Note 21 — Chapter I · A WREATH OF CLOUD
Arthur Waley translation
Genji had promised in due course to marry the child to the Heir Apparent, son of the Emperor Ryōzen.
22 Buddhist ceremonies corresponding to the Christian ‘Confirmation.’
23 That Genji fetched the child.
24 There is a play on words: fumi = ‘letter’; also ‘treading.’ Ato = ‘the tracks of feet,’ but also ‘tracks of the pen,’ σήματα.
25 Babies’ heads were shaved, save for two tufts.
26 The sword was the emblem of the child’s royal blood. The Heavenly Children were dolls which were intended to attract evil influences and so save the child from harm.
27 Genji must now have been 30.
28 ‘Stop your boat, oh cherry-man! I must sow the ten-rood island field. Then I will come again. To-morrow I will come again!’ The lady answers: ‘To-morrow, forsooth! Those are but words. You keep a girl upon the other side, and to-morrow you will not come, no, not to-morrow will you come.’
29 The secret that the Emperor was his son. The safety of the State depended upon the cult of ancestors. This could only be performed by their true descendants. Moreover the occupation of the throne by one who was not by birth entitled to it would arouse the wrath of the Sun, from whom the Emperor of Japan claims descent.
30 Quoting a poem of Uyeno Mine-o’s upon the death of Fujiwara no Mototsune, 891 A.D.
31 That Ryōzen was in reality Genji’s son.
32 See above, note on p. 49, and below note on p. 60.
33 Prince Momozono Shikibukyō, brother of the old Emperor and father of Princess Asagao.
34 Into performing ceremonies at the grave of his supposed father which unless performed by a true son, were sacrilegious and criminal.
35 From a poem by Ono no Komachi’s sister, say the commentaries; but such a poem is not to be found in her surviving works.
36 Anon, in Kokinshū, No. 546.
37 He identifies Akikonomu with the Autumn.
38 ‘If you are unkind, I too by unkindness will teach you the pain that unkindness can inflict.’ Anonymous poem.