The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion
Page 28
the Right, as well as many senior
nobles and offi
cials. Soon, the
assembled party was heading for the
Rokujō Estate. The excursion took
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42
The
Fragrant
Prince
Niou miya
Miko no Emon no Kami, Gon no
Chūnagon, Udaiben nado, saranu
kandachime amata kore kare
norimajiri, izanaitatete, Rokujōin
e owasu. Michi no yaya hodo furu
ni, yuki isasaka chirite, ennaru
tasogaredoki nari.
189
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Chapter Forty-Two opens eight years after Genji’s
Ochiba. Both women live in the northeast quarter,
death — the so-called eclipse of radiance ( hikari
which was previously Yūgiri’s home with his care-
kakuretamai) — and all under heaven have been left
giver Hanachirusato, and which is where a similar
feeling that a “light has been extinguished” ( hi wo
postarchery event occurred in Chapter Twenty-
kechitaru yō ni). This phrase is borrowed from the
Five. The setting for the event is thus the sixth
description of the death of the Buddha in The Lotus
daughter’s residence, and Yūgiri’s ulterior motive
Sutra and conveys the magnitude of Genji’s passing
in sponsoring the event is to entice potential sons-
for the characters in the tale. Two male protago-
in-law, primarily Prince Niou. Yūgiri has already
nists take Genji’s place from this point on: Kaoru,
triumphed in the marriage politics of the day, hav-
who is believed by the world to be Genji’s son but
ing betrothed his fi rst two daughters to Niou’s two
is in fact Kashiwagi’s son by Genji’s wife, the Third
older brothers, imperial princes born to Yūgiri’s half
Princess, and Niou, the Akashi Empress’s third son
sister, the Akashi Empress. Prince Niou diff ers from
and Genji’s grandson. In a world gone dark from
his older brothers, however, and openly expresses
Genji’s absence, visual form recedes and other his lack of interest in Yūgiri’s daughter. Doted on by senses come to the fore, and indeed the personas of
Murasaki and Genji and raised separately at Rokujō,
these two young protagonists are characterized by
he has grown into something of a dandy and prefers
their distinctive aromas. Kaoru (meaning “scent,”
to keep his options open. The one woman who has
“smell”) exudes a scent that is natural, uncontrived,
caught his eye is the only child of Emperor Reizei,
and that mingles organically with that of the fl owers
a daughter born to his Kokiden Consort. Kaoru, on
around him to intoxicating eff ect. Niou (meaning
the other hand, has numerous aff airs, but has some-
“fragrance”), on the other hand, must concoct his
how managed to avoid commitments to particular
own fragrances to perfume himself, an enterprise
women without accumulating any ill will.
he undertakes with determination as he attempts
Rather than depicting the banquet at the Rokujō
to outdo his rival Kaoru, much like Genji competed
estate, the album painting focuses on a moment of
with Tō no Chūjō. Niou’s fragrances are derived
transition as the party moves from the palace to
not from ordinary fl owers but from those such as
Genji’s former residence on the way to the ban-
the chrysanthemum and the wisteria, fl owers with
quet, symbolically leading the reader into a new
connotations of the highest imperial pedigree, a era of characters and their interrelationships. Snow pedigree to which Niou, as a prince and Genji’s
grandson, can legitimately lay claim. Kaoru’s scent
is ethereal and of his essence, while Niou’s is super-
fi cial, but sensual, and stirring. Chapter Forty-Two,
despite its title, reintroduces both Prince Niou and
Kaoru, last seen as young children living together at
Rokujō, now around twenty years of age and eligi-
ble bachelors.
Their marriageability motivates the episode
depicted in the album leaf, as Yūgiri, now a pow-
erful Minister and inheritor of the Rokujō Estate,
leads a procession of young courtiers in ox-drawn
carts from the palace for a postarchery banquet at
his residence. Among the women now living at
Rokujō is Yūgiri’s sixth and youngest daughter by
the Principal Handmaid (Koremitsu’s daughter),
Rokunokimi, who is being raised by Yūgiri’s wife
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scenes in the tale often triggered remembrances for
the one in the foreground, includes an attendant
Genji, the drifting fl akes having a dreamlike eff ect,
with a sword, indicating that this is the vehicle
bringing associations with diff erent moments in belonging to Yūgiri, the Minister. This would also time. Eight years have passed since the last scene
then indicate the presence of Prince Niou, and his
in the album, but it seems as though the snow con-
two younger brothers, whom the tale tells us share
tinues to fall from the previous leaf, an eff ect that is
Yūgiri’s carriage. Kaoru sits in one of the other
enhanced by the image of the solemn, stately march
carriages, since Yūgiri invited him to join the pro-
of the courtiers en route, characters moving onward
cession after spotting him attempting to depart the
without Genji. Three black carts pulled by black and
palace unnoticed.
