The Suzaku emperor knew of course that it would not do to write to
her of his disappointment. On the day of her presentation at court he sent
magnificent robes and other gifts as well, wonderfully wrought cases and
vanity chests and incense coffers, and incomparable incenses and sachets,
so remarkable that they could be detected even beyond the legendary
hundred paces. It may have been that the very special attention he gave
to his gifts had to do with the fact that Genji would see them.
Akikonomu's lady of honor showed them to Genji. He took up a comb
box of the most remarkable workmanship, endlessly fascinating in its
detail. Among the rosettes on the box of decorative combs was a poem in
the Suzaku emperor's own hand:
"I gave you combs and sent you far away.
The god now sends me far away from you?"
Genji almost felt as if he were guilty of sacrilege and blasphemy. From
his own way of letting his emotions run wild, he could imagine Suzaku's
<P 308>
feelings when the priestess had departed for Ise, and his disappointment
when, after years of waiting, she had returned to the city and everything
had seemed in order, and this new obstacle had intervened. Would bitter-
ness and resentment mar the serenity of his retirement? Genji knew that
he himself would have been very much upset indeed. And it was he who
had brought Akikonomu to the new emperor at the cost of hurting the
retired emperor. There had been a time, of course, when he had felt bitter
and angry at Suzaku; but he had known through it all that his brother was
of a gentle, sensitive nature. He sat lost in thought.
"And how does she mean to answer? Have there been other letters?
What have they said?"
But the lady of honor showed no disposition to let him see them.
Akikonomu was not feeling well and would have preferred not to
answer.
"But you must, my lady." Genji could hear the discussion through
blinds and curtains. "You know that you owe him a little respect."
"They are quite right," said Genji. "It will not do at all. You must let
him have something, if only a line or two."
Though the inclination not to answer was very strong, Akikonomu
<P 309>
remembered her departure for Ise. Gently, softly handsome, the emperor
had wept that she must leave. Though only a child, she had been deeply
touched. And she remembered her dead mother, then and on other occa-
sions. This (and only this?) was the poem which she nally set down:
"Long ago, one word you said: Away!
Sorry now am I that I paid no heed."
<N 2>
She rewarded Suzaku's messenger lavishly. Genji would have liked to
see her reply, but could hardly say so. He was genuinely troubled. Suzaku
was so handsome a man that one could imagine falling in love with him
were he a woman, and Akikonomu was by no means an ill match for him.
Indeed they would have been a perfect couple. And the present emperor
was still a boy. Genji wondered whether Akikonomu herself might not feel
uneasy at so incongruous a match. But it was too late now to halt the
proceedings.
He gave careful instructions to the superintendent of palace repairs.
Not wishing the Suzaku emperor to think that he was managing the girl's
affairs, he paid only a brief courtesy call upon her arrival at court. She had
always been surrounded by gifted and accomplished women, and now that
the ones who had gone home were back with her she had easily the finest
retinue at court. Genji thought of the Rokujo~ lady, her dead mother. With
what feelings of pride would she now be overseeing her daughter's affairs!
He would have thought her death a great loss even if he had not loved her.
She had had few rivals. Her tastes had been genuinely superior, and she
was much in his thoughts these days.
<N 3>
Fujitsubo was also at court. The emperor had heard that a fine new
lady had arrived, and his eagerness was most charming.
"Yes, she is splendid," said his mother. "You must be on your best
behavior when you meet her."
He feared that a lady of such advanced years might not be easy to talk
to. It was late in the night when she made her appearance. She was small
and delicately molded, and she seemed quiet and very much in control of
herself, and in general made a very good impression on the emperor. His
favorite companion was To~ no Chu~jo~'s little daughter, who occupied the
Kokiden apartments. The new arrival, so calm and self-possessed, did
make him feel on the defensive, and then Genji behaved towards her with
such solemnity that the emperor was lured into rather solemn devoirs.
