“We three—Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei—though of different families, swear brotherhood, and promise mutual help to one end. We will rescue each other in difficulty; we will aid each other in danger. We swear to serve the state and save the people. We ask not the same day of birth, but we seek to die together. May Heaven, the all-ruling, and Earth, the all-producing, read our hearts. If we turn aside from righteousness or forget kindliness, may Heaven and Human smite us!”

What Happened To Purity of the Heart?

Lavender

Chapter 5. Lavender 若紫

Genji 18 years old

Lavender 若紫: Gengi’s memento to remind him of Fujitsubo and his mother. She is a daughter of Fujitsubo’s older brother, Price Hyobu.

“Genji thought of the little girl and how he would like to see her grown into a woman” (Genji 97).

Genji:
Since first the wanderer glimpsed the fresh young grasses
His sleeves have known no respite from the dew (Genji 91).
(初草の若葉の上を見つるより旅寝の袖も露ぞかはかぬ)
初草: the grass that is beginning to grow = Lavender 若紫
露: a dew, tears

“A man must be always on his guard, and jealousy can have the most unwelcome consequences. But Murasaki was htre perfect companion, a toy fr him to play with” (Genji 111).

Fujitsubo 藤壷: From this chapter, Genji and Fujitsubo start to be afraid of the burden of sin they made.
She is unhappy.

Fujitsubo:
Were I to disappear in the last of dreams
Would yet my name live on in infamy?
(世語りに人や伝へむたぐひなく　　憂き身を覚めぬ夢になしても)

*Murasaki, a gromwell from the roots of which a lavender dye is extracted. Lavender, in general the color of affinity or intimacy, suggests more specifically the fuji of Fujitsubo (Genji 102).

miho

Evening Faces

Chapter 4. Evening Faces 夕顔 Genji 17 years old

“A hut, a jeweled pavilion, they were the same” (Genji 57).
For Genji, women are temporary shelters to find some comforts.
(ものはかなき住まひを、あはれに、 「何処かさして」と思ほしなせば、 玉の台も同じことなり)

Evening Faces (19 years old):
The face seemed quite to shine in the evening dew.
But I was duzzled by the evening light (Genji 70).
(光ありと見し夕顔のうは露はたそかれどきのそら目なりけり)
--I misunderstood that a shining dew (Genji) came upon a flower of evening faces. It should not be happening since there is a huge gap between the ranks of Genji and me. A shiny dew would not rest on an indecent flower.

Evening Faces夕顔:

a woman with low rank. She had a relationship with To-no Chujo and bore a child of him. The child appears as Tamakazura in later chapters (玉鬘).
Evening Faces dies of an evil spirit of Rokujo Lady.

miho

The Shell of the Locust

3. The Shell of the Locust 空蝉

Genji:
Beneath a tree, a locust’s empty shell.
Sadly I muse upon the shell of a lady.

(空蝉の身をかへてける木のもとになを人がらのなつかしきかな)
The Shell of the Locust threw her robe off when she escaped from Genji. He refers the robe to a locust’s empty shell and feels sad that she did not come (Genji 54-55).

Utsusemi:
The Dew upon the fragile locust wing
Is lost among the leaves. Lost are my tears (Genji 56).

(空蝉の羽におく露の木がくれてしのびしのびに濡るる袖かな)
A locust is fragile, only living for a short amount of time. Likewise, the dew upon the fragile locust wing disappears quickly. Hidden between the leaves, the locust dies without notice. This is how sad the world is. I am also like the weak locust, crying behind the scene.

The Shell of the Locust (空蝉 Utsusemi) meanings: 1. present world and 2. a shell of the locust or a locust.

miho

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帚木

Genji “Yes, you are right: it is a very uncertain world, and it always has been, particularly for women. They are like bits of driftwood.” (p.41)
世の中といふもの、さのみこそ。今も昔も、定まりたることはべらね。中についても、女の宿世は浮かびたるなむ、あはれにはべる (original sentence)

宿世 (sukuse): (1) previous existence (2) fatality/ fate/ destiny
あはれ (aware): (1) impressions such as surprise, sorrow, praise, and astonishment (2) stir deep emotions, zest (3) lonely, sorrowful, sad (4) feeling sorry/ pity (5) pretty/ lovely (6) sympathetic (7) extraordinary/ preeminent


Chapter 2. The Broom Tree 帚木 (Genji 17 years old)

The first half: 『雨夜の品定め』 (amayo-no-shinasadame) a discussion about an ideal woman on a rainy night
To no Chujo shares his experience with a beautiful woman in low estate who later appears as Yugao (Evening Faces).

The later half: practice Genji has an affair with Utsusemi

帚木 (hahakigi)
The broom tree in Shinano disappeared or changed shape when one approached. In this chapter, the broom tree is Utsusemi (the shell of the locust) who persistently refuses to interact with Genji. Also, haha means a mother. Therefore, the bloom tree (hahakigi) implies Genji’s mother who passed away when he was three years old.

A custom proper to Japan in Heian era
Page 38. 方違え (katatagae): Onmyōdō teaches that people must avoid the direction which a god comes across.

miho

春風桃李花開夜　秋雨梧桐葉落時
With the spring breeze peach and plum blossoms came forth,
In the autumn rains paulownia leaves fell to the ground…
(The Song of Endless Sorrow written by Bai Ju Yi)

Chapter 1. The Paulownia Court 桐壺

『桐』(paulownia)　the meaning of the flower:「高尚」sublime /lofty


page. 4
It may have been because of a bond in a former life that she bore the emperor a beautiful son, a jewel beyond compare.
先の世にも御契りや深かりけむ、世になく清らなる玉の男御子さへ生まれたまひぬ。(original sentence)

A Bond (契り chigiri) 契り means (1) promise (2) bond between men and women (3) knot, and tie from a previous life.
Life (世 yo) 世 means (1) past, present, and future (usually used as the present) (2) society (3) era /the duration which an emperor governs his nation (4) nation /politics (5) life /longevity (6) gossip/ trend (8) lust (9) the relationship between men and women
Jewel (玉 tama) (1) beauty (2) jewel /beautiful stone (3) pearl (4) dew /tear

miho