The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion
Page 34
Michi wa madowazu But I never lose the path.
the context of writing practice. In the painting, she
cranston, p. 956
sits facing a large black desk that holds an inkstone
and a text that she is copying. She wields her brush
The poem in the album leaf makes it clear that
vertically in her small hand, making marks on the
Ukifune has achieved her goal of vanishing and
white paper spread out before her. She seems to be
burying the past, but her allusion to this one line
concentrating intently, and her thin eyebrows slant
shows that her “sadness” over Niou lingers. She next
upward and inward, creating a facial expression that
composes a verse about Kaoru, giving equal time
may refl ect her melancholy mood that is described
to him, and we have in consequence a portrait of
in the tale. It is the start of the New Year, and the
Ukifune as someone committed to renunciation,
remote house in Ono seems especially isolated as
but still struggling with attachments. Thoughts of
the snow piles up on the surrounding mountains.
her former lovers arise intermittently when she is
Rather than showing Ukifune in the company of
not occupied with her devotions and readings of
the other nuns, Mitsunobu enhances the sense of
the Lotus Sutra and other sacred texts. The deliber-
her physical and psychological isolation by depicting
ate inclusion of indigo-covered sutra scrolls in the
her alone except for a single attendant in the fore-
lower right corner of the album painting shows this
ground. She is dwarfed by the unusually tall walls
dichotomous nature of her inner world. As if in rec-
that rise up around her, and this intensifi es the sense
ognition of this tension, her separation f rom secular
of interiority that her soliloquized writing-practice
life proves tenuous; Kaoru has learned of the pres-
poems evoke.
ence of a woman at Ono harbored by the Bishop of
Outside, the distant snow-covered mountains Yokawa who fi ts Ukifune’s description. With one of suggest the route to Mount Hiei, and they are dot-Ukifune’s own half-brothers in service as his page,
ted with deciduous trees, their barren branches and with personal connections to the Bishop to aid coated in white. The viewer sees above, beyond,
him, Kaoru begins to make his way to Mount Hiei
and even through the walls that surround Ukifune,
to arrange a meeting.
as the semitransparent bamboo blinds reveal the
zigzagging verandas and horizontally tied columns
of the large structure in which Ukifune resides. In
her poem included in the album she describes her-
self gazing at the snowy landscape, but despite its
brightness, fi xating on the “ever darkening” ( kaki-
kurasu) atmosphere. As elsewhere in the tale, and
as illustrated elsewhere in the album, snow scenes
bring back memories, and here the falling snow,
and the “f rozen stream that makes no sound” ( kōri
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The house at Ono faced onto
verdant mountains that were covered
in deep, dense foliage —a place where
there was nothing to distract the
mind or heart. Ukifune sat gazing
out pensively at the fi refl ies fl itting
over the garden stream. Such small
things were her only solace, bringing
back memories of the past.
washburn, p. 1313, modified
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54
A Floating
Bridge in
a Dream
Yume no ukihashi
Ono ni wa, ito fukaku shigeritaru
aoba no yama ni mukaite,
magiruru koto naku, yarimizu no
hotaru bakari o mukashi oboyuru
nagusame ni nagame itamaeri.
237
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The painting for Chapter Fifty-Four does not depict
fully suggestive of the locale of Mount Hiei. The
the fi nal scene in the tale, but one that places Kaoru
exterior sliding panels are open to the veranda,
and Ukifune in proximity, while ultimately captur-
revealing Ukifune in the interior seated above the
ing the ambiguity of the tale’s conclusion. By the
green tatami, immediately recognizable by her
time this scene takes place, Kaoru has made his
cropped nun’s hair. The bright, gold-painted robe
way to see the Bishop at Yokawa and has confi rmed
is out of keeping with the simple gray nun’s robes
that Ukifune is indeed alive and living as a nun in
described in the tale, and considering the severity
Ono. The Bishop, nervous that he has unknowingly
of visible damage to the layers of pigment on her
administered the tonsure to a noble lady caught up
garment, it may be a relatively rare example in this
in an aff air of the heart, refuses to escort Kaoru to
album of later retouching. The corner of another
see the young woman, understanding that a reunion
fi gure’s robe appears to the left, peeking out f rom
with the courtier may lead her to stray f rom the
behind the wall, along with a delicate strand of long
Buddhist Precepts she has sworn to follow, which
black hair, suggesting that Ukifune is shown in the
could have implications for the priest’s salvation.
company of two nontonsured female attendants.
