‘How long, like the smouldering watch-fire at the gate, +must my desire burn only with an inward flame?’</p> + +<p>‘Would that, like the smoke of the watch-fires that mounts and vanishes +at random in the empty sky, the smouldering flame of passion could burn +itself away!’ So she recited, adding: ‘I do not know what has come +over you. Please leave me at once or people will think....’ ‘As you +wish,’ he answered, and was stepping into the courtyard, when he heard +a sound of music in the wing occupied by the Lady from the Village +of Falling Flowers. Some one seemed to be playing the flute to the +accompaniment of a Chinese zithern. No doubt Yūgiri was giving a small +party. The flute-player could be none other than Tō no Chūjō’s eldest +son Kashiwagi; for who else at Court performed with such marvellous +delicacy and finish? How pleasant would be the effect, thought Genji, +if they would consent to come and give a serenade by the streamside, +in the subdued light of those flickering torches! ‘I long to join +you,’ he wrote, ‘but, could you see the pale, watery shadows that the +watch-flares are casting here in the garden of the western wing, you +would know why I am slow to come....’ He sent this note to Yūgiri, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294" role="doc-pagebreak">294</span>presently three figures appeared out of the darkness. ‘I should +not have sent for you,’ he called to them, ‘had you not played “The +Wind’s voice tells me....” It is a tune that I can never resist.’ So +saying he brought out his own zithern. When he had played for a while, +Yūgiri began to improvise on his flute in the Banshiki mode.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote189" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor189"><sup>189</sup></a> +Kashiwagi attempted to join in, but his thoughts were evidently +employed elsewhere,<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote190" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor190"><sup>190</sup></a> for again and again he entered at the wrong +beat. ‘Too late,’ cried Genji, and at last Kōbai was obliged to keep +his brother in measure by humming the air in a low monotone like the +chirping of a meditative grasshopper. Genji made them go through the +piece twice, and then handed his zithern to Kashiwagi. It was some +while since he had heard the boy play and he now observed with delight +that his talent was not by any means confined to wind-instruments. ‘You +could have given me no greater pleasure,’ he said, when the piece was +over. ‘Your father is reckoned a fine performer on the zithern; but +you have certainly more than overtaken him.... By the way, I should +have cautioned you that there is some one seated just within who can +probably hear all that is going on out in this portico. So to-night +there had better not be too much drinking. Do not be offended, for I +was really thinking more of myself than of you. Now that I am getting +on in years I find wine far more dangerous than I used to. I am apt to +say the most indiscreet things....’</p> + +<p>Tamakatsura did, as a matter of fact, overhear every word of this, as +indeed she was intended to, and was thankful that he at any rate saw +the necessity of keeping himself in hand. The near presence of the two +visitors could not fail to interest her extremely, if for no other +reason than merely because they were, after all, though themselves +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295" role="doc-pagebreak">295</span>entirely unaware of the fact, so very closely related to her; +and for long past she had surreptitiously collected all possible +information concerning their characters and pursuits. Kashiwagi was, +as to her distress she had frequently ascertained, very deeply in +love with her. Again and again during the course of the evening, he +was on the verge of collapsing altogether; but never was the state of +agitation through which he was passing for a moment reflected in his +playing.</p> + +<div class="footnote" role="doc-endnotes"> +<ul class="footnote_items"> +<li id="Footnote189"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor189" class="fnanchor">189</a> Corresponding roughly with the white notes from D to D.</li> + +<li id="Footnote190"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor190" class="fnanchor">190</a> He was in love with Tamakatsura.</li> +</ul> +</div> +</section> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-chapter" aria-labelledby="c10-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="pagenum" id="Page_296" role="doc-pagebreak">296</div> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c10-hd">CHAPTER X<br>THE TYPHOON</h2> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">This year great pains had been taken to improve the Empress Akikonomu’s +domain; and by now her gardens were aglow with the varied tints of +innumerable frost-stained leaves and autumn flowers. Above all, the new +pergolas made an admirable show, now that their timber, here stripped +of bark, there used in its natural state, was thickly interwoven with +blossoming boughs. And when at morning and evening the sun slanted +across the dewy gardens, it was as though every flower and tree +were decked with strings of glittering pearls. Those who but a few +months back had been carried away by the spring-time loveliness of +the Southern Garden, could not fail, as they gazed upon the colder +beauty of this autumnal scene, with one accord to resume their earlier +preference. The lovers of autumn have, I am persuaded, at all times +embraced the larger part of mankind; and in thus returning to their +allegiance the Empress’s companions were but following their natural +bent.