her powerful Fujiwara family, whose manipulation
two-tiered shelf with a vibrant fl oral pattern against
of the throne curtails direct imperial rule. The birth
a gold ground, and a black lacquered footed basin to
of Genji to a woman without a controlling Fujiwara
receive to the boy’s shorn locks, all perhaps alluding
patriarch behind her means a potential rival to the
to the attention to the ceremony’s details paid by
throne who would not be subject to control by the
the sovereign himself. The Emperor, whose face is
Fujiwara Regents. At the same time, without pow-
hidden behind blinds, as was custom, is seated in the
erful maternal male relatives to occupy infl uential
upper left corner. His importance is underscored by
bureaucratic positions at court to support and pro-
the selection of the textual excerpt, which describes
tect him, Genji’s position is precarious, prompting
the ceremony f rom his point of view. The court-
the Emperor to make him a commoner, thereby
ier to Genji’s left, directly in the Emperor’s line of
removing him as a potential successor. The Tale of
vision, is most likely the Minister of the Left, the
Genji is thus a tale of the disinherited — the surname
man who is about to become Genji’s father-in-law.
“Genji” being designated for such princes removed
Genji’s coming of age coincides with his betrothal to
f rom the line of succession — in which the reclama-
the young woman known as Lady Aoi, who, at six-
tion of this birthright and the redemption of Genji’s
teen, is four years his senior. The scene of initiation,
mother’s lineage subtends the entire work.
although tinged with sentimentality, pictorializes
Courtly narrative painting at its best employed
a consequential political transaction between the
architectural settings to convey social relationships,
Emperor and the Minister of the Left, with Genji
and the album painting for the Kiritsubo chapter
in the middle.
is no exception. The Emperor’s role as the spiri-
The textual passage for this scene opens with
tual and political center of society is expressed by
the refl ections of the sovereign as he witnesses his
his transcendent position in the upper left, where
26 | The Tale of Genji
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he observes the ceremony f rom behind the hang-
involvement in Genji’s coming-of-age ceremony,
ing blinds. Out of deference, his body is depicted
held in his private quarters, implies that for him,
only f rom the shoulders down. The three diagonal
Genji takes priority over the Crown Prince, foreshad-
beams that traverse the picture demarcate sepa-
owing a lifelong rivalry between the half brothers
rate hierarchical spaces within a building: the inner
and a theme of public versus private kingship. Genji
core ( moya) in the upper left, the surrounding aisle
will never ascend the throne like his half brother,
( hisashi), where Genji sits, and the outer aisle, occu-
the future Emperor Suzaku, but he will achieve a
pied by two courtiers in the lower right. Adjacent to
symbolic form of sovereignty, ultimately rising to
the Emperor, and positioned directly behind Genji,
the exalted status of “honorary retired emperor”
is a curtained dais symbolically guarded by a pair
( jun daijō tennō). The tale legitimizes Genji’s claim
of sculptural lion-dogs placed in f ront. The ensem-
to this position in its fi rst pages, using imagery of
ble marks the site as the Seiryōden (Hall of Cool
resplendence and otherworldliness to describe him,
and Ref reshing Breezes), the Emperor’s residence
calling him the “radiant prince” ( hikaru kimi). The
within the palace. The setting is charged with polit-
album’s fi rst painting mobilizes the symbolism of
ical meaning: the initiation of Genji’s half brother,
architectural settings and the empty imperial dais
the designated Crown Prince born to the Kokiden
Consort, took place in the offi
cial Shinshinden (Hall
themes of identity, rivalry, and shadow imperial rule
for State Ceremonies). The Emperor’s personal that structure the entire tale.
Chapter 1 | The Lady of the Paulownia-Courtyard Chambers | 27
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Now the breaking day
Finds me still sighing in the dark
Of my misery,
For those unresting cries are torn
Not just f rom the cockrel’s throat.
cranston, p. 698
With the sky growing lighter
by the moment, Genji brought her
back to the entrance of her room.
28
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2
Broom
Cypress
Hahakigi
Mi no usa o
Nageku ni akade
Akuru yo wa
Torikasanete zo
Ne mo nakarekeru
koto to akakunareba, shōjiguchi
made okuritamau.
