Genji Monogatari - The Tale of Genji: Ye-Awase (Competitive Show of Pictures)

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section eighteen of Genji Monago Taari by Murasaki Shikibu. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain Section eighteen yi
Awase Competitive Show of Pictures. The introduction of the late Saigu,
the daughter of the Lady of Ruggio at court, was

(00:20):
now arranged to take place with the approval of the
Empress Mother, the Princess Wisteria. All the arrangements and preparations
were made, though not quite openly, under the eye of Genji,
who took a parental interest in her. It may be
remembered that the ex Emperor was once struck by her
charms on the eve of her departure for Isse, and

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though he never encouraged this fancy to become anything more
than an ordinary partiality, he took no small interest in
all that concerned her welfare. When the day of introduction arrived,
he made her several beautiful presents, such as a comb box,
a dressing table, and a casket containing rare perfumes. At

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her residence, all her female attendants and some others assembled,
who made every preparation with the utmost pains in the palace.
The Empress Mother was with her royal son on this day,
he was still a mere boy and scarcely understood what
was going on. But he was now fully informed on
the subject by his mother, and was told that a

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very interesting lady was going to reside in the palace
to attend on him, and that he must be good
and kind to her. The presentation took place late in
the evening, and henceforth she was called the Nyogo of
the Umitsubo Plum Chamber, from the name of her apartment.
She was a charming lady, and the Emperor was not

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without a certain liking for her. Yet, Lady Kokhaiden, the
daughter of gon Chio Nagan to Nochio Jo, who had
been introduced some time previously and consequently was an acquaintance
of an older date, was much more frequently preferred by
him to the other for society in daily amusement. When

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gon Chi Nagan introduced his daughter, he did not, of course,
do so without hope of her further elevation. But now
Lady Plum came to assume a position through Genji's influence,
as if to compete with his daughter for the royal favor,
And it was by no means glad tidings for him.
It may be here mentioned that Prince hiob Kio had, also,

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as we have already seen, an intention of introducing one
of his daughters at court. But this hope was doomed
to disappointment by the establishing of the two ladies already introduced,
and he was induced to defer his intention, at least
for the present. The Emperor was very fond of pictures
and painted with considerable ability. Lady Plum, too, as it happened,

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possessed the same taste as the Emperor, and used often
to amuse herself by painting. If therefore he liked to
ordinary call tears who exhibited a taste for painting, it
was no matter of surprise that he liked to see
the delicate hands of the lady occupied in carefully laying
on colours. This similarity of taste gradually drew his attention

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to her and led to frequent visits to the Plum chamber.
When gon Chiu Nagan was informed of these circumstances, he
took the matter into his own hands. He himself determined
to excite a spirit of rivalry. He contrived means to
counteract the influence of painting, and commission several famous artists
of the times to execute some elaborate pictures. Most of

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these were subjects taken from old romances, as he conceived
that these were always more attractive than mere fanciful pictures.
He had also caused to be painted a representation of
every month of the year, which would also be likely,
he thought to interest the Emperor. When these pictures were finished,
he took them to court and submitted them to his inspection.

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But he would not agree that that he should take
any of them to the plum chamber, and they were
all deposited in the chamber of his daughter Genji. When
he heard of this, said of his brother in law,
he is young, he never could be behind others. He was, however,
unable to pass the matter over unnoticed. He told the

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Emperor that he would present him with some old pictures, and,
returning to his mansion at Nisio, he opened his picture cabinet,
where numbers of old and new pictures were kept. From these,
with the assistance of Violet, he made a selection of
the best, but such pictures as the illustration of the Long
Regrets or representation of oshio Kun were reserved, because the

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terminations of these stories were not happy ones. He also
took out of his cabinet the sketches which he had
made while in Suma and Akashi, and showed them for
the first time to Violet, who was a little angry
at his not having shown them to her sooner. It
was about the tenth of and the face of nature
began to smile with the approach of spring, making the

