Kaoru Genji is a fictional character in The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari). He is the son of Hikaru Genji's wife, "Third Princess" (known as Onna san no miya in the Seidensticker version, or Nyōsan in Waley's), and Genji's nephew Kashiwagi. Genji is aware of the affair over by his wife and nephew Kashiwagi, however does not crush him, instead feeling that perhaps this is karma for Genji himself committing adultery with his step-mother Fujitsubo. Kaoru is known for having a strange, but pleasant smell always around him. Niou, is an imperial prince, the son of Genji's daughter, the current Empress now that Reizei has abdicated the throne, while Kaoru is known to the world as Genji's son but is in fact fathered by Genji's nephew. In the final chapters of the Tale of Genji abruptly end, with Kaoru wondering if the lady he loves, Ukifune is being hidden away by Niou. Kaoru has sometimes been called the first anti-hero in literature.
