The Tale Of Genji

This chapter is omitted from this edition. 

At 26, Genji is now facing a new social landscape: his father, the former Emperor, is dead, his beloved Fujitsubo has renounced the world to become a nun, and Genji is secretly the father of a child with her (the next Heir Apparent, who everyone believes was fathered by the late Emperor).

Additionally, one of his political enemies, the Kokiden Consort, has been planning for years to cause him to fall from grace, and she seems to have finally achieved her goal—at least temporarily—by drawing attention to Genji’s affair with Oborozukiyo, who was meant to be betrothed to her own son, the Emperor. Still, Genji also caused much of his own trouble, through years romantic indiscretion as well as relying on belief in his infallible social popularity to support him.After years of considering self-exile, Genji decides to finally leave Kyoto for the time being, to live out the next few years in Suma (now Kobe).

Social customs do not allow him to take anyone close with him on his exile. Genji is especially devastated to have to leave Murasaki behind. He sends letters and bids goodbye to everyone close to him over a series of days, including his closest ally, friend, and brother-in-law, To no Chujo, with whom he drinks and has a long farewell.

Before leaving he also goes to say goodbye to Murasaki, though he is not direct with her about where he has been when making his rounds saying farewell. Though Murasaki’s father is now aware she lives with Genji, he will not see his daughter due to her association with Genji, whose reputation for infidelity has finally spread, after years of rampant indiscretions:

She would still have been unhappy even if she had been old enough to have thought things over better and known more of life, and no wonder she missed him keenly considering how close she was to him and how he had been both father and mother to her while she grew up (236).

Murasaki has almost no other close contacts besides Genji, since he raised her, but due to her rank he still cannot ever publicly acknowledge they are married. As he goes away into exile, she has no one close to her in her life besides Genji’s servants, and she tells him she longs to go with him.

Genji begins his self-exile in Suma, a rural coastal town. He sends poetry to his romantic contacts back on the mainland. In exile, Genji loses weight, as well as hope. The narrator yet again reminds the reader of Genji’s beauty, and tells of his servants find that his lost weight and sorrow make him even more attractive than before. Missing his friend, To no Chujo visits Genji at Suma, though departs again shortly after. After To no Chujo leaves Genji, one of his companions at Suma suggests Genji go through the ritual of purification, to cast off his troubles. The doll used in the process is sent into the sea, and though the day begins clear and calm, a sudden lightning storm strikes the purification and rages for hours. After Genji’s prayers and chants, the storm eventually clears, but as Genji falls asleep, he is visited in his dreams by the Dragon King of the Sea, beckoning him to come back to court. The dream further upsets Genji and convinces him he can no longer stay in the same place he has been living at Suma.

Genji is further depressed and daunted by the terrible stormy coastal weather at Suma. His dark dreams of the Dragon King of the Sea continue to haunt him, and letters he receives from Murasaki at Nijo are filled with sadness, as well. Those outside of Suma even take the relentless rain and storms as a supernatural curse. Finally, Genji submits himself to prayer and vows, but soon after, lightning strikes a gallery off the side of the house. Still, the main house is not burnt, and the storms and winds abate, and his home is not destroyed by the tide. Genji, though in despair at this point, is grateful for the gods for not completely drowning him.

Exhausted by the storm, fire, and brushes with death, Genji then has a vision of his late father, the former Emperor, appear to him. The apparition of his father instructs him to sail away from Suma, and that the God of Sumiyoshi will protect him: “Genji was overjoyed. ‘Since you and I parted, Your Majesty, I have known so many sorrows that I would gladly cast my life away here on this shore’” (256). His father’s spirit asks Genji not to end his life, and lets him know the recent events are only karmic retribution. He also says it is Genji’s distress which has brought his father back to instruct Genji to leave Suma. With that, his vision departs in order to go speak with his other son, the current Emperor, about allowing Genji back to Kyoto after exile. Genji is heartbroken to see his father’s apparition leave; when he looks up, there is only the moon.

