The Birth of Shining Prince 富会湿胳≈锻凿∽

The Birth of Shining Prince -The Tale of Genji 'Kiritsubo'- Japanese

Long, long ago, the capital of Japan was in Heian-Kyo (now in Kyoto). We call this period Heian Period (794 to 1185). The Emperors at that time had a lot of wives, who were expected to have the Emperor's children. At that time, each of those ladies was given a room in the Emperor's palace, and had their own court ladies. Murasaki-Shikibu, the author of 'The Tale of Genji' was one of those court ladies. Most of the episodes in the novel described Genji's love affairs, allowing us to imagine the lives of the people in court from the back ground of the novel.

Under the reign of an Emperor, a beautiful lady called Lady Kiritsubo was in his palace, despite of her relatively lower rank, she was loved by the Emperor over all the other ladies. She was so loved by the Emperor that the other ladies envied her and began to harass her. She knew they had hard feelings toward her. Because of that she was inclined to be sick and sometimes returned to her mother's home. The Emperor was worried about her and wanted her to stay with him. Both the Emperor and the lady might have had such a firm relationship from the former life that she gave birth to a baby boy. As the harassment continued, she returned to her mother's home with her baby.
Three years had passed. She at last passed away because of worries and anxieties. The Emperor felt deeply sorry for her and could eat little food for many days.
Several years later, the baby became a boy and came back to the Emperor's palace. He grew up to be a handsome and smart boy, and was good at playing flute and Koto (Japanese-traditional zither).
One day, a fortuneteller said to the Emperor,
"I can tell your son's future by his face. He could become an Emperor in the future, but if he wished to be, misfortunes would be waiting for him."
The Emperor was afraid of his son's future. As the boy was the emperor's second son, he gave the boy a surname Genji and relegated him to common status to avoid his misfortune.
As the Emperor had been much depressed since the death of his beloved wife Kiritsubo, a lady called the Lady Fujitsubo, who resembled the late lady, was called to the palace. Soon the Emperor admitted she was a beautiful lady. He felt like he was with his late wife since the latter one looked very much like the Lady Kiritsubo. He was pleased to visit her with his young son Genji frequently.
One day he said to the lady,
genji

"As you resemble this boy's late mother so much, he is attracted to you. You two look like you are having real mother and son relationship. Will you take good care of this boy?"
Hearing this, the boy loved his stepmother more, while she also loved him like her real son.
Since the boy stood out among other boys for his exceptional beauty, he soon was called "Shining Genji."
When he became twelve, he was celebrated to mark his coming of age. The Minister of the Left took the role of putting the crown on his head. Under the permission of the Emperor, the Minister sent his beloved daughter Aoi to Genji. That means Genji became a bridegroom of the Minister's daughter Aoi.

Though Lady Aoi was a beautiful and highly cultured lady, Genji's mind was filled with Lady Fujitsubo, whom he was no longer allowed to see so often since he had already grown up. He had to live with a complex feeling in his mind from then. Yet he lived with Lady Aoi, he was always dreaming of living with an ideal lady like Lady Fujitsubo in the future. (2009.1.1 With Itaya)