riage to Genji and her presence so close at hand had an unsettling effect
on him. Performing this and that routine service for her, he was coming
to see what sort of lady she was. She was very young and rather quiet, and
that was all. Genji seemed determined to do what the world expected of
him, but it was hard to believe that she really interested him very much.
Nor did there seem to be women of substance among her attendants.
Yu~giri thought them a flock of pretty young things forever preening them-
selves and chatting and playing games. It was a happy enough household,
but if it contained women of a serious, meditative bent the outsider did
not see them. The most melancholy of women would have been painted
over with the same cheerful brush. Genji might not be enormously pleased
at the sight of all these little girls at their games the whole day through,
but he was by nature neither an uncharitable man nor a reformer, and he
did not interfere. He did, however, give some attention to training the
princess herself, and she was beginning to seem a little less heedless and
immature.
Not many women, thought Yu~giri, were perfect. Only Murasaki had
over the years seemed beyond criticism. She had quietly lived her own life
and no scandal had touched her. She had treated no one maliciously or
arrogantly, and had herself always been a model of graceful and courtly
demeanor. He could not forget the one glimpse he had had of her.
Kumoinokari, his own wife, was certainly pretty and pleasing enough, but
she was in a way rather ordinary. She was without strong traits or remark-
able accomplishments. Now that he had no more worries in that quarter
he found his excitement waning and his interest moving back to Rokujo~,
where so many fine ladies, each outstanding in her way, were gathered
together. The Third Princess's pedigree was certainly the finest, but it
seemed equally certain that Genji gave her a lower rating as a person than
some of the others and was but keeping up appearances. Yu~giri was not
exactly consumed with longing and curiosity, but he did hope that he
might sometime have a glimpse of her too.
A frequenter of the Suzaku Palace, Kashiwagi had known all about
the Third Princess and the Suzaku emperor's worries. He had offered
himself as a candidate for her hand. His candidacy had not been dismissed,
and then, suddenly and to his very great disappointment, she had gone to
Genji. He still could not reconcile himself to what had happened. He seems
to have taken some comfort in exchanging reports with women whom he
had known in her maiden days. He of course heard what everyone else
heard, that she was no great competitor for Genji's affection.
<P 581>
He was forever complaining to Kojiju~, her nurse's daughter. "I am
much beneath her, I know, but I would have made her happy. I know of
course that she was meant for someone far grander."
Nothing in this world is permanent, and Genji might one day make
up his mind to leave it. Kashiwagi kept after Kojiju~.
Prince Hotaru and Kashiwagi came calling at Rokujo~ one pleasant day
in the Third Month. Genji received them.
"Life is quiet these days, and rather dull, I fear. My affairs public and
private go almost too smoothly. So how shall we amuse ourselves today?
Yu~giri is devoted to that small-bow of his, and never misses a chance to
take it out, and that would be a possibility. Where might he be? He had
a collection of eminent young archers with him. Was he so unwise as to
let them go?" He was told that Yu~giri and his friends, a large band of them,
were at football in the northeast quarter. "Not a very genteel pastime,
perhaps, but something to wake you up and keep you on the alert. Send
for him, please."
The summons was delivered and Yu~giri came bringing numbers of
young gentlemen with him.
"Did you bring your ball? And who are all of you?"
Yu~giri gave the names.
"Fine. Let us see what you can do."
The crown princess and her baby had gone back to the palace. Genji
was in her rooms, now almost deserted. The garden was level and open
here the brooks came together. It seemed both a practical and an elegant
To~ no Chu~jo~'s sons, Kashiwagi and the rest, some grown
men and some still boys, rather dominated the gathering. The day was a
fine, windless one. It was late afternoon. Ko~bai at first seemed to stand on
his dignity, but he quite lost himself in the game as it gathered momentum.
"Just see the effect it has on civil office," said Genji. "I would expect
you guardsmen to be jumping madly about and letting your commissions
fall where they may. I was always among the spectators myself, and now
I genuinely wish I had been more active. Though as I have said it may not
be the most genteel pursuit in the world."
Taking their places under a fine cherry in full bloom, Yu~giri and
Kashiwagi were very handsome in the evening light. Genji's less than
genteel sport--such things do happen--took on something of the elegance
of the company and the place. Spring mists enfolded trees in various stages
of bud and bloom and new leaf. The least subtle of games does have its
skills and techniques, and each of the players was determined to show
what he could do. Though Kashiwagi played only briefly, he was clearly
the best of them all. He was handsome but retiring, intense and at the same
time lively and expansive. Though the players were now under the cherry
directly before the south stairs, they had no eye for the blossoms. Genji
and Prince Hotaru were at a corner of the veranda.
Yes, there were many skills, and as one inning followed another a
<P 582>
certain abandon was to be observed and caps of state were pushed rather
far back on noble foreheads. Yu~giri could permit himself a special measure
of abandon, and his youthful spirits and vigor were infectious. He had on
a soft white robe lined with red. His trousers were gently taken in at the
ankles, but by no means untidy. He seemed very much in control of
himself despite the abandon, and cherry petals fell about him like a flurry
of snow. He broke off a twig from a dipping branch and went to sit on the
stairs.
"How quick they are to fall," said Kashiwagi, coming up behind him.
"We much teach the wind to blow wide and clear."
He glanced over toward the Third Princess's rooms. They seemed to
be in the usual clutter. The multicolored sleeves pouring from under the
blinds and through openings between them were like an assortment of
swatches to be presented to the goddess of spring. Only a few paces from
him a woman had pushed her curtains carelessly aside and looked as if she
might be in a mood to receive a gentleman's addresses. A Chinese cat, very
<P 583>
small and pretty, came running out with a larger cat in pursuit. There was
a noisy rustling of silk as several women pushed forward to catch it. On
a long cord which had become badly tangled, it would not yet seem to have
been fully tamed. As it sought to free itself the cord caught in a curtain,
which was pulled back to reveal the women behind. No one, not even
those nearest the veranda, seemed to notice. They were much too worried
about the cat.
