322 Part IV: East Asian Civilization
perfumed notes, the 13-stringed koto—were intense emotions: longing for past
lovers, melancholy on briny shores, status jealousies, fear of exposure of indis-
cretions, laments for the dead. Good breeding made itself visible in exquisite
taste and polished manners. You could tell a person of third rank from a person
of first rank by their conduct, and did, but never rudely.
In this world, there were careers for ladies at court. But ladies, as well as
men, needed good family connections to really have a chance. Genji’s mother
was beloved by the emperor, but being the emperor’s favorite, without impor-
tant kinship connections, subjected her to jealous torment from others until she
retired from court and died. Even being the emperor’s favorite son, as Genji
was, was not enough without powerful maternal relatives; princes were regu-
larly reduced to commoner status to minimize the number of royals competing
politically with the Fujiwara regents. Princes needed support, and a popular
surname for them to take (since
the imperial family has no sur-
name) was Genji, a Chinese
form of Minamoto. Women’s
careers, however, were never of-
ficial posts in government; no
Minister of the Left or of the
Right or other positions were
available to them. A royal prin-
cess was always appointed as
High Priestess at Ise, and
women could retire to become
Buddhist nuns and read the
sutras, but Lady Murasaki was
largely interested in that other
career, the life of romantic in-
trigue. These court women had
the freedom to write love letters,
welcome men into their bou-
doirs, initiate affairs, and often
gave birth to babies with danger-
ous resemblances to men at
court. These intrigues were po-
etic and emotional, every flirta-
tion was a sincere one and even
lapsed affairs retained a melan-
choly emotional integrity. The
love affair now over is like the
fallen blossom, beautiful, tran-
sient, sorrowfully and irretriev-
ably lost.The “shining Genji,” the dazzling prince who is the
main character in The Tale of Genji, was a poetic soul
who enjoyed moments like this one, viewing the snow
drifting down over the lake.