whole nation. So it had been too with preparations for the world to come:
everything in its proper time, he had said, going about the matter carefully
and unobtrusively. Kaoru had received too much attention while still a
boy, and it may have been charged against him that he was not sufficiently
aware of his limitations. Something about him did make people think of
avatars and suspect that perhaps a special bounty of grace set him apart
from the ordinary run of men. There was nothing in his face or manner,
to be sure, that brought people up short, but there was a compelling
gentleness that was unique and suggested limitless depths.
And there was the fragrance he gave off, quite unlike anything else
in this world. Let him make the slightest motion and it had a mysterious
power to trail behind him like a "hundred-pace incense." One did not
expect young aristocrats to affect the plain and certainly not the shabby.
The elegance that is the result of a careful toilet was the proper thing.
Kaoru, however, wished often enough that he might be free of this particu-
lar mark of distinction. He could not hide. Let him step behind something
in hopes of going unobserved, and that scent would announce his presence.
He used no perfume, nor did he scent his robes, but somehow a fragrance
that had been sealed deep inside a Chinese chest would emerge the more
ravishing for his presence. He would brush a spray of plum blossoms
below the veranda and the spring rain dripping from it would become a
perfume for others who passed. The masterless purple trousers would
reject their own perfume for his.
<N 7>
Niou was his rival in everything and especially in the competition to
be pleasantly scented. The blending of perfumes would become his work
for days on end. In the spring he would gaze inquiringly up at the blossom-
ing plum, and in the autumn he would neglect the maiden flower of which
<P 740>
poets have made so much and the _hagi_ beloved of the stag, and instead keep
beside him, all withered and unsightly, the chrysanthemum "heedless of
age" and purple trousers, also sadly faded, and the burnet that has so little
to recommend it in the first place. Perfumes were central to his pursuit of
good taste. There were those who accused him of a certain preciosity.
Genji, they said, had managed to avoid seeming uneven.
Kaoru was always in Niou's apartments, and music echoed through
the halls and galleries as their rivalry moved on to flute and koto. They
were rivals but they were also the best of friends. Everyone called them
(sometimes it was a little tiresome) "his perfumed highness" and "the
fragrant captain." No father of a pretty and nubile daughter was unaware
of their existence or lost an opportunity to remind them that there were
young ladies to be had. Niou would get off notes to such of them as seemed
worthy of his attention and gather pertinent information about them, but
no lady could thus far have been said to excite him unduly. Or rather, there
was one: the Reizei princess, who aroused thoughts of eventual marriage.
Her maternal grandfather had been a very important man, and she was
reputed to be something of a treasure. Women who had been briefly in her
service would add to his store of information, until presently he was very
excited indeed.
<N 8>
Kaoru was a different sort of young man. He already knew what an
empty, purposeless world it is, and was reluctant to commit himself any
more firmly than seemed quite necessary. He did not want the final renun-
ciation to be difficult. Some thought him rather ostentatiously enlightened
in his disdain for amorous things, and it seemed wholly unlikely that he
would ever urge himself upon a lady against her wishes.
He held the Third Rank and a seat on the council, still keeping his
guards commission, when he was only nineteen. The esteem of the em-
peror and empress had already made him an extraordinary sort of com-
moner; but the old doubts persisted, and with them a strain of melancholy
that kept him from losing himself in romantic dalliance. Nothing seemed
capable of penetrating his reserve. To some, his precocious maturity
seemed a little daunting.
He had rooms in the Reizei Palace of the princess who so interested
Niou and had no trouble gathering intelligence about her. All of it sug-
gested that she was a very unusual lady, indeed a lady in whom, were he
interested in marriage himself, he might find the most fascinating possibili-
ties. In all else completely open and unreserved, the Reizei emperor chose
to surround his daughter with stern barriers. Kaoru thought this not at all
unreasonable of him, and made no effort to force his way through. He was
<P 741>
a very prudent young man who did not choose to risk unpleasantness for
himself or for a lady.
