ing the image of the overgrown garden depicted in
In early summer, Genji decides to visit the the painting to its left. Genji makes his way toward woman at the “village of scattering blossoms,” the house, its dilapidation conveyed by the exposed 82 | The Tale of Genji
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wattle of its white plastered wall, while Koremitsu
the Princess’s current squalor into splendor, the
clears away the dew-drenched grasses for his lord.
ladies-in-waiting “looked up to the sky, and facing
Clumps of green, weed-like plants cover the ground
in the direction of Genji’s residence, off ered joyful
while fl ecks of silver on the painting simulate the
prayers of thankgivings” (Washburn, p. 354), as if in
glistening eff ect of the dew said to drench the cuff s
gratitude to a Buddha or deity.
of the men’s trousers. A slender tree f rames the
Suetsumuhana, on the other hand, is presented
trio on the left edge of the composition, but con-
as an anti-Buddhist fi gure, a woman who spurns
spicuously absent is the intertwined wisteria and
Buddhist practice and the chanting of sutras, who
pine found in nearly every rendition of this popu-
off ers an ironic retort when she hears Genji cele-
lar scene, including the oldest extant version in the
brated in Buddhistic terms, and who perhaps puts
twelfth-century Genji Scrolls.
more faith in the rightness of the lifestyle of a
The umbrella does call to mind, however, the
Confucian Chinese recluse than that of a Buddhist
same motif found in the Genji Scrolls version of
renunciate. Suetsumuhana thus seems particularly
this scene, perhaps evoking the parasol that hovers
unredeemable; as observed earlier, Chapter Six even
above the Buddha in traditional painting and sculp-
described her in inhuman terms, with a nose as long
ture. While Genji is likened to a Buddha elsewhere
and deformed as the Bodhisattva Fugen’s elephant
in the tale, Misumi Yōichi has argued that this chap-
mount. In much the same way that the Buddha’s
ter in particular structures its events according to a
compassion has the capacity to redeem even the
story of redemption in which Genji’s eventual res-
nonhuman, Genji’s ability to accept Suetsumuhana
cue of Suetsumuhana is akin to Buddhist salvation.
despite her appearance contains shades of bodhi-
Genji is said to appear “unexpectedly, like a god or
sattva-like mercy. As expressed in Genji’s poem, he
the Buddha,” to bestow his gracious attention on
sees within Suetsumuhana the virtue of her devoted,
the Princess, and is later described as a bosatsu, and
“unchanged heart” ( moto no kokoro), even though
“the very incarnation of the Buddha,” leaving peo-
the (religious) “path may be hidden” ( michi mo naku).
ple to wonder how “he came to be born into this
He thus spreads his radiance like the Buddha, whose
world of corruption.” Meanwhile, the “Rite of the
indiscriminate compassion, the Lotus Sutra says,
Eight Lectures” commissioned by Genji takes place
touches all like the spring rain. In this way, Murasaki
at his residence, which is said to “equal in every
Shikibu frames Genji’s relationship with the Hitachi
way the sublime beauty ( shōgon) of the Pure Land
Princess in terms of a central motif and belief found
of Supreme Bliss ( gokuraku jōdo).” And when Genji
in Buddhist literature, and so hints at layers of possible
begins his acts of compassion, which will transform
meanings behind the tale’s romantic redemptions.
Chapter 15 | A Ruined Villa of Tangled Gardens | 83
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It was the end of the ninth month,
past the barrier gate, they looked
and the autumn foliage was a blaze
ever so appealing in the harmonious
of color. Clumps of grass withered
embroidery and resist dyed cloth
by the f rost — some darker in hue,
some lighter — stretched out delight-
washburn, p. 357, modified
fully all around as far as the eye
could see. As the fi gures in their
traveling outfi ts came streaming
84
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16
The Barrier
Gate
Sekiya
Nagatsuki tsugomori nareba,
momiji no iroiro kokimaze,
shimogare no kusa muramura
okashiu miewataru ni, Sekiya yori
sato kuzureidetaru tabisugatadomo
no, iroiro no ao no tsukizukishiki
nuimono, kukurizome no sama mo
saru kata ni okashiu miyu.
