ENGLISH LITERATURE

Reporter:
Yugao
Author
Murasaki Shikibu
• Yugao was written
shortly after the year
1000 in Japan's Heian
era, when the capital
was situated at
Heian-kyo
 Characters of the story
• Prince Genji -The eponymous hero of the tale, he is the son of an emperor ,

• Lady Kiritsubo - Genji’s mother and the favorite of Emperor Kiritsubo,

• Emperor Kiritsubo - Genji’s father, who despite the large social gap between him and the Kiritsubo Lady,

• Lady Kokiden - she is the daughter of the powerful Minister of the Right. Bitterly jealous of the
emperor’s love for Kiritsubo,

• Koremitsu - trusted servant and accomplice,

• Yūgao - She is a woman of lower status of about nineteen with whom Genji has a short affair,

• Tō no Chūjō -The son of the Minister of the Left and brother of Aoi, he becomes Genji’s friend and rival
in love during the Prince’s adolescence and youth,

• Lady Fujitsubo - Daughter of a previous emperor and thus imperial princess,

• Genji, the hero of the Tale, is the
son of the emperor and his
favorite concubine, Kiritsubo. A
Korean sage predicts a brilliant
future for Genji but his mother
suffers the jealousy of rivals at
court, becomes ill and dies. The
distraught emperor becomes
obsessed with the tragic story
of Yang Kwei-fei, but eventually
finds another concubine,
Fujitsubo, who reminds him of his
former love
• Since Genji lacks backing at
court, the emperor makes
him a commoner, assigning
him membership of the non-
royal Genji clan. The eldest
son of the emperor and Lady
Kokiden is made crown
prince.
• follows his amorous exploits
with a variety of ladies in and
around Heian-kyo, his
friendship with To no Chujo
and arranged marriage to To
no Chujo's sister Aoi, the birth
of his son and his budding
relationship with the young
Murasaki.
• Meanwhile, the old emperor dies
and is succeeded by Lady Kokiden's
son. Genji's amorous intrigues
cause a scandal at court and he is
forced to leave the capital and live
in Suma for several years. During
this second part of the Tale, Genji
meets the ex-Governor of Harima
and his daughter The Akashi Lady.
• Genji returns to the capital and the
emperor abdicates in favor of
Fujitsubo's (and secretly Genji's) son.
Genji's position at court is restored and
the Akashi Lady has a baby girl. Genji
then goes on a pilgrimage to
the Sumiyoshi Shrine to give thanks to
the deity for protecting him during the
storm at Suma. After his return to the
capital he settles down with Murasaki
and several other ladies at his Rokujo
Mansion. During this long section of the
Tale, Genji's influence at court increases
steadily and he is preoccupied with the
advancement of his children and
grandchildren at court.
• Synopsis of Chapters 1-5
• Chapter 1: The Paulownia Court
• The emperor's favorite lady, Kiritsubo, has no strong family
backing at court and suffers greatly from the insults of
jealous competitors. She bears the emperor a beautiful son,
which makes matters worse as he may one day be a rival to
the future crown prince, the emperor's eldest son. Kiritsubo
falls ill and dies, so the child is taken in by his grandmother.
The emperor is distraught and asks for the boy to be sent
back. Eventually he returns to the palace and the
grandmother dies shortly afterwards. Korean ambassadors
• arrive in the capital and predict a brilliant future for the
six-year-old boy.

