The Ten Uji Chapters: Desire After Genji (Chs. 45-55)
Set in the remote landscape of Uji, the final chapters recast the tale in a darker, more inward mode. Kaoru, Niou, and Ukifune enact a tragic cycle of desire, withdrawal, and paralysis. Unlike Genji’s story, these chapters refuse resolution, ending instead in ambiguity, loss, and spiritual retreat.
45. The Maiden of the Bridge (Hashihime)
The Uji chapters open in a landscape deliberately set apart from the capital—remote, damp, and shadowed by mist. Here lives the Eighth Prince, a widower who has withdrawn from society with his two daughters, Ōigimi and Nakanokimi. Kaoru, drawn by religious curiosity and melancholy temperament, befriends the old man and becomes captivated by Uji’s somber beauty. He is especially drawn to the elder daughter, Ōigimi, a hidden flower whose refusal of the world mirrors his own inwardness. When Kaoru mentions the sisters to Prince Niou, desire quickly multiplies. At the same time, Kaoru learns the truth of his own birth, a revelation that deepens his sense of alienation and fate.
Key points
Uji is introduced as an emotional and moral counterworld to the capital
Kaoru’s temperament aligns with withdrawal, religion, and melancholy
Ōigimi embodies refusal and emotional inaccessibility
Kaoru discovers the secret of his parentage
46. Beneath the Oak (Shii ga Moto)
Niou visits Uji for the first time, impatient to see the secluded princesses Kaoru has described. Before any arrangement can be secured, the Eighth Prince dies, leaving his daughters unprotected. Kaoru feels morally compelled to take responsibility for them, yet his cautious advances are met with silence and reserve. The absence of paternal authority intensifies uncertainty rather than resolving it.
Key points
Niou’s curiosity contrasts with Kaoru’s restraint
The father’s death removes social protection
Kaoru’s sense of duty replaces decisive action
Emotional distance persists
47. Trefoil Knots (Agemaki)
Pressed by her attendants, Ōigimi is urged to accept Kaoru. They engineer a nighttime encounter, but she escapes, leaving her younger sister Nakanokimi in her place. Hoping to resolve matters cleanly, Kaoru arranges for Niou to take Nakanokimi, while reserving Ōigimi for himself. Niou succeeds easily, taking Nakanokimi as a concubine, but Ōigimi continues to resist all advances. Consumed by anxiety and despair, she falls ill and dies, attended faithfully by Kaoru, whom she never once accepts.
Key points
Female attendants intervene where principals hesitate
Substitution and misdirection shape intimacy
Niou’s success highlights Kaoru’s paralysis
Ōigimi’s death sanctifies refusal
48. Bracken Shoots (Sawarabi)
Niou brings Nakanokimi to the capital, installing her at his Nijō Mansion. Kaoru, watching events unfold, regrets having arranged the match. What he intended as a rational solution becomes another source of loss and displacement.
Key points
Nakanokimi enters court life
Kaoru recognizes the cost of his manipulation
Regret replaces moral confidence
Uji’s influence persists emotionally
49. The Ivy (Yadorigi)
Marriage politics tighten their grip. Yūgiri urges Niou to marry his daughter Rokunokimi, while the emperor presses Kaoru to wed another favored princess. Kaoru also learns of a half-sister to the Uji girls, Ukifune, and becomes immediately curious. Though he complies with the imperial marriage, his obsession with Uji deepens when he glimpses Ukifune, whose resemblance to the dead Ōigimi overwhelms him.
Key points
Competing marriage pressures intensify
Kaoru submits outwardly but resists inwardly
Ukifune is framed as a replacement figure
Desire is redirected rather than resolved
50. The Eastern Cottage (Azumaya)
Nakanokimi brings Ukifune into her household, where she is soon noticed by Niou. He takes advantage of her vulnerability, leaving Ukifune humiliated and displaced. Passed from residence to residence, she becomes increasingly unmoored. Kaoru eventually finds her and carries her away to Uji, reestablishing the triangle in a darker form.
Key points
Ukifune is exposed and exploited
Female movement reflects male desire rather than choice
Shame replaces romantic anticipation
Uji becomes a site of concealment
51. A Drifting Boat (Ukifune)
Niou cannot forget Ukifune and, discovering she is hidden in Uji, contrives a secret visit. Ukifune is torn between Niou’s passion and Kaoru’s solemn devotion, unable to choose without destroying herself. In a famous scene, Niou steals her away on a moonlit winter night, carrying her across the Uji River by boat to a secluded retreat.
Key points
Ukifune is trapped between incompatible desires
Kaoru and Niou represent opposing masculine ideals
The boat crossing symbolizes emotional rupture
Choice becomes psychologically impossible
52. The Mayfly (Kagerō)
Ukifune disappears, presumed drowned. The chapter explores the aftermath of her absence: Kaoru, Niou, and others are left suspended in grief, guilt, and uncertainty. Her disappearance echoes impermanence rather than closure.
Key points
Absence replaces presence as narrative force
Grief unfolds without certainty
Ukifune becomes a figure of impermanence
Desire persists beyond loss
53. Practice with the Brush (Tenarai)
The narrative reveals Ukifune’s survival. Wandering in a daze, intending to throw herself into the river, she is rescued by a nun and brought to a convent at Ono. Unknown and unnamed, she is allowed to take vows. Both Kaoru and Niou eventually suspect she may still be alive, and each begins searching.
Key points
Survival is accidental rather than chosen
Religious life offers anonymity and refuge
Identity dissolves as protection
The past begins to intrude again
54. The Floating Bridge of Dreams (Yume no Ukihashi)
Kaoru sends Ukifune’s brother to investigate the convent. Ukifune, learning that discovery is possible, is seized by terror at the thought of being dragged back into the same unbearable dilemma. The tale ends without reunion or resolution, closing on Kaoru’s sudden suspicion that someone else may already be hiding her away.
Key points
Surveillance replaces pursuit
Ukifune fears rescue more than loss
Desire threatens spiritual refuge
The narrative ends in uncertainty and mistrust