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hearts and tempers of people more calm and cheerful. Besides,
it was just the time when the court was unoccupied
with the keeping of any festival. There could be no
better chance than this for such an exhibition of pictures
to attract the attention of people enjoying leisure. Genji therefore
sent his collection of pictures to the palace on behalf
of the Lady of the plum Chamber. This soon created

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a sensation in the palace. Most of the pictures that
were in the possession of the Lady of the plum
Chamber were from old romances, and the pictures themselves were
of ancient date, being rare, while those of Kokhaiden were
more modern subjects and by living artists. Thus, each of
them had their special merits, so that it became difficult

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to say which were more excellent talking of these pictures
became quite a fashionable subject to conversation of the courtiers
of the day. The Imperial Mother happened to be at court,
and when she saw these pictures and her different persons
at court discussing their relative merits, she suggested that they
should divide themselves into two parties right and left, and

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regularly to give their judgment. This was accordingly done. Hey
Nishi no Suke, Jujo no Naishi, and Hiyoshio no Miyobu
took the left on the side of the Lady of
the plum chamber, while Daini no Naishi no suke, Chiyojyo

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no Miyobu and Hyoye no Miyobu took the right on
the side of the kokaiden. The first picture selected was
the illustration of the bamboo cutter by the left, as
it was the most appropriate to come first for the
discussion of its merits, as being the parent of romance.
To compete with this, that of the toshikage from the

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empty wood was selected by the right. The left now
stated their case, saying the bamboo indeed is story too
may be an old and commonly known thing, but the
maiden Khakia in keeping her purity unsolid in this world
is highly admirable. Besides, it was an occurrence that belongs
to a prehistorical period. No ordinary woman could ever be

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equal to her, and so this picture has an excellence. Thereupon,
the right argued in opposition to this, saying, the sky
where the maiden Khakia has gone away may indeed be high,
but it is beyond human reach, so we may put
it aside. When she made her appearance in this world,
she was, after all a creature of bamboo, and indeed

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we may consider her even lower than ourselves. It may
also be true that she threw a bright radiance over
the inside of a cottage, but she never shone in
the august society of a palace. Abbe nor Ushi's spending
millions of money in order to get the so called
fireproof rat, which when obtained, was consumed in the flame

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in a moment, is simply ridiculous. Prince Kuramuchi's pretended jewel
branch was simply a delusion. Besides, his picture is by
kose no Onmi, with notes by Surayuki. These are not
very uncommon. The paper is Cama only covered with Chinese stain.
The outer cover is reddish purple, and the center stick

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is purple asidarak. These are very common ornaments now. Toshikage,
though he had undergone a severe trial from the raging storm,
and had been carried to a strange country, arrived at
length at the country to which he was originally dispatched,
and from there returned to his native land, having achieved

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his object and having made his ability recognize both at
home and abroad. This picture is the life of this man,
and it represents many scenes, not only of his country,
but the foreign ones, which cannot fail to be interesting.
We therefore dare to place this one above the other
in merit. The ground of this picture was thick, white

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tinted paper. The outer cover was green, in the center
stick jade. The picture was by Tsune Noori, and the
writing by miche Kage. It was in the highest taste
of the period. The left made no more protestation against
the right. Next, the romance of Is by the left
and that of Shiosami by the right were brought into competition.

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Here Again, the relative merit was very difficult to be
decided at once. That of the right had apparently more
charms than that of the other, since it beautifully represented
the society of a more recent period. He Naishi on
the left therefore said, if leaving the depths of IS's
Knight Si, we follow the fancies of new fashioned dreams,

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or the beauty and skill of the ancients will be
swept away by the current of art's modern streams. Who
would run down the fame of Narihira for the sake
of the pretentious humbug of our own days? Then Daini
no Naishi no Suke of the right replied, the noble
mind that soars on high beyond the star bespangled sky

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looks down with ease on depths that lie a thousand
fathoms neath his eye. Upon this the Empress Mother interceded.
She said that the exalted nobility of Lord Hyoye may
not indeed be passed over with that notice, Yet the
name of Narihira could not altogether be eclipsed by his

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Though too well known to all, may be the lovely
shore of Ises Si, its aged fisher's honored name a
tribute of respect, may claim. There were several more roles
to be exhibited, and the rival protestations on both sides
became very warm, so that one role occasioned considerable discussion.
While this was going on, Genji arrived on the sea.

