The Tale of Genji: 27 – Kagaribi

After a bit of a break (thirty-six days, to be precise), I’ve finally found the time to continue my chapter-by-chapter journey through The Tale of Genji, and today’s selection is a notable one in several ways. For one thing, it’s one of the shortest, if not *the* shortest, chapters in the whole book, but perhaps more importantly, it marks an important milestone. You see, Murasaki Shikibu’s epic work is divided into fifty-four chapters, and with today’s section being the twenty-seventh, that means (in chapter terms, at least) we’re half-way through our epic journey. So what do we have to mark the event? Come this way, and you’ll find out – just follow the flares… ***** Chapter 27, ‘Kagaribi’ (‘Flares’ in Edward Seidensticker’s translation), a collection of scenes following on from ‘Tokonatsu’, runs to less than three pages and is almost over before you realise you’ve started it. It continues to explore the increasingly sensual relationship between Genji and his ‘ward’, Tamakazura, with…