</p> + +<p>So delighted was Akikonomu with the scene I have described that she +asked for leave of absence from the Emperor and settled for a while +in her own establishment. Unfortunately the anniversary of the late +Prince Zembō’s<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote191" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor191"><sup>191</sup></a> death fell in the eighth month, and it was with +great anxiety that she watched Autumn’s almost hourly advance; for she +feared that the best month would be over before she <span class="pagenum" id="Page_297" role="doc-pagebreak">297</span>came out of +mourning. Meanwhile she was confined to the house and all amusements +were suspended.</p> + +<p>The equinoctial gales were this year particularly violent. Then came +a day when the whole sky grew black, and an appalling typhoon began. +It would have been bad enough wherever one had been to see every tree +stripped of its leaves just when they were at their loveliest, every +flower stricken to the earth; but to witness such havoc in an exquisite +garden, planned from corner to corner with endless foresight and care, +to see those dew-pearls unthreaded in an instant and scattered upon +the ground, was a sight calculated to drive the onlooker well nigh to +madness. As time went on the hurricane became more and more alarming, +till all was lost to view in a blinding swirl of fog and dust. But +while she sat behind tightly closed shutters in a room that rocked +with every fresh blast, it was with thoughts of autumn splendours +irrevocably lost rather than with terror of the storm that the +Empress’s heart was shaken.</p> + +<p>The Southern Gardens were just being laid out with wild plants from +the countryside when the high winds began, and that impatient longing +which the poet attributes to the young lespidezas<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote192" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor192"><sup>192</sup></a> was indeed +fulfilled in all too ample measure. Morning after morning Murasaki too +saw the dew roughly snatched from leaf and flower. She was sitting thus +one day on watch at her window, while Genji played with the little +princess in a neighbouring room. It happened that Yūgiri had occasion +to come across from the eastern wing. When he reached the door at the +end of the passage he noticed that the great double-doors leading into +Murasaki’s room were half-open. Without thinking what he was doing, he +paused and looked in. Numerous ladies-in-waiting were passing to and +fro just inside, and <span class="pagenum" id="Page_298" role="doc-pagebreak">298</span>had he made any sound they would have looked +up, seen him and necessarily supposed that he had stationed himself +there on purpose to spy upon those within. He saw nothing for it but +to stand dead still. Even indoors the wind was so violent that screens +would not stand up. Those which usually surrounded the high daïs were +folded and stacked against the wall. There, in full view of any one +who came along the corridor, reclined a lady whose notable dignity of +mien and bearing would alone have sufficed to betray her identity. +This could be none other than Murasaki. Her beauty flashed upon him +as at dawn the blossom of the red flowering cherry flames out of the +mist upon the traveller’s still sleepy eye. It was wafted towards him, +suddenly imbued him, as though a strong perfume had been dashed against +his face. She was more beautiful than any woman he had ever seen. The +hangings of her daïs had broken away from the poles and now fluttered +in the wind like huge flags. Her ladies made vain attempts to recapture +these flapping curtain-ends, and in the course of the struggle (only +half-visible to Yūgiri) something very amusing evidently occurred, +for Murasaki suddenly burst into peals of laughter. Soon however she +became serious again. For here too, though in a lesser degree, the +wind was working irreparable havoc, and at each fresh blast he saw her +turn a despairing gaze towards her newly-planted beds. Several of her +gentlewomen, thought Yūgiri, as his eye accustomed itself to the scene, +were noticeably good-looking; but there was not one whose appearance +could for more than an instant have distracted his attention from the +astonishing creature at whose command they served. Now he understood +why it was that Genji had always taken such pains to keep him away from +her. His