The Tale of Genji, Page 73

  Cloth panels

  Meanwhile Genji had chrysanthemums picked in memory of “Blue Sea Waves.”

  “These chrysanthemums blooming in still-deeper hues look as though they yearn

  for autumns of long ago, when we gaily tossed our sleeves.”50

  His Excellency, who had indeed danced beside him then, saw that whatever superiority his gifts may have given him, Genji's own lifted him incomparably higher. The early-winter rain seemed to catch the moment's mood.

  “These chrysanthemums that mingle in company with the purple clouds

  glitter to my eyes like stars pristine in a spotless reign.

  They have their own time,”51 he replied.

  In the garden, autumn leaves in colors dark or pale lay wind-blown like brocade along the bridgeways, and handsome pages, the sons of noble families, in leaf green, red, sappanwood, or grape, their hair as usual in twin tresses and their foreheads just peeping past their crowns, gently danced a set of short pieces, to withdraw again beneath the brilliant trees as though they wished the sun would never set. The musicians kept their music low, until at last the noble lords called for instruments from the Library and began their own.

  At the height of the concert, instruments were laid before the greatest of them all. His Eminence Suzaku was both moved and astonished once more to hear, unchanged, the voice of “Priest Uda.”52

  “As the autumns pass, I in my humble village have known many rains,

  and yet I have never seen such brilliance given the leaves.”

  He sounded perhaps a little piqued.53

  His Majesty replied,

  “Are these, would you say, no more than mere autumn leaves? Why, they are brocade

  spread across the garden here in memory of old times.”

  His features, which displayed a growing maturity, were hard to distinguish from Genji's own. It was moreover simply astounding that the Counselor, in waiting nearby, looked just like him as well. In true nobility of presence one caught (or was it just imagination?) a difference of quality between them, but he had perhaps the freshest charm. His performance on the flute was simply delightful. The Controller Lieutenant's voice stood out among those of the privy gentlemen gathered below the steps to sing the songs. Yes, such success was apparently the destiny of both houses.

  34

  WAKANA 1

  Spring Shoots I

  Wakana means “new shoots” or, if they are to eat, perhaps something like “spring greens.” In this chapter Tamakazura arranges a wakana banquet in honor of Genji's fortieth year, and in the course of it Genji uses the word in a poem:

  “Those seedlings may yet, plucked from such happy meadows, draw a new shoot up

  toward a still-longer span of endlessly happy years.”

  Although wakana recurs as the title of “Spring Shoots II,” the allusion in that case is to a different event.

  RELATIONSHIP TO EARLIER CHAPTERS

  “Spring Shoots I” follows “The Plum Tree Branch” in chronological sequence, beginning late in the year in which Genji is thirty-nine.

  PERSONS

  His Grace, the Honorary Retired Emperor, Genji, age 39 to 41

  His Eminence, Retired Emperor Suzaku, 42 to 44

  His daughter, Her Highness, the Third Princess, midteens (Onna San no Miya)

  His Highness, the Heir Apparent, Suzaku's son, 13 to 15

  The Consort, mother of the Heir Apparent (Shōkyōden no Nyōgo)

  The Counselor, then Right Commander, Genji's son, 18 to 20 (Yūgiri)

  The Left Controller, retainer of Onna San no Miya, also in Genji's service

  The senior nurse of Onna San no Miya

  The Intendant of the Right Gate Watch, Tō no Chūjō 's eldest son, mid-20s (Kashiwagi)

  His Excellency, the Chancellor (Tō no Chūjō)

  His Highness of War, Genji's brother (Hotaru Hyōbukyō no Miya)

  The Grand Counselor, Suzaku's Master of the Household

  His Majesty, the Emperor, son of Genji and Fujitsubo, 21 to 23 (Reizei)

  Her Majesty, the Empress, 30 to 32 (Akikonomu )

  The Mistress of Staff (Oborozukiyo)