85
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Twelve years have passed since the seventeen-year-old
Genji’s aff air with the married woman Utsusemi, his
“lady of the discarded locust shell.” In Chapter Sixteen
they happen upon each other again, as their traveling
processions pass, heading in diff erent directions, the
gatehouse ( sekiya) at Ōsaka, the famous place in Ōmi
Province the name of which literally means the “slope
of meeting” ( ausaka). Having accompanied her hus-
band, now the Governor of Hitachi Province, to his
post in the eastern provinces, Utsusemi is returning
to the capital after a four-year absence and is making
her way westward. Her party has heard that Genji
will pass through the same barrier gate on a pilgrim-
The album’s calligraphy is brushed on crimson
age to the temple of Ishiyamadera, and they cede the
colored paper as if to suit the autumnal “ninth
busy road to him, taking seats along the embank-
month” ( nagatsuki), a word that is featured in the
ment. Their resting carriages are depicted with their
text and highlighted by its central location on the
shafts touching the ground, a thick, red rope coiled
sheet, complementing the tinted fall leaves and red
around the ends of one connoting unhitched oxen.
motifs in the adjacent painting. The text also focuses
The tale describes a substantial group of ten women’s
on the embroidered and dyed travel robes ( tabi
carriages, and in the album the diagonal placement
sugata), which in this painting are worn by members
&
nbsp; of the vehicles and the obfuscating gold clouds imply
of Utsusemi’s entourage. Rather than Heian-period
a larger retinue beyond the border of the picture.
robes, however, Mitsunobu painted the fabrics of
Members of the traveling party seated on the slope
his day, refl ecting the range of patterns and dye-
include two women with their white, conical travel
ing techniques popular at the time of the album’s
hats on the ground beside them as they watch the
creation in the early sixteenth century. The robes
procession of Genji’s carriages below.
include those with a crosshatched pattern in blue
and white, or red and brown, and a resist-dyed robe
of blue triangles. One man, seated between the two
parked carriages, wears a light blue robe decorated
with black and white carriage wheels. The garment
on the woman behind him is equally striking, with
alternating bands of red and brown, a diff erent pat-
tern and color on each shoulder. Floral roundels of
diff ering sizes appear within the bands, with traces
of a purplish color delineating the center and petals
of the blossoms. Conspicuous garments appear on
women below this couple as well. One worn by a
fi gure with a light blue cloth draped across her chest
bears a complicated pattern of painted fl owers and
leaves recalling the decorative technique known as
“fl owers at the crossroads” ( tsujigahana). The robe
on the other, on the far right, is decorated with a stri-
ated red ground on the right shoulder and a band of
green with minute brown strokes. This last woman
is the only one in the group with features typical of
86 | The Tale of Genji
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aristocratic fi gures in Mitsunobu’s paintings, and
although custom dictates that Utsusemi not emerge
f rom her carriage, it is tempting to interpret her as a
stand-in for Genji’s regretful paramour. Her partic-
ularly intense focus on the spectacle below evokes a
poem composed by Utsusemi to herself at precisely
this moment:
Yuku to ku to
Going and coming
Sekitomegataki
There has been no barrier
Namida o ya
For these my tears;
Taenu Shimizu to
Do others look upon them
Hito wa miruramu
As water f rom fl owing wells?
cranston, p. 786
The sense of movement within this poem — the back
sister to Hitachi rather than loyally following Genji
and forth through the barrier gate, the downward
into exile, as others had done, who at this point in
torrent of the woman’s tears — resembles the visual
the story are being rewarded.
dynamics of the painting, with its zigzagging com-
Taken together, Chapter Sixteen, and Fifteen
position and precipitous diagonal leading the eye to
before it, starkly juxtapose the life choices of Utsu-
the focal point of the scene: Genji’s interaction with
semi and Suetsumuhana. Sakamoto Tomonobu has
Utsusemi’s younger brother Kogimi.
suggested that Utsusemi’s father, a Middle Counselor
Genji’s carriage has just passed through the of high rank, was likely a son of the emperor who barrier gate, which is rendered with unique detail,
reigned before Genji’s father. Although Utsusemi is
including the wheel at its base that allows it to swing
presented as a woman of middle rank, as she has
open. Only the rear of the carriage is visible, and
married a provincial governor, her bloodline could
there Genji leans out f rom behind the hanging be identical to that of Suetsumuhana, whose father, blinds to hand a message to Kogimi. The young
Prince Hitachi, was a son of the same emperor.
