his absence, and was touched that the boy should be so pleased to see him.
He had done so well with his studies that there need be no misgivings
about his competence to rule. It would seem that Genji also called on
Fujitsubo, and managed to control himself sufficiently for a quiet and
affectionate conversation.
I had forgotten: he sent a note with the retinue which, like a returning
wave, returned to Akashi. Very tender, it had been composed when no one
was watching.
"And how is it with you these nights when the waves roll in?
"I wonder, do the morning mists yet rise,
There at Akashi of the lonely nights?"
The Kyushu Gosechi dancer had had fond thoughts of the exiled
Genji, and she was vaguely disappointed to learn that he was back in the
city and once more in the emperor's good graces. She sent a note, with
instructions that the messenger was to say nothing of its origin:
"There once came tidings from a boat at Suma,
From one who now might show you sodden sleeves."
Her hand had improved, though not enough to keep him from guess-
ing whose it was.
"It is I, not you, from whom the complaints should come.
My sleeves have refused to dry since last you wrote."
He had not seen enough of her, and her letter brought fond memories.
But he was not going to embark upon new adventures.
To the lady of the orange blossoms he sent only a note, cause more
for disappointment than for pleasure.
<W Murasaki Shikibu>{Translated by Edward G.Seidensticker}
<T The Tale of Genji>
<K 2>
<C 14>{Channel Buoys}
<N 1>
<P 271>
Unable to forget that almost too vivid dream of his father and wanting
somehow to lighten the penance, Genji immediately set about plans for a
reading of the Lotus Sutra. It was to be in the Tenth Month. Everyone at
court helped with the arrangements. The spirit of cooperation was as
before Genji fell into disfavor.
Though seriously ill, Kokiden was still an enemy, angry that she had
not succeeded in crushing him completely. The emperor had been con-
vinced that he must pay the penalty for having gone against his father's
wishes. Now that he had had Genji recalled, he was in greatly improved
spirits, and the eye ailment that had so troubled him had quite gone away.
Melancholy forebodings continued to be with him, however. He fre-
quently sent for Genji, who was now in his complete confidence. Everyone
thought it splendid that he was at last having his way.
<N 2>
The day appointed for his abdication drew near. It grieved him to
think of the precarious position in which it would leave Oborozukiyo.
"Your father is dead," he said to her, "and my mother is in worse
health all the time. I doubt that I have much longer to live and fear that
everything will change once I am gone. I know that there is someone you
have long preferred to me; but it has been a way of mine to concentrate
upon one object, and I have thought only of you. Even if the man whom
you prefer does as you wish him to, I doubt that his affection can match
my own. The thought is too much for me." He was in tears.
<P 272>
She flushed and turned away. An irresistible charm seemed to flow
from her, to make him forget his grievances.
"And why have you not had a child? It seems such a pity. No doubt
you will shortly have one by the man with whom you seem to have the
stronger bond, and that will scarcely be to my taste. He is a commoner, you
know, and I suppose the child must be reared as a commoner."
These remarks about the past and about the future so shamed her that
she could not bring herself to look at him. He was a handsome, civil man,
and his behavior over the years had told of a deepening affection; and so
she had come to understand, as she had become more alive to these subtle-
ties, that Genji, for all his good looks and gallantry, had been less than
ideally devoted to her. Why had she surrendered to childish impulses and
permitted a scandal which had seriously damaged her name and done no
good for his? These reminders of the past brought her untold pain.
<N 3>
In the Second Month of the following year initiation ceremonies were
held for the crown prince. He was eleven, tall and mature for his age, and
the very image of Genji. The world marveled at the almost blinding radi-
ance, but it was a source of great trepidation for Fujitsubo. Very pleased
with his successor, the emperor in a most gentle and friendly way dis-
cussed plans for his own abdication.
He abdicated that same month, so suddenly that Kokiden was taken
by surprise.
"I know that it will be as a person of no importance," he said, seeking
to calm her, "but I hope that I will see you rather more frequently and at
my leisure."
His son by Lady Sho~kyo~den was made crown prince. Everything had
changed overnight, causes for rejoicing were innumerable. Genji was made
a minister. As the number of ministers is limited by the legal codes and
there were at the time no vacancies, a supernumerary position was created
for him. It was assumed that his would be the strongest hand in the
direction of public affairs.
"I am not up to it," he said, deferring to his father-in-law, who was
persuaded to come out of retirement and accept appointment as regent.
"I resigned because of poor health," protested the old man, "and now
I am older and even more useless."
It was pointed out, however, that in foreign countries statesmen who
in rime of civil disorder have withdrawn to deep mountain retreats have
thought it no shame, despite their white beards, to be of service once peace
has been restored. Indeed they have been revered as the true saints and
sages. The court and the world at large agreed that there need be no
obstacle whatever to resuming upon recovery offices resigned because of
illness. Unable to persist in his refusal, he was appointed chancellor. He
was sixty-three. His retirement had been occasioned in part by the fact that
affairs of state were not going as he wished, but now all was in order. His
sons, whose careers had been in eclipse, were also brought back. Most
<P 273>
striking was the case of To~ no Chu~jo~, who was made a supernumerary
councillor. He had been especially careful about the training of his daugh-
ter, now twelve, by Kokiden's sister, and was hoping to send her to court.
The boy who had sung "Takasago" so nicely had come of age and was
the sort of son every father wished for. Indeed To~ no Chu~jo~ had a troop
of sons by his various ladies which quite filled Genji with envy.
Genji's own Yu~giri was as handsome a boy as any of them. He served
as page for both the emperor and the crown prince. His grandparents,
Princess Omiya and the chancellor, continued to grieve for their daughter.