Although of royal blood, the boy has no maternal relatives

to support him as a prince at court and is instead made a
member of the non-royal Genji clan, henceforth being
known as "Genji." The emperor's eldest son by Lady
Kokiden is made crown prince and the emperor
subsequently finds a new concubine, Fujitsubo, who
resembles Kiritsubo but has better family connections. By
the end of the chapter, Genji is married off to the
daughter of the Minister of the Left, Princess Aoi.
• Chapter 2: The Broom Tree
• Genji and his brother-in-law
To-no-Chujo meet at Genji's
palace and compare notes
about women. They are joined
by a guards officer and other
friends. The guardsman
casually suggests there may be
a beautiful unknown woman
hidden away somewhere
because her family has fallen
upon hard times.
• Genji then falls asleep as his
companions discuss several types of
women, all of whom he will meet
later in the Tale. After Genji wakes,
Chujo tells the story of a lover - who is
later revealed to be Yugao - who bore
his daughter but was discarded
because of her meek and forgiving
nature. Shikibu, a young man from the
Ministry of Rites, tells the gathering of
a lady who was too scholarly,
preferring the rather masculine
Chinese language to Japanese, and
whose breath on one occasion had
smelled of garlic. The friends decide
that the perfect woman should be
loyal and cultured, but passive and
willing to feign ignorance when the
situation requires.
• The scene then shifts to Sanjo, where Genji is visiting his wife Aoi, but
he finds her distant and cold. Since his home lies in an unlucky
direction, Genji is invited to Kii-no-kami's house. Kii-no-kami's father
has married a young lady, and Genji overhears her apparently
discussing himself. Genji also meets an attractive young boy, her
brother, and Kii-no-kami's stepuncle. When everyone is asleep, Genji
breaks into the lady's apartment and carries her off to his room.
Leaving the next day, Genji employs the boy as a page and has him
deliver messages to his sister, but the lady discourages any further
relationship. Genji manages to visit her once more but is rebuffed,
leaving him to write a poem about the inhospitable broom tree and
sleep with her young brother instead.
• Chapter 3: The Shell of the Locust
• Hurt by the rejection, Genji is unwilling to give up his pursuit of
Utsusemi ("the lady of the locust shell"). Her young brother
sympathizes and resolves to help him try again. Wearing plain clothes,
Genji sneaks into her rooms and spies her playing Go with a lively
companion, Nokiba-no-ogi. After the game, Genji prepares to surprise
Utsusemi but she catches the distinctive scent of his robes and flees,
leaving one of her own outer robes behind. Genji mistakenly breaks in
on her companion and is forced to improvise. He then returns home
sulking and pens a poem comparing Utsusemi's robe to a cast-off
cicada shell.
Yugao flower
• Chapter 4: Evening Faces
• On his way to visit Lady Rokujo, Genji
learns that his old nursemaid, who has
since become a Buddhist nun, is sick
and may be near death, so he goes to
visit her with her natural son,
Koremitsu. At a nearby house, they
are admiring the beautiful flowers
called yugao when a little girl comes
out with a scented white fan for Genji
to take a flower on.
• They then go in to visit the nun,
and she shows an even greater
attachment to Genji than to her
own son. On his way out, Genji's
curiosity is aroused by whoever
might be in the house of yugao,
so he sends Koremitsu to
investigate, who reports back
that To-no-Chujo had been there
and that a lady evidently resided
within. Genji cannot resist, so he
disguises himself and arranges a
secret meeting through her
maid, Ukon.
• Yugao is a very frail, submissive
beauty, and Genji is reminded of To-
no-Chujo's rainy night story. Unlike To-
no-Chujo, however, Genji is attracted
by this gentility, and resolves to take
her away. Unable to resist, and very
frightened, Yugao is rushed off with
Ukon to a deserted mansion. That
night, Genji dreams of a jealous lady
resembling Lady Rokujo, and when he
wakes he sees an apparition by
Yugao's pillow. He tries to wake her,
but she is no longer breathing. Genji
panics, wakes Ukon and Koremitsu,
but it is too late, she is dead.
Koremitsu sends Genji back to his
palace at Nijo and takes her body to a
nunnery in the eastern hills for funeral
rites.
• At Nijo, Genji is unsettled by
recent events and cannot appear
at court. He sets out on
horseback with Koremitsu to see
Yugao's body, but on the return
journey he feels ill and falls off his
horse. The illness lasts for quite
some time, and when he recovers
he confirms with Ukon that Yugao
was in fact To-no-Chujo's
mistress. Genji retains Ukon and
asks her to find Yugao's daughter,
intending to raise her himself. The
chapter end with a final poetic
exchange with Utsusemi, whom
Genji also loses.
• Chapter 5: Waka Murasaki
• Genji is sick and decides to
seek help from a holy man
living in a cave in the northern
hills. He goes there and
receives treatment from the
recluse. While recovering, his
attendants tell him the story
of a Governor of Akashi who
became a lay priest and
retired there with his
daughter, for whom he had
great expectations.
• During his convalesence in the hills,
Genji wanders to a nearby house
and catches a glimse of a beautiful
10-year-old girl, who reminds him
of Fujitsubo, the favourite
concubine of his father, the
emperor. The priest at the villa
invites Genji to visit, during the
course of which he discovers that
the child Murasaki is in fact
Fujitsubo's niece. Genji - already
smitten with Fujitsubo - seeks to
adopt the child but is not taken
seriously.
• When fully recovered from his
illness, Genji asks again about
adopting Murasaki, but is again
refused. To-no-Chujo and some
friends from court arrive to escort
him back. Back at court, Genji's
father-in-law arrives and takes him
to meet Aoi, who turns out to be
cold and unreceptive. Genji sleeps
and dreams of the little girl. The
next day he renews his request to
adopt Murasaki, this time by letter,
but without success.
• Fujitsubo leaves court due to an
illness and, through her maid
Omyobu, Genji arranges a secret
visit and stays the night. Fujitsubo
becomes pregnant, but the
emperor is unaware of Genji's role
in this. Meanwhile, the little girl is
made available for adoption
because her grandmother, the nun,
has died. However, Murasaki's
father, Prince Hyobu, decides to
take charge of her and Genji is
forced to kidnap her before he
does so. Back at his Nijo palace,
Genji begins her education.
The End