The Tale of Genji: 31 – Makibashira (i)

After a spell away from Rokujō for Women in Translation Month, we’re picking up our chapter-by-chapter journey through The Tale of Genji today with the last instalment of the Tamakazura sequence. However, those of you hoping for a happy ending for our secluded heroine are in for a bit of a shock. You see, a lot’s been going on behind the scenes, and as we head back to Genji’s estate, I’m afraid there’s some rather bad news in store… ***** At the end of ‘Fujibakama’, it appeared that the most likely choices for Tamakazura were marriage to Genji’s half-brother, Prince Hotaru, or a spell at court, where she would be serving Emperor Reizei, yet the start of Chapter 31, ‘Makibashira’ (‘The Cypress Pillar’ in Edward Seidensticker’s translation) turns those assumptions on their head. Somehow, off-stage, another suitor, the hirsute Higekuro, has swooped in and claimed Tamakazura as his own, and while Genji (and, to a lesser extent, Tō-no-Chūjō) is dismayed by what has occurred, he sees no…