The Tale of Genji

  25. A comb in poetry has magical associations, and its many teeth connote many years (longevity). The language of the poem, as of Suzaku's reply, is distinctly felicitous.

  26. A bowl is the only eating vessel permitted to one who has taken holy vows.

  27. The way the original names her here (Murasaki no Ue) contrasts her pointedly with Onna San no Miya. She is Genji's “true love” (murasaki), while his relationship with Onna San no Miya is perfunctory, and her personal quality gives her standing after all vis-à-vis Onna San no Miya's overwhelmingly high rank. From here on, her real stature will continue slowly to rise, and the text will call her Murasaki no Ue more and more often.

  28. Omuro is by no means “far away” for any present inhabitant of Kyoto, nor is it at all far into the hills; but it seemed much more remote then, and in any case the religious world that Suzaku is about to join felt very far away indeed.

  29. Her father's.

  30. Tamakazura's marriage to Higekuro.

  31. Tamakazura holds this event on the day (the first day of the Rat in the first month) on which courtiers went out into the fields to pick the green shoots of the plants that sprout first in spring, traditionally seven in number.

  32. A very solemnly “Chinese” item of furniture for the honored, quasi-imperial guest. The “forty mats” and so on are for Genji's forty years.

  33. Yusurutsuki, lidded cups on tall stands.

  34. She seems to feel that it is immodest of her to have two sons so close in age by Higekuro, especially considering the old feeling between herself and Genji.

  35. On the year's first day of the Rat, people went into the fields not only to pick new greens but to pull up little pines, tokens of long life, and the poetry associated with the day alludes to both activities. Here the “seedling pines” are her sons, whom she has “brought today” (hiki-tsurete) as people pull up (hiki) the pines. The great rock is Genji.

  36. “Your little boys make me feel young again.” Genji's poem plays again (although in a different way) on hiki, and also on tsumu (“pick” [greens] and “pile up” [years]).

  37. He is Murasaki's father but also Higekuro's ex-father-in-law.

  38. Tamakazura is the stepmother and Murasaki the aunt of Higekuro's sons by his former wife, His Highness of Ceremonial's daughter.

  39. Kashiwagi.

  40. “Secret pieces” (hikyoku) associated with the various modes and Chinese pieces, for which the notes were all written down.

  41. The singers (who sang solfège, sōga) were privy gentlemen, and they sang in this case from the top of the steps leading from the south side of the building down into the garden. The “mode change,” from ryo to ritsu, presumably involved a marked change in mood.

  42. A saibara song about warblers weaving a kasa hat from weeping willow fronds.

  43. Rewards and gifts for the guests were limited by regulation in the case of a “public” (government, imperial) function, but they could be more generous at a private one.

  44. An allusion to the way Genji thought of Murasaki when he first discovered her (“Young Murasaki”): as kin to his great love then, Fujitsubo.

  45. Kokinshū 41, by Ōshikōchi no Mitsune: “On a night in spring, darkness covers all; plum blossoms remain unseen, but their scent cannot be hidden.”

  46. Because much of the garden is strewn with white sand.

  47. A line from a poem by Bai Juyi (Hakushi monjū 0911).

  48. In keeping with the snow and with the white plum blossoms to which the letter is tied.

  49. Gosenshū 479, by Fujiwara no Kagemoto: “This sprinkling of snow that melts away into the sky is the heart of one tormented by love.” Genji's poem is an excuse for not coming and a reassurance that he would if he could.

  50. Where Onna San no Miya's women have their rooms.

  51. “Lonely” snow longing for more to fall is from Yakamochi shū 284, by Ōtomo no Yakamochi.

  52. From Kokinshū 32: “Now that I have plucked them, my very sleeves are perfumed; ah, plum blossoms—perhaps their presence has brought the warbler here to sing!” For Genji (poetically speaking) the early warbler's song betrays his wayward preoccupation with Onna San no Miya.

  53. Genji may be explaining his attraction to Onna San no Miya: despite Murasaki's cherry blossom beauty she lacks Onna San no Miya's perfume (rank).

