Read Online The Diary of Lady Murasaki by Murasaki Shikibu - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Murasaki Shikibu
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one of those princesses you find depicted in illustrations. I pulled back the sleeve that covered her face.
‘You remind me of a fairy-tale princess!’ I said.
She looked up with a start.
‘You are dreadful!’ she said, propping herself up. ‘Waking people up like that without a thought!’
I remember being struck by the attractive way her face suddenly flushed. So it is that someone normally very beautiful can look even more beautiful than ever on occasions.
On the ninth of the ninth month Lady Hyōbu brought me floss-silk damp with chrysanthemum dew.
‘Here,’ she said. ‘Her Excellency sent it especially for you. She said you were to use it carefully to wipe old age away!’
I was about to send it back with the poem:
Chrysanthemum dew:
I brush my sleeve to gain a little youth,
But let she who owns the flower have the thousand years they bring.
But then they told me that Her Excellency had already returned to her apartments; there was no point, I told myself, so let the matter drop. 7
As night fell, I went to attend Her Majesty. It was a beautiful moonlit night. Lady Koshōshō, Lady Dainagon and the others were sitting at their respective places near the veranda, the hems of their long trains cascading out from beneath the blinds. The incense was brought in and placed on a burner for Her Majesty to test. We discussed how beautiful the garden was looking and how unreasonably long it was taking for the vines to show their autumn colours, but Her Majestyseemed to be in considerable discomfort. When it came time for the priests to perform their rites, I went in with her feeling most uneasy.
I was called away and returned to my own room. Intending to rest for a while, I fell asleep and about midnight I awakened to a scene of great bustle and noise.
As dawn approached on the morning of the tenth, they changed all the furnishings and Her Majesty was moved to a white-curtained dais. 8 His Excellency was in charge, and his sons, together with other courtiers of fourth and fifth rank, were milling about hanging up curtains and bringing in mats and cushions. It was all extremely noisy. Her Majesty was very restless all day and clearly in great distress.
Loud spells were cast in order to transfer evil influences. All the priests who had been at the mansion for the last few months were present, of course, but they were now joined by everyone worthy of the name exorcist who had been ordered down from the major temples. As they crowded in, you could imagine every Buddha in the universe flying down to respond. Those famed as Ying-Yang diviners had also been asked to attend. Surely not a god in the land could have failed to prick up his ears, I felt.
All day long there were messengers leaving to request the reading of sūtras; and it continued on throughout the night.
The ladies-in-waiting sent from the Palace were seated in the eastern gallery. To the west of the dais were the women acting as mediums, each surrounded by a pair of screens. Curtains had been hung at the entrance to each enclosure, where sat an exorcist whose role it was to intone loud spells. To the south, the archbishops and bishops of greatest importance sat in rows; it was most impressive to hear their hoarse voices, now in prayer, now in censure, loud enough, I felt, tocall up the manifestation of Fudō in living form. 9 When I counted later, there must have been over forty people crammed into that narrow space between the sliding screens to the north and the dais itself. Hardly able to move an inch, they were all in a trance, quite carried away by it all. Unfortunately there was no room for those who had just arrived from home. No one could find the hem of her train or her sleeves in the crush, and the older women, whom one expected to set an example, were beside themselves trying as best they could to hide their tears.
At dawn on the eleventh, two sets of sliding screens on the north side were taken away and Her Majesty was moved into the back
‘You remind me of a fairy-tale princess!’ I said.
She looked up with a start.
‘You are dreadful!’ she said, propping herself up. ‘Waking people up like that without a thought!’
I remember being struck by the attractive way her face suddenly flushed. So it is that someone normally very beautiful can look even more beautiful than ever on occasions.
On the ninth of the ninth month Lady Hyōbu brought me floss-silk damp with chrysanthemum dew.
‘Here,’ she said. ‘Her Excellency sent it especially for you. She said you were to use it carefully to wipe old age away!’
I was about to send it back with the poem:
Chrysanthemum dew:
I brush my sleeve to gain a little youth,
But let she who owns the flower have the thousand years they bring.
But then they told me that Her Excellency had already returned to her apartments; there was no point, I told myself, so let the matter drop. 7
As night fell, I went to attend Her Majesty. It was a beautiful moonlit night. Lady Koshōshō, Lady Dainagon and the others were sitting at their respective places near the veranda, the hems of their long trains cascading out from beneath the blinds. The incense was brought in and placed on a burner for Her Majesty to test. We discussed how beautiful the garden was looking and how unreasonably long it was taking for the vines to show their autumn colours, but Her Majestyseemed to be in considerable discomfort. When it came time for the priests to perform their rites, I went in with her feeling most uneasy.
I was called away and returned to my own room. Intending to rest for a while, I fell asleep and about midnight I awakened to a scene of great bustle and noise.
As dawn approached on the morning of the tenth, they changed all the furnishings and Her Majesty was moved to a white-curtained dais. 8 His Excellency was in charge, and his sons, together with other courtiers of fourth and fifth rank, were milling about hanging up curtains and bringing in mats and cushions. It was all extremely noisy. Her Majesty was very restless all day and clearly in great distress.
Loud spells were cast in order to transfer evil influences. All the priests who had been at the mansion for the last few months were present, of course, but they were now joined by everyone worthy of the name exorcist who had been ordered down from the major temples. As they crowded in, you could imagine every Buddha in the universe flying down to respond. Those famed as Ying-Yang diviners had also been asked to attend. Surely not a god in the land could have failed to prick up his ears, I felt.
All day long there were messengers leaving to request the reading of sūtras; and it continued on throughout the night.
The ladies-in-waiting sent from the Palace were seated in the eastern gallery. To the west of the dais were the women acting as mediums, each surrounded by a pair of screens. Curtains had been hung at the entrance to each enclosure, where sat an exorcist whose role it was to intone loud spells. To the south, the archbishops and bishops of greatest importance sat in rows; it was most impressive to hear their hoarse voices, now in prayer, now in censure, loud enough, I felt, tocall up the manifestation of Fudō in living form. 9 When I counted later, there must have been over forty people crammed into that narrow space between the sliding screens to the north and the dais itself. Hardly able to move an inch, they were all in a trance, quite carried away by it all. Unfortunately there was no room for those who had just arrived from home. No one could find the hem of her train or her sleeves in the crush, and the older women, whom one expected to set an example, were beside themselves trying as best they could to hide their tears.
At dawn on the eleventh, two sets of sliding screens on the north side were taken away and Her Majesty was moved into the back
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