zWomen in Classical Japanese Literature

▪ “Why Did a Woman Write The Tale of Genji in the

11th Century?”

▪ Haruo Shirane (Columbia University)

▪ 3-31-2021

▪ Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Webseminar

z“Eastern Cottage (Azumaya東屋), The Tale of Genji Painting Scrolls

z Most Famous Heian Women Writers Today

▪ Michitsuna’s Mother 道綱母 (c. 936-995), Kagerō Nikki (Gossamer Diary, c. 974)

▪ Sei Shōnagon清少納言(c. 966-1025), Pillow Book (Makura no sōshi, ca. 995-1004)

▪ Izumi Shikibu 和泉式部 (b. 976?), Izumi shikibu Diary ( 1002-1003)

▪ Murasaki Shikibu 紫式部 (c. 978--c.1014), Murasaki Shikibu Diary (ca. 1008-1010)

and The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari, ca. 1010?)

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Other Known Female Writers Today

▪ Sugawara no Takasue’s daughter (b. 1008), Sarashina

Diary (1059)

▪ Akazome’emon, poet, possible author of book 1 of Eiga

monogatari (Tale of Flowering Fortunes, vol. 1, 1039)

zMurasaki Shikibu composing The Tale of Genji at Ishiyama Temple, by Tosa Mitsuoki (1617-1691)

z GENRE HIERARCHY(according to Genji ippon kyo, late 12th c.)

▪ Buddhist Scriptures

▪ Confucian Classics

▪ Historical Chronicles

▪ Chinese poetry and literary prose

▪ Japanese poetry (Kokinshū, ca. 905)

▪ Vernacular (kana) prose

zFujiwara Kintō (966―1041)’s Thirty-Six Immortal Waka

Poets (三十六歌仙)

Ono no Komachi (early 9th c.)

Lady Ise伊勢 (ca. 875-c. 938), 176 poems in imperial collections

Nakatsuka 中務 (912-991), daughter of Lady Ise and prince

Princess Kishi (Yoshiko) 徽子女王 (929-985), imperial consort

Koōkimi (Kodai no kimi) 小大君 (940-1005?), lady-in-waiting

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Lady Ise(Satake Thirty-Six Immortal Poets, 13th c.?)

zKoōkimi (Kodai no kimi)

(Satake 36 Immortal Poets, 13th c.)

zHeian Period Twelve Layered Robes (Jūni-hitoe)

z

▪ Murasaki Shikibu紫式部

▪ Izumi Shikibu 和泉式部

▪ Sei Shōnagon清少納言

▪ Akazome’emon赤染衛門

▪ Ise no taifu伊勢大輔

▪ Uma no naishi馬内侍

Later Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals (Gorokurokusen後六六撰)

(compiled by Fujiwara Norikane in 12th c.)

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Daughters of Provincial Governors

Lady Ise

Murasaki Shikibu

Sei Shōnagon

Izumi Shikibu

Sugawara no Takasue’s daughter

Known by their “lady-in-waiting names” (e.g. Lady Ise’s “name” taken from her father, who

was a governor of Ise Province, Sei Shōnagon’s “name” taken from her father, Kiyohara

清原)

Matrilocal marriage system, where property was inherited through the mother; Genji visits

his wives, who have their own residences and property

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Daughters of scholars/poets

▪ Murasaki Shikibu, daughter of Fujiwara Tametoki (d. 1029), graduate of the

university in Chinese literature

▪ Sei Shōnagon, daughter of Kiyohara Motosuke清原元輔, noted waka poet

zProximity to Power and Court Culture

▪ Establishment of the Fujiwara Regency in mid-Heian period (10th-11th c.)

▪ Leaders of the Northern Fujiwara clan vied to marry their daughters to the emperor as high-

level consorts who could produce a royal grandson, allowing the grandfather to rule as

regent (while emperor was child)

▪ Fujiwara ministers recruited the best and most educated women to serve and educate their

daughters who were in competition to become the mother of a crown prince

▪ Competing court salons

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Ladies in Waiting (nyōbō女房) at Court

▪ Lady Ise served Onshi 温子, empress to Emperor Uda (867-931), great patron

of the arts

▪ Koōkimi (Kodai no kimi) served Teruko, consort of Emperor Enyū (959-991)

▪ Murasaki Shikibu served Shōshi彰子, empress to Emperor Ichijō

▪ Sei Shōnagon served Teishi定子, empress to Emperor Ichijō

▪ Ise no taifu伊勢大輔 served Shōshi, empress to Emperor Ichijō

▪ Uma no naishi馬内侍, served Empress Teishi, empress to Emperor Ichijō

z Close interaction with Royalty or Powerful Fujiwara

▪ Lady Ise bore Emperor Uda a son while serving empress Onshi.

