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Summary
Chapter 12: Exile at Suma
As Genji’s power declines, he considers leaving the court and going into exile. He is hesitant to do so, because he will miss the many people he loves, but in the end departs for a desolate region, forced out by Lady Koki-den’s allies. There is little to occupy the glittering prince in this isolated and stormy seaside location and he paints gloomy landscapes. He even passes time talking to fishermen. Back at court, many people miss Genji keenly, but Koki-den prevents them from contacting him. She even insists that her son, the Emperor, follow her guidance. Only Violet and Tō-no-Chūjō persist. Genji grows increasingly depressed and longs to return to court.
Chapter 13: Exile at Akashi
The weather at Suma continues to be dreadful as severe storms rage for weeks. Genji dreams of his father, who tells him to go out to sea in order to escape. When he wakes up, Genji receives a visit from the ex-Governor, introduced in Chapter 5, who miraculously survived the storms. He has come to invite Genji to stay at his more comfortable home in Akashi. Genji decides to join him in sailing to Akashi, a perilous trip that benefits from divine intervention. The men arrive safely and Genji is pleased with his new surroundings.
The former governor, now priest, attempts to interest Genji in his daughter, a conversation Genji finds somewhat tedious. The daughter is less excited than her father at the idea of a relationship. But her reticence helps to fuel Genji’s growing attraction, which makes him feel remorse over Violet. Just after he consummates the affair, however, he receives word that his exile is over. The Emperor has been visited in his dreams by his father, who instructed him to recall Genji to the capital. This spectral order was countermanded by Koki-den, however, causing both the Emperor and his mother to fall ill. Her indisposition allows him to act and he invites Genji back to court.
Chapter 14: The Beacon
The Emperor decides to abdicate, passing the throne to Lady Wistaria’s son. Lady Koki-den is surprised at his decision, which seems sudden to her, but he explains that he wants quiet and repose. Not only can Genji reinstall himself at court, his son with Lady Aoi is now also welcomed to the imperial palace. In Akashi, his mistress gives birth to a daughter. He is eager to have her brought to the capital so he can oversee her education. Genji also reunites with Violet and tells her of his new daughter. She is somewhat jealous, particularly as she is not herself a mother, and shows it in a way that makes Genji love her more.
Grateful to have another child, Genji goes on a pilgrimage to Akashi, in order to thank the local divinity. The lady is overwhelmed by the magnificence of various displays and hides from him. Genji seeks to console her with poetry. Long ill, the Lady of Rojukō asks Genji to take care of her daughter before she dies. He determines that the beautiful young woman should be a consort of the new Emperor.
Analysis
The centrality of the imperial capital in the novel’s world is underscored in these chapters when Genji is in exile far away. His reunion with the ex-Governor, who has long hoped to establish his daughter at the court, serves to remind Genji, and with him the reader, of how important it is to be welcome and present at court. Although there are abundant scenes of natural beauty for Genji to enjoy, there is little in the way of art to help him pass the time. He spends some time painting landscapes but, as many of the arts at which he excels are interactive, he finds himself bored and demoralized. He is buoyed by the attentions of Tō-no-Chūjō, capturing the importance of this friendship in some superlative verses.
Another way that the elite world of the court is represented through its absence is via Genji’s conversations with fishermen. He notes that they speak an unsophisticated dialect and their interests are narrow. Even though Genji has previously interacted with various servants—attendants, maids, couriers—this is the first time in the novel that he deals with people who are not elite. Murasaki shows how impoverished Genji’s social life at Suma is by suggesting that he must turn to fishermen for company. At the same time, though, it is possible to observe how circumscribed the representation of social classes is in The Tale of Genji. At court, only the most elite people are present, while the countless others who labor to support the palace, by growing food, making things, or keeping places clean, are entirely invisible. The novel’s social hierarchy thus becomes vividly clear once Genji is exiled from court.
Genji’s exile is the immediate result of an impetuous action—seducing one of Koki-den’s sisters—but is fully explained by the longstanding antagonism Koki-den has to both Kiri-Tsubo and Genji himself. Previously readers had seen how she could manipulate members of the court, encouraging them to torment Kiri-Tsubo and, in these chapters, she is shown to be equally adept at manipulating her son. No matter what the portents indicate, he is only able to recall Genji when his mother is ill and away from the palace. His subsequent decision to abdicate, preferring quiet to the demands of ruling, may well indicate a desire to escape permanently from her manipulative clutches.
Exile is a time of trial for Genji, when he confronts the limitations of his impetuous behavior. His visit to his father’s grave is a moment of particular clarity, and he returns to the imperial court with a more mature attitude, ready to shoulder responsibilities more fully. He accedes to the Lady of Rojukō’s request to look out for her daughter, while also requesting to raise his own child by the Lady of Akashi. Genji also seems to understand Violet’s jealousy, as well as the desires of others to withdraw from court life. In short, Genji seems more subdued across these chapters, and not only because there are fewer women for him to pursue away from the palace. Genji has matured.
