Chapter X: The Sacred Tree (3)

[13] ‘Ōsaka’ means Hill of Meeting; a gentle slope on the road from Kyōto to Ōtsu.

[14] I.e. to Murasaki.

[15] Genji’s son by Fujitsubo; supposed to be the Emperor’s child. He was now four years old.

[16] In which they packed the costumes they wore while on duty at the palace.

[17] Her relations with Genji. See vol. i, p. 241. She had now become the Emperor’s mistress.

[18] The neglected step-child who in the end triumphs over her pampered rivals is a favourite theme in Japanese stories. Cf. the _Sumiyoshi Monogatari_ and the _Ochikubo_.

[19] See vol. i, pp. 68 and 252.

[20] A ritual in honour of the Five Mysterious Buddhas of the Tantric Sect, to wit: Gōsanze, Gundari, Dai-itoku, Kongō-yasha and Fudō.

[21] See vol i, pp. 241 _seq_.

[22] Genji was Commander of the Imperial Guard. The soldiers of the Guard had to report at 4 a.m. to the senior officer of the Guard who happened on that night to be in the Palace. They had really come to report to some subordinate officer who happened to be lodging close by.

[23] I.e. 4 a.m. They had to go on calling the hour till their officer replied ‘So be it’ to show that he had heard them.

[24] There is a play of words on _aku_ ‘enough’ and _aku_ ‘dawn’; in the next poem between _aku_ ‘enough’ and _aku_ ‘open.’

[25] Wife of the young Emperor Suzaku.

[26] I.e. in a monastery.

[27] Who, after the death of her lover, the Chinese Emperor Kao Tsu, was tortured and mutilated (c. B.C. 200) by his wife.

[28] Genji’s child by Fujitsubo: supposed by the world to be the late Emperor’s son.

[29] The Unrinin, near Kyōto.

[30] Books on monastic discipline, and morality in general.

[31] Princess Asagao.

[32] The canonical book of the Tendai Sect.

[33] The Court was still in mourning and music was not allowed.

[34] The Crown Prince sent an assassin to murder the King of Ch‘in; whereupon the above phenomenon was observed and the Crown Prince felt convinced that the plot would fail. The young courtier vaguely hints that Genji is meditating treason.

[35] I.e. the late Emperor.

[36] Of the Hokkekyō.

[37] Ostensibly the poem refers to the late Emperor, but it has a hidden reference to the meeting of Fujitsubo and Genji. There is a pun on _yuki_, ‘snow,’ and _yuki_, ‘go.’

[38] Of whom we are vaguely told that he was ‘a former Emperor.’

[39] The bishop of the Enryakuji on Mount Hie.

[40] An incense made of sandal-wood, cloves, etc.

[41] I should like to become a priest, but I must stay and look after the child. There is an allusion to the famous poem on the death of a child: ‘Because in Death’s dark land he will not know the way, I will make offerings to the Guardian of Souls that on his shoulders he may carry him.’

[42] Performed by girls on the 16th day and by young men on the 14th and 15th days of the first month.

[43] Twenty-one white horses were offered to the Emperor on the 7th day, and afterwards distributed by him among members of his family.

[44] The residence of the Minister of the Right, Kōkiden’s father.

[45] _Ama_, ‘fishermen,’ also means ‘nun.’

[46]The State grant allowed to an ex-Empress was sufficient to maintain 2,000 dependants.

[47] His wife was the fourth daughter of the Minister of the Right.

[48] Such as Buddha’s birthday, Māyā’s birthday, Buddha’s Nirvāna day, etc.

[49] The Heir Apparent, Genji’s son by Fujitsubo, supposed to be the old Emperor’s child.

[50] One of Genji’s step-brothers.