[17] Her relations with Genji. See vol. i, p. 241. She had now become the Emperor’s mistress.
[18] The neglected step-child who in the end triumphs over her pampered rivals is a favourite theme in Japanese stories. Cf. the Sumiyoshi Monogatari and the Ochikubo.
[19] See vol. i, pp. 68 and 252.
[20] A ritual in honour of the Five Mysterious Buddhas of the Tantric Sect, to wit: Gōsanze, Gundari, Dai-itoku, Kongō-yasha and Fudō.
[21] See vol i, pp. 241 seq.
[22] Genji was Commander of the Imperial Guard. The soldiers of the Guard had to report at 4 a.m. to the senior officer of the Guard who happened on that night to be in the Palace. They had really come to report to some subordinate officer who happened to be lodging close by.
[23] I.e. 4 a.m. They had to go on calling the hour till their officer replied ‘So be it’ to show that he had heard them.
[24] There is a play of words on aku ‘enough’ and aku ‘dawn’; in the next poem between aku ‘enough’ and aku ‘open.’
[25] Wife of the young Emperor Suzaku.
[26] I.e. in a monastery.