Plurk paste

The Tale of Genji presents a series of relationships patterned after gendered conventions of aggression. Murasaki Shikibu’s poetry contains some of the character’s most important emotional expressions about their relationships. The Akashi episode of the thirteenth chapter exemplifies these behaviors: less prosaic than other chapters, the action is confined to Genji’s forceful initiation of poetic exchange, demanding Akashi Lady’s climactic koto performance, and their sorrowful separation as he returns to the capital, source of his wife Murasaki’s letters.