Nevertheless, Kaoru persuades the prelate of his
The other attendant, facing Ukifune, is one of those
own religious leanings and purity of intent, explain-
who in the tale went to the veranda for a view of
ing that he only wishes to see Ukifune in order to
the large group of travelers making their way down
be able to go back and comfort the girl’s grieving
the mountain path. She seems to be reporting to
mother. When Kaoru introduces the handsome Ukifune about what she has seen, her long tresses page boy in his service, Ukifune’s little brother, and bushy eyebrows contrasting with Ukifune’s the Bishop is won over and fi nally acquiesces, writ-shorn appearance.
ing a letter that chastises Ukifune for abandoning
The calligraphy text describes the serenity of the
Kaoru and hinting that her destiny is with him landscape that surrounds Ukifune at Ono, a densely rather than with the nuns in Ono. In characteristic
wooded forest that keeps everyone away except the
fashion, however, Kaoru does not act immediately,
> deciding against delivering the letter himself, and
opting instead to send the page boy (Ukifune’s half-
brother) to the nuns’ abode the next day after he has
returned to the capital. In the painting Ukifune has
not yet seen the letter f rom the Bishop, but she and
the nuns have been told that a certain Major Captain
is visiting Yokawa. Soon they hear the shouts and see
the torches of a large group of men coming down
the rarely traveled mountain road, and Ukifune anx-
iously surmises that the Major Captain they heard
about is none other than Kaoru.
The painting shows one corner of the Ono resi-
dence, which the Bishop describes as a rustic abode,
with its basic wooden sliding doors and a simple
wooden roof. As in the previous album painting, it
rests atop an elaborate structure of tall, horizontally
tied columns, for a commanding view of the valley.
This style of overhanging architecture resembles
the actual temple at Yokawa, making the paintings
for Chapters Fifty-Three and Fifty-Four wonder-
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most determined and devout travelers to Yokawa,
where there is nothing to distract her heart and
mind ( magiruru koto naku). From Ukifune’s per-
spective, only the fi refl ies that fl it about the garden
stream remind her of the past, and she fi nds them
somehow soothing. The brief text included with the
painting stops there, describing the relative peace
that Ukifune realizes at Ono, not mentioning the
encroachment of Kaoru’s men, which begins in the
very next line in the tale. The painting, however,
picks up where the calligraphy excerpt ends, show-
ing the verdant green mountainside landscape, but
also the man who will potentially disrupt the solace
Ukifune has found. Red fi refl ies dot the golden
Ukifune is further tested in her resolve the fol-
shores of the stream, white the undulating blue line
lowing day and struggles with her emotions, when
of the water and the winding green hills lead the eye
her younger brother, Kaoru’s page, arrives just
to the top of the painting. Amid the hills that glow
outside her blinds. His presence puts information
with brushed gold in their valleys, the tiny lights
about her mother’s well-being within reach and
of the fi refl ies are echoed in the larger points of
makes her longing for her mother all the more
light, the fl aming torches wielded by Kaoru’s men.
acute. She knows, however, that any response to
While the fi refl ies may bring only soothing memo-
Kaoru will open the door to all the problems her
ries, the torches represent the actual return of men
drastic measures were meant to erase, and so she
f rom Ukifune’s past that threaten her tranquility.
resists, pleading with the nuns to keep her hidden.