brown oxen march through the city streets, taking a
The fi gures of the young men remain obscured
sharp turn at the corner of a walled residence in the
behind the drawn blinds of the carts in which they
center of the composition. The sides of the wall are
ride, a fi tting approach to the introduction of two
covered in silver paint, which stands out against the
characters who are known principally by their
gold-covered ground, producing a luminous eff ect
scents. Seemingly standing in for them is the plum
for this twilight snow scene. As described in the
tree in this painting, which is growing in the court-
calligraphy excerpt, the drifting snow at dusk gives
yard around which the procession turns. Mitsunobu
the scene a seductive glowing appeal ( ennaru). Each
eschews painting the buds on the tree limbs, opting
cart is escorted by two or three attendants in white
&n
bsp; instead for a barren tree as if it was still the middle
garments. Managing each animal is an oxherd with
of winter in the story. The fl owerless plum in eff ect
a stick in hand; they are identifi able by their darker
creates a visual echo with the tree in the previous
robes and long hair, which is cinched in the style
album painting, which marked Genji’s last appear-
of a juvenile. Only the fi rst cart in the procession,
ance in the album.
Chapter 42 | The Fragrant Prince | 191
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Something on its mind,
The wind wafting the f ragrance
Of the garden plum
Wonders why the warbler thinks
Not yet of coming to call.
cranston, p. 903
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43
Red Plum
Kōbai
Kokoro arite
Kaze no niowasu
Sono no ume ni
Mazu uguisu no
Towazu ya arubeki
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Chapter Forty-Three tells the story of Kōbai, Tō
backing embellished with designs in gold. Kōbai
no Chūjō’s second son and Kashiwagi’s younger concentrates as he wields his brush, f reshly inked brother, who in his earlier appearances in the tale
f rom the well in the elegant writing box before
was often lauded for his beautiful singing voice. As
him. The poem speaks suggestively of the f ragrant
a young boy in Chapter Ten (Sakaki), he performed
plum in his garden (his daughter), waiting for the
the saibara folk song “Takasago” and received gen-
warbler (Niou) to land on its branches. He plans
erous gifts and accolades from Genji. Thereafter he
to send it with the sprig of blossoms lying on the
was often required to lend his voice to the musical
fl oor, all the better to tempt the “f ragrant prince.”
entertainments of Genji’s banquets, and he was com-
In contrast to the barren winter plum tree shown
pared in poems to the warbler, and the bell cricket (as
in the previous album painting, the red plum tree
in the Hatsune, Kagaribi, Umegae, and Fujinouraba
in Kōbai’s garden is represented at its peak. Spikey
chapters). Now, in his mid-fi fties, he is a high-rank-
branches lean in f rom the left of the composition
ing Major Counselor and remarried to Makibashira,
toward the veranda of the luxurious residence, pre-
as his fi rst wife is deceased. Makibashira, the daugh-
senting clusters of fully opened pink blossoms, and
ter of Higekuro and the ash-dumping lady from round, red buds, that are evocative of the alluring Chapter Thirty-One, suff ered from her parents’ f ragrance noted in the tale’s description of the tree.
divorce and ensuing separation from her brothers
The scent’s delivery on the wind is mentioned in the
and her family home. Before marrying Kōbai, she
poem and visualized in the painting by a few pink
had reluctantly married Genji’s half brother, the late
petals that have wafted down on the breeze and
Sochinomiya (Prince Hotaru), with whom she had
fl oat on the surface of the garden stream.
one daughter. Kōbai thus has a blended household:
The pivotal fi gure in this painting, however, is the
with two daughters from his fi rst marriage, and youth on the veranda, the only biological child born a new stepdaughter from Makibashira, Kōbai has
to Makibashira and Kōbai as a couple, a young man
three young women under his roof, whose marital
who has earned the favor of both the Crown Prince
options occupy much of his attention.
