#who wants to drink fruity wine by the riverside at genji's house after quarentine with me?

[mostbeautifulgenji]

Chapter 26: Wild Pinks

Tokanatsu Genji decides to spend a lovely hot day lounging by the fishing pavilion while eating freshly caught and grilled fish, drinking iced wine in the sunshine (gettin real jealous of Genji’s life AGAIN). To no Chujo’s sons are there as well as Genji’s own, and its not long before Genji is ‘grilling’ everyone for some sweet juicy gossip. He learns that Tu no Chujo has had a dream about a long lost child returning to him. Genji plays it cool and goes on to say that he thinks it’s totally greedy of a father to go looking for a lost child, especially if he already has so many children at his disposal. 

See, things clearly haven’t been that great between Genji and Chujo. Long gone are the days of that beautiful bromance (rip). Genji is salty about how Chujo has refused to acknowledge the feelings between their children - that is, Genji’s son and one of Chujo’s daughters. For whatever reason, Chujo is against the match. I feel like this is one of the many reasons Genji is being weird about this long lost daughter of Chujo’s 👀

Genji brings over some young men to let have a glimpse at Tamakazura, who seems more receptive today. Later, Genji and his not-daughter jam out on the Japanese koto. Tamakazura reveals that she has a real interest in mastering this instrument and getting into music as a whole. She’s so into this music topic that she actually sits right next to Genji as he plays, so im getting a little nervous for this girl.

Genji notes that the suitors have left without even getting the best look at the Wild Pinks - there is a translator’s note here about the play on words with ‘Tokanatsu’ and ‘Nadeshiko’, which are both generic names for ‘wild pinks’. This flower of autumn is often used as a metaphor for a child needing protection from the storms of life. Tu no Chujo had written poetry using these words, ‘Tokanatsu’ referring to Tamakazura as a child and ‘Nadeshiko’ referring to her mother (the lady of the evening faces). 

Genji continues to wrestle with his desire to make Tamakazura one of his wives, knowing he would his reputation would suffer for the apparent marriage to his ‘daughter’. Poor poor Genji. He begins to give the girl lessons on koto as an excuse just to hang out with her.

Meanwhile, Tu no Chujo is perplexed by this secret long-lost daughter of Genji’s and wishes he had one of his own to become to talk of all the town’s bachelors (if only he knew...). Instead, his daughter Kumoinokari,  is known to be in love with Genji’s son, but the marriage won’t be viable until the son has acquired some sort of viable rank. 

So, turns out, Tu no Chujo has received a long lost daughter who is very different from Tamakazura - she is being referred to as the Lady from Omi, and i kinda love her. We first see her praying for snake-eyes while playing dice with her equally enthusiastic friend. Tu no Chujo is horrified but feels he cannot turn her away. The Lady from Omi is fast talking, crass, and honestly hilarious. However ‘unladylike’ she may be, Tu no Chujo sees that she has true devotion to him, which is enough to keep him from ditching her. He sends her off to meet with another one of his daughters, the Kokiden Consort, to be reformed. 

The Omi lady is so pumped to begin being a better daughter for her newfound dad that she writes to this consort immediately. She writes this crazy long meandering message but she’s so proud of it. It actually references several famous poems all at once, as she’s really eager to show off her knowledge. She then sends the chambermaid to deliver her message. The Consort is amused by the message and has one of her attendants craft the response. The attendant in question writes in a way that mimics Omi’s ‘style’ and it’s a total success.  The last line of this chapter reads, “One can only wonder what sorts of outrageous things must have happened when she finally the Consort,” which makes me really hope that this meeting isn’t gonna happen behind the scenes! I need this wholesome content outside of the Genji household, plz, Murasaki Shikibu, I beg of you...