  The mistress of the east wing, 31 to 33 (Murasaki)

  The Mistress of Staff, Higekuro's wife, 25 to 27 (Tamakazura)

  His Highness of Ceremonial, Murasaki's father, 54 to 56 (Shikibukyō no Miya)

  Chūnagon, Oborozukiyo's gentlewoman

  The former Governor of Izumi, Chūnagon's brother

  The Heir Apparent's Kiritsubo Consort, then Haven, Genji's daughter, 11 to 13 (Akashi no Nyōgo)

  Her mother, 30 to 32 (Akashi no Kimi)

  Her grandmother, the Nun, mid-60s (Akashi no Amagimi)

  Her son, His Highness, the First Prince, born

  Her grandfather, the Novice, around 75 (Akashi no Nyūdō)

  His messenger

  Chūnagon, Onna San no Miya's gentlewoman

  Kojijū, a foster sister and gentlewoman of Onna San no Miya

  His Eminence Suzaku began feeling unwell soon after His Majesty's visit to Rokujō. His health had never been strong, but this time he felt a distinct foreboding. Despite an old longing to devote himself to practice, he had refrained from that as from many other things while the Empress Mother1 still lived, and hitherto he had therefore renounced the idea. Perhaps it was to restore his courage for it that he now talked of feeling as though he had little time left and began his preparations.

  Apart from the Heir Apparent he had four daughters, of whom one, his Third Princess, was dearer to him than any of the others. Her mother, known as Fujitsubo,2 had been named a Genji by the former Emperor3 and had come to him while he was Heir Apparent. She might have looked forward to still-higher honor, but she lacked any effective support, and she found her presence among such company a great trial, since her mother was a mere Intimate of no particular lineage; meanwhile, the Empress Mother gave him the Mistress of Staff, beside whom all others paled. This was a crushing blow. After his abdication, bitterness and disappointment in life seemed to overwhelm her, despite the commiseration he personally felt for her, because she died. Her daughter was thirteen or fourteen. Now that he was soon to turn his back on the world and retire into the mountains, his sole and consuming anxiety was the question of who would provide for her once he was gone.

  The temple he had had built in the Western Hills4 was finished, and while the preparations for his move went forward, he also made ready for her donning of the train. To her alone he gave not only his favorites among the precious things and furnishings in his palace but the least trinket of any interest at all. The remainder went to his other children.

  The Heir Apparent went to see his father when he heard that he was not merely ill but meant actually to leave the world. His mother the Consort5 accompanied him. Although no great favorite of His Eminence's, she had had the extraordinary good fortune to bear him a son, and they talked at length of times gone by. He advised his son on every aspect of governing the realm. The Heir Apparent was remarkably grown-up for his age, and the weighty patronage that he enjoyed on either hand6 gave His Eminence great confidence in his future. “For myself I shall leave this world without regret,” he said, “were it not that the thought of what is to become of all my daughters after I am gone seems likely now to keep me from that final parting. I gather from all I have seen and heard that it is a woman's destiny, like it or not, to be dismissed as light-minded, and that is something that I deeply deplore. When the realm is at your command, be sure to give thought to how they are all getting on. Those who are in good hands already I leave where they belong, but the third is still very young, and she has no one but me. I worry that she may be quite lost once I have left her.” He wiped away tears as he spoke.

  He tactfully made the same request of the Consort, but the rivalry that had prevailed in the days when the young Princess's mother enjoyed particular favor had ruined any friendly feeling between them, and the Consort could hardly have been eager to lend Her Highness genuine support, even if she no longer particularly disliked her.

  His Eminence fretted about this day and night. As the year drew to a close, his condition worsened, until he no longer went outside his blinds. At times he suffered from the workings of a spirit, but he was not in fact continuously unwell; still, he believed this illness to be his last. He had of course abdicated, but those who had first looked to him during his reign, and whose pleasure it was still to serve so kind and noble a lord, grieved for him from the bottom of their hearts. There were constant messengers from Rokujō as well. His Eminence was extremely happy to learn that Genji himself would soon come to see him.