Because he was so universally admired, ladies were not on the whole
disposed to ignore his notes. Indeed, the response was usually immediate,
and so he had in the course of time had numerous little affairs, all of them
very fleeting. He always managed to seem interested but not fascinated.
Perversely, any suggestion that he was not wholly indifferent had a most
heady effect, and so his mother's Sanjo~ mansion swarmed with comely
young serving women. His aloofness did not please them, of course, but
the prospect of removing themselves from his presence was far worse.
Numbers of ladies whom one would have thought too good for domestic
service had come to put their trust in a rather improbable relationship. He
was not very cooperative, perhaps, but there was no denying that he was
a courteous gentleman of more than ordinary good looks. Ladies who had
had a glimpse of him seemed to make careers of deceiving themselves.
<N 9>
It would be his first duty for so long as his royal mother lived, he often
said, to be her servant and protector.
Though Yu~giri went on thinking how fine it would be to offer a
daughter to Niou and another to Kaoru, he kept his own counsel. Marriage
to a near relative is not usually held to be very interesting, but he did not
think he would find more desirable sons-in-law if he searched through the
whole court. His sixth daughter, a grandchild of Koremitsu, was more
beautiful than any of Kumoinokari's daughters, and she had outdistanced
them too in the polite accomplishments. He was determined to make up
for the fact that the world seemed to look down upon her because of her
mother, and so he had made her the ward of the Second Princess,
Kashiwagi's widow, lonely and bored with no children of her own. A
casual hint to Niou or Kaoru was not likely to go unnoticed, he thought
--for she was a young lady of remarkable endowments. He had chosen not
to keep her behind the deepest of curtains, but had encouraged her to
maintain a bright and lively salon, echoes of which were certain to reach
the ear of an alert young gentleman.
The victory banquet following the New Year's archery meet was to
be at Rokujo~ this year. The preparations were elaborate, for it was assumed
that the royal princes would all attend. And indeed those among them who
had come of age did accept the invitation. Niou was the handsomest of the
empress's sons, all of whom were handsome. Hitachi, the Fourth Prince,
was the son of a lesser concubine, and it may have been for that reason
that people thought him rather ill favored. The Left Guards won easily, as
usual, and the meet was over early in the day. Starting back for Rokujo~,
Yu~giri invited Niou, Hitachi, and the Fifth Prince, also a son of the em-
press, to ride with him. Kaoru, who had been on the losing side, was
making a quiet departure when Yu~giri asked him to join them. It was a
large procession, including numbers of high courtiers and several of Yu~-
giri's sons--a guards officer, a councillor of the middle order, a moderator
<P 742>
of the first order--that set off for Rokujo~. The way was a long one, made
more beautiful by flurries of snow. Soon the high, clear tone of a flute was
echoing through Rokujo~, that place of delights for the four seasons, outdo-
ing, one sometimes thought, all the many paradises.
As protocol required, the victorious guards officers were assigned
places facing south in the main hall, and the princes and important civil
officials sat opposite them facing north. Cups were filled and the party
became noisier, and several guards officers danced "The One I Seek".
Their long, flowing sleeves brought the scent of plum blossoms in from the
veranda, and as always it took on a kind of mysterious depth as it drifted
past Kaoru.
"The darkness may try to keep us from seeing," said one of the
women lucky enough to have a good view of the proceedings, "but it can't
keep the scent away. And I must say there is nothing quite like it."
Yu~giri was thinking how difficult it would be to find fault with Kao-
ru's looks and manners.
"And now you must sing it for us," he said. "Remember that you are
a host and not a guest, and it is your duty to be entertaining."
Kaoru obeyed, but not as if to join in the roistering. "Where dwell the
gods" --they were the grandest words of his song, but what went before
had the same quiet dignity.
