The Diary of Lady Murasaki (20 page)

14
These preparations included making the bathtub and other ceremonial objects. Murasaki’s assumption here is incorrect. The bathtub was made at the Tsuchimikado mansion rather than at the Palace and the order was not given until the baby had been safely delivered. His Excellency Michinaga’s diary has the following entry for this day: ‘The boy was safely delivered about noon. Presented gifts to the priests and diviners who had been present, each according to rank. At the same time the child had his first feed, the umbilical cord was cut, and they began to make the bath tub.’ The carpenters were given less than six hours to complete the task.

15
A messenger was regularly dispatched on the eleventh of the ninth month from the court to Ise, sacred centre of the Imperial cult. Shintō treated blood as a pollutant. Having been to the Tsuchimikado mansion, Yorisada is now defiled from contact with the birth and cannot enter the Palace for fear of infecting the messenger.

16
Was Murasaki perhaps not present at this and the following ceremonies? Later on, for instance, she is unsure as to who performed the readings. In any case, she was clearly trying to be as careful as possible in what she recorded. For a sense of what is going on at this juncture, see ground-plan
4
(Appendix 1).

17
Tigers are not indigenous to Japan, so this had probably arrived at court as a gift from either Korea or China, at least two hundred years before this event. It is probable that the head was held over the bath, its face reflected in the water to scare away evil influences, although there are some commentaries that suggest this is a skull actually dipped in the water. Whatever the case, it should be understood to be an extremely rare, talismanic object.

18
All the readings were from the Chinese classics. It is likely that a ‘reading’ in fact consisted of a formalized recitation in Sino-Japanese pronunciation, which would not have been readily understood without reference to the text itself, even without the twanging of the bows. The
Shih-chi
(‘Records of the Historian’) is the first Chinese Standard History, compiled by Ssu-ma Ch’ien and covering events in China from the beginnings to 100 BC.

19
Murasaki again makes a point of telling us that she was not present. Her reference to the ‘Emperor Wen’ chapter here may be a mistake for the section on Emperor Wen in the
Chronicles of the Han
. We know this because other records of this event survive: see Appendix
2
for details.

20
The rules governing who could wear what colour were complicated and subject to constant change. According to the earliest specialized source we have, dated
c
. 1150, only women of a certain rank were allowed to wear yellow-green or red, but this restriction was limited to jackets of figured silk and printed trains. On this particular occasion, however, everyone is dressed in white, so the term may simply govern the type of material allowed.

21
Celebrations were held on the third, fifth, seventh and ninth days after the birth, each time with a different group of courtiers in charge of the arrangements.

22
See ground-plan
5
(Appendix 1) for a clearer picture of the layout at this point.

23
Komatsubara was an area just north-east of the capital often used for its poetic associations. This particular design may well have been based on the following congratulatory poem by the poet Ki no Tsurayuki:
Ah Ōhara, and Komatsubara at Oshio: may the trees soon grow tall and show us the face of immortality (Gosenshū
, commissioned 951, Poem 1374).

24
As the effect of this poem in Japanese relies on word-play (three examples in this case), it is difficult to reproduce in translation. Murasaki obviously thought it clever enough to record, despite the fact that she never had an opportunity to recite it.

25
This is Fujiwara no Kintō (966–1041), the arbiter of poetic taste at the time. It is interesting to note the importance placed on reciting poetry correctly. Sei Shōnagon has a similar passage, where she records her apprehension at having to reply to one of Kintō’s poems. See I. Morris,
The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon
(London: Oxford University Press, 1967, vol. 1, pp. 120–21; Penguin Classics, 1971, p. 135).Kintō’s own (far more mundane) poem on this occasion can be found in the collection of his own poems (
Kintōshū
, Poem 23034):
Ah! See the peaceful face of the autumn moon; it brings the promise of a lengthy reign
.

26
The Kangakuin was a college founded by Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu in 821 for the purpose of educating members of the clan. As will be seen from Appendix 2, most other sources in fact record this procession as taking place on the third day rather than on the seventh. This would make more sense, because it would have been far more appropriate for scholars from this private clan institution to have participated in an event sponsored by Her Majesty’s Household, as was the case on the third.

27
As we know from the account of this incident in the
Shōyūki
(see Appendix
2
), it actually occurred on the seventeenth rather than the nineteenth. A serving lady called Koma no Takashina was the butt of much drunken revelry, Michinaga going so far as to take off one of his robes and offer it to her. At first she refused, but in the end she was forced to accept the gift. A visit to her apartments presumably followed.

28
The white dais had been removed on the eighteenth when everyone had changed back into colours, so only one dais remained. It was relocated to the western side of the eastern chamber. See ground-plan
6
(Appendix 1).

29
Prince Nakatsukasa, Tomohira (964–1009), seventh son of Emperor Murakami, was forty-five at the time and the ‘business’ concerned a possible marriage between his daughter and Michinaga’s eldest son, Yorimichi. The marriage is discussed in some detail in Chapter 8 of the
Eiga monogatari
(‘A Tale of Flowering Fortunes’), but there is surprisingly no mention of it in Michinaga’s own diary. Why he should think that Murasaki had influence over the Prince is not known.

