I stand perplexed where these sad seasons meet.
Now at least we must suppose he was convinced that such secret adventures led only to misery.
I should indeed be very loth to recount in all their detail matters which he took so much trouble to conceal, did I not know that if you found I had omitted anything you would at once ask why, just because he was supposed to be an Emperor’s son, I must needs put a favourable showing on his conduct by leaving out all his indiscretions; and you would soon be saying that this was no history but a mere made-up tale designed to influence the judgment of posterity. As it is I shall be called a scandal-monger; but that I cannot help.
[1] Lady Rokujō. Who she was gradually becomes apparent in the course of the story.
[2] Lady Rokujō’s house.
[3] Rokujō.
[4] Genji was now seventeen; Rokujō twenty-four.
[5] The god of bridges. He built in a single night the stone causeway which joins Mount Katsuragi and Mount Kombu.
[6] Genji’s brother-in-law.
[7] His own palace.