boy who arranged his sister’s liaison with Genji Both women thus exemplify contrasting paths; one in Chapters Two and Three, and who became the
chose immediate stability, while the other refused to
nobleman’s nocturnal companion when Genji’s settle and instead decided to wait for Genji. Utsuse-overtures to his sister failed, is now an Assistant
mi’s pangs of regret over a lowering marriage to an
Commander in the Right Gate Guard. Despite the
uncouth man become understandable if we con-
damage to the white pigment of his face, his elegant
sider that her family pedigree would have enabled
features are still discernible, and his importance in
her to enter court service or to become Genji’s wife.
the scene is marked by his full and stately represen-
Her decisions continue to haunt her later on in the
tation in courtly hat, pink and red robe, pantaloons,
chapter when her husband’s death brings untold
and black lacquered slippers, which stand out amid
“hardships,” implying acts of sexual aggression
the plain robes of Genji’s retainers. Kogimi’s prom-
by her dead husband’s son. Her only option is to
inence suggests that the drama of this scene occurs
become a nun, which she does by the end of the
not only between Genji and Utsusemi but also chapter, but her relationship with Genji continues between these two men, whose relationship is not
when she joins Suetsumuhana under Genji’s roof in
without tension. The young man accompanied his
Chapter Twenty-Three.
Chapter 16 | The Barrier Gate | 87
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Narihira [Zai chūjō]’s fame cannot
be sullied,” argued Fujitsubo,
composing:
To the casual eye
The bay with its burden of seaweed
May seem an old story,
Yet shall we so easily scuttle
The Ise fi sher’s ancient fame?
cranston, pp. 789–90
88
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17
A Contest
of
Illustrations
Eawase
“Zaigochūjō no na o ba ekutasaji”
to notamawasete, Miya,
Mirume koso
Ura furinurame
Toshi henishi
Iseo no ama no
Na o ya shizumen
89
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The “contest of illustrations” in Chapter Seventeen
pulls a long rake across the space in the foreground,
consists of two matches: one among the ladies-in-
while behind him distinctive shore pines and the
waiting at the palace,
presided over by Fujitsubo, and
gray roofs of distant huts peek out between blue
a more formal event before Emperor Reizei. The
horizontal mist bands. The motifs in this “paint-
matches take place after Tō no Chūjō commissions
ing-within-a-painting” correspond to poetic tropes
modish new narrative illustrations for his daughter,
associated with the Suma shore that predate The Tale
the new Kokiden Consort, in order to entice young
of Genji: fi sherfolk ( ama), seaweed ( mirume, ukime, Emperor Reizei—who is fascinated with tales and
moshio), salt burning and brine ( shio), and pines
paintings. Genji and Fujitsubo, who are supporting
( matsu) on the bay ( ura). These same word-motifs
the Umetsubo Consort (daughter of the deceased
saturate the numerous poems f rom the Suma chap-
Lady Rokujō) and aim to help her win the favor of
ter composed by Genji and his women back in the
Reizei , their secret son, soon learn of Tō no Chūjō’s
capital, many of them functioning as homophones
scheme and set out to thwart it. Genji inspects his
for expressions of isolation, passionate longing, and
collection of illustrated scrolls in order to supply the
regret. This scroll surely represents one of the picto-
Umetsubo Consort with her own arsenal of amus-
rial diaries that Genji made during his exile at Suma.
ing tales, and he consults Murasaki in the process.
Genji’s sketches are singled out for the highest
The scene in the album depicts Genji and praise by the narrator; they not only capture picto-Murasaki examining his library for this purpose,
rially the desolate and exotic landscape of his place
having pulled several scrolls f rom the black lac-
of exile but also his innermost thoughts through
quered box in the foreground, which is decorated
the poems in kana that are interspersed among the
with a gold butterfl y design and fi lled with numer-
pictures. As Ii Haruki has discussed, Genji created
ous works yet to be unrolled. Genji occupies the
the scrolls originally with the intention of one day
center of the composition, a gold cloud hovering
showing them to Murasaki, envisioning her add-
overhead emphasizing his presence, as he contem-
ing her own poems to his, and deliberately leaving