father was wise enough to know that no one could possibly +see her thus without losing all control of himself. Genji had indeed, +in forbidding him all access <span class="pagenum" id="Page_299" role="doc-pagebreak">299</span>to her rooms, foreseen just such a +contingency as had at this moment occurred. The boy, suddenly realizing +the extreme insecurity of his hiding-place and at the same time +overwhelmed with shame at the mere thought of being discovered in such +a situation, was about to dart into safety, when a door on the left +opened and Genji himself entered the room. ‘What a wind!’ he said as he +surveyed the exposed condition of her daïs. ‘It would really be better +just now if you left all the shutters closed. You probably do not +realize that you and your ladies are at this moment exposing yourselves +completely to the view of any gentleman who may happen to come this +way....’ Yūgiri had already withdrawn his eye from the crack; but the +sound of Genji’s voice aroused in him an invincible curiosity, and he +returned to his former position. His father was bending over Murasaki +and whispering something in her ear; now he was laughing. It seemed to +Yūgiri very odd that this high-spirited, handsome, quite young-looking +man should really be his father. As for Genji’s companion—he could +not imagine that she could ever have been more beautiful than at this +moment. He gazed spell-bound, and would certainly have crouched at +his chink for hours to come, had not the door on the opposite side of +the passage suddenly blown wide open, thus leaving his hiding-place +embarrassingly exposed. Reluctantly he withdrew (as was now possible, +for Murasaki’s attendants had all retired to the far end of the room), +and working his way round to the verandah, he called to Genji as though +he had just arrived from the Eastern Wing. His father answered the +greeting and presently joined him, saying to Murasaki as he left the +room something which evidently referred to the imperfectly fastened +passage-door. ‘Look there!’ Genji was saying crossly; ‘is not that just +what I told you? You must really be more careful....’ <span class="pagenum" id="Page_300" role="doc-pagebreak">300</span>‘This,’ +thought Yūgiri, ‘is indeed a tribute to the devotion of her guards +during all these years! Only a tempest capable of hurling rocks +through the air and uprooting whole forests can so far disarm their +vigilance that for a few seconds she is exposed to the curiosity of the +passer-by.’ He was bound to confess that towards him at any rate the +dreaded hurricane had done its best to act a benevolent part.</p> + +<p>Several retainers now arrived, reporting that the typhoon was assuming +a very serious aspect. ‘It is from the north-east,’ they said, ‘so that +here you are comparatively protected and have no notion of its real +violence. Both the racing-lodge and the fishing-pavilion are in great +danger....’ While those people were busy making fast various doors and +shutters, and repairing the damage of the previous night, Genji turned +to Yūgiri and said: ‘Where did you arrive from just now?’ ‘I spent the +night at my grandmother’s,’ he replied. ‘But every one says that we are +in for a very bad storm, and I felt I ought to come back here and see +if I could be of any use.... But as a matter of fact it is far worse +in the Third Ward than here in the Sixth. The mere noise of the wind, +quite apart from everything else, is terrifying at my grandmother’s, +and if you do not mind I think it would be a good thing if I went back +there at once. She is as frightened as though she were a child of two, +and it seems unkind to leave her....’ ‘Yes, by all means go back at +once,’ answered Genji hastily. ‘One sometimes thinks that the notion of +old people slipping back into a second childhood is a mere fable; but I +have learnt lately from instances in my own family that it does really +happen. Tell her, please, that I have heard how bad things are in the +Third Ward and should certainly come myself, were I not satisfied that +you will be able to do quite as much for her as I could.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_301" role="doc-pagebreak">301</span>Yūgiri had a high sense of duty. It was his practice at this time +to visit his grandmother at least once a day, and it would have been a +ferocious wind indeed that could deter him either from setting out for +the Third Ward or returning thence at the hour when his father usually +asked for him. There were of course ‘times of observance’ when he was +obliged to remain shut up in the Emperor’s Palace for several days on +end. But otherwise neither pressure of public business nor attendance +at state ceremonies and festivals, however much they might impinge upon +his leisure, ever prevented him from calling first at the New Palace +and then upon the old Princess, before he dreamt of embarking upon any +amusement of his own. Still less upon such a day as this, when, bad +as the storm was already, there seemed every prospect that it would +soon develop into something more alarming still, could he have brought +himself to leave the old lady in solitude.