Wakana 若菜

A pictorial subject taken from "Wakana" ("New Herbs"), which is divided into two parts, making up Chapters 34 and 35 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji). Various episodes included in these two chapters have been depicted. In part one, Retired Emperor Suzaku 朱雀, in failing health, seeks to retire into the Buddhist priesthood. To sever his last ties to the mundane world, which center on his concerns for his daughter the Third Princess, Onna San no Miya 女三宮, he entrusts her in marriage to Genji. Genji reluctantly agrees to the match despite their great differences in age and the shock it will cause his principal wife Murasaki, Murasaki no Ue 紫の上. At his fortieth birthday, celebrated by *Tamakazura 玉鬘, Genji goes through the ceremony of sampling the new herbs, which are arranged in four aloe wood boxes. Genji also starts visiting Lady Oborozukiyo 朧月夜 again. Genji's daughter, the Akashi Princess, Akashi no Himegimi 明石姫君, gives birth to a prince, strengthening her case for elevation to empress. 

Scenes often selected for illustration from this chapter include: Genji sitting with Murasaki in the middle of the Second Month, as she copies poems to distract herself from the pain of Genji's new marriage; and, around the same period, Genji returning at dawn from the quarters of the Third Princess, standing on the veranda and looking at patches of snow on the white sand of the garden while waiting for Murasaki's servants to let him in. Another scene frequently chosen, and the most significant to the development of the subsequent plot, occurs in the spring while Genji and Prince Hotaru, Hotaru Hyōbukyō 蛍兵部卿 watch *Kashiwagi 柏木 and his three younger brothers play kemari 蹴鞠, a kind of football. A Chinese cat pulls at a string and opens the curtains, allowing Kashiwagi to catch sight of the Third Princess, with whom he immediately falls in love.

In part two, Emperor Reizei 冷泉 abdicates. Murasaki falls ill due to the curse of the jealous spirit of Genji's late mistress the Rokujō lady, Rokujō no Miyasudokoro 六条御息所, and while Genji is distracted by nursing her, Kashiwagi steals in and makes love to the Third Princess. She becomes pregnant. Genji discovers a love letter written to her by Kashiwagi, confirming his suspicions; he thus recognizes the course of fate since this is a repetition of his own youthful indiscretion with Fujitsubo. 

A scene often chosen for illustration shows Kashiwagi sitting on the veranda in the Third Month petting the Third Princess's cat, which he has borrowed to assuage his unrequited love. A music concert by the ladies of the Rokujō 六条 mansion (see *Otome 乙女) is also sometimes depicted.