  54. Presumably by one of Onna San no Miya's nurses or gentlewomen, reproaching Genji for his failure to come.

  55. Because Murasaki and Onna San no Miya are first cousins.

  56. The former Governor of Izumi, since Shinoda Forest was in Izumi Province. Kokin rokujō 1049 speaks of the lover whose heart is torn in a thousand ways, like the thousand leaves “in Shinoda Forest in Izumi.”

  57. Suetsumuhana, who lives in the east pavilion of his Nijō residence.

  58. To Onna San no Miya.

  59. Where Genji found Oborozukiyo again on the night of the wisteria party in “Under the Cherry Blossoms.”

  60. Heichū, a comic Heian hero, went courting equipped with a little bottle of water so that he could fake soulful tears as needed.

  61. The poem plays on Ōsaka (“slope of meeting”), a checkpoint or “barrier” (seki) on the way out of Kyoto toward the eastern provinces.

  62. This poem acknowledges the “Ōsaka” in Genji's. “Clear spring” (shimizu) is a word associated with Ōsaka in poetry, and “the road to meeting” (ō michi) is identical in phonetic writing with Ōmi ji, “the road to (the province of) Omi”; Ōmi is on the other side of the Ōsaka Barrier from Kyoto.

  63. The Minister of the Right (Oborozukiyo's father) in “Under the Cherry Blossoms,” twenty years earlier.

  64. Genji ties this poem to the blossoms and gives it to Chūnagon to take to her mistress. It plays on korizumani (“I have not learned [my lesson]”), which contains the syllables “Suma”; and on fujinami (“wisteria waves”), in which fuji is written with the same phonetic signs as fuchi, “abyss.”

  65. Her poem exploits the same wordplays as Genji's. “Unrepentent waves” (korizuma no nami) contains the meaning “the waves of Suma”; and nami (“waves”) is a word also conventionally associated with fuji (“wisteria”).

  66. A pointedly romantic allusion to an episode (number 5) in Ise monogatari, the “gatekeeper” (sekimori) is the stern father or husband who keeps the lovers apart. Oborozukiyo now lives alone.

  67. The Akashi Daughter, who now lives in the Kiritsubo as the Consort to the Heir Apparent.

  68. “I have not changed at all, nor ever will. It is your feelings that have changed.” The “waterbird” (mizutori) is the male mandarin duck, which has a bar of deep green on its wings.

  69. More literally, Murasaki says figuratively that she and Onna San no Miya sport the same headdress (kazashi), referring to Gosenshū 809, by Ise: “If you come to Yoshino, which to me is home, I shall be wearing the same headdress as you.”

  70. Chisu, the cloth wrappings for the sutra scrolls.

  71. In Japanese the Konkōmyō saishōō-kyō, which promotes the peace and stability of the realm; the Kongō hannya haramitta-kyō, which teaches enlightenment as achieved by practice of the Buddha's teaching; and the Issai nyorai kongō jumyō darani-kyō, which promises to those who read it long life and eternal freedom from the three evil realms of transmigration. These sutras serve to pray for peace in the realm and for Genji's felicity in this life and the afterlife.

  72. The days of fasting associated with observances at the temple.

  73. Taifu, the privy gentlemen who ran the households of the highest nobles.

  74. An early commentary suggests that the stand bore a “mountain,” also of aloes heartwood, from which the silver “branches” grew; and that the golden birds held the headdress flowers in their beaks. The stand's “blossom feet” are kesoku, legs that end in a flowerlike form.

  75. Murasaki's father.

  76. About 2:00 P.M.

  77. A “Korean” musical piece that served as a prelude to “Twin Dra
gons.”

  78. Iriaya, a sort of encore normally done by the dancers themselves after finishing a programmed piece.

  79. These included the famous Tōdaiji, Kōfukuji, and Hōryūji.

  80. Tamakazura's in the first month and Murasaki's in the tenth.

  81. The Empress's (Akikonomu's) father.

  82. Hanachirusato's.

  83. Kokusōin, the storehouse for rice and cash collected from the Inner Provinces (Kinai).

  84. Does not otherwise figure in the tale.

  85. Hyōefu (the Watch), Emonfu (the Gate Watch), and Konoefu (the Palace Guards), each of which was divided into separate units of Left and Right.

