Suma

"Suma" is Chapter 12 of The Tale of Genji, in which Genji — facing political persecution and social exclusion — voluntarily withdraws from the capital to exile himself at Suma on the Inland Sea coast. The chapter marks the great turning point of the novel's first half: the brilliant young prince reduced to a provincial exile, living simply, composing poetry in loneliness, and contemplating the instability of worldly success. Suma's dramatic coastal landscape — the sound of wind in the pines, the crash of waves — became one of the most resonant settings in all of Japanese literature.