[1] The hero of a lost popular romance. It is also referred to by Murasaki’s contemporary Sei Shōnagon in Chapter 145 of her Makura no Sōshi.
[2] His father-in-law’s house, where his wife Princess Aoi still continued to live.
[3] Japanese houses were arranged somewhat differently from ours and for many of the terms which constantly recur in this book (kichō, sudare, sunoko, etc.) no exact English equivalents can be found. In such cases I have tried to use expressions which without being too awkward or unfamiliar will give an adequate general idea of what is meant.
[4] Provincial officials. Murasaki herself came of this class.
[5] The tenth month.
[6] From the saibara ballad, The Well of Asuka: ‘Sweet is the shade, the lapping waters cool, and good the pasture for our weary steeds. By the Well of Asuka, here let us stay.’
[7] The ‘Japanese zithern’; also called wagon. A species of koto.
[8] As opposed to the formal and traditional music imported from China.
[9] See Encyclopédia de la Musique, p. 247. Under the name Nan-lü this mode was frequently used in the Chinese love-dramas of the fourteenth century. It was considered very wild and moving.
[10] Goddess of Beauty.