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Kiritsubo - Paulownia Court |
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The autumn tempests blew and suddenly the evenings were chilly. Lost in his grief, the emperor sent off a note to the grandmother. His messenger was a woman of middle rank called Myo-bu. It was on a beautiful moonlit night when he dispatched her. Myo-bu reached the grandmother's house. Her carriage was drawn through the gate and made its way through the tangles. The weeds grew ever higher and the autumn winds tore threateningly at the garden. The grandmother was unable to control her tears. After a pause she read the message from the emperor. He said that he was in a deep grief over losing the lady and could not bear to think of the child languishing in the house of tears.
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Kuniyoshi, 1845/46 |
Myo-bu was much moved to find the emperor waiting up for her. Making it seem that his attention was on the small and beautifully planted garden before him, now in full autumn bloom, he was talking quietly with some women, among the most sensitive of his attendants. He had become addicted to the illustrations by the emperor Uda for "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" and to poems on that subject, and to Chinese poems as well which reminded him of his relation with Koi. He listened attentively as Myo-bu described the scene she had found. He took up the letter she had brought from the grandmother telling of his worry about the future of the child. Looking at the keepsakes Myo-bu had brought back, he reviewed his memories over and over again, from his very earliest days with the dead lady. The months passed and the young prince returned to the palace. At the age of seven, an embassy came from Korea. Hearing that among the emissaries was a skilled physiognomist, the emperor would have liked to summon him for consultation. |
He decided, however, to send Genji to the Koro mansion, where the party was lodged. The boy was disguised as the son of the grand moderator, his guardian at court. Korean cocked his head in astonishment. "It is the face of one who should ascend to the highest place and be father to the nation," he said quietly, as if to himself. "But to take it for such would no doubt be to predict trouble. Yet it is not the face of the minister, the deputy, who sets about ordering public affairs."
The moderator was a man of considerable learning. There was much of interest in his exchanges with the Korean. There were also exchanges of Chinese poetry among the three of them. The boy offered a verse that was received with high praise. The emperor summoned the new lady, Fujitsubo who resembled the dead lady. Gradually his affections shifted to this new lady who consoled him a lot. People began calling Genji "the shining one" and the lady "the lady of the radiant sun". The emperor wanted the two of them to be close to each other.
When he reached the age of twelve, he went through his initiation ceremonies and received the cap of an adult. It was held in the Grand Seiryouden Hall. The throne faced east on the east porch, and before it was Genji's seat and that of the minister who was to bestow on him the official cap. The freshness of his face and his boyish coiffure were again such as to make the emperor regret that the change must take place. The secretary of the treasury performed the ritual cutting of the boy’s hair.
As the beautiful locks fell the emperor was seized with a hopeless longing for his dead lady. The ceremony over, the boy withdrew to change into adult trousers and descended into the courtyard for ceremonial thanksgiving. The emperor was stirred by the deepest of emotions. He had on brief occasions been able to forget the past, and now it all came back again. Vaguely apprehensive lest the initiation of so young a boy bring a sudden aging, he was astonished to see that his son delighted him even more. Genji married Aoi-no-Ue, the daughter of the Minister of Left. The bride was older, and ill at ease with young husband. Fujitsubo was for him a sublime beauty.
Resumed by Mary Nagase. Published by UNESCO.© UNESCO 2000