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A wreath of cloud cover

A wreath of cloud

Chapter 2: PREFACE
By Murasaki Shikibu
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Classics of Literature

About This Book

The narrative continues a courtly saga centered on a celebrated noble whose love affairs, jealousies, and periods of exile reshape his household and social standing; episodes trace renewed attachments, the sorrows inflicted by rival women, the upbringing and placement of daughters and heirs, and the tension between private desire and public duty. Several chapters record delicate domestic incidents, poetic exchanges, seasonal rituals, and sudden reversals that expose shifting affections and the consequences of past actions, while attention gradually shifts toward the next generation. The tone combines elegiac reflection with close psychological observation, highlighting manners, aesthetic sensibility, and the strict codes of aristocratic life.

PREFACE

This is the last volume but one of The Tale of Genji proper. Between volumes IV and V there is a gap of eight years, during which Genji has died. Volumes V and VI contain the sequel, ‘the ten Uji chapters,’ as they are called in Japan, which deal with the fortunes of Genji’s supposed son Kaoru, and his grandson (the Akashi Princess’s child) Niou. The name ‘Genji’ (member of the Minamoto clan) applies equally to his descendants, so that in Japanese the sequel too can be called The Tale of Genji. But in English it needs a new name, and I have called it The Tale of Kaoru. Thus The Tale of Genji itself will be complete in four volumes, and will be followed by a sequel in two volumes.

I wish here to thank Mr. R. C. Trevelyan and Miss Sybil Pye for the care with which they have read the proofs of the present volume. The fact that the heroine of the story and the writer of it are both called Murasaki is somewhat confusing. I will therefore here point out that the name ‘Murasaki’ was given to the authoress as a nickname, in allusion to the heroine of her book. Her real name is unknown to us. For the origin of the nickname, see below, p. 23.