Yokobue　横笛

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

A pictorial subject based on "The Flute" Yokobue, Chapter 37 of GENJI MONOGATARI 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji). The flute belonged to the late *Kashiwagi 柏木, actual father of Kaoru 薫 by the Third Princess, Onna San no Miya 女三宮 (see *Wakana 若菜), Genji's wife and now a nun. Scenes chosen for illustration from this chapter include: the Third Princess receiving a letter with bamboo shoots and taro roots from her father, the retired Emperor Suzaku 朱雀, in the spring; the following scene, with the baby Kaoru teething on one of the bamboo shoots as Genji looks on; *Yuugiri 夕霧, Genji's son, meanwhile continues his restrained courting of Kashiwagi's widow, the Second Princess, Ochiba no Miya 落葉宮, and one autumn evening, after listening to the Second Princess play the Chinese harp sou 箏 and her mother the lute biwa 琵琶, the princess gives him the late Kashiwagi's flute. Another scene (found in the earliest 12c illustrated version owned by the Tokugawa 徳川 Art Museum) depicts a whispered conversation between Yuugiri and his jealous wife Kumoi no kari 雲井雁 after Yuugiri's late night return from meeting Princess Ochiba which has disturbed the household. Kumoi no kari is calming one of their brood who is crying because his mother has no milk and cannot nurse him.

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*genji-e 源氏絵.

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