Blue Trousers

In Blue Trousers, the fourth part of The Tale of Genji, Arthur Waley's translation opens a glittering world of courtly intrigue where love, rank, and family duty collide. Genji is absorbed in securing the future of his ward Tamakatsura, while his son Yūgiri's love for Kumoi complicates matters with Tō no Chūjō, whose ambitions for his daughter sharpen the tension. Genji fears scandal over Tamakatsura's uncertain parentage, yet sees in her a possible place at court, and the Ōharano Festival awakens in her a dazzled fascination with the Emperor's beauty and dignity, hinting at a new life among imperial circles. As Genji maneuvers delicately between secrecy and obligation, he visits the ailing old Princess, whose talk of age and death deepens the novel's mood of impermanence. He eventually reveals the truth of Tamakatsura's origins to Tō no Chūjō, and the two men, after years of strain, are reunited in a scene of rare emotional warmth. Around them, the court continues its elegant rhythms: a prince is born, bonds in Genji's household soften, and even a boisterous football game at the New Palace becomes, beneath falling cherry blossoms, a fleeting vision of beauty, rivalry, and grace. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.