A pictorial subject taken from the "New Herbs" Wakana, which
is divided into two parts, making up Chapters 34 and 35 of GENJI MONOGATARI
Ή¨κ (The Tale of Genji). Various episodes included in these two chapters have
been depicted. In part one, the retired Emperor Suzaku ι, in failing health,
seeks to retire into the Buddhist priesthood. To sever his last ties to the mundane
world which center on his concerns for his daughter the Third Princess, Onna San
no Miya O{, he entrusts her in marriage to Genji. Genji reluctantly agrees to
the match despite their great differences in age and the shock it will cause his
principal wife Murasaki, Murasaki no Ue Μγ. At his fortieth birthday, celebrated
by *Tamakazura Κι‘, Genji
goes through the ceremony of sampling the new herbs, which are arranged in four
aloewood boxes. Genji also starts visiting Lady Oborozukiyo Oι again. Genji's
daughter, the Akashi Princess Akashi no Himegimi ΎΞPN, gives birth to a prince
strengthening her case for elevation to empress. Scenes often selected for illustration
from this chapter include: Genji sitting with Murasaki in the middle of the Second
Month, as she copies poems to distract herself from the pain of Genji's new marriage;
and, around the same period, Genji returning at dawn from the quarters of the
Third Princess, standing on the veranda and looking at patches of snow on the
white sand of the garden while waiting for Murasaki's servants to let him in.
Another scene frequently chosen, and the most significant to the development of
the subsequent plot, occurs in the spring while Genji and Prince Hotaru, Hotaru
Hyoubunokyou uΊ¨ watch *Kashiwagi
Ψ and his three younger brothers play kemari Rf, a kind of football. A
Chinese cat pulls at a string and opens the curtains, allowing Kashiwagi
to catch sight of the Third Princess, with whom he immediately falls in love.
In part two the Emperor Reizei βς abdicates. Murasaki falls ill due to the
curse of the jealous spirit of Genji's late mistress the Rokujou lady, Rokujou
no Miyasudokoro Zπδ§, and while Genji is distracted by nursing her, Kashiwagi
steals in and makes love to the Third Princess. She becomes pregnant. Genji discovers
a love letter written to her by Kashiwagi, confirming his suspicions, he
thus recognises the course of fate since this is a repetition of his own youthful
indiscretion with Fujitsubo. A scene often chosen for illustration shows Kashiwagi
sitting on the veranda in the Third Month petting the Third Princess's cat which
he has borrowed to assuage his unrequited love. A music concert by the ladies
of the Rokujou Zπ mansion (see *Otome
³) is also sometimes depicted. |