She hears the voices of outrunners as they fan out
The fi nal scene in the tale describes Kaoru receiv-
across the mountainside and recognizes them as ing word f rom the page that Ukifune has refused those of Kaoru’s retainers, familiar to her f rom his
to answer his letter. Kaoru regrets sending such an
visits to Uji. Mitsunobu depicts eight fi gures curv-
inexperienced messenger and considers giving up
ing down the path to represent the group of men,
on contacting her altogether, until he suddenly sus-
fi ve of them holding torches as they clear the way
pects that another man may be hiding her away, as
for their lord. Although it is unlikely that a man of
he once did himself. Thus, imagining that her life
Kaoru’s status would be on foot, the thick white
among the nuns may be mere pretense, he dismisses
pigment that remains on the now damaged face of
the possibility that Ukifune genuinely renounced
the fi nal fi gure in the group represents someone of
the world, something that for all of his professions
the courtier class, suggesting Kaoru. In this way, the
of spirituality he has never been able to achieve
painting juxtaposes Ukifune the nun with the man
himself. The fi nal words of the tale suggest Kaoru’s
who represents all that she has renounced. On hear-
never-ending jealousy of perceived rival lovers and
ing the voices, Ukifune turns inward and meditates
his unrequited longing, a metaphor for the samsaric
on the Amida Buddha’s name ( Amida hotoke ni omoi
cycle that turns on attachment and desire, itself an
magirawashite), becoming profoundly silent.
underlying theme of the book.
Chapter 54 | A Floating Bridge in a Dream | 239
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Appendix: Album Calligraphy Key
A Kunitaka Shinnō (1456–1532)
Chapters 1, 7, 13, 19, 25, 33, 39, 45, 51
B Konoe Hisamichi (1472–1544)
Chapters 2, 8, 14, 20, 26, 32, 38, 44, 50
C Sanjōnishi Sanetaka (1455–1537)
Chapters 3, 9, 15, 21, 27, 31, 37, 43, 49
D Jōhōji Kōjo (1453–1538)
Chapters 4, 10, 16, 22, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54
E Reizei Tamehiro (1450–1526)
Chapters 5, 11, 17, 23, 29, 35, 41, 47, 53
F Son’ō Jugō (d. 1514)
Chapters 6, 12, 18, 24, 28, 34, 40, 46, 52
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Ch. Title
Calligrapher
Color
Ch. Title
Calligrapher
Color
1 Kiritsubo
A
Red
28 Nowaki
F
Yellow
2 Hahakigi
B
Blue
29 Miyuki
E
Red
3 Utsusemi
C
Yellow
30 Fujibakama
D
Pink
4 Yūgao
D
Pink
31 Makibashira
C
Blue
5 Wakana
E
Green
32 Umegae
B
Yellow
6 Suetsumuhana F
Red
33 Fuji no uraba
A
Green
7
Momiji no ga
A
Blue
34 Wakana
jō
F
Pink
8
Hana no en
B
Yellow
&nb
sp; 35 Wakana
ge
E
Pink
9 Aoi
C
Pink
36 Kashiwagi
D
Blue
10 Sakaki
D
Green
37 Yokobue
C
Yellow
11 Hanachirusato
E
Red
38 Suzumushi
B
Green
12 Suma
F
Blue
39 Yūgiri
A
Red
13 Akashi
A
Yellow
40 Minori
F
Pink
14 Miotsukushi
B
Pink
41 Maboroshi
E
Blue
15 Yomogiu
C
Green
42 Niou
D
Yellow
16 Sekiya
D
Red
43 Kōbai
C
Green
17 Eawase
E
Blue
44 Takekawa
B
Red
18 Matsukaze
F
Yellow
45 Hashihime
A
Pink
19 Usugumo
A
Pink
46 Shiigamoto
F
Blue
20 Asagao
B
Green
47 Agemaki
E
Yellow
21 Otome
C
Red
48 Sawarabi
D
Green
22 Tamakazura
D
Blue
49 Yadorigi
C
Red
23 Hatsune
E
Yellow
50 Azumaya
B
Pink
24 Kochō
F
Pink
51 Ukifune
A
Blue
25 Hotaru
A
Green
52 Kagerō
F
Yellow
26 Tokonatsu
B
Red
53 Tenarai
E
Green
27 Kagaribi
C
Blue
54 Yume no ukihashi D
Red
Appendix | 241
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Glossary
Glossary of Japanese Words Used in Text
higaki kaisen
(Excludes chapter titles, personal names of
hiji
characters, and words quoted f rom poems)