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He suggested to them that if there was any competition
at all, it should be decided on a specially appointed
day in a more solemn manner, in the presence of
the Emperor. This suggestion having been adopted, the discussion came
to an end. The day for this purpose was fixed.
The ex Emperor, who had been informed of this, presented
several pictures to the Lady of the plum chamber. They

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were mostly illustrations of court festivals, on which there were
explanatory remarks written by the Emperor Yengi. Besides these, there
was one which had been expressly executed at his own
order by Kimochi. This was an illustration of the ceremony
which took place at his palace on the departure of
the Lady for Is some time back, when she had

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gone there as the Sayigu. It was also probable that
some of his pictures came into the possession of her rival,
the Lady Kokhaiten through his mother, as a mother of
the former was a sister of the latter. When the
day arrived, every arrangement was made in the large saloon
at the rear of the palace, where the imperial seat

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was placed at the top. The court ladies of both parties,
those of the Lady of the plum Chamber and those
of the Lady of Kakhaiden, were arranged respectively left and right,
the left or those of the Lady of the plum
Chamber facing southwards, and those of the right northwards. All
the courtiers also took the places allotted to them. Here

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the pictures were brought. The box containing those on the
left was of purple asidarak. The stand on which the
box was placed was of saffra, and over this was
thrown a cover of Chinese brocade with a mauve ground.
The seat underneath was of Chinese colored silk. Six young

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girls brought all this inn and arranged it all in order.
Their Khazami outer dress was of a red and cherry color,
with tunics of wisteria lining, light purple outside and light
green within. The box which contained the pictures of the
right was of jin wood, the stand of light colored gin,

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the cover of Korean silk with a green ground. The
legs of the sand which were trellised round with the
silken cord showed modern and artistic taste. The kazami of
the young girls was of willow lining white outside and
green within, and their tunics were of carria japonica lining
or yellow outside and light red within. Both Genji and

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Gonchionagan were present by the Emperor's special invitation, as also
the Prince Lord Lieutenant of Zukushi, who loved pictures above
all things, and he was consequently chosen umpire for this
day's competition. Many of the pictures were highly admirable, and
it was most difficult to make any preference between them.

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For instance, if there was produced by one party a
role of this season, which was the masterpiece of some
old master on selected subjects, there was produced also by
the other party a roll of sketches on paper, which
were scarcely inferior to and more ornamented with flourishing than
the ancient works, in spite of the necessary limitation of space,

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which generally makes the wide expanse of scenery almost too
difficult to express. Thus the disputes on both sides were
very warm. Meanwhile, the Imperial mother, the Princess Wistaria, also
came into the saloon, pushing aside the sliding screen of
the breakfast chamber. The criticism still continued, in which Genji

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made now and then suggested remarks. Before all was finished,
the shades of evening began to fall on them. There
remained on the right one more role. When the role
of Suma was produced on the left, it made going
Jio Nargan slightly embarrassed. The last role of the right was,
of course a selected one, but it had several disadvantages

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in comparison with that of Suma. The sketches on this
role had been done by Genji with great pains and time.
They were illustrations of different bays and shawls. They were
most skillfully executed and carried away the minds of the
spectators to the actual spots on them. Illustrative remarks were written,
sometimes in the shape of a diary, occasionally mingled with

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poetical effusions, in style both grave and easy. These made
a great impression on the Emperor and on everyone present,
and finally, owing to this role, the Left was decided
to have won. The victory. Then followed the partaking of refreshments,
as was usual on such occasions. In the course of conversation,

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Genji remarked to the Lord Lieutenant. From my boyhood I
paid much attention to reading and writing, and perhaps my
father noticed that I had benefited by these pursuits. He
observed that few very clever men enjoyed worldly happiness and
long life, perhaps because ability and knowledge are too highly
valued in the world to admit of other blessings. True,