But she was gone, and they had Genji's prosperity to take their minds from
their sorrow; and it seemed that the gloomy years of Genji's exile had
vanished without a trace. Genji's devotion to the family of his late wife
was as it had always been. He overlooked no occasion that seemed to call
for a visit, or for gifts to the nurse and the others who had remained
faithful through the bad years. One may be sure that there were many
happy women among them.
At Nijo~ too there were women who had awaited his return. He wished
to do everything possible to make up for the sorrows that must have been
theirs, and upon such women as Chu~jo~ and Nakatsukasa, appropriately to
their station in life, he bestowed a share of his affection. This left him no
time for women outside the house. He had most splendidly remodeled the
lodge to the east of his mansion. He had inherited it from his father, and
his plan was that it be home for the lady of the orange blossoms and other
neglected favorites.
<N 4>
I have said nothing about the Akashi lady, whom he had left in such
uncertainty. Busy with public and private affairs, he had not been able to
inquire after her as he would have wished. From about the beginning of
the Third Month, though he told no one, she was much on his mind, for
her time must be approaching. He sent off a messenger, who very soon
returned.
"A girl was safely delivered on the sixteenth."
It was his first daughter. He was delighted--but why had he not
brought the lady to have her child in the capital?
"You will have three children," a fortuneteller had once told him.
"Two of them are certain to become emperor and empress. The least of the
three will become chancellor, the most powerful man in the land." The
whole of the oracle seemed by way of coming true.
He had consulted physiognomists in large numbers and they had been
unanimous in telling him that he would rise to grand heights and have the
world to do with as he wished; but through the unhappy days he had
dismissed them from his thoughts. With the commencement of the new
reign it seemed that his most extravagant hopes were being realized. The
throne itself lay beyond his reach. He had been his father's favorite over
<P 274>
his many brothers, but his father had determined to reduce him to common
status, and that fact made it apparent that the throne must not be among
his ambitions. Although the reasons were of course secret, the accession
of the new emperor seemed evidence enough that the fortuneteller had not
deceived him. As for future prospects, he thought that he could see the god
of Sumiyoshi at work. Had it been foreordained that someone from Akashi
was meant for remarkable things, and was it for that reason that her
eccentric father had had what had seemed preposterous plans? Genji had
done badly in letting his daughter be born in a comer of the provinces. He
must send for mother and daughter as soon as the proprieties allowed, and
he gave orders that the remodeling of the east lodge be hurried.
<N 5>
Capable nurses would be difficult to find, he was afraid, in Akashi. He
remembered having heard the sad story of a woman whose mother had
been among the old emperor's private secretaries and whose father had
been a chamberlain and councillor. The parents both dead and the lady
herself in straitened circumstances, she had struck up an unworthy liaison
and had a child as a result. She was young and her prospects were poor,
and she did not hesitate at the invitation to quit a deserted and ruinous
mansion, and so the contract was made. By way of some errand or other,
<P 275>
in the greatest secrecy, Genji visited her. Though she had made the com-
mitment, she had been having second thoughts. The honor of the visit
quite removed her doubts.
"I shall do entirely as you wish."
Since it was a propitious day, he sent her off immediately.
"You will think it selfish and unfeeling of me, I am sure; but I have
rather special plans. Tell yourself that there is a precedent for being sent
off to a hard life in a strange land, and put up with it for a time." And he
told her in detail of her duties.
Since she had been at court, he had occasionally had a glimpse of her.
She was thinner now. Her once fine mansion was sadly neglected, and the
plantings in the garden were rank and overgrown. How, he wondered, had
she endured such a life?
"Suppose we call it off," he said jokingly, "and keep you here." She
was such a pretty young woman that he could not take his eyes from her.
She could not help thinking that, if it was all the same, she would
prefer serving him from somewhat nearer at hand.
"I have not, it is true, been so fortunate as to know you,
But sad it is to end the briefest friendship.
"And so perhaps I should go with you."
She smiled.
"I do not trust regrets at so quick a farewell.
The truth has to do with someone you wish to visit."
It was nicely done.
<N 6>
She left the city by carriage. He assigned as escort men whom he
trusted implicitly and enjoined them to the strictest secrecy. He sent with
her a sword for the little girl and other appropriate gifts and provisions,
in such quantities that the procession was in danger of falling behind
schedule. His attentions to the newly appointed nurse could not have been
more elaborate.
He smiled to think what this first grandchild would mean to the old
man, how busy and self-important he would be. No doubt it told of events
in a former life (and the thought brought twinges of conscience), that she
meant so much to Genji himself. Over and over again he told the nurse
that he would not be quick to forgive lapses and oversights.
"One day this sleeve of mine shall be her shelter
Whose years shall be as the years of the angel's rock."
They hurried to the Harima border by boat and thence by horse. The
old man was overjoyed and there was no end to his awed gratitude. He
<P 276>
made obeisance in the direction of the capital. At this evidence that the
little girl was important to Genji he began to feel rather in awe of her too.
She had an unearthly, almost ominous sort of beauty, to make the nurse
see that the fuss and bother had not after all been overdone. There had
been something horrible about this sudden removal to the countryside, but
now it was as if she were awakening from a nightmare into broad sunlight.
She already adored the little girl.
The Akashi lady had been in despair. She had decided as the months
went by that life was without meaning. This evidence of Genji's good
intentions was comforting. She bestirred herself to make the guests from
the city feel welcome.
The escort was in a hurry to return. She set down something of her
feelings in a letter to Genji, to which she added this poem:
"These sleeves are much too narrow to offer protection.