  86. In particular, Akikonomu, the daughter of the Rokujō Haven (who spent many years at Ise), is now Empress, while Yūgiri is a mere commoner.

  87. Witnessing Aoi's death after giving birth.

  88. They fear that she is subject to a baneful influence of the kind that Genji avoided in “The Broom Tree” by going to spend the night at Utsusemi's house.

  89. This description is hard to picture. Granted that the dwelling lacks a main house (shinden) and consists of two “wings” (tai), it is hard to know what the “middle wing” (naka no tai) might be. It is also hard to be sure what “surrounded by several galleries” means.

  90. The earthen altars are for the burning of goma ritual fires before paintings of the five deities of the Great Rite.

  91. The Consort is sitting behind a curtain, and the Nun has seated herself directly in front of it. The Nun cannot see the Consort, but the Consort might see the Nun, who is unsightly because of her age.

  92. “Who could blame an old woman for weeping with joy, now that she at last has reason to be glad she has lived this long?”

  93. “Reed hut” (tomaya) is a poetic convention for any dwelling on the shore; this one is the house where the Consort was born.

  94. The new mother and others assisting at the birth dressed in white for the first nine days of the child's life, and all the curtains and so on in the room were also white.

  95. A newborn imperial son was bathed morning and evening for the first seven days after the birth.

  96. An explanatory translation of the woman's title, Senji (“decree [of appointment as Heir Apparent]”). Her chief role in the ritualized bathing is normal.

  97. Mukaeyu, the “assistant” role in the bathing. The fact that this part was normally taken by one of the mother's senior gentlewomen underscores both the Akashi lady's prudent modesty and her still-ambiguous standing.

  98. His wife or daughter would write in kana, the purely phonetic script, while he now reads nothing but the Chinese of the Buddhist scriptures.

  99. The central mountain of the Buddhist cosmos.

  100. The paradise of the Buddha Amida is scripturally defined as lying westward beyond one hundred thousand intervening worlds, each with its own buddha. At the highest of nine different levels of birth into paradise, the soul rests immediately upon a fully open lotus flower and directly witnesses the presence of Amida and the glories of his land. At the lower levels the soul is born into a more or less tightly closed lotus bud and must wait a greater or lesser time before the bud opens.

  101. Henge, the temporary, limited, “transformed” manifestation of a divine being.

  102. “Do things to encourage my birth into paradise: chanting the name of Amida, copying sacred texts, commissioning prayer rites, and so on.”

  103. When his granddaughter becomes Empress and her son is appointed Heir Apparent.

  104. The main sacred image in his chapel.

  105. His household staff, who all took Buddhist vows with their master. The speaker is one of them.

  106. The Akashi Daughter, who, as the new mother of an imperial child, is first referred to here by the title Miyasudokoro.

  107. The Akashi Novice's letter, accompanying the prayer texts, contains a lot of Chinese characters.

  108. They enjoin acts of thanks, especially pilgrimages, for the fulfillment of the Novice's prayers.

  109. Onna San no Miya.

  110. A girl would normally be kept more protected and sheltered, but Murasaki is after all the child's adoptive grandmother.

  111. Inori no kanju, records of what scriptures were read when, and how many times, to pray for the fulfilment of the Novice's hopes; and madashiki gan, prayers the fulfillment of which has not yet been acknowledged by a pilgrimage of thanks.

  112. A humbly figurative expression for her father's house.

  113. Kokinshū 535: “Would that she understood the depth of my love, deep as a mountain fastness where one hears no song from the birds of the air.”

  114. Bonji, the Indian script known to educated Buddhist priests, who used it for ritual purposes.

  115. A written prayer or prayers of his own.

  116. “Evil stepmother” stories.

  117. The source of the line has not been identified.

  118. Probably several dozen. According to Eiga monogatari, Empress Akiko (Shōshi) first came to the palace with forty gentlewomen.

  119. That of taking Buddhist vows.

  120. The small bow (koyumi), used only for contests, was used in a half-kneeling position.

  121. The Akashi Daughter, when at home, occupies the east side of the main house, while Onna San no Miya occupies the west.