Though he distributed his nights impartially between the two ladies, he
preferred the Kokiden apartments for diurnal amusements. To~ no Chu~jo~
had ambitious plans for his daughter and was worried about this new
competitor.
<N 4>
The Suzaku emperor had difficulty resigning himself to what had
happened. Genji came calling one day and they had a long and affectionate
talk. The Suzaku emperor, who had more than once spoken to Genji of the
priestess's departure for Ise, mentioned it again, though somewhat circum-
<P 310>
spectly. Genji gave no open indication that he knew what had happened,
but he did discuss it in a manner which he hoped would elicit further
remarks from his brother. It was clear that the Suzaku emperor had not
ceased to love the girl, and Genji was very sorry for him indeed. He knew
and regretted that he could not see for himself the beauty which seemed
to have such a powerful effect upon everyone who did see it. Akikonomu
permitted not the briefest glimpse. And so of course he was fascinated. He
saw enough to convince him that she must be very near perfection.
<N 5>
The emperor had two ladies and there was no room for a third. Prince
Hyo~bu's plans for sending his daughter to court had foundered. He could
only hope that as the emperor grew older he would be in a more receptive
mood.
The emperor loved art more than anything else. He loved to look at
paintings and he painted beautifully. Akikonomu was also an accom-
plished artist. He went more and more frequently to her apartments, where
the two of them would paint for each other. His favorites among the young
courtiers were painters and students of painting. It delighted him to watch
this new lady, so beautiful and so elegant, casually sketching a scene, now
and again pulling back to think the matter over. He liked her much better
now.
To~ no Chu~jo~ kept himself well informed. A man of affairs who had
strong competitive instincts, he was determined not to lose this competi-
tion. He assembled master painters and he told them exactly what he
wanted, and gave them the best materials to work with. Of the opinion
that illustrations for the works of established authors could always be
counted on, he chose his favorites and set his painters to illustrating them.
He also commissioned paintings of the seasons and showed considerable
flair with the captions. The emperor liked them all and wanted to share his
pleasure with Akikonomu; but To~ no Chu~jo~ objected. The paintings were
not to leave the Kokiden apartments.
Genji smiled. "He was that way when he was a boy, and in many ways
he still is a boy. I do not think it a very deft way to manage His Majesty.
I'll send off my whole collection and let him do with it as he pleases."
All the chests and bookcases at Nijo~ were ransacked for old paintings
and new, and Genji and Murasaki sorted out the ones that best suited
current fancies. There were interesting and moving pictures of those sad
Chinese ladies Yang Kuei-fei and $$ Wang Chao-chun. Genji feared, how-
ever, that the subjects were inauspicious.
Thinking this a good occasion to show them to Murasaki, he took out
the sketchbooks and journals of his exile. Any moderately sensitive lady
would have found tears coming to her eyes. For Murasaki those days had
been unrelieved pain, not easily forgotten. Why, she asked, had he not let
her see them before?
<P 311>
"Better to see these strands where the fishermen dwell
Than far away to weep, all, all alone.
"I think the uncertainty might have been less cruel."
It was true.
"Now more than in those painful days I weep
As tracings of them bring them back to me."
He must let Fujitsubo see them. Choosing the more presentable
scrolls, the ones in which life upon those shores came forward most viv-
idly, he could almost feel that he was back at Akashi once more.
Hearing of Genji's activities, To~ no Chu~jo~ redoubled his own efforts.
He quite outdid himself with all the accessories, spindles and mountings
and cords and the like. It was now the middle of the Third Month, a time
of soft, delicious air, when everyone somehow seemed happy and at peace.
It was also a quiet time at court, when people had leisure for these avoca-
tions. To~ no Chu~jo~ saw a chance to bring the young emperor to new
raptures. He would offer his collection for the royal review.
