Chapter 2: Hahakigi (The Broom Tree)

In which Genji can't be with the one(s) he loves.

So we start out five years after the end of the previous chapter. "Shining Genji" is 17 now, and still gorgeous:
...he looked so beautiful that one could have wished him a woman.
I'm not sure who "one" is, but his best friend is apparently some guy called the Secretary Captain. The two of them, and some other dudes, are hanging out and talking about the ladies.

Things they find attractive in women:
Living hidden away in an overgrown house
Speaking in a very quiet voice, and not saying much
Writing in faint ink
Putting up with things that deserve reproof
Nice handwriting

Things they find unattractive in women:
Hair tucked behind the ears
Doing nothing but housework
Wantonness (e.g. indulging in shameless banter)
Being pious and stuffy
Garlic breath
Cursive writing

So after this illuminating conversation, Genji is supposed to be traveling somewhere, but he can't because that direction is forbidden. (There's a whole complicated thing about which direction you can go on which day--it's totally crazy.)
So anyway he decides that he'll go stay with this guy the Governor of Kii, whose house is in a better direction. AND whose house just happens to be full of a bunch of visiting ladies!
Fun!

AND it turns out that one of the ladies happens to be known for being proud, so this piques Genji's interest, even though he still has a crush on Fujitsubo, his sort-of stepmother. And this is funny, because the proud lady (Utsusemi) turns out to be the Governor of Kii's stepmother. Who is young and might possibly be hot, if anyone ever saw her!

So Genji sneaks into her room in the middle of the night, and it's hard to tell, but I don't think they have sex. But they talk all night until he has to leave in the morning, so he takes her little brother with him as a servant so the brother can take messages back to her.
Romantic!

However, even though Genji sends Utsusemi many lovely poems, she is cruel and unmoved.

So, as we end the chapter:
"Very well, then you, at least, shall not leave me." Genji had the boy lie down with him. The boy so appreciated his master's youth and gentleness that they say Genji found him much nicer than his cruel sister.
I bet!

Chapter 1: Kiritsubo (The Paulownia Pavilion)

In which we meet Genji, and he is awesome.

Actually, this chapter is really more about Genji's mother, and how everyone was very sad when she died, to the extent that it was kind of inappropriate.

Apparently, the Emperor was crazy in love with her, and he would keep having her come visit him, like, all the time, which according to the COPIOUS FOOTNOTES was also kind of inappropriate because it was like treating her as a servant. (Yay, Heian women had rights, sort of! but not really.)

Anyway, Genji is the most beautiful child anyone has ever seen, to the degree that it is, all together now: kind of inappropriate. But it turns out okay, because he is so beautiful that you can't really be mad at him, not even the Emperor's other consort (the mother of the Heir Apparent), especially after the Emperor decides to make Genji a commoner (even though he really wants him to be his successor because he is AWESOME).

Oh, and then the Emperor marries Genji (age 12) off to Aoi, who is 16 and apparently not impressed with the famed Genji beauty. Somehow I don't think this marriage will go well.

Especially since he kind of has a crush on the Emperor's new consort, Fujitsubo.
Inappropriate!

Let the Games Begin...

Well, clearly we're going to start the year by fighting over who gets to be played by Kate Winslet.  I suppose I should introduce myself--I am the college roommate.  While Jenne will be holding up the falling in love end of the project, I guess that I, as the already-partnered, will be left with weeping into the sleeves of my kimono.

Well, foo.

Anyway, as it happens, this is also the millennial anniversary of The Tale of Genji, which, of course, lends Extra Special Significance to the project.

More about that in the New York Times Travel section.

Off to put on my red silk trouser skirts and get started.  

The Plan

Okay, so the plan is that my college roommate and I have decided to read one chapter of The Tale of Genji a week for a whole year, which should get us through the thing if we double up on a few weeks. (There are 54 chapters.)
We were both students at Oberlin College in the 90s and both took classes in Japanese literature, but we never actually got around to reading the whole book. But after our trip to Japan this fall, we were all inspired and decided to do it.
For posterity, I will reproduce here the text of my original email suggesting this project:

OK, after reading the Liza Dalby kimono book I am all fired up. I suggest we read the unabridged fucking Genji. Yes I am crazy. But what if we read, like, one chapter a week? Then we'd be done in like a year, right?

In the interest of comparing translations, I'm going to read the Tyler version, and she will read the Seidensticker.
I'm going to try to post something on here for at least each chapter, and hopefully as a result I will come to some sort of greater understanding of life and possibly also fall in love so that I can write one of those Gen-X finding-yourself books that gets made into a movie starring Kate Winslet.
Or alternatively I might get bored and abandon the whole project after 3 weeks. STAY TUNED.