Chapter 21: The Maiden
Note to telophase jonquil anyone who has stalled out: Genji seems to be drifting from the center of events, and his possible replacement is a lot more likable.
This chapter gets off to a familiar start with Genji pursuing a lady (in this case Asagao) but for once Genji's affairs or non-affairs with women are not the main story. Instead, the focus is mainly on Yugiri, Genji's son by Aoi, who is ten when the chapter begins and fourteen when it ends. Perhaps it's his youth, but I am hoping Yugiri will emerge as the new protagonist because I like him a lot better than I like Genji. He has his father's eye for the ladies, but so far lacks Genji's maddening passive-aggressive blame-shifting tendencies that make the Genji/Murasaki relationship the OTP (One True Pairing) from Hell.
Yugiri is due to be promoted to Fourth Rank, which will enable him to stop wearing the blue robes that mark his current rank, and to take up a court position. In a surprising show of good sense, Genji instead points out that promotions are tacky when they're handed out like candy, and that Genji thinks that he himself didn't get a well-rounded upbringing by growing up in court at the emperor's side. Genji nixes the promotion and arranges for Yugiri to get a thorough education instead. This seems to involve a great deal of memorization of classics, and also seems to be based on the Chinese system involving much of the same. Yugiri is resentful, more about the rank thing than about the prospect of studying, but proves to be an excellent student.
Meanwhile, Genji's protegee, the Rokujo Lady's daughter Akikonomu, becomes empress, to the aggravation of To no Chujo, who had hoped that his older daughter would be chosen. Note how Genji and To no Chujo are still battling for supremacy by proxy. Genji is promoted to chancellor and To no Chujo to Minister of the Center. Oh, and Murasaki's father is still alive. My bad.
To no Chujo has a younger daughter, Kumoinokari, who has long been a playmate of Yugiri's. But To no Chujo separates them lest they get too close, because marriages between cousins are tacky. No, really. Needless to say, the two kids are madly in love, and Yugiri takes every opportunity to slip her notes (which other people keep reading, because he hasn't got the hang of secret courtships yet) and visit her (which he also hasn't got the hang of yet.) This plays out as an echo and counterpoint to Genji's much more suave and less innocent relationships with women.
At one point someone makes a slighting reference to Yugiri's blue robes (colors were limited by law to various ranks) and the lovebirds exchange the following set of poems:
"These sleeves are crimson, dyed with tears of blood.
How can she say that they are lowly blue? It was very unkind."
"My life is dyed with sorrows of several hues.
Pray tell me which is the hue of the part we share."
This reminds me irresistably of octopedingenue's icon in which Sasuke, a very angsty character from Naruto, looks grim and emo while this poem flashes in red: "My soul is like a black, black rose/And darkness o'erhangs me like a hat."
And then they are separated even more firmly. Yugiri tries to console himself with a dancer who, in the latest example of love-by-resemblance, sort of looks like Kumoinokari. Oh, and the dancer is the daughter of Genji's old retainer Koremitsu, who at some offpage point became a governor! But Yugir's heart isn't really in it, and anyway Koremitsu catches them. Woe!
Then we are treated to the very brief return of Kokiden, who is now very old and sort of regrets machinating against Genji, but only because it didn't succeed in the long run.
Yugiri finally gets promoted, but still can't see his girlfriend. Genji builds a new house for all his women, including Akikonomu (who he still seems to be on platonic terms with-- her wing is a sort of summer house, only for autumn) with four seasonal gardens described in gorgeous detail. Murasaki and Akikonomu have a little catfight over who has the better garden, which is conducted via elegant letters with appropriate seasonal foliage attachments.
This chapter gets off to a familiar start with Genji pursuing a lady (in this case Asagao) but for once Genji's affairs or non-affairs with women are not the main story. Instead, the focus is mainly on Yugiri, Genji's son by Aoi, who is ten when the chapter begins and fourteen when it ends. Perhaps it's his youth, but I am hoping Yugiri will emerge as the new protagonist because I like him a lot better than I like Genji. He has his father's eye for the ladies, but so far lacks Genji's maddening passive-aggressive blame-shifting tendencies that make the Genji/Murasaki relationship the OTP (One True Pairing) from Hell.
Yugiri is due to be promoted to Fourth Rank, which will enable him to stop wearing the blue robes that mark his current rank, and to take up a court position. In a surprising show of good sense, Genji instead points out that promotions are tacky when they're handed out like candy, and that Genji thinks that he himself didn't get a well-rounded upbringing by growing up in court at the emperor's side. Genji nixes the promotion and arranges for Yugiri to get a thorough education instead. This seems to involve a great deal of memorization of classics, and also seems to be based on the Chinese system involving much of the same. Yugiri is resentful, more about the rank thing than about the prospect of studying, but proves to be an excellent student.
Meanwhile, Genji's protegee, the Rokujo Lady's daughter Akikonomu, becomes empress, to the aggravation of To no Chujo, who had hoped that his older daughter would be chosen. Note how Genji and To no Chujo are still battling for supremacy by proxy. Genji is promoted to chancellor and To no Chujo to Minister of the Center. Oh, and Murasaki's father is still alive. My bad.
To no Chujo has a younger daughter, Kumoinokari, who has long been a playmate of Yugiri's. But To no Chujo separates them lest they get too close, because marriages between cousins are tacky. No, really. Needless to say, the two kids are madly in love, and Yugiri takes every opportunity to slip her notes (which other people keep reading, because he hasn't got the hang of secret courtships yet) and visit her (which he also hasn't got the hang of yet.) This plays out as an echo and counterpoint to Genji's much more suave and less innocent relationships with women.
At one point someone makes a slighting reference to Yugiri's blue robes (colors were limited by law to various ranks) and the lovebirds exchange the following set of poems:
"These sleeves are crimson, dyed with tears of blood.
How can she say that they are lowly blue? It was very unkind."
"My life is dyed with sorrows of several hues.
Pray tell me which is the hue of the part we share."
This reminds me irresistably of octopedingenue's icon in which Sasuke, a very angsty character from Naruto, looks grim and emo while this poem flashes in red: "My soul is like a black, black rose/And darkness o'erhangs me like a hat."
And then they are separated even more firmly. Yugiri tries to console himself with a dancer who, in the latest example of love-by-resemblance, sort of looks like Kumoinokari. Oh, and the dancer is the daughter of Genji's old retainer Koremitsu, who at some offpage point became a governor! But Yugir's heart isn't really in it, and anyway Koremitsu catches them. Woe!
Then we are treated to the very brief return of Kokiden, who is now very old and sort of regrets machinating against Genji, but only because it didn't succeed in the long run.
Yugiri finally gets promoted, but still can't see his girlfriend. Genji builds a new house for all his women, including Akikonomu (who he still seems to be on platonic terms with-- her wing is a sort of summer house, only for autumn) with four seasonal gardens described in gorgeous detail. Murasaki and Akikonomu have a little catfight over who has the better garden, which is conducted via elegant letters with appropriate seasonal foliage attachments.