literally “one who loves the autumn.” Murasaki linked to belief in the realm of the Dragon King, to occupies the spring corner in the southeast, with
which the site of Akashi was likened, a clear symbol
its cherry trees, wisteria, azalea, and mountain for the claims of the Akashi family to the throne.
rose. She is joined by the Akashi girl, whom she is
Although the four mansions of the Rokujō Estate
raising, and Genji himself. Hanachirusato, the lady
are divided by walls and landscaping, a network of
associated with orange blossoms, as seen in Chapter
elevated bridges and covered walkways connect
Eleven, lives in the summer quadrant in the north-
them to enable a degree of interaction between res-
east corner of the complex. Having been asked by
idents in diff erent quadrants. This is precisely what
Genji to look after Yūgiri, Hanachirusato shares her
is happening in the scene depicted in the album, in
summer quadrant with the young man. And fi nally,
which a messenger sent by the Empress traverses
Genji relocates the Akashi Lady f rom the distant Ōi
a corridor leading to Murasaki’s quarters. The
villa in Sagano, bringing her within close proximity
woman appears as if she is processing in a formal
W
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106 | The Tale of Genji
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exceptionally long tresses fl owing down her back.
She turns toward Murasaki while peering through
the bamboo blinds as if reporting the messenger’s
approach. The viewer looks down at the scene
f rom a high vantage point and over the sharp diag-
onal lines of the building to see the winding garden
stream marking a central diagonal swath through
the composition. A low-lying waterfall in the upper
right corner is the source of this stream, which cas-
cades over a rocky bank and meanders downward,
hinting at the extensive artifi cial lakes and water-
courses that fl ow throughout the estate. The detail
in this upper part of the painting echoes the descrip-
manner, appropriate for an empress’s attendant, tion of the Empress’s autumn garden in the tale, for and indeed her regal comportment and the sub-which Genji constructed a waterfall, diverted and
dued purple colors and the intricate details of her
rechanneled springs, and strategically placed rocks
robes are richly described in the tale. She carries a
to trip the stream and enhance the sound of bur-
black and gold box lid, which contains a dense col-
bling water. Although the primary setting of the
lection of autumn fl owers, bright crimson leaves,
painting is Murasaki’s spring garden, these motifs
and a letter with a single poem by the Empress.
suggest that it may represent a confl ated image of
That same poem appears in the adjacent calligra-
two gardens at once.
phy in the album, allowing the viewer to read the
The architectural fantasy that is the Rokujōin
missive that Murasaki is about to receive. The cal-
is not without historical or literary precedent in
ligraphy is brushed in a straightforward manner,
terms of grand palatial residences constructed by
while the crimson color of the paper seems care-
men with imperial aspirations in Heian Japan, but
fully matched with the autumn foliage referenced
it is unique in its confi guration. Its seasonal spatial
in both text and image. The Empress’s poem is a
layout is a mismatch with the temporal order of
deferential greeting that acknowledges Murasaki’s
the seasons, which may derive f rom Chinese prece-
place within Genji’s household as the mistress of the
dents. The conceit of all four seasons blooming also
spring, but it also speculates that Murasaki must be
recalls representations of Buddhist paradise, as well
awaiting the glory of her garden, which is now out
as the Dragon Palace beneath the sea. Whatever
of season. Murasaki responds with her own poem
the case may be, by placing all of his women in
championing the spring over the autumn, a provo-
one vast complex, Genji creates a simulacrum
cation that initiates a seasonal competition between
of an imperial palace. Chapter Twenty-One also
them lasting for several chapters. Outside, a small
marks a shift to the next generation, with the com-
number of autumn plants appear: yellow maiden
ing-of-age ceremony of Genji’s only son, Yūgiri, at
fl owers ( ominaeshi), mistfl owers ( fujibakama), and the age of twelve. Yūgiri engages in his fi rst act of red-tinged leaves, as though the Empress, likened to
voyeurism, espying the daughter of Genji’s former
Tatsuta-hime, the goddess of autumn, has animated
manservant Koremitsu, who performs at the Feast
Murasaki’s garden.
of Glowing Harvest (Toyo no Akari) in the Dance
Of the two women in the foreground, Murasaki
of the Heavenly Maidens, or Otome, f rom which
sits in the more interior part of the room with a
the chapter takes its name. This harvest banquet, a
white standing curtain beside her suggesting her
central ritual related to imperial enthronement, pro-
higher status. The other woman is an attendant,
vides an interesting backdrop against which Genji
but a striking one in a bright yellow robe with constructs his pseudo-imperial palace at Rokujō.
