Matsukaze (The Tale of Genji) (松風 (源氏物語))
Matsukaze (Wind in the Pines) is one of the fifty-four chapters of "The Tale of Genji." It is the 18th chapter.
The title comes from the waka poem composed by the Akashi Nun in the chapter, 'When I came back to a village in the mountain after taking the veil, a wind was blowing in the pines that was familiar to what I had heard in the old days.'
Summary
The story takes place in the autumn when Genji was 31 years old.
The east lodge at Nijo had been completed, and Genji had Hanachirusato move to the west wing. He intended to have Lady Akashi live in the east wing. The Akashi Priest, however, decided to prepare a mountain retreat near the Katsura-gawa River (The Yodo-gawa River system), and to have his daughter live there. It happened to be the neighbor of the temple in Sagano built by Genji. Lady Akashi left her father in Akashi, and goes to the capital with her mother, the Akashi Nun, and the young lady Akashi. But Genji was taking a long time to visit Oi and Lady Akashi had been relieving herself from ennui by plucking an old koto.
Although worrying about Lady Murasaki, Genji goes over to Oi at last on the pretext that he would check on how the temple was going. He and Lady Akashi were delighted to see each other for the first time in three years, and he admired the prettiness of his daughter who he met for the first time. As Genji considered the young lady as a candidate for empress in the future, he wanted her to move on to the capital as soon as possible to cover her humble origins. Genji asked Lady Murasaki to raise the young lady as her adopted child, and as she was originally fond of children, she willingly accepted. However, Genji was worried about what Lady Akashi would feel when she parted from her daughter.