</p> + +<p>She was, indeed, delighted that he had not failed her. ‘This is the +worst typhoon there has ever been in my lifetime,’ she said; ‘and I +can assure you I have seen a good many.’ She was trembling from head +to foot. Now and again came a strange and terrifying sound; some huge +bough that a single breath of the hurricane had twisted from its trunk, +crashed in splinters to the ground. Apart from all other dangers, +showers of tiles were falling from every roof. To go into the streets +at all on such a day was indeed no very safe undertaking, and for a +while she listened with mingled gratitude and alarm to the recital of +his perils, and escapes.</p> + +<p>The old Princess’s lonely and monotonous existence contrasted +strangely with the brilliant scenes amid which she had moved during +the days of her husband’s remarkable ascendancy. Indeed, that the +visits of this staid young grandson should mean so much to her showed +only too <span class="pagenum" id="Page_302" role="doc-pagebreak">302</span>plainly how far she had fallen from the days when her +ante-chambers were thronged by the fashionable world. True, her name +was still widely known and even reverenced in the country at large; but +this was small consolation for the fact that her own son, Tō no Chūjō, +had for some time past been far from cordial in his manner towards her. +It was very good of Yūgiri to come on such an evening. But why was +it that he looked so thoughtful? Perhaps the noise of the hurricane +distracted him. It was certainly very alarming.</p> + +<p>If Yūgiri fell into a meditative mood in this house, it was generally +with memories of his little playmate<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote193" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor193"><sup>193</sup></a> that his mind was employed. +But to-night he had not, as a matter of fact, thought of her once; +nor did the tempest disturb him. It was the face he had seen this +morning, in the course of his unintended eavesdropping, which now +continually haunted him, till he suddenly checked his imagination and +asked himself remorsefully what had come over him that in this of all +places another face than Kumoi’s should have filled his thoughts during +a whole evening. And if it was a crime in him that he should presume +to court Tō no Chūjō’s daughter, what view would his elders take if +they should discover that he spent his leisure in thinking of Genji’s +wife? He tried hard to think of other things; but after a moment or +two the recollection of what he had seen that morning sprang back +into his mind. Was all this a mere aberration on his part? He could +not believe it; surely her beauty was indisputably of the kind that +occurs only once or twice in a century—that a whole epoch may utterly +lack? There was nothing to be wondered at in the impression which the +sight of her had made upon him; if there was anything strange in the +matter at all, it was that Genji, having such a wife as this, could +ever have <span class="pagenum" id="Page_303" role="doc-pagebreak">303</span>taken any interest in such creatures as the lady in the +Eastern Wing.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote194" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor194"><sup>194</sup></a> That did indeed require some explanation. It was +heart-rending that the most beautiful woman of her generation should +fall to the lot of one whose other intimacies proved him so completely +lacking in discrimination.</p> + +<p>It was characteristic of Yūgiri’s high sense of propriety that when in +his imaginings he became better acquainted with this lovely creature, +it was not with Murasaki herself but with someone in every respect +exactly like her that he pictured himself spending hours of enchanted +bliss. Yes, that was what he needed; without it life, he had began to +discover, was not worth living at all.</p> + +<p>Towards dawn the wind became somewhat dank and clammy; before long +sheets of rain were being swept onward by the hurricane. News came +that many of the outbuildings at the New Palace had been blown to the +ground. The main structure was so solidly built as to defy any storm. +In the quarters inhabited by Genji there was, too, a continual coming +and going, which served to mitigate the strain of those alarming hours. +But the side wings of the palace were very sparsely inhabited. Yūgiri’s +own neighbour, for example—the Lady from the Village of Falling +Flowers—might easily be by this time in a pitiable state of panic. +Clearly it was his duty to give her his support, and he set out for +home while it was still dark. The rain was blowing crossways, and no +sooner had he seated himself in his litter, than an icy douche poured +in through the ventilator and drenched his knees. The town wore an +inconceivably desolate and stricken air. In his own mind too there was +a strange sensation; it was as though there also, just as in the world +outside, the wonted landmarks and boundaries had been laid waste by +some sudden hurricane. What had happened to him? For a moment he could +only remember <span class="pagenum" id="Page_304" role="doc-pagebreak">304</span>that it was something distressing, shameful.... Why, +it was hideous! Yesterday morning.... That was it of course. He was +mad; nothing more nor less than a raving lunatic. He had fallen in love +with Murasaki!