be the most popular. Akikonomu's side was strongest in ancient works of well-established reputation; while Lady Chūjō patronized all the cleverest modern painters, so that her collection, representing as it did all that most appealed to the fashionable tastes of the moment, made at first sight a more dazzling impression. The Emperor's own ladies-in-waiting were divided in opinion. Some of the most intelligent were on the side of the ancients; others favoured the present day. But on the whole modern works tended to win their approval.
It happened that Fujitsubo was paying one of her periodical visits to the Court, and having given a casual inspection to the exhibits of both parties she decided to suspend her usual religious observances and devote herself to a thorough study of all these works, for painting was a matter in which she had always taken a deep interest. Hearing the animated discussions which were taking place between the supporters of modern and ancient art, she suggested that those present should be formed into two teams. On Lady Akikonomu's side the principal names were Heinaishi no Suke, Jijū no Naishi, Shōshō no Myōbu; on Lady Chūjō's,—Daini no Naishi no Suke, Chūjo no Myōbu and Hyōye no Myōbu. These were considered the cleverest women of the day, and Fujitsubo promised herself very good entertainment from such an interchange of wit and knowledge as their rivalry was likely to afford.
In the first contest that archetype and parent of all romances, The Bamboo Cutter's Story,[1] was matched against the tale of Toshikage in The Hollow Tree. The partisans of antiquity defended their choice as follows: 'We admit that this story, like the ancient bamboo-stem in which its
- ↑ A 9th-century story about a fairy who was found in a bamboo-stem, set various fantastic ordeals to her lovers and finally disappeared in the Land Above the Sky. It is written in a rather disjointed style. Translated by Victor Dickins in Japanese Texts. See above, p. 15.
