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Candia Comes Clean

~ Candid cultural comments from the Isles of Wonder

Tag Archives: Tale of Genji

Duplicity

18 Wednesday Oct 2017

Posted by Candia in Summer 2012

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

chrysanthemums, duplicity, Murasaki Shikibu, Tale of Genji, Totoya Hokkei

Woodblock print. Surimono. Popular culture. A cockerel perched on a drum amid leaves, with poem. Nishiki-e on paper.

(Totoya Hokkei; British Museum)

 

Innocuousness

can be just as damning as

a flagrant dislay,

for those in jealousy’s grip.

Suspicions arise

as to what might be buried

beneath russet leaves,

or between well-written lines.

Female coyness leads men on.

Yes, chrysanthemums

can slowly change their colours,

with cultivation.

Even modesty can mask

duplicity of all kinds.

 

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Oigimi

07 Saturday Oct 2017

Posted by Candia in art, Arts, Literature, Nostalgia, Poetry, Relationships, Romance, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Kaoru, Murasaki Shikibu, Oigimi, Tale of Genji

File:Brooklyn Museum - Scene from the Tale of Genji - overall.jpg

(Image: Brooklyn Museum)

 

Her anger enhanced

the strong attraction he felt,

but her frank consent

was what he was awaiting.

He had spent a long

time feigning indifference.

Now he lay down beside her,

restraining himself all night.

They stood on the verandah,

watching the dawn sky.

It was a perfect moment.

The city beckoned.

He withdrew silently; his

scent impregnated her robes.

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Dutiful Visits

25 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by Candia in art, Arts, Humour, Literature, Nostalgia, Poetry, Relationships, Romance, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

choka, Japanese poetry, Lady Hitachi, Murasaki Shikibu, Seidensticker, Tale of Genji

 

(Wikipedia.  Murasaki Shikibu portrait

Author: Kano Takanobu; )WalkerPlus)

 

When the letter came,

he did not let her see it.

It was pathetic,

but he saved the woman’s face;

she was a princess!

Murasaki was unique –

she should understand.

But why was he so nervous

if the other meant nothing?

Lady Hitachi

is the one he visits now.

No woman need fret:

she has a ginormous nose!

There is no competition.

 

(I have used Edward Seidensticker’s translation of

‘The Tale of Genji’ throughout.  I have taken his prose

and cut, paraphrased and transformed the material,

re-shaping it into chokas and tankas.  My intention was

to capture the spirit of the tale, but to return it to poetry

by using traditional Japanese forms.

Seidensticker made the work accessible to me, for which

I am indebted.)

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Non Pareil

24 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by Candia in art, Arts, Literature, Nostalgia, Poetry, Psychology, Relationships, Romance, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Murasaki Shikibu, plum blossom, Tale of Genji

(Image: Wikimedia Commons)

 

It is quite futile

to torment oneself over

the inconstancy

of the opposite sex, she

declared, with a sigh.

The cockerel crowed early

and she had not slept,

but she trespassed on his dreams.

He left the woman’s chamber

on the first pretext.

Now he was back home,

there was no comparison-

just as sprigs of plum blossom

differ greatly from cherry.

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Kiri-Tsubo

04 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by Candia in art, Arts, Community, Literature, Music, mythology, Nostalgia, Poetry, Relationships, Romance, Writing

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

choka, Kiri-Tsubo, koto, Murasaki Shikibu, Music, Otaki, Tale of Genji

 

 

Shadow of herself,

Kiri- Tsubo was wilting.

A hand-drawn carriage

took her from the Emperor.

Her ceremonies at

Otaki were conducted

with solemnity.

Inordinate love killed her.

On damp, chilly nights,

the music of the koto

plucked at his heart’s strings

and he could not bear to think

of their son, removed from court.

 

 

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Wakana New Herbs

03 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by Candia in Animals, art, Arts, Literature, mythology, Poetry, Relationships, Romance, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

boussokusekika, Kashiwagi, Murasaki Shikibu, New Herbs, Tale of Genji, Third princess, Wakanajo

Tale of Genji painting detail

 

Third Princess, your pet

climbed onto the balcony.

Oh, Kashiwagi,

why should you desire it when

you are not a cat lover?

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Hanachirusato

03 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by Candia in art, Arts, Literature, mythology, Nostalgia, Poetry, Relationships, Romance, Writing

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Tags

boussokusekika, cuckoo, Hanachirusata, orange blossom, Tale of Genji

 

So unassuming,

you were a Falling Flower.

A cuckoo beckons;

I smell the orange blossoms

and fond memories flood back.

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Hahakigi: The Broom Tree

28 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by Candia in art, Arts, Literature, mythology, Poetry, Relationships, Romance, Social Comment, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

boussokusekika, Tale of Genji, The Broom Tree, Utagawa Toyokuni, Utsusemi

(Artist:Utagawa Toyokuni; Denman Waldo Ross collection, Museum Fine Arts, Boston)

 

Vice-governor’s wife

was as a broom tree growing

in a shabby yard.

She chose her safe marriage,

for rank dictated conduct.

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The Shell of the Locust

27 Sunday Aug 2017

Posted by Candia in art, Arts, Crime, Literature, mythology, Poetry, Relationships, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Go, Nokiba-no-ogi, shell of the locust, Tale of Genji, Utagawa Kunisada II, Utsusemi

Tale of Genji - detail second screen

(Artist: Utagawa Kunisada II; ukiyo-e-org)

Variation on earlier post: The Locust Lady

 

 

Utsusemi and

Nokiba-no-ogi play

Go.  Genji then goes

for the former, but she flees,

leaving her robe behind her.

.

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Kiritsubo

27 Sunday Aug 2017

Posted by Candia in art, Arts, Family, Literature, mythology, Nostalgia, Poetry, Relationships, Romance, Writing

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Fujitsubo, Kiritsubo, Murasaki Shikibi, Shining Prince, Tale of Genji

Kiritsubo from the series The Tale of Genji in Modern Dress (Furuyu yatsushi Genji)

(Fine Arts, San Francisco. Artist: Isoda Koryusai; c 1770 Achenbach

Foundation. Gift Miss Carlotta Mabury)

 

Oh, Kiritsubo,

bullied, you wasted away.

Your son was banished.

Fujitsubo looks like you;

the Emperor wed her, but

The Shining Prince will return.

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← Older posts

My name is Candia. Its initial consonant alliterates with “cow” and there are connotations with the adjective “candid.” I started writing this blog in the summer of 2012 and focused on satire at the start.

Interspersed was ironic news comment, reviews and poetry.

Over the years I have won some international poetry competitions and have published in reputable small presses, as well as reviewing and reading alongside well- established poets. I wrote under my own name then, but Candia has taken me over as an online persona. Having brought out a serious anthology last year called 'Its Own Place' which features poetry of an epiphanal nature, I was able to take part in an Arts and Spirituality series of lectures in Winchester in 2016.

Lately I have been experimenting with boussekusekeika, sestinas, rhyme royale, villanelles and other forms. I am exploring Japanese themes at the moment, my interest having been re-ignited by the recent re-evaluations of Hokusai.

Thank you to all my committed followers whose loyalty has encouraged me to keep writing. It has been exciting to meet some of you in the flesh- in venues as far flung as Melbourne and Sydney!

Copyright Notice

© Candia Dixon Stuart and Candiacomesclean.wordpress.com, 2012-2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Candia Dixon Stuart and candiacomesclean.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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