is the archaic Japanese word for the safflower. It is known now as .

Character in The Tale Of Genji

Suetsumuhana is the name of a female character in

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, Japanese poetry#Age of Nyobo or court ladies, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial Court in Kyoto, Imperial court in the Heian period. She was best known as the author of ''The Tale of Genji'', widely considered t ...

'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 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 history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

'' comics, the extremely shy princess is always depicted as being quite unattractive, the amorous prince having fallen in love because of her voice and the way she plays the '' koto''. The arrangements of her '' jūnihitoe'' robes were, however, described as fitting those of an older lady. (She was hidden in the beginning behind the '' sudare'' screen, however, as part of the courtly

Heian The Japanese word Heian (平安, lit. "peace") may refer to: * Heian period, an era of Japanese history * Heian-kyō, the Heian-period capital of Japan that has become the present-day city of Kyoto * Heian series, a group of karate kata (forms) * ...

rituals, the 12-layered sleeves 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 living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

, 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 was likely to have been seen as obscene.

External links

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

Character in The Tale Of Genji

See also

External links