</p> + +<p>He did indeed find his neighbour in the eastern wing sadly in need of +a little support and encouragement. He managed however to convince +her that the worst danger was over, and sending for some of his own +carpenters had everything put to rights. He felt that he ought now +to greet his father. But in the central hall everything was still +locked and barred. He went to the end of the passage and leaning on +the balustrade looked out into the Southern Garden. Even such trees as +still stood were heeling over in the wind so that their tops almost +touched the ground. Broken branches were scattered in every direction +and what once had been flower-beds were now mere rubbish heaps, strewn +with a promiscuous litter of thatch and tiles, with here and there +a fragment of trellis-work or the top of a fence. There was now a +little pale sunshine, that slanting through a break in the sky gleamed +fitfully upon the garden’s woe-begone face; but sullen clouds packed +the horizon, and as Yūgiri gazed on the desolate scene his eyes filled +with tears. How came it, he asked himself, that he should be doomed +time and again to long precisely for what it was impossible for him to +obtain. He wiped away his tears, came close to Genji’s door and called. +‘That sounds like Yūgiri’s voice,’ he heard Genji say. ‘I had no notion +it was so late....’ He heard his father rise. There was a pause, and +then Genji laughed, perhaps at some remark that had been inaudible. ‘No +indeed,’ he said. ‘You and I have fared better than most lovers. We +have never known what it was to be torn from each other at the first +streak of dawn, and I do not think that after all these years we should +easily reconcile ourselves to such a fate.’ Even to <span class="pagenum" id="Page_305" role="doc-pagebreak">305</span>overhear such +a conversation as this gave Yūgiri a certain kind of pleasure. He could +not make out a word of what Murasaki said in reply and judging from +the laughter with which the conversation was constantly interrupted +it was not of a very serious description. But he felt he could say to +himself ‘That is what happens when they are alone together,’ and he +went on listening. Now, however, there was a noise of swift footsteps. +Evidently Genji was about to unbolt the door with his own hands. +Conscious that he was standing far closer to it than was natural Yūgiri +stepped back guiltily into the corridor. ‘Well,’ asked Genji, ‘was +the Princess pleased to see you last night?’ ‘Yes, I think she was,’ +answered Yūgiri. ‘She seems to be very much upset about something that +has happened between her and my uncle Tō no Chūjō. She cried a great +deal and I was very sorry for her.’ Genji smiled. ‘Oh, I know all about +that business,’ he said. ‘She will soon get over it. You must persuade +her not to brood upon such matters. He thinks she has been indiscreet, +and is doing his best to make her feel uncomfortable about it. He cares +immensely about the impression which his conduct makes on other people; +and as regards his mother—he has always gone out of his way to convince +the world that he is a paragon of filial devotion. So far as outward +show is concerned, this is true enough. But I fancy that it is all done +chiefly for the sake of appearances. The truth of the matter is that he +has no very deep feelings towards anybody. This may seem a hard thing +to say; but, on the other hand, I freely admit his good qualities. He +is extremely well-informed and intelligent; he is musical to an extent +which has become very rare in these days. In addition to all that, +he is good-looking. As I have said, I think his feelings somewhat +superficial. But we all have defects of one sort or another.... By +the way, I ought to find out how <span class="pagenum" id="Page_306" role="doc-pagebreak">306</span>the Empress has been getting on +during this appalling hurricane. I wish you would find out if there is +anything I can do for her ...’ and he gave Yūgiri a note in which he +said: ‘I am afraid the wind prevented you from getting much sleep. I +myself find it a great strain and am feeling rather shaky; otherwise I +should have come round to see you long ago....’</p> + +<p>On approaching the Empress’s apartments he saw a little girl with a +cage in her hand trip lightly into the garden; she had come to give the +tame cicadas their morning sip of dew. Further off several ladies were +wandering among the flower-beds with baskets over their arms, searching +for such stray blossoms as might chance to have survived the tempest. +Now and again they were hidden by great wreaths of storm-cloud that +trailed across the garden with strange and lovely effect. Yūgiri called +to the flower-gatherers. They did not start or betray the least sign of +discomposure, but in an instant they had all disappeared into the house.