Both in the Kokiden apartments and in Akikonomu's Plum Pavilion
there were paintings in endless variety. Illustrations for old romances
seemed to interest both painter and viewer. Akikonomu rather preferred
secure and established classics, while the Kokiden girl chose the romances
that were the rage of the day. To the casual observer it might have seemed
perhaps that her collection was the brighter and the more stylish. Connois-
seurs among the court ladies had made the appraisal of art their principal
work.
<N 6>
Fujitsubo was among them. She had had no trouble giving up most
pleasures, but a fondness for art had refused to be shaken off. Listening
to the aesthetic debates, she hit upon an idea: the ladies must divide into
two sides.
On the left was the Plum Pavilion or Akikonomu faction, led by
Heinaishinosuke, Jiju~ no Naishi, and Sho~sho~ no Myo~bu; and in the right
or Kokiden faction, Daini no Naishinosuke, Chu~jo~ no Myo~bu, and Hyo~e
no Myo~bu. Fujitsubo listened with great interest as each gave forth with
her opinions.
The first match was between an illustration for The Bamboo Cutter, the
ancestor of all romances, and a scene centering upon Toshikage from The
Tale of the Hollow Tree.
From the left came this view: "The story has been with us for a very
long time, as familiar as the bamboo growing before us, joint upon joint.
There is not much in it that is likely to take us by surprise. Yet the moon
princess did avoid sullying herself with the affairs of this world, and her
proud fate took her back to the far heavens; and so perhaps we must accept
something august and godly in it, far beyond the reach of silly, superficial
women."
<P 312>
And this from the right: "It may be as you say, that she returned to
a realm beyond our sight and so beyond our understanding. But this too
must be said: that in our world she lived in a stalk of bamboo, which fact
suggests rather dubious lineage. She exuded a radiance, we are told, which
flooded her stepfather's house with light; but what is that to the light
which suffuses these many-fenced halls and pavilions? Lord Abe threw
away a thousand pieces of gold and another thousand in a desperate
at mpt to purchase the fire rat's skin, and in an instant it was up in flames
--a rather disappointing conclusion. Nor is it very edifying, really, that
Prince Kuramochi, who should have known how well informed the prin-
cess was in these matters, should have forged a jeweled branch and so
made of himself a forgery too."
The Bamboo Cutter illustration, by Kose no Omi with a caption by Ki
no Tsurayuki, was mounted on cerise and had a spindle of sandalwood--
rather uninteresring, ill in all.
"Now let us look at the other. Toshikage was battered by tempests
and waves and swept off to foreign parts, but he finally came home,
whence his musical activities sent his fame back across the waters and
down through the centuries. This painting successfully blends the Chinese
and the Japanese and the new and the old, and I say that it is without
rival."
On stiff white paper with a blue mounting and a spindle of yellow
jade, it was the work of Tsunenori and bore a caption by Michikaze. The
effect was dazzlingly modern. The left had to admit defeat.
The Tales of Ise was pitted against The Tale of Jo~sammi. No decision was
forthcoming. The picture offered by the right was again a bright, lively
painting of contemporary life with much, including details of the palace
itself, to recommend it.
"Shall we forget how deep is the sea of Ise
Because the waves have washed away old tracks?"
It was Heinaishinosuke, pleading the cause of the left, though without
great fire or eloquence. "Are the grand accomplishments of Lord Narihira
to be dwarfed by a little love story done with a certain cleverness and
plausibility?"
"To this Jo~sammi, high above august clouds,
The thousand-fathomed sea seems very shallow."
It was Daini, speaking for the right.
<P 313>
Fujitsubo offered an opinion. "However one may admire the proud
spirit of Lady Hyo~e, one certainly would not wish to malign Lord Narihira.
"At first the strands of sea grass may seem old,
But the fisherfolk of Ise are with us yet."
And so poem answered poem in an endless feminine dispute. The
younger and less practiced women hung upon the debate as if for their very
lives; but security precautions had been elaborate, and they were permitted
to see only the smallest part of the riches.
<N 7>
Genji stopped by and was much diverted. If it was all the same, he
said, why not make the final judgments in the emperor's presence? He had
