Lessons
Bibliography (and sources for recommended student readings)
Literature Overview: A Look at Heian Court Life
Lynne
K. Miyake
Pomona College
A. Unit Overview/Lesson Context
1. The Heian period (794-1185) is considered Japan's "Golden age" in terms of literature and the arts in the sense that it, much like 19th century Russian literature, is considered the period when Japanese literature came into its own.
a. The period included a "break" from with Chinese culture and the creation of a uniquely "Japanese" culture.
b. Many scholars today are re-evaluating this view. Many feel that during the 19th and 20th centuries, as part of their effort to create a modern nation, the Japanese sought to carve out their own sense of culture and identity as separate and unique from China, Korea, and the rest of Asia. As part of this campaign Japanese selected the Heian period as the pivotal moment when "Japan became Japanese."
2. Nonetheless, it is clear that this period profoundly influenced the rest of the next six centuries of Japanese literature
a. The Heian period set the standards for poetic diction, form, and subject matter, ways in which poetry was to be produced and catalogued in imperial anthologies until the appearance of renga
b. It set the tone for much of the prose in the form of monogatari, nikki, and even zuihitsu until the Tokugawa period (1600-1867)
1) The subject matter was expanded to include war and battle (e.g., Heike), mappo concerns (e.g., Hojoki)
2) Even in the new genres of noh, and kabuki and bunraku, poetry from the period was quoted verbatim and its themes, characters, and plots were utilized
c. Much of the intelligentsia carried a sense of nostalgia for the glory days of the Heian and the imperial court
3. Legacy of "a highly aestheticized celebration of courtly tastes (miyabi) and emotional sensibilities" (Vernon, 1988) still in play
a. For example
1) Mono no aware (the transience of things)
2) The love of cultivated (refined/idealized) forms of nature rather than nature in the raw
3) The stance of writing for an in-group
b. As a case in point of the longevity of the aesthetics of the period, The Tale of Genji still captures the imagination of the literate people and generation after generation have produced their own "readings" of the tale
1) During the Tokugawa period parodies reflecting "the lively and pragmatic, sometimes ribald, sometimes sentimental materialism of popular fiction" of the times (Vernon, 1988)--Santo Kyoden's , Ihara Saikaku's The Life of an Amorous Man
2) Modern Japanese renditions-by poetess Yosano Akiko, novelists Tanizaki Jun'ichiro (3 times), Enchi Foumiko, essayist Tanabe Seiko, and, most recently, novelist and nun, Setouchi Jakucho
3) English translations include three more or less complete ones by Arthur Waley (1929-33), Edward Seidensticker (1976) and, most recently, Royall Tyler (2001)
4) There have been several movies, operas, and even a New Music symphony
5) One must not forget either the appearances of anime, and several manga renditions.
4. Legacy of women's writing
a. Although there were very special circumstances that fostered writing by women, the Heian women writers were among the earliest practitioners. They constitute a rare commodity in world history, especially if we look at the case put forth by Virginia Woolf
1) Woolf speaks for other writers as she laments the lack of major women author's in early British literary history
2) In Room of One's Own Woolf "posits the existence of a Judith Shakespeare, sister of William, whose genius was lost because her sex precluded her from the development and exercise of it. Summing up her tale, Woolf observes, 'any woman born with a great gift in the sixteenth century would have certainly gone crazed, shot herself or ended her days in some lonely cottage outside the village, half witch, half wizard, feared and mocked at.'"
b. Due to the change in climate for woman in the ensuing periods, most of their work has not been preserved but women did write waka poetry and a few nikki. Some writings by peasant and merchant women are gradually come to the fore as well. c. In the late 19th C women writers reemerge in the public arena after a hiatus of three centuries and the Heian legacy had both a positive and negative impact.
1) The positive -- unlike the situation for women in 19th century Europe, there was no question that women could write; after all a woman had written The Tale of Genji, one of the greatest Japanese masterpieces.
2) The negative -- topics suitable for women writers early on were more often than not limited to writing about their own personal angst, emotional and physical.
