Reading the Tale of Genji (8): The Festival of the Cherry Blossoms (Hana no En)

Hana no En

Title

"Hana" "blossoms," point at blossoming cherry trees; "en" is a "party". Tyler translates a bit free "Under the Cherry Blossoms," while Washburn again has the longest versions, "A Banquet Celebrating Cherry Blossoms". This is  correct translation, but the same meaning is conveyed by Waley ("The Flower Feast") and Seidensticker, whose "The Festival of the Cherry Blossoms" I prefer. 

Chronology

This short chapter takes place in the spring following the previous one. It begins with a party (en) to honor a blossoming cherry tree (hana). Genji is 20 years old. 

Position in the Genji

By his thoughtless philandering, in this chapter Genji sets the machinery that will lead to his downfall in operation.

[Hana no En, by Tosa Mitsunobu, Harvard Art Museums]

Synopsis

At the cherry blossom feast held at the Shishinden Hall in February (our March), Genji writes Chinese poetry and performs a dance with To no Chujo and others. After the feast, feeling the effects of the wine, he tries to enter the apartments of Fujitsubo, but the door is locked. He then wanders along the corridor in the direction of the apartments of the Kokiden Consort, and finding the door open, sneaks inside. An elegant young woman comes by who is reciting a line from a poem about the misty moon ("neither brightly shining / nor completely / obscured / there is nothing to compare / with the hazy moon of springtime"). That poem will lead to her nickname, Oborozukiyo, which means "Night of the Hazy Moon."

In an instant, Genji has grabbed her sleeve and embraced her - and when the young woman recognizes Genji as being if high rank, she gives herself to him. Afterward, they exchange their fans as mementos and then at dawn bid each other a hasty farewell. Genji doesn't know her identity yet and is later shocked to learn that she is Roku no Kimi, the sixth daughter of the Minister of the Right (Udaijin) and the younger sister of the Kokiden Consort, Genji's enemy at court. On top of that, she is being prepared to be married to his half-brother, the Heir-Apparent.

A month later, Genji is invited to a wisteria banquet at the mansion of the Minister of the Right. He pretends he has drunk too much and stealthily makes his way to the women's apartments. He hears a woman sighting behind a bamboo blind, and recites a popular song about having lost his fan. She answers with a poetic response. And indeed, she is none other than Oborozukiyo. Genji recognizes her voice, but can go no further than casually holding her hand through the curtain, because there are other ladies in the room. The chapter concludes with "He was delighted, though at the same time...", a phrase that indicates that Genji already dislikes her family's shallow ostentation. He may also be disappointed by how easily she gave herself to him. But he does not completely break off his tie with her and in the future this superficial relation will lead to his fall and banishment.

Genji-e

An important scene is when Genji takes Oborozukiyo's hand through a crack in the blind and they exchange poems on the hazy moon of spring.

Reading The Tale of Genji