Political Wrangles
At the start of the tale, Genji was evicted out of the empire by his father – the Japan’s Emperor Kiristubo. The author holds that the eviction was due to the political wrangles that riddled the nation. He then decided to name Minamoto as a result of demoting from the heirs.
This derailed Genji’s political ambitions and, equally, forces him to become an officer in empirical duties. The ascension of Genji’s half-brother to power after the death of his father also depicted the political hiccups of the tale. The fact that his mother, Kokiden, collaborated with the political rivals to Kiristubo to take matters to the courts of law implies that there must have been a power struggle for the empire’s throne.
While consulting the court was a good approach, readers are left wondering why they had to take that channel. Perhaps they should hold fair elections or simply follow the traditions of power inheritance. The presence of political rivals also implies that the approach might have been a move to block the other contenders.
Love, Romance and Marriage
Being a member of the aristocratic culture, Genji received a lot of coverage for his romantic life style. Grief befell the emperor when Genji’s mother died, but he found consolation in Lady Fujitsubo, whom he married. She was a former princess to another emperor and deeply took after the late mother of Genji.
Being a wife to his father, Genji develops love for her as a stepmother. This love, however, later took a twist when Genji decided to make her a personal lover. Since he was already married, Genji got infuriated with his dire love for her stepmother and even quarreled with his wife. This is neither a respectful or acceptable approach because they had to hide their affair.
Most of his other relationships with other women did not come to fruition. Genji occasionally became dissatisfied and abandoned the affairs. At one moment, he met a beautiful young girl when he visited Kitayama. Despite only being ten years old, Murasaki impressed Genji just as his stepmother had, whom she found out that was her aunt. Genji is depicted as an irresponsible person who does not respect women.
He would walk in and out of relationships at his own peril and even kidnapped a young girl to make his ideal lover. Even though, he did not stop his flings with Fujitsubo and their secret meetings culminated to a son, Reizei. The two ‘lovebirds’ decide to keep it a secret since everybody else believed that the kid must have been fathered by the emperor.
Eventually, Reizei became the prince and his mother, the empress. After the reconciliation between Genji and his wife, Aoi, they gave birth that passed on later. Whilst he was remorseful for the happening, Genji decides to marry Murasaki as a consolation
Another twist of Genji’s romantic life turns up when his secret meetings with the new emperor’s concubine are revealed. While the whole matter only amused emperor Suzaku, he still decided to punish Genji. He, therefore, exiled his half-brother countryside, Suma, where Genji is entertained by Novice of the Akashi before he falls in love with his daughter. The relationship was a fruitful one, which led to the birth of Genji’s only daughter.
Genji might have had multiple affairs, but there is none that can be deemed a success. He was mature enough to control effectively his own romantic life, let alone a family. The story is not very clear on but implies Genji’s death in the Kumogakure chapter. The completion of the story is also not very clear due to its abrupt ending. The readers are left to wonder whether that was the intending ending or a result of the errors in translation.