B. Suggested Lesson Plans
1. General comments about the period
a. The Heian aristocracy had a highly developed sense of aesthetics
1) Highly stratified, circumscribed, and limited in numbers
2) Producers, consumers, and subject matter of almost all that was written during that period
b. Unprecedented role played by the arts, including literature, in court life in terms of marriage/courtship and even governance
1) Marriage politics
a) In its initial stages face to face encounters between the sexes (e.g., dating) were not permitted, so the way to woo a lover and get her attention was through poetry
b) Beautiful calligraphy, the right choice of paper suitable to season and emotional tenor of the moment could do the trick
2) Governance
a) A true statesman who was suitable to govern had to exhibit a mastery of the arts
b) Thus, poetic knowledge and the ability to turn an appropriate verse at the appropriate moment were as necessary to a Heian courtier as a present day politician's oratory/public speaking skills
3) Production and consumption of literary (and other artistic) products
a) Literacy-very limited in number
b) No strict division between readers and writers-all had to be adept in poetry to some degree
c) Insiders writing for insiders, writers writing for writers
d) Thus, produced very short forms which in fact had layers of meaning (e.g., an image of a bird could represent the poet, his addressee, a bird from several other poems in the poetic and prose tradition)
c. Unprecedented role of women in the arts, especially literature
1) Unusual in the world in this respect.
2) This did not happen because men thought highly of the women, but because of the realities of the marriage politics of the time.
3) Reflected in part by a division of Chinese/kanbun writing, largely the domain of men, while the women were relegated to the vernacular Japanese/kana writing, This is not a strict division in that men also wrote in kana and that many of leading women writers of the period like Murasaki Shikibu (c. 1000) seem to have had first hand knowledge of Chinese kanbun writing.
d. Characteristics of the literature of the period
1) Highly aristocratic-only poetry and stories about the court; none about the common people.
2) Written for an in-group so long explanations were not necessary.
a) A word or image would speak volumes as, say, the Statue of Liberty as the symbol of freedom, the emblem of the United States as an immigrant nation, etc. Non-proper nouns such as birds and flowers would serve similar functions
b) Thus, the forms tended to be short-31-syllable waka, even The Tale of Genji can be considered a collection of vignettes.
3) No strict division between poetry and prose and no drama of any kind.
4) Highly aesthetic in inception with natural images and the seasons playing prominent roles.
2. Objectives [see also the California and World History standards]
a. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the fact that the literature of the Heian period was highly aristocratic in form, content, and inception and limited to a very small number of practitioners.
b. For this reason, literary works were written for an in-group by an in-group and, as a result, the pressures to conform and belong were extremely powerful.
c. Literary forms also tended to be short -- but the interplay of natural imagery with courtship, politics, and the poetic and prose tradition added depth and fullness.
d. Students should note that women played prominent roles, not only as subject matter but also as producers and consumers of literary works at a time when in most places literary society was dominated by men.
3. Materials
a. "Yugao" from The Tale of Genji (recommended: Royall Tyler translation)
b. Excerpt from the bilingual version of Asaki yume mishi (manga on Genji) (last 30 pages) or the "Yugao" chapter from Tusboi Koh's The Illustrated Tale of Genji (English version, pp. 38-49)
c. Excerpts from Ivan Morris's The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon (2 volume edition)
1) #1 "Opening" (p. 1)
2) #148 "Adorable Things" (pp. 156-7)
3) #44 Elegant Things" (p. 149)
4) #27 "Hateful Things" (pp. 25-30)
5) #29 "Things that make One's Heart Beat Faster" (p. 31)
6) Second half of #83 Snow Mountain episode (pp. 83-90)
d. Poetry (recommended: Rodd's Kokinshu & Carter's Traditional Japanese Poetry)
1) Kokinshu anthology sequence (Rodd)
2) Select sequence of poems by Ariwara no Narihira, (Carter, pp. 76-77), Ono no Komachi (pp. 82-87),
e. "The Lady Who Loved Insects" (from Donald Keene, Anthology of Japanese Literature)
4. Activities
a. Utilizing what you have gotten from the readings, draw what you imagine a typical court lady and male courtier would look like, paying close attention to the material culture of their clothing, accessories in the home, food, etc. See what you can reconstruct in terms of their physical features. What colors do you visualize in the faces, clothing, surroundings? Or do you see everything as black and white?
b. Write an autobiography from the point of view of a court lady or man "who does not belong," who is an outsider in a closed society where belonging in the in-group is everything.
c. Have students make lists a la Pillow Book about what they find hateful or adorable or fearful.
d. Have students draw their own manga versions of "The Lady Who Loved Insects" or The Pillow Book's "Snow Mountain" episode.
e. Write a sequence of poems in waka style (five lines consisting of very short lines, describing the steady progression of a season, a love affair or romance, growing up aging, etc.). Remember that for love poetry, it is the pining for an unrequited love or a love that is over that is the literary key and that the descriptions of the seasons tend to be finely wrought and aestheticized.
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