  When Genji's son the Counselor arrived, His Eminence called him in through his blinds and addressed him earnestly. “His Late Eminence on his deathbed gave me many last instructions,” he said, “among which he spoke particularly of your father and our present Sovereign. As Emperor myself, however, I discovered limits to what I could do, and while your father still meant a great deal to me personally, a little slip of his came to earn me his displeasure, or at least so I assume, since nothing in the years since then has led him to reveal any trace of such a feeling. The wisest of men will rage, when some misstep affects his own fortunes, and then exact vengeance by an act of folly, as many examples from ancient times confirm. People have been expecting him to betray that same desire at one time or another, but in the end he has refrained, and he even treats the Heir Apparent warmly. That the two of them should now be on the best of terms is something I greatly appreciate, but I am not very clever, and besides, the darkness in a parent's heart could easily tempt me to disgrace myself,7 and for that reason I prefer to stay out of it after all. As far as our present Sovereign is concerned, I have done all that His Late Eminence asked of me, and I am therefore delighted to see a lord whose light shines as his does in this latter age so fully uphold the honor of our line. The past has been coming back to me ever since the progress last autumn, and with it a great longing to see your father. He simply must come himself. Do tell him so.” While he spoke, he now and again shed tears.

  The Counselor replied, “I myself know nothing of what may have happened long ago. Ever since I became old enough to serve the realm, I have noted what goes on in the world around me, and not once, with regard to any matter great or small or in the most intimate conversation, have I heard him allude to any unfortunate incident from the past. What he does do is to lament that after withdrawing entirely from court service in order to satisfy his own taste for peace and quiet, he has been so little able to uphold His Late Eminence's last wishes that it is as though they did not even concern him. He says, “I was too young to be of any use while His Eminence reigned; there were many officials older and wiser than I, and I could never place myself at his disposal as fully as I wished. I should like to visit him, now that he has laid down the burden of governing to lead a quieter life, so that we might open our hearts to one another; but even now my position hardly leaves me free, and meanwhile, the months and days keep passing by.’”

  Although not yet even twenty, the Counselor was thoroughly presentable, striking to look at, and extremely handsome. His Eminence considered him attentively and began privately to wonder whether he might not entrust him with this daughter whose future worried him so. “I hear that your home is now at the Chancellors,” he said. “I could never quite make out what the matter was all that time, and you had my sympathy; the news was welcome. At the same time, though, I wished for another reason that I had not heard it.”

  The astonished Counselor wondered what he could possibly mean. Naturally, he had heard how much His Eminence worried about his daughter and how he made no secret of hoping to find her a suitable protector so that he might renounce the world at peace. That must be it, I suppose, he said to himself; but he could hardly show by his answer that he had understood instantly. “I have little to offer, and not that many people would have me.” He said no more.

  Once he was gone, the gentlewomen who had been peeping in at him gathered to talk about how splendid he looked and how sensible he was. “He is such a pleasure!” they exclaimed; but the foolish old women among them protested, “Oh, come now! Say all you like, but you can hardly compare him to His Grace at that age!”

  His Eminence heard them. “Yes,” he said, “it is true, he was exceptional; and now, in his full maturity, he has a charm that reminds one still more of just what it means to say that someone shines. When grave and dignified, he has so superbly commanding a presence that one hardly dares to approach him, and when relaxed and in a playful mood, he is sweeter and more engagingly amusing than anyone in the world. No, there is no one like him. He is a wonder, and everything about him speaks of what he must have brought to this life from his earlier ones. He grew up in the palace, and the Emperor loved him above all; in fact, he pampered him and thought more of him than he did of himself. Even so, though, he never indulged in any display of arrogance; instead, he remained so modest that he did not even become a Counselor until he was in his twentie.8 He was twenty-one, if I am not mistaken, when he became at once Consultant and Commander. Look what advancement his son has had in comparison! His children seem destined for greater heights even than he. In truly sound learning and judgment his son comes very little below him, and even if I exaggerate, the young man certainly has grown to enjoy a remarkable reputation.”

