The oak / Kashiwagi

This print depicts Chapter 36 of Fifty-Four Chapters of The Tale of Genji.

What goes around comes around. Genji, who had been unfaithful to his wives, was betrayed by his last wife, the Third Princess, Onna San no Miya, who cheated on him with the young Kashiwagi, a name that means "oak tree" in Japanese. The Third Princess became pregnant by her lover and, after giving birth, wished to withdraw from the world and become a Buddhist nun to atone for her sins, a request that Genji accepted. The child, Kaoru, was raised as Genji's son and becomes the main protagonist of the final part of the novel. The print shows Kashiwagi, who felt guilty for having betrayed Genji and had fallen gravely ill. On his deathbed, he wrote this farewell poem, in which, in a dramatic tone, he already contemplated the cremation of his body, yet declared his eternal love for her:

Not even the smoke
that from my funeral pyre
will cover the skies
will be able to hide my love for you,
as bright as the sun.

David Almazán. Exhibition "Prints of Prince Genji", Red Itiner 2023