Chapter 21 | Maidens of the Dance | 107
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If we had not come
Seeing out the place where stand
The twin cedar trees,
How would we ever have found you
On the banks of the old river?
“At the rapids of joyous meeting!”
cranston, p. 813
108
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22
A Lovely
Garland
Tamakazura
Futamoto no
Sugi no tachido o
Tazunezu wa
Furukawanobe ni
Kimi o mimashi ya
“Ureshiki se ni mo” to kikoyu.
109
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Twenty years have passed since Yūgao died in Genji’s
arms in Chapter Four, but Genji has not forgotten his
“lady of the evening faces.” Chapter Twenty-Two
turns to the fate of Yūgao’s daughter, Tamakazura.
Yūgao’s death long remained a secret, known only
to Genji, his retainer Koremitsu, and Ukon, the
female attendant who accompanied the couple on
that fateful night. Tō no Chūjō, Tamakazura’s real
father, was never told of Yūgao’s passing or of his
daughter’s whereabouts. Even the nurse who was
left to care for Tamakazura believed only that the
girl’s mother had disappeared. And she rejected the
idea of sending the girl to her father Tō no Chūjō,
acutely aware that threats by his wife’s family had
driven Yūgao into hiding in the fi rst place. Instead,
the nurse decided to take Tamakazura with her to
Kyūshū, where her husband had received a govern-
ment post. There she raised the girl alongside her
own two daughters and three sons for sixteen years.
Tamakazura grew into a beautiful young woman
who attracted numerous suitors, much to the dis-
Hasedera’s famous cypress roofed staircase stands in
may of the nurse, who believed these provincial men
here for the hundreds of steps that zigzag down the
entirely unsuitable for the daughter of a nobleman.
mountain. In the painting, the v-shaped line of the
She did her best to discourage them, but when an
brown roof and its central tiled ridge leads the eye to
aggressive warrior named Taifu no Gen demanded
the scene below, where elevated timber-frame struc-
the young woman’s hand in marriage, the nurse and
tures on either side of the painting point diagonally
Tamakazura, as well as her oldest son and daugh-
toward the center of the composition. Buildings to
ter, were forced to escape by fast boat through the
the right and left frame the focal point of the image:
Inland Sea to the capital.
a group of three women in large conical hats and
The album painting for Chapter Twenty-Two travel robes, representing Tamakazura, her nurse, shows them having departed again to off er prayers
and her nurse’s daughter, Hyōbu. The women are
at the Buddhist temple of Hasedera, some fi fty miles
unaccustomed to walking such a distance, and the
south of the capital, in Nara. They make the arduous
glimpse we get of sandaled feet poking out from
pilgrimage on foot, traveling for four days in order
beneath their robes suggests their exhausted, foot-
to worship before the temple’s icon of the Eleven-
sore state as described in the tale. As luck would have
Headed Kannon, housed in the main hall of Hasedera,
it, Ukon, now a well-respected attendant in service
which looms over the scene between bands of gold
to the Chancellor, Genji, and Murasaki, has come
clouds in the upper portion of the painting. The
to Hasedera to pray for help in fi nding Tamakazura
building is immediately identifi able by its distinctive
and is staying at the same lodgings the party from
main hall and protruding stage, supported by tall,
Kyūshū occupy. Ukon recognizes one of the atten-
horizontally tied columns in the overhanging style
dants, and a joyful but bittersweet reunion ensues as
( kakezukuri). The vermilion railing and architectural
Ukon confi rms Yūgao’s death. A now lost Genji book
details stand out amid the green hills and blue and
cover painting of this same scene by Tosa Mitsunobu
green trees surrounding the structure, nestled as it is
(shown opposite) introduced by Ryūsawa Aya, helps
on the eastern side of Mount Miwa. One corner of
make sense of the lodgings depicted in the album
110 | The Tale of Genji
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painting. It reveals how the ground level spaces of
an amalgamation of pictorial images associated with
these elevated structures were used as stables for
Hasedera, artfully arranged to foreshadow the most
travelers’ horses, partitioned with curtains for atten-
fateful moment in Tamakazura’s story.
