is the archaic Japanese word for the safflower. It is known now as . It is also the name of a female character in

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court in the Heian period. She is best known as the author of '' The Tale of Genji,'' widely considered to be one of the world's first novels, written in Japanese between abou ...

's epic novel '' The Tale of Genji''. The sixth chapter of it is named after her. She is also known as the Safflower Princess. In some English translations she appears as Princess Hitachi. Prince Genji was briefly attracted to her, until she lowered her fan to reveal her nose. However, he eventually felt sorry for her and helped support her. She is noted to be one of the most loyal ladies in the ''Tale of Genji'', pining and waiting for Genji till he reciprocates her love. This is in part due to her unending loyalty to him, and that he is her first, and possibly, last man. She is invited to the palace, known also as the "Palace in the Sixth Ward", that Genji has built for all his women, and is taken care of for the rest of her life. The incident with the Safflower Princess's nose has always been a source of comic relief for readers of the "Tale of Genji". In the ''

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

'' comics, the extremely shy princess is always depicted as being quite unattractive, the amorous prince having fallen in love first because of her voice and the way she plays the '' koto''. The arrangements of her ''

jūnihitoe The , more formally known as the , is a style of formal court dress first worn in the Heian period by noble women and ladies-in-waiting at the Japanese Imperial Court. The was composed of a number of kimono-like robes, layered on top of each oth ...

'' robes were, however, described as fitting those of an older lady. (She was hidden in the beginning behind the ''

sudare are traditional Japanese screens or blinds, made of horizontal slats of decorative wood, bamboo, or other natural material, woven together with simple string, colored yarn, or other decorative material to make nearly solid blinds can be eit ...

'' screen, however, as part of the courtly Heian rituals, the 12-layered

sleeve A sleeve ( ang, slīef, a word allied to ''slip'', cf. Dutch ) is the part of a garment that covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The sleeve is a characteristic of fashion seen in almost every country and time period, acro ...

s were allowed to peek from under the screen. Based on the colour-arrangements, the suitor could see what kind of taste and status his lady had.) Modern scholars, however, speculate that Suetsumuhana's nose, which was described in the "Genji" as being red and that of an

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

, probably resembles today's European noses. The ideal of female beauty in Heian was to have very fine, thin noses, as depicted in the painted scrolls. Anything that fell outside this courtly beauty ideal must have been seen as utterly obscene.

External links

UNESCO - The Tale of Genji. Chapter 6: Suetsumuhana
The Tale of Genji {{japan-lit-stub

See also

External links