30
Both these creatures had magic powers that prevented boats and ships from sinking in wind or waves. The fantastical shapes were copied from Chinese example. Here, of course, we are only talking of boats poled in the shallow garden lake. Once the ceremonies are under way, the musicians will play on the lake.

31
These were some of the many
bugaku
court dances performed on such occasions. The provenance of each dance was generally known and in this case all are of Chinese origin. In view of the fact that Michinaga’s diary records ‘Chinese and Korean, two dances each’, Murasaki may be mistaken here.

32
This phrase is part of a poem that can be found in the ‘Celebration’ section of the
Wakan rōeishū
, an anthology of well-known Chinese and Japanese verses compiled by the very person who is reciting it here – Fujiwara no Kintō, whom we have previously met (see note
25
). The poem reads:
No limit to the delight at a time of celebration; For ten thousand ages and a thousand autumns the pleasure never ends
.

33
Why? Murasaki must have been hoping for some advancement for one of her close relatives, perhaps her ill-starred brother, and she had lost the opportunity to exert any influence she might have had.

34
From her parents’ point of view, the birth certainly was ‘long-awaited’. Shōshi had entered the Palace in 999, at which point she had been eleven, but Emperor Ichijō (980–1011) already nineteen: she was now twenty-one.

35
This particular room has been Murasaki’s up to this point and it is not clear why she has moved. As the following passage makes clear, however, she must have moved into the middle room at some stage. See ground-plan
2
(Appendix 1).

36
This line is from a
saibara
or folk song. These were adopted at court and given a formal accompaniment in the Chinese manner. All the other songs mentioned in the diary from this point on are also
saibara
.

37
For a clearer picture of what is going on at this point see ground-plan
7
(Appendix 1). The records translated in Appendix 2 are particularly detailed for this ceremony.

38
It was the custom for the father or grandfather to offer little rice cakes to the child on such occasions, merely a ceremonial gesture.

39
The men are sitting on the veranda facing inwards, while the women are sitting in the southern gallery facing outwards: see ground-plan
7
(Appendix 1). The blinds have been rolled up but the women are still hidden by curtains which were joined by seams loose enough to allow things to be passed through, or to act as peepholes. It is these that Akimitsu is now pulling apart to get a better view.

40
This gentleman is Fujiwara no Sanesuke, author of the
Shōyūki
, a court diary written in Sino-Japanese that covers the years 982–1032, part of which is translated in Appendix 2. Sanesuke was a well-known critic of Michinaga’s opulence and he may be looking at the women’s robes with a jaundiced eye, marking up yet another instance of extravagance.

41
This is the only reference in the diary to the name Murasaki. It is, of course, a nickname associated with the fictional heroine of the
Tale of Genji
and this little vignette probably records its genesis: it would not be surprising if a name first bestowed by the eminent Kintō were quickly to gain currency.

42
The situation here is a little vague. The noble are sitting on the veranda, which is quite narrow, so there would be no space to walk behind them. When asked to take the cup, Assistant Master Fujiwara no Sanenari carefully avoids walking in front of his father, goes instead down the steps at the east end of the veranda, walks along the garden and comes up the centre steps. His father, who is drunk, bursts into tears on seeing how his son can observe the correct formalities in such a situation.

43
The stories mentioned earlier that Her Majesty was having copied may or may not have been by Murasaki, but there can be little doubt that this particular reference is to the
Tale of Genji
. The fact that copies would have taken months of hard work to produce, that they could so easily go astray like this, and that many of them may simply have been drafts rather than the finished product makes it all the more incredible that her work, in particular, has survived.

44
Mandarin ducks were supposed always to go around in inseparable pairs. This common metaphor for lovers originally came from Chinese literature but had by this time become firmly part of the Japanese poetic vocabulary. These poems should be seen as forming a conventional exchange between close friends – nothing more.

45
The palace to which Her Majesty returns is not the main Imperial Palace but the much smaller mansion at Ichijō nearby. The Imperial Palace itself had been burned to the ground on Kankō 2 (1005).11.15 and, although rebuilding started a year later, it was not actually reoccupied until Kankō 8 (1011).8.11. For details of the Ichijō Palace see ground-plan
8
(Appendix 1).

46
Lady Koshōshō’s father had retired from active life as early as 987 and she had been brought up by her mother. This lack of a male relative with the proper court connections would have been seen as a major impediment to making a good marriage.

47
These books are the first three imperial anthologies of Japanese poetry: the
Kokinshū
was compiled
c
. 905, the
Gosenshū c
. 951, and the
Shūishū c
. 1005.

48
Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu (921?–991) and Kiyohara no Motosuke (908–990) both took part in the compilation of the
Gosenshū
. It is not clear here whether Murasaki thought of these men as ‘old’ or ‘new’.