▪ Izumi Shikibu had affairs with Prince Tametaka, Prince Atsumichi

▪ Michitsuna’s Mother married to Fujiwara Kaneie (d. 990), future

regent

▪ Murasaki Shikibu in direct contact with Fujiwara Michinaga

zSocial Hierarchy in Heian Aristocratic Society

▪ Upper rank: Royalty or powerful Fujiwara (high ministers/regents)

▪ Middle rank: provincial governors

▪ Lower rank: aristocracy but did not receive appointments

▪ Asymmetrical power dynamic

▪ Women writers from the middle rank, worked as ladies–in-waiting for upper rank

z The Tale of Geniji and Social Status

Shining Genji (upper rank) discovers interesting women in the middle and lower

rank, but usually leads to suffering for those women (Lady Murasaki, Lady Akashi,

Utsusemi, Evening Faces, etc.)

Genji also has illicit relationships with upper rank (Fujitsubo) and has unhappy

marriages with upper rank women (Lady Aoi, Third Princess)

The Tale of Genji glorifies the imperial court in the first part, but in the last part, at

Uji, outside the capital, the women leave or reject court life

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Ladies in Waiting and the Arts

▪ Ladies-in-waiting highly educated

▪ Skilled in poetry, music, calligraphy, painting, dance, court tales, incense contests

▪ Acted as tutors to female royalty

▪ Murasaki Shikibu probably wrote part of The Tale of Genji for her mistress and her

entourage

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Role of Classical Poetry (Waka 和歌)

Classical Poetry (waka) was the ultimate genre for women

Private poetry: exchanges with friends and lovers

Public poetry: screen painting poems, poetry contests, poetry for court events

Private poetry exchanges became the heart of women’s literature (private poetry

collections, literary diaries, prose fiction)

z Major Literary Genres and Gender

▪ 1. Waka (31-syllable poetry)---poetic dialogue and interiority, both men and women

▪ 2. Kana diary (nikki)—written by women

▪ 3. Poem-tale (uta-monogatari)—amorous man as protagonist, mainly composed by men

▪ 4. Court tale (monogatari)—Tale of Bamboo Cutter (supernatural), written by men

▪ 5. Sinitic poetry and Chronicles (Nihon shoki), written primarily by men

▪ Women pioneered the kana diaries, which men did not write (except for Ki no Tsurayuki, who

pretended to be a woman to write Tosa Diary)

z▪ Tosa Diary (ca. 935) by Ki no Tsurayuki (d. 945?): “I intend to see whether a woman

can produce one of those diaries men are said to write.”

▪ Kagerō Diary (971?) by Michitsuna’s Mother (936-95?): “…when she (the author)

looks at the odds and ends of the old tales—of which there are so many, they are

just so much fantasy—that she thinks perhaps if she were to make a record of a life

like her own, being really nobody, it might be novel, and could even serve to answer,

should anyone ask, what is it like, the life of a woman married to a highly placed

man..” (Sonja Arntzen trans.)

▪ From “Defense of Fiction” in The Tale of Genji. “The histories of Japan are really

very one-sided.. . Tales don’t describe the events of some person’s life exactly as

they happened. But rather that some things one sees and hears about people as

they go through life, whether good or evil, whether so intriguing or overwhelming that

one cannot shut them all away in one’s heart but wants to pass them on to future

generations—and so sets out to tell the story.” (Thomas Harper trans.)

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The Tale of Genji as Monogatari by a Woman

▪ Murasaki Shikibu took the interiority and perspective of the women’s diary and applied it to prose

fiction which had been written by men and had involved the supernatural. Murasaki Shikibu kept the

amorous male protagonist, but developed the perspective of the woman.

▪ Over 700 poems in The Tale of Genji

▪ Every key scene is centered on a poetry exchange or poetic image

▪ Many of the female characters have poetic names (etc. Oborozukiyo, Misty moon evening)

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Central Elements of the Basic Scene

1. Residence

2. Human figures on veranda and/or behind hedge

3. External nature

4. Poem or exchange of poems that combines the above three elements

z

Tale of Genji Scrolls, 12th c.“The Law” (Minori), Genji and the dying Murasaki

zLady Murasaki:

Alas, not for long will you see what you do now: any breath of wind

may spill from a hagi frond the last trembling drop of dew.

おくと見るほどぞはかなきともすれば風にみだるる萩のうは露

Genji:

When all life is dew and at any touch may go, one drop then the next,

how I pray that you and I may leave nearly together!

ややもせば消えをあらそふ露の世におくれ先だつほど経ずもがな

(Translation by Royall Tyler, The Tale of Genji), p. 759

zCalligraphic Text Followed by Painting

z

Why Did a Woman Write The Tale of Genji in the early 11th

century?

▪ 1. Emergence of kana syllabary in the 10th century

▪ 2. Growth of vernacular genres, especially waka (poetry), literary diary, monogatari /tale

▪ 3. Women writers play major role waka (poetry) and literary diary

▪ 4. Murasaki Shikibu first woman writer of monogatari, revolutionalized the genre,

retooling the tale to create first psychological novel

▪ 5. early 11th c. the Fujiwara regency at its peak, sponsoring multiple cultural salons at the

imperial court, with highly educated women knowledgeable in both Japanese and Chinese

learning

▪ 6. Court supported scribes, paper, ink (manuscript culture). Enabled extended tale (54

chapters), with highly responsive audience (of royalty and ladies-in-waiting)

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Tale of Genji and Its Aftermath

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THE END