Chapter 16, "The Gatehouse"

Jan 10, 2006 21:46


I guess this is catch-up-with-old-lovers time in Genji.


Chapter 16, "The Gatehouse" (online): In which the lady of the locust shell reappears.

On the road, Genji meets the entourage of the former (vice-)governor of Iyo, now governor of Hitachi, which includes his wife, the lady of the locust shell, and her brother, Kogimi. Genji sends a message via Kogimi saying, basically, "Gee, remember when I ravished you? 'Cause I remember it like it was yesterday. *leer*" Kogimi tells her that G=P so she should write back; she sends a poem saying, "not a chance." Genji occasionally sends "notes to the lady which he hoped would interest and excite her."

Meanwhile, the Hitachi governor is old and ill and worried that his sons will mistreat his wife when he dies. Despite their promises, his sons desert her after she is widowed, except for her stepson the governor of Kawachi, who'd skanked after her in the earlier chapters and keeps doing so now.

His intentions were apparent, and shocking to so proper a lady. She could not think, were she to go on as she was, what tangles she might find herself enmeshed in. Her mind was made up. Consulting no one, she became a nun.

So, there's one woman that Genji doesn't take into his House o' Love. This is a very short chapter, but striking in how much it's not about Genji.

ch16, tr:seidensticker

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