In a particularly interesting set of scenes, one more congruent with [1] to [8] than with the anomalous [9], the male gaze contemplates Genji in a mood of erotic and aesthetic excitement, but without imagined gender transformation on either side. For quotation purposes, all three will be collapsed as much as possible.
The first occurs in “Sakaki.” Swept aside by the triumph of the rival political faction, Genji and Tō no Chûjō hold a literary contest to pass the time, inviting professional scholars from the government academy (daigaku) to join them. Tō no Chûjō (“the Captain”) is obliged to host a banquet when his side loses.
[10] Two days later the Captain gave the loser’s banquet…and…all joined happily in music making. One of [his] sons, a boy of eight or nine…sang and played the shō prettily…When the music picked up a little he gave full voice to a very fine rendition of “Takasago.” Genji took a layer from his costume and placed the garment over the boy’s shoulders. His face, flushed with unaccustomed excitement, gave forth a beauty beyond any in the world, and his skin glowed wondrously through the silk gauze dress cloak and shift, until the ancient scholars watching him from their distance wept.
“How I long for you, my lily flower!” the boy’s song ended, and the Captain gave Genji a cup of wine. [He said,]
“All have longed to see those first blossoms this morning burst into full bloom,
yet I contemplate in you beauty just as great as theirs!” [23]
In this full-flavored tribute to Genji’s beauty, there appears initially to be no feminine presence at all, real or imagined. The young singer’s role is suggestive, and the scholars’ tears of ecstasy make a wonderful touch. The moment seems to be among men only. However, the image of a woman is there after all, in the song. The saibara “Takasago” is a lover’s passionate appeal to the woman he desires. “Oh white camellia on the hilltop, oh lovely willow,” the lover cries, “I want you [mashi mo ga na], I want you!”[24] The song therefore superimposes an imagined girl on the physical Genji, yielding an image analogous to the ones evoked in [1] and [2].
A passage in “Suma” achieves the same effect by different means. Genji and his small entourage are in exile on the shore.
[11] One lovely twilight, with the near garden in riotous bloom, Genji stepped out onto a gallery that afforded a view of the sea, and such was the supernal grace of his motionless figure that, in that setting, he seemed not of this world. Over soft, white silk twill and aster he had on a dress cloak of deep blue, its sash only very casually tied; and his voice slowly chanting, “I, a disciple of the Buddha Shakyamuni…” was to their ears more beautiful than any they had ever heard before. From boats rowing by at sea came a chorus of singing voices. With a pang he watched them, dim in the distance, like little birds borne on the waters, and sank into a reverie as cries from lines of geese aloft mingled with the creaking of oars, until tears welled forth and he brushed them away with a hand so gracefully pale against his black rosary that the young gentlemen pining for their sweethearts at home were all consoled [furusato no onna koishiki hitobito, kokoro mina nagusaminikeri].[25]
The languid, come-hither melancholy of this tableau exploits Buddhist piety to erotic effect in a manner developed further in Part Three of the tale. As in [1], [5], and [10], Genji is casually dressed, and the pallor of his delicate hand against the black rosary contrasts artfully with the picture of him, flushed and excited, presented two chapters earlier.
As in [1], the young men’s eyes are riveted upon Genji. Instead of having them imagine him as a woman, however, the author this time appeals to the memory of the woman each holds dear: his sweetheart in the city. In the reader’s mind this image superimposes itself upon, or colors, or reshapes, or blurs the physical spectacle of Genji. Male–male desire seems to be evoked here, only to be rhetorically deflected. Under these ambiguous circumstances, the “consolation” experienced by the young men could conceivably be sexual relief. Genji’s remark to the Akashi Novice in passage [12], below, suggests as much: “[Your daughter’s] solace will see me through these lonely nights.” It is true, however, that [11] follows a different pattern. Nothing can be excluded from it, but nothing can be proven.
