The Disaster of the Third Princess
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The Disaster of the Third Princess
Essays on The Tale of Genji
Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction
An overview of the essays
Genji’s rise and the collapse of his world
Reader orientations and incommensurable views
Genji’s position in the tale
Reflections on Part Three
1. Genji and Murasaki: Between Love and Pride
Perceptions of Murasaki
Jealousy and self-affirmation
The child Murasaki
Murasaki’s marriage
The crisis over Akashi
Asagao: the question of Genji’s motive
Asagao: the scene between Genji and Murasaki
Suzaku’s daughter: preliminary remarks
The Third Princess and Murasaki
Decorum and discretion concerning Genji’s motives
Suzaku’s daughter: Genji’s motive
Murasaki’s initial reaction
Murasaki wishes to become a nun
Murasaki asks again to leave the world
Murasaki’s illness
The possession
Murasaki’s death
Conclusion
2. Genji and Suzaku (1): The Disaster of the Third Princess
Genji and Suzaku
Genji’s destiny
The Kiritsubo Emperor’s silence
The will of Sumiyoshi
Boundaries and sexual transgression: patterns of great success
Genji’s flaw, Rokujō’s anger
The course of the narrative
The significance of Possessions One and Two
Suzaku’s fate
A glance back over Parts One and Two
Part Three: the gloom of Uji
Kaoru’s burden of karma
3. Genji and Suzaku (2): The Possibility of Ukifune
Ukifune’s reputation
Ukifune’s journey to the Uji Villa
The spirit
The exorcism
The idea of an imperial curse
Suzaku’s “little grudge”
Ukifune deranged
The Sōzu’s fall
The ending
Beyond the ending
Conclusion: Ukifune and the author
4. Genji and the Luck of the Sea
The Sumiyoshi Shrine
A first glimpse of Akashi
The storm at Suma
The Novice’s prayers to Sumiyoshi
The Sumiyoshi Shrine and Jingū Kōgō
Genji as a “king from outside”
The
Yasoshima matsuri
Genji’s sovereignty
Genji and Suzaku
Conclusion
5. Pity Poor Kaoru
From Genji to Kaoru
Surrogates and idols
Pity poor Kaoru
Kaoru and Ōigimi
Kaoru and Nakanokimi (1)
The end of Ōigimi’s story
Kaoru and Nakanokimi (2)
The journey to Uji
Eros and piety
Conclusion
6. Two Post-Genji Tales on The Tale of Genji
Two introductory examples
Yume no Ukihashi: the bridge of dreams
Yume no Ukihashi
in
Hamamatsu
Yume no ukihashi
in the
Genji
commentaries
Closing reflections on
yume no ukihashi
Ukifune and Asukai
Ukifune’s disappearance
Asukai’s disappearance
Ukifune’s
jusui
in the commentaries
Ukifune’s
jusui
in modern times
Concluding reflections on the case of Asukai
Sagoromo’s enthronement
Conclusion
7. Feminine Veils over Visions of the Male
Men wish a man were a woman
Women wish a male were female
The hypothesis of imperial beauty
The watching man adopts a woman’s gaze
Women see the man as a woman more beautiful than any woman
Men admiring a man
Further reflections on the feminine veil in erotic scenes
Distribution of the feminine veil outside and inside
Genji
Abbreviations
Works cited