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it is that even a man whose high birth assures
him a certain success in life ought not to be
devoid of learning. But I advise you to moderate your
exertions after this time, he took more pains in instructing
me in the ways and manners of men of high
position than in the minute details of science. For these reasons,

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though on the one hand I was not quite clumsy,
I cannot, on the other say in what particular subject
I am well versed and efficient. Drawing, however, was a
favorite object of my taste and ambition, and I also
desired to execute a work to the full extent of
my ideas. In the meantime, I enjoyed quiet leisure by

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the sea shore, and as I contemplated the wide expanse
of scenery, my conceptions seemed to enlarge. As I gazed
upon it, this made me take up my brush. But
not a few parts of the work have fallen short
of those conceptions. Therefore I thought them altogether unworthy to
be shown expressly, though I have now boldly submitted them

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to your inspection on this good opportunity. Nothing can be
well learned that is not agreeable to one's natural taste,
replied the Lord Lieutenant. It is true, but every art
has its special instructor, and by this means their methods
can be copied by their pupils. Though there may be
differences in skill and perfection among arts, however, nothing betrays

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one's tastes in nature more than work of pen or brush,
writing and painting, and playing the game of go. Of course,
men of low origin and of little accomplishment often happened
to excel in these arts, but not so frequently as
persons of position. Under the auspevicious care of the late Emperor.

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What prince or princess could have failed to attain a
knowledge of such arts, a care which was directed towards
yourself especially. I will not speak of literature and learning too.
Your accomplishments comprised the king, next the flute, the mandolin,
and the soul quoto. This we all knew, and so
too the late Emperor said. Your painting, however, has been

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hitherto thought to be mere amusement, and we now have
seen your sketches executed with a skill not unequal to
the ancient famous draftsmen in black ink. It was about
the twentieth of the month, and the evening moon appeared
in the sky while they were thus conversing. Herradiance was
too weak to make the ground near them bright, but

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afar off the sky became palely white. Several musical instruments
were sent for from the guardian of the library. Genji
played a kin gon chionagan a wagon, the Lord Lieutenant
Soo Koto, and Shiyoshio no Miyobu a mandolin. The hyoshi

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beating time to music was undertaken by a courtier. As
this went on, the darkness of night began to diminish,
and the use of the flowers in the garden and
the countenance of each of the party became gradually visible,
while the birds themselves began to chirp in the trees.
It was a pleasant dawn. Several presents were made to

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the company by the Imperial Mother and to the Lord Lieutenant.
A robe was given in addition as an acknowledgment of
his services as judge in the competition, and so the
party broke up. The role of Suma was left, as
was requested, in the hands of the Imperial Mother. Genji
had some more roles of the same series, but they

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were reserved for some future occasion. During the reign of
this emperor, every pains were taken on the occasion of
all court festivals, so that future generations should hold the
Such and such precedents took their origin in this reign. Hence,
a meeting, even such as above described, which was only
private in its nature, was carried out in a manner

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as pleasant and enlightened as possible. As to Genji, he
thought he had obtained a position too exalted and an
influence too great. There were, indeed several instances of public
men surprised by misfortune, who in premature age obtained high
position and vast influence. He thought of these examples, and

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though he had hitherto enjoyed his position and authority as if,
he regarded them as a compensation for his former fall.
He began, as the Emperor was now becoming older, to
retire gradually from public life, so as to prepare his
mind and thoughts and devote himself to the attainment of
happiness in the world to come, and also for the

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prolongation of life. For these reasons, he ordered a chapel
to be built for himself on a mountainside where he
might retire. In the meantime, he had the ambition to
see his children satisfactorily brought out into the world, an
ambition which restrained him from carrying out his wishes of retiring.
It was not easy to understand or define the exact

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state of his mind at this period. End of section
eighteen end of Genji Monagotari by Murasaki Shikibu, translated by
Suematsu keen Chu