Chapter 45 - Hashihime- Princess of the Bridge

Chapter 45, Hashihime (The Maiden of the Bridge), opens the Uji chapters of Genji Monogatari and introduces Kaoru, the novel's new protagonist, who discovers the Eighth Prince and his two daughters living in reclusive melancholy beside the Uji River. The hashihime — the spirit or maiden of the bridge — is associated with the Uji Bridge in classical poetry, a figure of longing and loneliness. Gekko's composition likely depicts the Uji River setting: the wooden bridge spanning moving water, misty mountain scenery beyond, and one or both of the Uji princesses visible in the middle ground. The Uji chapters are marked by a sustained autumnal and elegiac mood distinct from the earlier sections of the novel, and Gekko would have reflected this through a cooler, quieter palette — grey-green river water, bare or reddened maples, the mist characteristic of Uji imagery. The female figures in simplified court dress, partially obscured by architecture or landscape, align with the themes of distance and obscured longing that define this sequence of the narrative.