29
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This second pair of leaves in the album, Hahakigi
while at the governor’s villa. The bottom half of
(Broom Cypress), takes us f rom the rarifi ed atmo-
the painting depicts the results of Genji’s noctur-
sphere of the imperial court and aristocracy to the
nal wanderings — a dramatic encounter with the
world of provincial governors and middle-ranking
woman known as Utsusemi, the young stepmother
women. Genji, now seventeen, decides to spend the
of the Governor. Genji rises at the sound of voices
night at the city residence of the Governor of Kii
and overhears a conversation between Utsusemi
Province. The painting is set amid the sweltering
and her younger brother Kogimi. The stepmother
midsummer heat on the grounds of the gover-
was known to stay at the villa with her female atten-
nor’s newly renovated villa, which is replete with
dants f rom time to time, and on this occasion was
shaded walkways traversing man-made streams, staying there while her husband ritually purifi ed his and a spring constructed by damming up part of the
own residence. She sparks Genji’s interest, in part
Nakagawa River. Sparks of red pigment suggest the
because her marriage to a man of the provincial gov-
intermittent radiance the fi refl ies are said to have
ernor class puts her beneath him within the “middle
cast on the banks of the garden streams, adding a
ranks” of the aristocracy. He has never had a liai-
magical quality to the scene. The burbling spring
son with a woman of middle rank, but their virtues
( izumi), with its associations of water delivered were explained to him by three more romantically f rom the gods, and elixirs of youth, adds to the site’s
experienced men in a spirited and metaphorically
otherworldly air. In the top half of the painting, two
rich conversation earlier in this chapter, the famous
attendants in courtiers’ hats ( eboshi) lie stretched
“rainy night appraisal” ( amayo no shinasadame).
out, asleep on a walkway. A black lacquered ladle
Genji hears the woman call for her attendant Chūjō,
bobs on the water, its long handle resting on the
literally “Middle Captain,” a name that matches his
walkway, while the gold pitcher and white sake cup
own courtier’s title at the time. Finding the door
nearby suggest the night’s revelry.
unlatched, he approaches the prone woman and
The wine has no soporifi c eff ect on Genji, who,
pulls back her coverlet, saying, “I heard you call for a
unlike his men, is restless, and loath to sleep alone
Captain,” implying that his audacious entrance was
at her own request. Whatever playfulness might
have been intended is lost on the woman, who cries
out for help only to have her screams muffl
ed by her
own robes.
The precise moment depicted in the picture is
unclear, but it appears to show the dawn after their
encounter. Nevertheless, it could stand in quite well
for his initial moment of contact. Given the indirect-
ness of courtly painting, the portrayal here of Genji
physically touching the woman is bold, perhaps
recalling, as Noguchi Takeshi has suggested, the
infl uence of erotic Genji paintings that were known
to have circulated in medieval Japan. Genji places a
hand on her upper back and guides her forward as
she turns her head, her long hair cascading down
her robes. Her diminutive f rame is striking and
alludes to the way Genji is said to sweep her up and
carry her into an interior room. Genji returns the
woman to where he found her in a crowded storage
room, here indicated by the large lacquered chest
30 | The Tale of Genji
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of their social standing. Her late father, a relatively
high-ranking courtier, a Middle Counselor, intended
to send her to court in the hopes that she would
become a consort of the sovereign. When her father
died before his dreams for her could be realized, she
settled for the security of marrying the older (or
as Genji repeatedly calls him, “over the hill”) Vice
Governor of Iyo, whom she seems to despise. That
she should now be the object of attention by this
handsome son of an emperor when she is no longer
f ree causes her to regret the choices she has made in
the past. At the same time, the overwhelming guilt
she feels toward her husband prompts a concern
that he may have witnessed the previous night’s
transgression in his dreams.
