Hotaru Hyobukyo no Miya (蛍兵部卿宮)

Hotaru Hyobukyo no Miya is a fictitious character in "The Tale of Genji" written by Murasaki Shikibu (note that he is not the same person as Hyobukyo no Miya, an elder brother of Fujitsubo).
The name of Hotaru Hyobukyo no Miya comes from the fact that he is a main character of the chapter 'Hotaru (Firefly).'

He was a prince of the Emperor Kiritsubo and a younger paternal brother of the Emperor Suzaku and Hikaru Genji (thus he was probably the third prince). He appeared as Sochi no Miya in the chapter 'Hana no En' (The Festival of the Cherry Blossoms) and then was appointed to Hyobukyo no Miya after Fujitsubo's brother was appointed to Shikibukyo no Miya in the chapter 'Otome' (The Maidens).

He was famous as a man of refined taste at the time, so he played the role of judge in 'Eawase' (A Picture Contest) and 'Umegae' (The Plum Tree Branch), and often appeared in scenes of court music performance. He was close to Hikaru Genji in particular among his brothers and he stayed in touch with Genji during his dark days (chapter 'Suma'), and never ceased to be a friend of Genji.

His first legal wife was a daughter of the Minister of the Right to the Emperor Kiritsubo (and a sister of Lady Kokiden and Oborozukiyo; therefore Tono Chujo was his brother-in-law), but he lost his wife early. He stayed single for a while until he proposed to Tamakazura, an adopted daughter of Hikaru Genji, in the chapter 'Kocho' (Butterflies). In a well-known episode in the chapter 'Hotaru,' he was tricked by Genji to see bewitching Tamakazura, with whom he kept communicating by mail, but his love for her was lost because Higekuro married Tamakazura. Later he became a candidate for the husband of Onna Sannomiya (the Third Princess) but he failed again, so he ended up marrying Makibashira (Higekuro's daughter and Shikibukyo no Miya's granddaughter), but their marriage didn't go well (chapter 'Wakana' (New Herbs): Part One). His last appearance was in the chapter 'Maboroshi' (The Wizard) when he visited Hikaru Genji who was broken-hearted after his wife Lady Murasaki's death; in the chapter 'Kobai' (the rose plum) it was mentioned that Hotaru Hyobukyo no Miya had already been dead.

He had two sons (appeared in chapter 'Wakana' (New Herbs): Part Two and their mother unknown) and a daughter (Miya no Onkata; her mother was Makibashira. Appeared in 'Kobai'). Although he loved his first wife and missed her after her death, he seemed to have many other women to visit and mistresses ('Kocho').

[Original Japanese]