Chapter 23 Summary

Genji calls on the Safflower Princess in order to see how she is doing, but Genji is shocked to see how she has aged. Though Genji still holds a certain attachment to her, she has lost the few charms that she had now that she has gotten older. In fact, her hair, the one attractive part about her, is now gray, thin, and dried to a stringy mess. Unfortunately, though her hair has grown light, she has not lost her most obvious feature, her bright red nose.

Genji is so repulsed by the princess that, while he is visiting her, he arranges the curtain so that he cannot make out even a hint of her features through the blurring cloth. However, Genji does notice that she seems to be cold, so he sends to Nijo to deliver silks to the Safflower Princess so...