Soon after, a few men land ashore in a boat with a local official, the Akashi Novice. Genji tells Lord Yoshikiyo, the local noble there, to bring him over, since his dream of his father’s instructions to leave Suma seems it may be connected to this stranger’s arrival. Similarly, the Novice also has had dreams beckoning him to come sail to Suma. Genji decides to leave for Akashi with the Novice in his boat. Genji summons one of his messengers, who writes that the trials at Suma are as bad as ever, and he sends him “gifts beyond his station” for the messenger’s troubles (260). Fujitsubo is the only person he writes to about how close he has come to death (260).

Upon arrival at Akashi, which is already much more beautiful and welcoming than Suma, Genji learns the Akashi Novice has a daughter, known as the Akashi Lady. The Novice talks about her much more than usual around Genji, though his manner and interesting stories help relieve Genji of the agitation he had felt for so many weeks before. When the princess spots Genji for the first time, she is not only shocked by his looks, since she has hardly ever seen a man her age, she is also dismayed that her parents secretly plan for her to potentially marry someone she sees as so above her stature.

The Novice and Genji spend much time together sharing stories and histories, and playing music together. Eventually he tells Genji his trials and journey to Akashi from Suma may be “devised by the gods and buddhas in compassionate response to an old monk’s years of prayer” (264). The Novice goes on to tell Genji he has been praying for years that his daughter will be able to marry well, given how isolated their lives are, and the fact that his father was a minister of good social rank. During this conversation, they determine between the two of them Genji should have the Akashi Princess for a partner (without her input).

Once Genji begins sending the Akashi Princess messages, she is overwhelmed by thoughts of how superior his station is over hers. She is not comfortable with the idea of having a relationship with him, but her father intercedes and encourages their courtship.

Back in the city, Genji’s brother, the Emperor, dreams his father visits him, glaring at him angrily. The Emperor assumes this about Genji, and tells his mother, the Kokiden Consort. She tells her son, the Emperor, there is nothing good to come from him accepting Genji back again to the city out of exile, and as months pass both The Emperor and the Kokiden Consort grow ill.

Meanwhile, the Akashi Lady does not want to see Genji, despite her father’s wishes: “She had heard that miserable country girls were the ones who foolishly surrendered that way to the flattering talk of a gentleman briefly down from the city” (169). Concerned Genji will neglect her after they consummate their arranged union, the princess does not become any more positive about meeting Genji. Finally, when he and her father arrange for him to come to the house and see her overnight, she is forced to sleep with him, even though she hardly even wants to speak to him at all. Genji leaves in the morning with assurances that he loves her, and feels badly about how their interaction has been set-up, but he still thinks mainly of how he misses Murasaki as he rides away.

Genji continues to see the Akashi Lady secretly, but she still is ashamed of it and he is there mainly as he does not want to spend nights alone. Meanwhile, Murasaki continues to write Genji about her sad current condition, realizing just how isolated Genji has made her life since taking her as a child. Eventually, The Emperor (his brother) and his mother (the Kokiden Consort) become so ill, The Emperor heeds the message of his and Genji’s dead father in his dreams, and officially allows Genji to return to Kyoto.

This early request to return to society is a tremendous victory for Genji. However, his departure from Akashi causes the princes and her parents immense grief: Genji, after all, is abandoning their daughter, just as feared. To make matters worse for them, she is pregnant during the time Genji is leaving. Nonetheless, she gives him her koto instrument as a parting gift.

The Novice and his wife argue about letting their daughter be used in this way, pregnant and now seemingly abandoned by a higher-ranking official. The Novice is convinced Genji has some better plans for their daughter, even though Genji is leaving for Kyoto and has not made any specific promises to them about the Akashi Lady’s future.

Back in the city, Genji is reunited with Murasaki, and he is promoted to Acting Grand Counselor. He and his half-bother, The Emperor, reconcile for now. The chapter ends with Genji sending a letter to Akashi, checking on the state of the pregnant princess.