In any case, the point of the passage is elsewhere. Before the spectacle of Genji’s beauty, the young men experience a wave of relief at being with him, rather than with the comparatively insignificant girlfriends who had seemed so important to them until a moment ago. This relief combines emotional (as erotic as one pleases) and aesthetic satisfaction with a renewed conviction that, despite the risk, each has been right to follow him into exile. In Genji’s perfect beauty, the token of his true worth, each sees boundless future advantage for himself. The young men love him not only for what he is in himself, but for what he promises them.
Other “Suma” passages similarly evoke the young men’s wholehearted devotion to Genji. “[Genji] was so kind and such a delight to the eye that [his] four or five [companions] forgot their cares and found his intimate service a pleasure,”[26] the narrator assures the reader; and again, “In the depths of the night [Genji] would rinse his hands and call the Buddha’s Name, which to his companions was so wonderful and so inspiring that they never left him.”[27] However, it is a messenger from Rokujō at Ise who highlights a significant aspect of their feelings when he is “dazzled” and weeps at his glimpses of Genji’s beauty.[28] He may believe that, through Rokujō, Genji’s favor will reach him, too, but his very distance from Genji suggests a larger meaning for his tears. Through Genji’s beauty he (or, rather, the reader) recognizes Genji’s destined role as the pole star of the realm. Genji’s personal beauty, like his celebrated light, is not merely an aesthetic matter. It signals a transcendent calling in which the viewer wishes, however humbly, to share. Genji’s companions of course feel the same way. Being at once so powerful and so intimate, the spell cast by Genji naturally has an erotic dimension as well.
The last passage to be quoted on the theme of the desiring gaze illustrates the complexity of Genji’s appeal. It is from “Akashi.” Genji and his host, the Akashi Novice, drink together one evening and reveal their thoughts to each other. The occasion is momentous for both. Ever since his daughter’s birth the Novice has been begging the Sumiyoshi deity, the protector of the imperial line, to provide for her a man like Genji and so to restore the dignity of his house. Meanwhile, Genji is extremely lonely, despite his devotion to the absent Murasaki. Commanding longings converge from both sides.
[12] It was late…and the sinking moon shone with a pure light. When all was quiet the Novice poured forth his tale to Genji…describing his plans when he first moved to this shore…and, all unasked, his daughter herself…
Genji…listened with tears in his eyes. “I had been wondering for what crime I was falsely accused and condemned to wander an alien land, but all that you have said tonight leaves me certain…that [the tie between your daughter and me] is indeed a bond of some strength from past lives…Distant rumor had told me of such a lady, but I had sadly assumed that she would recoil from a ne’er-do-well. Now, however, I gather that you wish to take me to her. Her solace will see me through these lonely nights [kokorobosoki hitorine no nagusame ni mo].”
The Novice was transported with delight.
“Do you know as well what it is to sleep alone? Think then how she feels,
wakeful through the long, long nights by herself upon this shore!”he said…
“But surely, someone accustomed to the shore…
How traveling wears through the long melancholy of the wakeful nights
that keep a grassy pillow from gathering even dreams!”Genji’s casual demeanor [uchi-midaretaru on-sama] gave him intense allure and a beauty beyond all words [ito aigyō-zuki, iû yoshinaki on-kehai naru].[29]
The Novice intentionally seduces the willing Genji for his daughter, and once their understanding is reached, the last sentence sums up the moment. Manners and dress loosened by wine, Genji glows with excitement at the thought of what awaits him, while the equally tipsy Novice sees in him the answer to all his prayers and a manifest divinity himself. Eros colors the whole scene. Genji anticipates lovemaking with a lady of greater personal distinction than he had ever thought to find, while the Novice presumably looks forward to his daughter’s pleasure in Genji’s beauty, rather as Tō no Chûjō, in passage [5], imagines the pleasure that should have been his sister’s. However, in [5] Tō no Chûjō seems to desire Genji. Does the Novice, too? He alone is present to experience Genji’s “intense allure,” and no doubt he does so. However, there is no point in trying to define more precisely, and especially more materially, the object of his desire, when it encompasses, in a single movement of the affections, both person and lofty aspiration.