The Tale of Genji, chapter 5: Lavender

[rachelmanija]

I got so curious over the chapter that telophase was having fits ("SKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANK!") over that I read ahead. My reaction, in brief: "SKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANK!"

Genji has malaria, so he goes to a mountain monk to hit on any women or young female children in the vicinity get cured. While he's there, he notices a beautiful ten-year-old, who resembles his step-mother Fujitsubu, who in turn resembles his dead mother. Genji pervs on her like there's no tomorrow, figuring he can bring her up and, like Pygmalion, mold her into the perfect mother-figure woman. Let's unpack this a bit: Genji's perfect woman is a girl young enough to be his daughter, who closely resembles his mother, and whom he will raise as if he's her father. It's a Freudian Ouroboros.

Genji hits on the little girl, but everyone around her is all, "Nope, sorry, she's way too young. Call again in four years, when at least she'll have hit puberty." So Genji proceeds to kidnap her! And install her and her nurse in one of his residences (hopefully not another haunted one), and treat her like a creepy little sexualized Mommy-daughter-fetish doll. And-- this is Murasaki! Who ends up being the love of his life! Eeeeeew!

If I can drag myself away from the main SKANK thought SKANK that this SKANK chapter left in my mind, I find it interesting that every single other person in the chapter thought the girl was way too young for anyone to be sexually interested in, and even Genji realized that his fascination with her was freaking people out. Which suggests that even in Heian Japan, men who perv on ten-year-olds are pervs. Which makes me wonder how Murasaki's readers received this chapter.

Comments

[oyceter]

You probably already know this, but "Murasaki" means "lavender" (or... just sort of purple). Oh dear, I hope I'm not coming off as awfully snooty or something with the translation notes; it's just that that's about the only thing I remember from the entire book, even after writing a paper on it =(.

Well, that and the fact that the ghost battle between Lady Rokujo and Yugao and Aoi is the subject of many a Noh play, and I only know this because that was what my paper was on. (in Chicken Run British chicken voice) It was really boring.

[marici.livejournal.com]

Also, the murasaki plant whose roots provided lavender dyes is the symbol of loyalty. ^_^

SPOILERS
Oh yeah, I think the Rokujo Lady's jealosy may have been implicated in Yugao's death. It definitely caused Aoi's. She's another example of the emotional pornography of female helplessnes -- her illness and weakness are described in detail, and Genji's love for her grows as she fades.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Please feel free with the translation notes-- I did know that murasaki means purple (or lavender) and other miscellaneous words, but I really don't speak Japanese.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Huh. I thought it was "Wisteria". Go figure! (says the non-Japanese-speaker)

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Well, it does mean purple, but Japanese has many, many homonyms, so it could also mean wisteria.

I found two references to that. One says that murasaki is the word for wisteria (which is frequently purple.) The other says: "The name Murasaki may derive from that of a major figure in her novel, The Tale of Genji, or from its meaning of “purple,” a pun on the Fuji of fujiwara, which means “wisteria”"

There might be different names for different types/colors of wisteria as well.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Noh plays are generally boring. But those comic interlude plays-- um... kyogen?-- surprisingly, many of them are actually funny.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

Oh, more translation notes, at least for me, please! I know I'm missing about ninety percent of everything.