Genji is now around 28yearsold, and he is back in honorable standing with the court. He has been promoted to Palace Minister, and his half-brother, The Emperor, decides to abdicate. This change in power makes Genji’s son, Reizei, the Emperor. The boy looks almost identical to Genji. The former Emperor passes on his apologies to Oborozukiyo, whose past affair with Genji only results in lukewarm attentions, and she has a painful epiphany: she cannot understand why she ever even took part in such a scandal. There are many other royal position changes, but overall, those who favor Genji are back in power.

Genji’s son from Aoi has grown into a handsome little boy, and Genji becomes known for his kindness to his son’s staff and gentlewomen.

At this point, the narrator assures readers that Genji has not fully neglected the Akashi Lady and his potential child with her:

Oh yes—he never forgot his anxiety about the lady whom he had left in so delicate a condition at Akashi, and despite a press of affairs, both public and private, that kept him from giving her the attention he desired, he realizedthe day […] might soon be at hand, and in a rush of secret feeling sent off a messenger(286).

The Akashi Lady gives birth to a daughter, and thus fulfills the prophecy that Genji’s three children will all become high-ranking royalty and nobility. Genji sends the Akashi Lady his thoughts and promises to visit soon, and is excited to see his daughter. Though the Akashi Lady had been feeling unwell, this new interest from Genji brightens her.

Meanwhile, the Rokujo Haven has become quite sick, and Genji rushes to see her. However, even arriving to visit his ill former mistress, he wonders what her daughter, Akikonomu (Princess of Ise) is like, now that she is older. The Rokujo Haven is nonetheless moved that Genji expresses such care for her while he is there, and, convinced she is likely dying, asks Genji to look after her daughter without any intentions to seduce or marry her. She makes Genji promise he will only raise her with trust and as a true surrogate father, with absolutely no romantic or sexual actions on his part. Genji promises her she has his word, and he tells the Rokujo Haven the past few years have made him much wiser. The Rokujo Haven passes away, and Genji lets her daughter know he will look after her as a guardian, with only her best interests at heart. For instance, the former Emperor is interested in having Akikonomu (the Rokujo Haven’s daughter) as a potential partner, but Genji negotiates with him that she should be moved to Nijo instead, as his adopted daughter.

Murasaki is still sad she is not yet a mother to a child from Genji. However, she is glad to receive Akikonomu (Princess of Ise) in the house, and help raise her. The chapter ends summarizing other real power shifts and position changes, and Fujitsubo helps the new Emperor, her and Genji’s son, prepare for the relationships and life ahead of him.

This chapter is omitted from this edition. 

This chapter is omitted from this edition.

The Rokujo Haven’s daughter, Akikonomu (raised by Murasaki as a ward under Genji in his home at Nijo) comes back to the royal court. Genji is 31yearsold, and has remained in goodstanding over the last few years. Akikonomu has developed into an excellent painter, and as the Emperor (Fujitsubo and Genji’s son, Reizei) also loves to paint, she is soon favored by the young ruler. However, To no Chujo’s daughter was previously the Emperor’s favorite companion (both are 13yearsold), and so as her father, he brings in several pieces of art to also please the young Emperor.

Soon enough there is an art contest, after which this chapter is named. Cho no Chujo’s Blue team (more modern) is competing against Genji’s Red team (more classical). While both teams work through the night, Genji brings out his coup de grace: a painting he made while in Suma, in self-exile.

Genji's team wins the contest, his allies are mostly in power and back in favor, Fujitsubo (though a nun) is nearby, and Genji goes on to create even more brilliant touches to festivities through the reign of the young Emperor. Even Cho no Chujo’s concern over his daughter potentially losing favor with the young Emperor is eased: he can see the young man is as devoted to her as ever. Though all seems well on the surface, Genji is uneasy at heart.

Chapter 17, the last chapter in the Royall Tyler abridged translation, ends with Genji considering yet again renouncing society: “All the past examples he knew suggested that those who rise to dizzying heights when young do not endure” (319). His hope to raise his children is suggested as perhaps the only motivation Genji has to stay as part of the court and not shut himself away once more. In the last line of Chapter 17, the narrator acknowledges no one can know Genji’s intentions, as he watches one phase of his life fully close, and another begin.