  122. The higher the young gentleman's rank, the less likely he is to be able to play this “somewhat rough” game without compromising his dignity.

  123. A new “round” began each time the ball hit the ground.

  124. Genji monogatari kochūshakusho in'yō waka 244: “If the blowing wind is kind, may it keep its distance from the cherry this spring, that the blossoms may not fall.”

  125. More literally, “the bags of [multicolored] cloth offerings to the gods in spring.” These gods may have been Saohime, the goddess of spring, or the wayside gods (saenokami) often associated with fruitful increase.

  126. There is a standing curtain up against the blind, and Onna San no Miya should at least be sitting behind it. However, she has stood up in an unladylike manner to see the game better. In her gown (uchiki) she is dressed more casually than her gentlewomen, who are probably wearing outer gowns (uwagi).

  127. Ma, the space between two pillars. The “first” bay is the one occupied by the steps on which the two young men are sitting.

  128. Camellia cakes (tsubaimochii) were normally served after a kickball game. Cakes of powdered glutinous rice and powdered cloves, sweetened with syrup from the amachazuru vine, were wrapped each in two camellia leaves. The fruit known as nashi is round and crisp like an apple but in color and taste more like a pear.

  129. The “bright bird” (hakodori) is Genji, the “mountainside [dull, ordinary] tree” is Murasaki, and the “cherry blossoms” are as before Onna San no Miya.

  130. His letter as reported here is self-consciously “literary” in diction, and “melancholy dreaming” alludes pointedly to Kokinshū 476 (also Ise monogatari 174, section 99), by Ariwara no Narihira. After barely glimpsing a woman through the blinds of her carriage, Narihira sent her, “For love of one I never saw yet did not fail to see, I may well give my days to melancholy dreaming.”

  35: WAKANA 2

  1. Noriyumi, held regularly on the eighteenth of the first month; the privy gentlemen held a similar contest a month or two later.

  2. For Fujitsubo, the reigning Emperor's mother.

  3. Higekuro and Yūgiri are related through Tō no Chūjō, Higekuro's father-in-law and Yūgiri's uncle.

  4. Kachiyumi, archery with the longbow, done on foot; longbow archery from horseback was called umayumi.

  5. They divided into two lines, Left (the odd-numbered men) and Right (even numbered). They then shot their arrows pair by pair, each pair consisting of one man from the Left and one from the Right. Since the man from the Left always stepped forward to shoot first, the Left team was called “front” (mae) and the Right “back” (shirie).

  6. The
Shiji describes a warrior who could do just this. A simple guardsman would rank too low to deserve such prizes, and his triumph (that of the professional over the gentleman amateur) would be tedious.

  7. His younger sister.

  8. His Consort, Genji's daughter.

  9. The cat's meow (in Heian pronunciation something like nyon nyon) apparently sounds to Kashiwagi like nen nen, “Let's go to bed, let's!”

  10. Higekuro's wife, Tamakazura, feels closer to Yūgiri than to her half brothers, the sons of Tō no Chūjō.

  11. Yūgiri's half sister, whose exalted station forbids the slightest informality.

  12. Makibashira. “Handsome pillar” is from the poem that gave “The Handsome Pillar” its title.

  13. Hotaru.

  14. This phrase covers the passage of four years.

  15. A literal translation of kōuri o kaku.

  16. Higekuro became Regent as well as Minister of the Right.

  17. Higekuro's sister was promoted posthumously, a common practice.

  18. Genji's daughter. She probably no longer occupies the Kiritsubo.

  19. Literally, “another Genji,” that is, “another Minamoto.” However, Fujitsubo was of imperial descent, as is Akikonomu. The expression must therefore refer to any non-Fujiwara.

  20. Akikonomu.

  21. She had not given the Emperor a son.

  22. Onna San no Miya, the Emperor's younger sister.

  23. The box of written prayers to Sumiyoshi, sent by the Akashi Novice to his daughter in “Spring Shoots I.”

  24. Music and dance offered at a shrine to a Shinto divinity.

  25. From Suma to Akashi.