Maboroshi
Title
"Maboroshi" is a seer or wizard who can travel between this world and the after-world, and who can call back the spirits of the dead. The chapter title is based on a poem by Genji: 'I want to ask the wizard traveling through the skies where her spirit is. I cannot see it even in my dreams.' The poem alludes to the latter half of the Bai Juyi's "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow," and it is also the response to the waka poem which was composed by Genji's father, Emperor Kiritsubo, when he remembered the late Lady Kiritsubo.
Waley has "Mirage," Seidensticker "The Wizard," Tyler "The Seer," and Washburn "Spirit Summoner."
Chronology
This chapter begins in the first month of the year after "The Law" ends and covers that whole year until the 12th month.Position in the Genji
This chapter, the last in which the central protagonist actually appears, depicts Genji's sorrowful life in the year after the death of his beloved wife Murasaki.
Genji's own death is not described in the novel and the next chapter, "The Perfumed Prince," continues three years later, with the next-generation story of Niou, the son of the Akashi Empress and the present Emperor, and his friend and rival Kaoru, the son of the Third Princess and Kashiwagi (but believed to be the son of Genji). Some scholars believe there may have been an in-between chapter covering Genji's death as one such title, "Kumogakure (Vanished into the Clouds)", has been preserved, but for two reasons I think this is very doubtful. In the first place because the chapter titles are not by Murasaki Shikibu, they were added later - a single title without text doesn't mean anything; and in the second place because aesthetically it is more artistic to elide such a sad description. Everything that can be said about Genji's last days has been said in Maboroshi, a painful description of his death would not add anything. Also the poem by Genji with which this chapter closes, is a clear end point.
The French writer Marguerite Yourcenar is one of several writers who has imagined the death of Genji - in her case in the short story "The Last Love of Prince Genji" in her 1938 collection Oriental Tales.
Genji's own death is not described in the novel and the next chapter, "The Perfumed Prince," continues three years later, with the next-generation story of Niou, the son of the Akashi Empress and the present Emperor, and his friend and rival Kaoru, the son of the Third Princess and Kashiwagi (but believed to be the son of Genji). Some scholars believe there may have been an in-between chapter covering Genji's death as one such title, "Kumogakure (Vanished into the Clouds)", has been preserved, but for two reasons I think this is very doubtful. In the first place because the chapter titles are not by Murasaki Shikibu, they were added later - a single title without text doesn't mean anything; and in the second place because aesthetically it is more artistic to elide such a sad description. Everything that can be said about Genji's last days has been said in Maboroshi, a painful description of his death would not add anything. Also the poem by Genji with which this chapter closes, is a clear end point.
The French writer Marguerite Yourcenar is one of several writers who has imagined the death of Genji - in her case in the short story "The Last Love of Prince Genji" in her 1938 collection Oriental Tales.
[Maboroshi, by Tosa Mitsunobu. Harvard Art Museums]
Synopsis
Murasaki has passed away, and the new year has come. Genji's sorrow does not abate even though he sees the light of the new spring, secluding himself from New Year's visitors, except his younger brother Hotaru. He spends his days talking to the senior ladies-in-waiting who once served Murasaki, feeling regret and leading a penitential life. The Akashi Empress returns to the Imperial court, leaving Niou whom Murasaki loved behind for Genji's consolation. Prince Niou takes good care of the plum and cherry trees Murasaki had entrusted to him as one of her last wishes. This gives Genji some consolation, but visits to the Third Princess and the Akashi Lady only remind him all the more of Murasaki. As spring blooms into full glory, his love for Murasaki, who loved spring more than any other season, grows.
In the Fourth Month, Hanachirusato sends him a poem and some clothes for seasonal change. Everything reminds Genji of his dead wife - the call of the hototogisu, the lotus blossoms, the evening cicadas, the pinks, the hovering fireflies - and his gloom cannot be dissipated.
Around the rainy season, he asks Yugiri to arrange for the first anniversary of Murasaki's death. On the anniversary of her death in the Eight Month, he holds a memorial service in front of a mandala of the Buddhist paradise for which Murasaki used to say prayers during her lifetime.
Genji is planning to take holy orders and become a priest after the New Year comes and begins to tidy things up. While he is putting things in order, he finds a bundle of letters which were sent by Murasaki while he was in Suma. The black ink looks clear and beautiful as if the letters had just been written, so he feels great loneliness, but tears them up and burns them (this episode seems to have been inspired by "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter," in which the Emperor burns an elixir of life sent by Kaguyahime after she has returned to the moon on August 15).
In the Twelth Month, the annual ceremony of the intoning of the Sutra on the Names of the Buddhas is held at the Rokujo Estate, which included the confession of sins committed during the past year (sange) as well as prayers for longevity. Genji makes his first appearance in public after a long time. He looks much more beautiful and shining than when he was praised as "the Shining," so the priests who knew him from long ago shed tears.
On the last day of the year, while watching the ceremony for driving out devils in which the six-year old Prince Niou takes part, Genji thinks that it will be the last time he will see that precious child and he composes his final poem (one of 19 by Genji in this poem-rich chapter):
lost in thoughts of love
without realizing it
the months and days passed by
and now both the year and my life
are over today
mono omou to | suguru tsukihi mo | shiranu ma ni | toshi mo wa ga yo mo | kyo ya tsukinuru
Isn't that a very suitable sentiment that summarizes not only the life of Genji with all his womanizing, but also the whole novel from a Buddhist point of view?
Genji-e
The above illustration by Tosa Mitsunobu depicts Genji talking to the head priest and offering him wine after the intoning of the Sutra on the Names of the Buddhas in the twelfth month (note the snow scene). The author ends Genji's story on a Buddhist note, asserting her tale’s identity as a work of literature infused with Buddhist spirituality - Genji has been absolved of his sins and thus cleansed will leave the story; at the same time we hear the shouts of his grandson, announcing that the world continues with a new generation.