<W Murasaki Shikibu>{Translated by Edward G.Seidensticker}
<T The Tale of Genji>
<K 5>
<C 43>{The Rose Plum}
<N 1>
<P 743>
Ko~bai, the oldest surviving son of the late To~ no Chu~jo~, was now Lord
Inspector. He was an energetic, clever, open man who from his boyhood
had shown great promise. He had reached considerable eminence, of
course, and was well thought of and a great favorite with the emperor.
Upon his first wife's death he married Makibashira, daughter of Higekuro,
the chancellor. It was she who had such strong regrets for the cypress pillar
when her mother left her father's house. Her grandfather had arranged
for her to marry Prince Hotaru, who had left her a widow. The inspector
favored her with clandestine attentions after Prince Hotaru's death, and
would seem to have concluded that it was a sufficiently distinguished
liaison to be made public. Having been left with two children, both daugh-
ters, he prayed to the gods native and foreign that his second wife bear him
a son. The prayer was soon granted. Makibashira had brought with her a
daughter by Prince Hotaru.
<N 2>
Ko~bai was scrupulously impartial in his treatment of the three girls,
but malicious, troublemaking women are to be found in most important
households and his was no exception. There were unpleasant incidents,
most of which, however, Makibashira, a cheerful, amiable lady, managed
to smooth over so that no one was left feeling aggrieved. She did not let
the princess's claims influence her unduly, and it was on the whole a
harmonious household over which she presided.
<P 744>
In rapid succession there were initiation ceremonies for the three girls.
Ko~bai built a spacious new hall, a beam span wider in either direction than
most. To his older daughter he assigned the south rooms, to his younger
the west, and to the prince's daughter the east. The outsider is likely to pity
the fatherless daughter among stepsisters but the princess had come into
a good inheritance from both sides of her family and was able to indulge
her tastes and interests quite as she wished, on festive occasions and at
ordinary times as well.
Young ladies who enjoy such advantages are certain to be noticed, and
as each of the girls reached maturity she was noticed by even the emperor
and the crown prince, who sent inquiries. The empress so dominated court
life, however, that Ko~bai was uncertain how to reply. Presently he was
able to persuade himself that a refusal to face competition is the worst
possible thing for a young lady's prospects. Yu~giri's daughter, already
married to the crown prince, would be the most formidable of competition,
but the superior man did not let such difficulties control his life. An
attractive young lady should not be wasted at home. So he gave his older
daughter to the crown prince. She was seventeen or eighteen, very pretty
and vivacious.
The second girl had, it was reported, a graver, deeper sort of beauty.
Ko~bai was most reluctant to give her in marriage to a commoner. Might
Prince Niou perhaps be interested?
Niou was fond of joking with Ko~bai's young son when the two of
them were at court together. The boy had artistic talents and a countenance
that suggested considerable intellectual endowments as well.
"Tell your father," said Niou, "that I am annoyed with him for keep-
ing the rest of the family out of sight. You are surely not its most interest-
ing member?"
The boy passed the remark on, and Ko~bai was all smiles. There were
times when it was good to have a daughter or two.
"It might not be a bad idea, you know. The competition at court is
fierce, and a pretty daughter could do worse than marry one of the younger
princes. The idea is rather exciting, now that I give it a little thought."
This happened while he was getting his older daughter ready for
presentation at court. He had been reminding the god of Kasuga that
empresses were supposed to come from the Fujiwara family. It was the
god's own promise, and To~ no Chu~jo~ had been badly used in the days
when the Reizei emperor was preparing to name his consort. Perhaps
something might be done now to make amends.
Court gossip had it that the older daughter was doing well in the
competition for the crown prince's affection.<N 3> Knowing how strange and
difficult court life can be, Ko~bai sent Makibashira to be with her. Makiba-
shira was a most admirable guardian and adviser, but Ko~bai was bored
without her, and the younger daughter was very much at loose ends.
Prince Hotaru's daughter did not choose, in this difficult time, to stand on