and Prince Niou while serving as a palace page. He
Kōbai’s matchmaking provides the background
acts as an intermediary, delivering his father’s letters
for the scene depicted in the album painting, which
and Niou’s responses about his sister, similar to the
shows him composing a letter to Prince Niou, role Utsusemi’s younger brother Kogimi played in whom he is trying to entice into a relationship with
Chapter Two. The conspicuous gold cloud hover-
his second daughter. He raises his brush in his right
ing above him, which is used so often in the album
hand as he writes out the single poem that appears
to highlight Genji and his prominence as the pro-
in the adjacent calligraphy leaf in the album. In the
tagonist, suggests, however, that he is more than
painting, the letter is brushed on paper with a red
a go-between, as Joshua Mostow has pointed out.
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on Prince Niou’s charms and decides that he alone is
the true inheritor of Genji’s radiance, likening him
to Ananda, fi rst disciple of the Buddha. His desire for
Niou as a son-in-law for his second daughter mingles
with his own desire for a memento of Genji, and for
the pleasure of Niou’s company in his household.
That pleasure can also be experienced vicariously,
through his son’s relationship with the prince.
The boy seems to fi nd Niou just as attractive as his
father does, and the narration directly expresses his
“delight at being able to lie so intimately with him”
( ke chikaku fusetamaeru wo . . . tagui naku ureshiku
natsukashu omoi kikoyu). While similar interactions
occurred between Genji and Kogimi earlier in the
tale, Kōbai’s son seems more demonstrative of his
The boy is as visually stunning as the plum blos-
desire. The depiction of physical attraction by other
soms, which are positioned on either side of him,
men to Prince Niou heightens his appeal and shows
f raming his fi gure. He wears distinctive apparel: him to be Genji-like in his ability to cross gender purplish trousers with a tortoise shell pattern cov-lines as an object of desire.
ered in shimmering mica, and a pink tinted robe
Relationships between men outside the con-
with a bright red undergarment peeking out f rom
fi nes of marriage also work to defi ne the primary
between the arm seams. The colors of the boy’s
importance of heterosexual marriage in terms of
dress mimic the pink and red of the plum blossoms
the perpetuation of a lineage. Lineal concerns often
and buds and suggest that they be interpreted as
dictate attractions between men and women in
a symbol for the yo
uth himself. The plum was in
subterranean ways in the tale. Niou, for example,
fact a common symbol for beautiful boys, known as
inherits Genji’s aversion to women who represent
chigo in stories popular in the fi fteenth and sixteenth
Fujiwara control over the imperial line. He rather
centuries, in which they fi gured as the objects of
curtly dismisses Kōbai’s overtures proposing a match
aff ection by older men, usually Buddhist priests. with his second daughter, preferring instead Kōbai’s Tosa Mitsunobu knew such illustrated tales and stepdaughter by Makibashira, who shares with employed their conventions for beauty in depicting
Niou the same imperial “ancient bloodline” ( furume-
the boy, giving him full eyebrows, wisps of hair on
kashiki onaji suji nite). She is the granddaughter of a
the side of the face, and delicate features on a white,
prince on Makibashira’s side, and the great-grand-
thickly powdered face. The text mentions that Kōbai
daughter of the Kiritsubo Emperor through her
in this scene admires his son’s hair, which he wears
biological father. For her own part, however, she
loose rather than in the twin loops appropriate for
has no desire to marry, a sentiment with which her
service as a page. Interestingly, Mitsunobu chooses
mother sympathizes. While previous female char-
neither of those options for the painting, but depicts
acters, such as Princess Asagao, were able to opt
the boy’s long tresses cinched in the back, a style
out of marriage, none expressed the desire to do
typical of chigo characters. In so doing, the artist
so as explicitly as the stepdaughter in this chapter.
emphasizes the implicit content of the Heian period
In this way, both Kōbai’s son’s expression of desire
text in a sixteenth-century visual language.
for Niou and the stepdaughter’s clear assertion that
When Kōbai looks at his son, he sees a vision of
she wants to remain single stand out as independent
himself at the same age, a time that he fondly recalls
voices in this chapter that throw into high relief the
as having been spent in Genji’s service. He refl ects
conventional nature of marriage in the narrative.
Chapter 43 | Red Plum | 195
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