</p> + +<p>Being still a mere boy at the time when Akikonomu came to Genji’s +house, he had been allowed to run in and out of her rooms just as +he chose, and had thus become very intimate with several of her +gentlewomen. While he was waiting for the Empress’s reply, two of these +old acquaintances, a certain Saishō no Kimi, and a lady called Naishi, +came into view at the end of the passage. He hailed them and had a long +conversation. He used to think Lady Akikonomu a very splendid person; +and he was still obliged to confess, as he now looked about him, that +she lived in very good style and had shown excellent taste in the +furnishing of her quarters. But since those days he had learnt to judge +by very different standards, and a visit to this part of the palace no +longer interested him in the slightest degree.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_307" role="doc-pagebreak">307</span>On his return to Murasaki’s rooms, he found all the shutters +unbarred. Everything had resumed its normal course. He delivered the +Empress’s reply, in which she said: ‘It may be very childish, but I +own I have been much upset by the storm. I made sure that you would +come and see to things here.... It would still be a great help to me +if you could spare a moment....’ ‘I remember said Genji, ‘that she was +always very easily upset by anything of this kind. I can imagine what +a panic she and her ladies must have worked themselves up into during +the course of the night! It was wrong of me not to see after her ...’ +and he started off towards the Empress’s apartments. But he found he +had forgotten his cloak, and turning back to the high daïs he raised +a corner of the curtain and disappeared within. For a moment Yūgiri +caught sight of a light-coloured sleeve; his heart began to beat so +loud that it seemed to him every one else in the room must be able to +hear it, and he quickly averted his eyes from the daïs. There was an +interval during which Genji was presumably adjusting his cloak at the +mirror. Then Yūgiri heard his father’s voice saying: ‘I cannot help +thinking that Yūgiri is really looking quite handsome this morning. No +doubt I am partial, and to every one else he looks a mere hobbledehoy; +for I know that at the between-stage he has now reached young men are +usually far from prepossessing in appearance.’ After this there was a +pause during which he was perhaps looking at his own countenance in +the mirror, well content that the passage of time had as yet done so +little to impair it. Presently Yūgiri heard him say very thoughtfully: +‘It is strange; whenever I am going to see Akikonomu I suddenly begin +to feel that I am looking terribly shabby and unpresentable. I cannot +think why she should have that effect on one. There is really nothing +very remarkable about her, either in intellect <span class="pagenum" id="Page_308" role="doc-pagebreak">308</span>or appearance. But +one feels, I think, that she is all the while making judgments, which +if they ever came to the surface, would seem oddly at variance with +the mild femininity of her outward manner....’ With these words Genji +re-appeared from behind the curtains. The look of complete detachment +with which Yūgiri imagined he met his father’s gaze was perhaps not so +successfully assumed as the boy supposed; for Genji suddenly halted +and returning to the daïs whispered to Murasaki something about the +door which had been left unfastened yesterday morning. ‘No, I am sure +he didn’t,’ answered Murasaki indignantly. ‘If he had come along the +corridor my people would have noticed. They never heard a sound....’ +‘Very queer, all the same,’ murmured Genji to himself as he left the +room. Yūgiri now noticed that a group of gentlemen was waiting for him +at the end of the crossgallery, and he hastened to meet them. He tried +to join in their conversation and even in their laughter; but he was +feeling in no mood for society, and little as his friends expected +of him in the way of gaiety, they found him on this occasion more +obdurately low-spirited than ever before.</p> + +<p>Soon however his father returned and carried him off to the Eastern +Wing. They found the gentlewomen of this quarter engaged in making +preparations to meet the sudden cold. A number of grey-haired old +ladies were cutting out and stitching, while the young girls were busy +hanging out quilts and winter cloaks over lacquered clothesframes. +They had just beaten and pulled a very handsome dark-red underrobe, +a garment of magnificent colour, certainly unsurpassed as an example +of modern dyeing—and were spreading it out to air. ‘Why, Yūgiri,’ +said Genji, ‘that is your coat, is it not? I suppose you would have +been wearing it at the Emperor’s Chrysanthemum Feast; but of course +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309" role="doc-pagebreak">309</span>this odious hurricane has put a stop to everything of that sort. +What a depressing autumn it is going to be!’