dants, in this case an escort armed with bow and
Mitsunobu’s emphasis on the famous landmarks
arrows for protection.
of Hasedera is unique among Genji paintings of this
After the reunion, both parties make their way up
scene, and it invokes another pictorial genre pop-
to the temple where they sit before the Buddha off er-
ular in the sixteenth century: illustrated scrolls of
ing prayers and chanting sutras through the night.
temple-origin tales ( engi-e). Such paintings provided
They remain on pilgrimage for three days, during
details about the buildings and famous sites associ-
which time Ukon composes the verse that appears
ated with a temple or shrine to which viewers might
in the album’s calligraphy, and which draws inspira-
make a virtual pilgrimage. The album painting also
tion from the scenery around them. They gaze upon
highlights the phenomenon of female pilgrimage
the Hatsuse River, which is mentioned in the poem
by abbreviating the male participants in the group,
(referred to as the “ancient river” furukawa), as is the
which matches Chapter Twenty-Two’s emphasis
famous “twin-trunked cedar” ( futamoto no sugi), rep-
on the actions of female attendants. The tale cap-
resented by a conspicuous image of a tree with two
tures the sense of independence women enjoyed
trunks standing directly behind the central group of
when visiting a temple, an activity engaged in by
women on the banks of the river that fl ows around
Murasaki Shikibu and by women throughout the
them. The painting thus masterfully combines ele-
medieval p
eriod. Amid their prayers, Ukon regales
ments from disparate temporal moments into one
the women f rom the provinces with accounts of
image: the traveling party, which alludes to both
the glorious couple, Genji and Murasaki, playing
the long journey and their arrival; the temple lodg-
the role of storyteller, an oblique nod to the female
ings for pilgrims, shown empty and anticipating the
authorship of The Tale of Genji.
miraculous meeting that will take place within their
At the same time, the author advances the plot
walls; the poetic motifs of cedar tree and river from
by having female attendants make decisions that at
a poem composed after the meeting; and fi nally,
times seem detrimental to the women in their care.
the sacred temple that fl oats above the scene in a
In Tamakazura’s case, her women keep her existence
vista that is topographically impossible but made
a secret from Tō no Chūjō and allow Genji to install
coherent through the use of gold clouds. Like other
her in the Rokujōin estate. Tamakazura knows
landscapes depicted in the album, the pictorial motifs
instinctively the perils that await her in the home of
work as word-images from the chapter’s poems, a man who is not her father, but she has no other arranged in a naturalistic way, to create a landscape
option. To explain his decision to shelter Tamakazura,
of the mind and of poetic memory. The painting is
Genji claims that she is a long-lost daughter from a
past aff air. He places her in Hanachirusato’s quarters,
residence of his son Yūgiri, who believes she is his
half sister. The cruelties to which Genji later subjects
Tamakazura stem once again from the author’s nar-
rative structure in which the Kokiden faction and
potential competitors to the throne are brought to
heel. Tō no Chūjō, who is aligned by marriage with
Kokiden’s family, continues in the tale as Genji’s great
rival and as an object of obsessive homosocial com-
petition. Genji’s treatment of Tamakazura becomes
yet another means for him to assert his dominance
over her father Tō no Chūjō.
Chapter 22 | A Lovely Garland | 111
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How adorable!
From among its fl owery roosts,
The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion Page 17