Agemaki
Title
The title of this chapter is based on a poem that Kaoru wrote for Oigimi at the Buddhist service at the anniversary of her father's death. The literal meaning of "agemaki" is "an elaborate three-looped knot, and also a young girl's coiffure in that shape." Kaoru expresses his hope that he and Oigimi may be tied together in a "trefoil knot."
Waley keeps the title as "Agemaki," Seidensticker and Tyler translate it as "Trefoil Knots" and Washburn as "A Bowknot Tied in Maiden's Loops".
Waley keeps the title as "Agemaki," Seidensticker and Tyler translate it as "Trefoil Knots" and Washburn as "A Bowknot Tied in Maiden's Loops".
Chronology
This chapter takes place from autumn to winter when Kaoru is 24 years old.
Position in the Genji
In the story, Oigimi attempts to redirect Kaoru's ardor for her to her younger sister Naka no Kimi. Kaoru in turn encourages an alliance between Naka no Kimi and Niou. Oigimi's rejection of Kaoru, however, remains unchanged. Around the same time Yugiri, Genji's son by Aoi, decides to wed his daughter Roku no Kimi to Niou. Overcome by sorrow, Oigimi passes away.
[Agemaki, by Tosa Mitsunobu. Harvard Art Museums]
Synopsis
In the eighth month of autumn, a memorial service is held to mark the first anniversary of the death of Hachi no Miya, and Kaoru takes care of everything. That night, Kaoru approaches Oigimi and again expresses his feelings for her. Although they talk through the whole night, she again refuses him. Oigimi is determined to continue her father's legacy and remain celibate at their Uji residence, while at the same time planning to marry her younger sister, Naka no Kimi, to Kaoru. But Oigimi's clothes are stained with Kaoru's strong fragrance, leading Naka no Kimi to suspect that her sister has been intimate with Kaoru (which was not the case). Shortly after the memorial service, Kaoru again visits Uji and with the help of Ben no Kimi this time enters the bedchamber of Oigimi, planning to create a fait accompli. However, Oigimi guesses his intention and hides, leaving Naka no Kimi behind. So that night Kaoru keeps talking to Naka no Kimi, without attempting any intimacy.
Knowing that Oigimi wants him to marry her sister, Kaoru instead decides to have Naka no Kimi marry Niou. One night in the 9th month, he secretly takes Niou to Uji to meet Naka no Kimi - and this rendezvous is successful. Niou promptly seduces Naka no Kimi.
Kaoru confides the truth of what has happened to Oigimi and again presses her to marry him, but she keeps refusing. Niou continues to visit Naka no Kimi for three nights (which in the Heian period meant that they now are married), but is deterred from further visits by the opposition of his mother, the Akashi Empress. He is after all an imperial prince, she tells him, and it is extremely bad manners to repeatedly sneak off to Uji to visit a secret lover. She strongly reminds him of his status. With his life thus circumscribed, he is thereafter unable to visit Uji. Oigimi and Naka no Kimi are distressed by the cessation of Niou's visits.
In autumn, Niou thinks of a plan to visit Uji: he wants to use a boat trip along the Uji River to see the colored maple leaves as a pretext to visit Naka no Kimi. But as imperial prince he is forced to come with a large retinue and is after all unable to slip away. His father, the Emperor, doesn't want Niou to go on such outings again and arranges for him to marry Roku no Kimi, the daughter of Yugiri.
Oigimi is so distressed by this setback - she regards it as her personal shame the the husband she picked for her sister has left them in the lurch and now will marry someone else -, that she falls ill. Despite Kaoru's earnest efforts to nurse her, she dies in the 11th month as " a withered tree breaking off," on a night that there is a heavy snow storm in Uji.
Kaoru is deeply saddened by the fact that he has not been able to marry Oigimi, and he stays on in Uji to mourn her loss. Hearing of Kaoru's sorrow through a friend, the Akashi Empress reconsiders Niou's case: "If she is the younger sister of a woman who is so loved, it is no wonder that Niou goes to see her." Niou then makes up his mind to take Naka no Kimi to his Nijo Palace in Kyoto.
Genji-e (Information from JAANUS)
Scenes commonly chosen for illustration include: dawn in the ninth month, Niou and Naka no Kimi looking over at Uji Bridge as the fire-wood boats (shibabune) are rowed out on the river; and, the young women of the princesses' household looking out at Niou on an excursion in a boat roofed with scarlet leaves on the Uji River around the beginning of the tenth month (as in the above).
Reading The Tale of Genji