Makibashira　真木柱

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

A pictorial subject based on "The Cypress Pillar" Makibashira, Chapter 31 of GENJI MONOGATARI 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji). This chapter centers on General Higekuro's (Higekuro Taishou 髭黒大将) marriage to *Tamakazura 玉鬘 and the reactions of his first wife. There are three scenes from this chapter that are frequently chosen for illustration. 1 Higekuro while preparing to visit Tamakazura on a snowy winter night, slips a small censer into his sleeve. Seeing this, his first wife approaches Higekuro from behind and pours all the ash from a large brazier over his head. 2 The scene that provides the chapter its title. On a snowless winter day the first wife's brothers come to take her and the children back to her natal house. The daughter writes a farewell poem, addresses and attaches it to the cypress pillar in the east room. 3 After Tamakazura has left Genji's Rokujou 六条 mansion, Higekuro visits her garden there in the Third Month and, gazing at the wisteria and Japanese kerria yamabuki 山吹, finally realizes that she is really gone.

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*genji-e 源氏絵

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