  Her Highness was very sweet, and the sight of her youthful innocence would prompt him to say, “I so long to give you to someone worthy—someone who would make much of you, and who would overlook what you still lack and teach you.” He called together her more experienced nurses to discuss her donning of the train and so on, and while they talked, he remarked, “How I wish there were someone who would take this Princess in hand and bring her up as His Grace of Rokujō did His Highness of Ceremonial's daughter. There cannot be any such man among the commoners, and our present Sovereign has his Empress. All the other Consorts are very exalted indeed, and without proper patronage her presence in such company would only work against her. I should have dropped a hint to that Counselor9 while he was still single. He is very able despite his youth, and he has a bright future ahead of him.”

  “The Counselor is extremely serious,” they replied, “and for all those years he had his heart set on that young lady. He never gave any real sign of looking elsewhere, and now that he has her, he will be even less likely to waver. His Grace, judging from what they say about him, is the one who remains as susceptible as ever to what any woman may seem to offer. Moreover, one gathers that he deeply desires a lofty alliance and that he has so little forgotten the former Kamo Priestess10 that he still corresponds with her.”

  “Yes, but it is precisely his ever-wandering fancy that so worries me.” Still, His Eminence must have felt that he might as well give her to Genji after all, even if certain people11 failed to respect her, as long as Genji agreed to be a father to her. “Really,” he said, “anyone with a daughter he wanted to see turned into a proper lady might well hope to have her spend her life with him. No one has long in this world, and that is the life one would wish a daughter to lead. I would want to be close to him if I were a woman, even a sister. That is the way I felt when we were young. No wonder women cannot resist him!” He must have been thinking of the Mistress of Staff.

  One of his daughter's retainers, a Left Controller and a brother of her senior nurse, had long been in Genji's intimate service. The gentleman was devoted to Her Highness as well, and the nurse therefore talked to him the next time he came round. She described the terms in which His Eminence had discussed his daughter and asked him to inform His Grace when he had a chance to do so. “An Emperor's daughter often remains unmarried,” she said, “but she is certainly more secure with someone to care for her in various ways and to give her the support she requires. No one except His Eminence really thinks a great deal about her, and we cannot do that much for her ourselves, however we try. Not that it is all up to me, but what a shame it would be for her to find herself caught in an unforeseen situation and become the subject of compromising rumor! I could serve her better if only her future were somehow to be settled while His Eminence is still alive. A girl of even the highest birth is the plaything of destiny and has many sorrows to bear. As long as His Eminence singles her out this way from her sisters, there will be their jealousy to expect as well. I hope that I can manage to get her through it all unscathed.”

  “I wonder what is to be done,” the Controller replied. “His Grace is extraordinarily loyal. He gathers to himself anyone he has known at all or who has pleased him, even when he does not feel that deeply about her, until by now he has many ladies, but there seems really to be only one in the end, who means everything to him while the others often appear to live more or less empty lives. However remarkable that one lady may be, I do not see how she could very well insist on standing beside Her Highness, if it is Her Highness's destiny to join him as you suggest; but even so, it seems to me that there is still reason for caution. Actually, though, I gather he often jokes privately about feeling that while his glory in this life honors this latter age beyond what it deserves, when it comes to women, he has escaped neither censure nor personal disappointment. Someone like me, looking on, can only agree. None of the ladies he has taken under his wing is distinctly unworthy of him, but they rise only so high, and I doubt that any brings with her such rank as to be his true equal. And so, all things considered, I expect that if Her Highness does go to His Grace, he and she will be very well matched.”