</p> + +<p>But Yūgiri could not summon up much interest in the round of visits +upon which his father had embarked, and slipped away to the rooms of +his little sister, the Princess from Akashi. The child was not there. +‘She is still with Madam,’ her nurse said. ‘She went later than usual +to-day. She was so frightened of the storm that it was a long time +before she got to sleep, and we had a job to get her out of bed at +all this morning.’ ‘When things began to be so bad,’ said Yūgiri, ‘I +intended to come round here and sit up with her; but then I heard that +my grandmother was very much upset, and thought that I had better go to +her instead. What about the doll’s house? Has that come to any harm?’ +The nurse and her companions laughed. ‘Oh, that doll’s house!’ one of +them exclaimed. ‘Why, if I so much as fanned myself the little lady +would always cry out to me that I was blowing her dolls to bits. You +can imagine, then, what a time we had of it when the whole house was +being blown topsy-turvy, and every minute something came down with a +crash.... You’d better take charge of that doll’s house. I don’t mind +telling you I’m sick to death of it!’</p> + +<p>Yūgiri had several letters to write, and as the little girl was still +with her step-mother he said to the nurse: ‘Might I have some ordinary +paper. Perhaps from the writing-case in your own room....’ The nurse +however went straight to the little Princess’s own desk and taking +the cover off her lacquered writing-case laid upon it a whole roll of +the most elegant paper she could find. Yūgiri at first protested. But +after all, was not a rather absurd fuss made about this young lady +and her future? There was nothing sacrosanct about her possessions; +and accepting the paper, which was of a thin, purple variety, he +mixed <span class="pagenum" id="Page_310" role="doc-pagebreak">310</span>his ink very carefully and, continually inspecting the +point of his brush, began writing slowly and cautiously. The air of +serious concentration with which he settled down to his task was very +impressive; more so, indeed, than the composition itself, for his +education had been chiefly upon other lines.</p> + +<p>The poem was as follows: ‘Not even on this distracted night when +howling winds drive serried hosts of cloud across the sky, do I for +an instant forget thee, thou Unforgettable One.’ He tied this to a +tattered spray of miscanthus that he had picked up in the porch. At +this there was general laughter. ‘It’s clear you haven’t read your +Katano no Shōshō’<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote195" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor195"><sup>195</sup></a> said one of the nurses, ‘or you would at least +choose a flower that matched your paper....’ ‘You are quite right,’ +he answered rather sulkily, ‘I have never bothered my head about such +matters. No doubt one ought to go tramping about the countryside +looking for an appropriate flower; but I have no intention of doing +so....’ He had always seemed to the nurses and other such ladies of the +household very difficult to get anything out of. Apparently he did not +care what impression he made upon them; and as a matter of fact they +were beginning to think him rather priggish and stuck-up.</p> + +<p>He wrote a second letter, and sending for his retainer Uma no Suké put +this and the original note into the man’s hand. But evidently the two +letters were to go in quite different directions.<a role="doc-noteref" href="#Footnote196" class="fnanchor" id="FNanchor196"><sup>196</sup></a> For Uma no Suké, +having scanned the addresses, entrusted one to a page boy and the other +to a discreet, responsible-looking body-servant. These proceedings were +accompanied by a great many whispered <span class="pagenum" id="Page_311" role="doc-pagebreak">311</span>warnings and injunctions. +The curiosity of the young nurses knew no bounds; but it remained +wholly unsatisfied; for hard though they strained their ears, they +could not catch a word.</p> + +<p>Yūgiri was now tired of waiting and made his way to his grandmother’s +house. He found her quietly pursuing her devotions, surrounded by +gentlewomen not all of whom were either old or ill-looking. But in +dress and bearing they formed a strange contrast to the chattering, +frivolous young creatures from whom he had just parted. The nuns too, +who had come to take part in the service, were by no means decrepit or +disagreeable in person, a fact which gave an additional pathos to their +assumption of this sombre and unbecoming guise.</p> + +<p>Later in the day Tō no Chūjō called, and when the great lamp had been +brought in, he and the old Princess had a long, quiet talk. At last +she screwed up her courage to say: ‘It is a very long time since I +saw Kumoi ...’ and she burst into tears. ‘I was just going to suggest +sending her round here in a day or two,’ said Tō no Chūjō. ‘I am not +very happy about her. She is certainly thinner than she used to be, and +there is sometimes a peculiar expression in her face.... It is almost +as though she had something on her mind. I do not understand how it +is that, while I have never had a moment’s anxiety over my boys, with +these daughters of mine something goes wrong at every turn. And never +through any fault of mine....’ He said this with an intonation that +clearly showed he had not entirely forgiven her. She was sorely wounded +by this obstinate injustice, but did not attempt to defend herself.</p> + +<p>‘Talking of daughters,’ he went on, ‘you have probably heard that I +have lately made a very unsuccessful addition to my household. You have +no idea what worries I am <span class="pagenum" id="Page_312" role="doc-pagebreak">312</span>going through....’ He spoke in a doleful +tone, but no sooner were the words uttered than he burst out laughing. +‘I cannot bear to hear you talking in that way,’ said the old Princess. +‘Of one thing I am quite sure: if she is really your daughter she +cannot be so bad as people are making out.’ ‘I think, all the same,’ +said Tō no Chūjō, ‘that it might be possible to put too great a strain +upon your habitual indulgence towards everything connected with me. +That being so, I have no intention whatever of introducing her to you.’</p> + +<div class="footnote" role="doc-endnotes"> +<ul class="footnote_items"> + +<li id="Footnote191"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor191" class="fnanchor">191</a> Her father; Rokujō’s husband, who died early.</li> + +<li id="Footnote192"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor192" class="fnanchor">192</a> ‘I await your coming eagerly as waits the young lespideza, so +heavy with dew, for the wind that shall disburden it.’</li> + +<li id="Footnote193"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor193" class="fnanchor">193</a> Kumoi.</li> + +<li id="Footnote194"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor194" class="fnanchor">194</a> The Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers.</li> + +<li id="Footnote195"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor195" class="fnanchor">195</a> A tale of the ‘perfect lover,’ very popular in Murasaki’s day, +but now lost. Cf. vol. i, p. 39.</li> + +<li id="Footnote196"><a role="doc-backlink" href="#FNanchor196" class="fnanchor">196</a> One to Kumoi, one to Koremitsu’s daughter.</li> +</ul> +</div> +</section> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<section role="doc-errata" aria-labelledby="corr-hd"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="transnote" id="Transcribers_Notes"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="corr-hd">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> + +<p class="noindent">In the HTML version of this text, original page numbers are +enclosed in a box and presented in the right margin.</p> + +<p class="noindent">Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end +of each chapter.</p> + +<p class="noindent">Misspelled words have been corrected (see below). Archaic, +inconsistent and alternative spellings have been left unchanged. +Hyphenation has <span class="u">not</span> been standardised.</p> + +<p class="noindent">Punctuation has been silently corrected.</p> + +<p class="noindent">The modified cover art included with this eBook is +hereby granted to the public domain.</p> + +<p class="noindent">“Edit Distance” in Corrections table below refers to the +Levenshtein Distance.</p> + +<h3>Corrections:</h3> + +<table class="correctionTable"> +<tbody> + <tr> + <th class="tdc">Page</th> + <th class="tdc">Source</th> + <th class="tdc">Correction</th> + <th class="tdc">Edit distance</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#corr84">84</a></td> + <td class="tdl bottom">Zembo’s</td> + <td class="tdl bottom">Zembō’s</td> + <td class="tdl">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#corr134">134</a></td> + <td class="tdl bottom">someting</td> + <td class="tdl bottom">something</td> + <td class="bottom tdl">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#corr147">147</a></td> + <td class="tdl bottom">Nijo-in</td> + <td class="tdl bottom">Nijō-in</td> + <td class="bottom tdl">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#corr231">231</a></td> + <td class="tdl bottom">opportunites</td> + <td class="tdl bottom">opportunities</td> + <td class="bottom tdl">1</td> + </tr> +</tbody></table> +</div> +</div> +</section> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75852 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75852-h/images/cover.jpg b/75852-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0744c25 --- /dev/null +++ b/75852-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/75852-h/images/logo.png b/75852-h/images/logo.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4faa53 --- /dev/null +++ b/75852-h/images/logo.png diff --git a/75852-h/images/title.png b/75852-h/images/title.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..04af173 --- /dev/null +++ b/75852-h/images/title.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5dba15 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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