《源氏物语》中《末摘花》之章与平安时期的宫廷生活（上篇）(11)

The safflower princess, and the main chapter she is in, paints a good picture of what ideas, values, and aesthetics are lauded in the Heian society. She is a princess with a very influential father. However, since her father has passed, she is living alone in a house by herself, without any influential relatives. The house itself is in disrepair, with the fences rotted and falling apart, while other parts of the estate are uninhabitable from roof cave ins. Genji’s initial interest with her seems to be about what he does not know; there is a mysterious and romantic allure about the silent and isolated princess from an old noble family. Further the idea of the daughter who was doted on by her father and now lives in his old house is touching to Genji. She has the potential to be a sort of undiscovered gem, something that would attract Genji to discover more.