But
there remains still another troubled emotion expressed in this scene, for
the mother of the child, the frail young Nyosan, is hidden in the far upper
left of the picture, speaking with Genji through a bamboo screen. Only
her gray nun’s robes are visible, peeking out from below; her near-invisibility
symbolizes her anguished retreat from the real world, and without even
seeing her, we are affected by her shame. It is revealing of the subtle
and private quality of the world of Genji that the most hidden parts of
the painting should be the most expressive.