Given the hopelessness of her situation, she
decides to maintain her dignity rather than risk
becoming a trifl e for a young man who has already
garnered a reputation for promiscuity, and she
resolves to resist any further advances. She is said to
resemble the “supple bamboo” ( nayotake) that bends
( karabitsu) decorated with golden butterfl ies in the
but does not break under pressure. By the end of
foreground. The textual excerpt of the adjacent leaf
the chapter, when Genji is rejected after attempting
also suggests a morning-after setting.
another tryst, he feels humiliated but impressed by
The painting’s emphasis on Genji’s fi gure and
the strength of her character. The woman’s ability
his amorous adventure is countered by the poem,
to evade Genji prompts him to liken her in a poem
which represents the woman’s voice and her inner
to the “broom cypress” ( hahakigi), legendary f rom
turmoil. Calligraphically the excerpt begins at the
earlier poems as a shrub that vanishes on approach.
top right of the blue paper sheet with the darkly
She similarly envisions herself as the ethereal
brushed character mi, which literally means “body”
tree in her reply poem to Genji and describes the
but more commonly refers to one’s fate or station in
“worthless hovel” where she, the broom cypress,
life. The woman’s misery and regret expressed in the
was planted. This fi nal poem in the chapter conveys
verse capture not only the complexity of her feel-
the woman’s preoccupation with her social status,
ings toward Genji (she is simultaneously attracted to
while the mysterious image of the hahakigi epito-
him and upset at the way he has forced himself on
mizes her characteristic elusiveness and gives the
her), but also her preoccupation with the disparity
chapter its name.
Chapter 2 |Broom Cypress | 31
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“The lady f rom the west wing has
been here playing Go since noon,”
Genji heard someone say. Thinking
that he would like to get a glimpse
of the two women facing each other
across the game board, he quietly
stepped forward and stood in a space
behind the blinds.
32
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3
A Molted
Cicada Shell
Utsusemi
Hiru yori nishi no onkata
no watarase tamaite, go utase
tamau to iu. Sate mukai
itaran o mibaya to omoite,
yaora ayumi idete sudare
no hasama ni iritamainu.
33
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Unable to free himself from thoughts of Utsusemi,
sees her only obliquely since she maintains a mod-
Genji has her younger brother arrange yet another
est posture even in these private quarters when no
encounter for him at the governor’s villa. Genji one should be looking. He notes her extremely thin waits for the boy near outer wooden doors, allowing
hands, which she attempts to keep hidden beneath
him to steal a glimpse inside the women’s rooms.
her robes, and her narrow head. Apparently, his pre-
The painting depicts this moment of espionage with
vious nocturnal encounter with the woman did not
the top half of the black lattice shutters enclosing
allow for such scrutiny, and he concludes that while
the aisle room raised ever so slightly for the peeping
she is far from a great beauty, her composure, ele-
Genji. This is the fi rst of six pictures in the album
gance, and grace merit admiration.
that depict the trope of voyeuristic peeking known
In contrast, the attire of the other woman,
as kaimami (literally “peeking through the fence”),
described in the tale as directly in Genji’s line of
in which male characters espy women who are sight, leaves little to the imagination. She is said ostensibly unaware of being observed. These fl eet-to be far more relaxed, to the point of dishabille,
ing moments of spectacle play important roles in
with her robes open to the waist of her red trousers
the narrative: as plot pivots that incite male char-
and exposing her chest. Even if Tosa Mitsunobu,
acters to engage in new sexual pursuits; as devices
the decorous court painter, decided to forego this
that reveal the mental world of a character through
detail in the album leaf, his rendering of the fi gure’s
internal monologues inspired by the viewing of plump cheeks, bud-like red lips, and smiling eyes women; and as a means of drawing attention to par-corresponds to the voluptuous and pretty features
ticular female characters, whose physical features
said to have captivated Genji. This young woman
and personal attributes are deliberately discerned
is the “lady from the west wing” mentioned in the
through the eyes of the male spectator.
fi rst line of the album’s calligraphic excerpt, the
Following the compositional pattern of other Governor of Kii’s sister, who has spent the day in kaimami scenes, Genji, understood as a surrogate
her stepmother’s quarters. As the daughter of the
for the viewer, stands in the lower right corner provincial Iyo Vice Governor, she is described in and gazes leftward toward fi gures, usually women,