A lady in informal dress stood just inside the curtains beyond the
second pillar to the west. Her robe seemed to be of red lined with lavender,
and at the sleeves and throat the colors were as bright and varied as a book
of paper samples. Her cloak was of white figured satin lined with red. Her
hair fell as cleanly as sheaves of thread and fanned out towards the neatly
trimmed edges some ten inches beyond her feet. In the rich billowing of
her skirts the lady scarcely seemed present at all. The white profile framed
by masses of black hair was pretty and elegant--though unfortunately the
room was dark and he could not see her as well in the evening light as he
would have wished. The women had been too delighted with the game,
young gentlemen heedless of how they scattered the blossoms, to worry
<P 584>
about blinds and concealment. The lady turned to look at the cat, which
was mewing piteously, and in her face and figure was an abundance of
quiet, unpretending young charm.
Yu~giri saw and strongly disapproved, but would only have made
matters worse by stepping forward to lower the blind. He coughed warn-
ingly. The lady slipped out of sight. He too would have liked to see more,
and he sighed when, the cat at length disengaged, the blind fell back into
place. Kashiwagi's regrets were more intense. It could only have been the
Third Princess, the lady who was separated from the rest of the company
by her informal dress. He pretended that nothing had happened, but Yu~giri
knew that he had seen the princess, and was embarrassed for her. Seeking
to calm himself, Kashiwagi called the cat and took it up in his arms. It was
delicately perfumed. Mewing prettily, it brought the image of the Third
Princess back to him (for he had been ready to fall in love).
"This is no place for our young lordships to be wasting their time,"
said Genji. "Suppose we go inside." He led the way to the east wing, where
he continued his conversation with Prince Hotaru.
Still excited from the game, the younger men found places on the
veranda, where they were brought simple refreshments, pears and oranges
and camellia cakes, and wine and dried fish and the like to go with it.
Kashiwagi was lost in thought. From time to time he would look
vacantly up at the cherries.
Yu~giri thought he understood. His friend must agree, he was also
thinking, that it was unseemly for so fine a lady to step forward into such
an exposed position. Murasaki would never have been so careless. Yu~giri
could see, he feared, why Genji's esteem for the princess seemed to fall
rather short of that of the world in general. This childlike insouciance was
no doubt charming, but it might cause trouble.
Kashiwagi was not thinking about the princess's defects. He had seen
her accidentally and very briefly, to be sure, but he had most certainly seen
her. He was telling himself that there had to be a bond between them and
that the steadfastness of his devotion was being rewarded.
"To~ no Chu~jo~ and I were always in competition," said Genji, in a
reminiscent mood, "and football was the one thing I never succeeded in
besting him at. It may seem flippant to speak of a football heritage, but I
really believe that there must be such a thing, unusual talent handed down
in a family. You quite dazzled us, sir."
Kashiwagi smiled. "I doubt that the honor will mean very much to our
descendants."
"Surely you are wrong. Everything that is genuinely outstanding de-
serves to be chronicled. This would be a most interesting and edifying item
for a family chronicle."
Kashiwagi was wondering what sort of charms would be required to
<P 585>
impress the wife of a man so youthful and handsome, to win her pity and
sympathy. He was overwhelmed by sudden and hopeless feelings of in-
feriority.
He and Yu~giri left in the same carriage.
"We were right to pay our visit," said Yu~giri. "I fear the poor man is
bored. We must find time for another before the blossoms have fallen. Do
come again and bring your bow with you, and help us enjoy the last of
the spring."
They agreed upon a day.
"I gather that your father spends most of his time in the east wing.
His regard for the lady there seems really extraordinary." And Kashiwagi
went on to say perhaps more than he should have. "What effect do you
suppose it has on the Third Princess? She has always been her father's
favorite. It must be a new experience for her."
"Nonsense. It is true that the lady in the east wing has a rather
particular place in his life, but that is because he took her in when she was
still a child. But he is very good to the princess."
"You needn't try to distort the facts. I know quite well enough what
they are. People tell me that she has a sad time of it. Nothing in her
background can have prepared her.
"The generous warbler, moving from tree to tree,
Neglects the cherry alone among them all."
And he added softly: "And the cherry, among them all, seems right
for the bird of spring."
This seemed downright impertinent, though Yu~giri did think he un-
derstood his friend's reasons.
"The cuckoo building its nest in mountain depths
Does not, be assured, neglect the cherry blossom.
"Surely, sir, you are not asking that he give her the whole of his
attention?"
Wishing to hear no more, he changed the subject, and presently they
went their separate ways.
Kashiwagi still lived alone in the east wing of his father's mansion.
He had had his hopes, and though he remained a bachelor by his own
choice he was sometimes bored and unhappy. He was good enough, he had
still been able to tell himself, to have the lady he wanted if he only waited
long enough. But now he was in anguish. When might he again see the
Third Princess, even as briefly as on the evening of the football match? A
lesser lady might have found an excuse for leaving the house, a taboo or
something of the sort. But she was a princess, and he must contrive to send
word of his longing through thick walls and curtains.
He settled upon the usual note to Kojiju~. "The winds the other day
<P 586>
blew me in upon your premises, to increase your lady's hostility, no doubt.
Since that evening I have been in deep despondency. I brood my days away
for no good reason.
"The trees of sorrow seem denser from near at hand,
And my yearning grows for those blossoms in the twilight."
Not knowing what "blossoms in the twilight" he had reference to,
