User:Victoriaearle/Japanese art sandbox


 * interesting image

Murasaki Shikibu links (need sorting)

 * link
 * More sources
 * Heian court - women's influence
 * Shirane speaking w/ image of Michinaga?
 * Harvard Genji Album


 * Genji
 * Fujiwara clan from JSTOR
 * Tokugawa Genji
 * Diary emaki @ Tokyo
 * Heilbrunn


 * Diary
 * Keene
 * For the diary
 * The form of the Heian diary


 * Images
 * Murasaki @ Harvard
 * Genji at Boston possible
 * Sei Shonagan MFA Boston
 * Tosa at the Met - amazing; find a place to use
 * Emon for Diary

Notes - bio
A commentary on the Genji Monogatari by Fujiwara no Teika, known as Okuiri ("Inside Notes" or "Endnotes") has been designated as a National Treasure. Written around 1233 it is the second oldest Genji commentary, supplementing the oldest commentary, the Genji Shaku from 1160.

Bowring (1996)

 * born during a period of change when official trips to China came to a stop xii
 * Genji monogatari = native Japanese w/ Chinese influences xii
 * Much political movement; Ichijō became emp in 986 (as six yr old); in 999 Michinaga had Shōshi named Imperial Consort; soon after second empress, chugu (needs marks over the U) xii-xiv
 * complicated history re Michinaga (xii - xiv)
 * Teishi died 1000 xiv
 * then Murasaki at court. She was of a minor Fujiwara branch - "companion-cum- tutor" to Shōshi xiv
 * Each woman had court had a salon - judged by its quality - competitive xiv
 * Women politically important at court. Called "borrowed wombs" - a strong woman could become very powerful. Women owned property. However lived in seclusion, did not use their own names, an option was to go to court xv-xvii
 * Court life = fashionable & dissolute xvii
 * Murasaki = important b/c in her writing is reflected the development of Japanese writing > Chinese to Japanese & creating a written form of Japanese xvii
 * "Gestures, eye contact, shared experiences and particular relationships all provide a background which allows speech to be at times fragmentary, allusive and even ungrammatical. Written language on the other hand must assume an immediate absence. In order for communication to take place the writer must develop strategies to overcome this absence, this gap between the producer and the receiver of the message." - her diary not quite broken free of rhythm of spoken language xvii

Bowring (2004)

 * Rank was important and Murasaki's family had fallen considerably in rank - she would not have felt she had much in common w/ higher ranked Fujiwaras 3 > note: there's a quote somewhere from her diary about this
 * Men of her Fujiwara branch = prov governors & having to go to the provinces, according to Bowring, was considered a "form of exile" & separated them from the goings on at court. 3
 * Greatgrandfather & grandfather knew Ki no Tsurayuki - resp for making Japanese verse popular in 10th cent 4
 * Bowring says most likely born 973 4
 * Nobutaka (c 950 - 1001) 4
 * Bowring says marriage happy 4
 * Bowring says she lived typical widows life until going to court - except that she began writing Genji during this time 4
 * W/ Shoshi = 1005/1006 4
 * He believes it was not an "official court post" but that she was directly employed by Michinaga for Shoshi 4
 * Suggestion she was a concubine to Michinaga but no evidence 4
 * At court she was withdrawn and "severe". Is not recorded as having entered poetry competitions; no record of poetry or letters w/ other women. 5
 * Bowring thinks 1014 death is speculative & that she may have stayed with Shoshi as late as 1025 5
 * At court was aloof (his word) and recorded ceremonies in her writing 4
 * Period when Buddha Amida popular/revered (?) and M would have been aware of Pure Land teachings 9
 * Late 8th cent. Japanese verse emerges - phonetic script from Chinese & allowed alternative to Chinese 10
 * By M's period common for men & women to communicate in written Japanese. 11
 * Women not educated in Chinese & which created a separation from the govt & the power structure - to prevent women from learning Chinese they were told it was "unbecoming". Although culturally unacceptable, women did learn Chinese > M. which Bowring says was considered almost a "subversive act ". Long quote from M's diary: "When my brother, Secretary of the Ministry Ceremonial, was a young boy learning the Chinese classics, I was in the habit of listening to him and I became unusually proficient at understanding those passages that he found too difficult to understand and memorise. Father, a most learned man, was always regretting the fact: 'Just my luck,' he would say, 'Not a pity she was not born a man!' But then I gradually that people were saying: 'It's bad enough when a man flaunts his Chinese learning; she will come to no good,' and since then I have avoided writing even the simplest character. My handwriting is appalling. And as for those classics, or whatever, I used to read, I gave them up entirely. Yet still I keep on hearing these remarks; so in the end worried what people would think if they heard such rumours, I pretended to be unable to read even the inscriptions on the screens. Then her Majesty asked me read for her here and there from the Collected Works of Bo Juyi, and because she evinced a desire to know more about such things, to keep it secret we chose times when other women would not be present 11-12"
 * MS important b/c she was instrumental, as were other women during the Heian period, or developing written language from a previously unwritten language. 12
 * Only the emperor "visited" by his women > other men "visited" their women/wifes in their homes - perhaps set up a household w/ first/main wife 13

CHoJ (Heian)

 * "In 1000 Michinaga shocked even his admirers by arranging for the unprecedented appointment of Teishi (or Sadako) and Shoshi as concurrent empresses of the same emperor, Teishi holding the usual title of "Lustrous Heir-bearer" (kdgo) and Shoshi that of "Inner Palatine" (chugu), a toponymically derived equivalent coined for the occasion." [p. 69]
 * father of M.S.: Fujiwara no Tametoki (947?-1021?) [p. 384]
 * kemari was censored by M.S. and Sei Shonagon who found it indecorous and inelegant for gentlemen to rush around in pursuit of a ball [p. 404]
 * in genji, Murasaki echoes the concerns and adopts some of the techniques of the waka poet, developing two major themes - the tyranny of time and the inescapable sorrow of romantic love - within the context of man's relationship to nature [p. 444]
 * She is both the quintessential representative of a unique society and a writer who speaks to universal human concerns with a timeless voice. Japan has not seen another such genius. [p. 445]
 * M.S. appears to have written oldest parts of genji away from court at beginning of 11th c. (possibly for private patron) and taken into empress shōshi's service after word of the work spread, and completed it within a decade or so [p. 445]

Henshall

 * Heian court a peak in late 10th early 11th centuries > rivaled any court in any time of place. The problem was that the more refined it became the more removed from reality 24
 * "The Heian court gave the world some of its early literature" & "Murasaki Shikibu wrote the world's first novel" 25
 * The nobles at court had nothing to do with their time 25
 * Explanation of Fujiwara dynasty / power system - typically through women page 24ish

Adolphson

 * Although Chinese culture was generally disdained, some Chinese ballads were popular, such as those written by Bai Juyi, mostly because of his simple use of language - Murasaki taught Shōshi to read Juyi . (119)
 * Shōshi was interested in Chinese art/things & turned to Murasaki who knew Chinese for help. Reading & writing in Chinese was considered a male activitiy & women were rarely allowed or encouraged to write w/ Chinese kanshi.m (110)
 * Michinaga > "secured his line when society was at its cultural zenith" (68)
 * Genji sometimes defined as "narrative fiction in kana" and "court oriented literature" . Women who wrote in this genre, such as Murasaki's contemporary and sometimes rival Sei Shonagan, often came from a family of scholars, born to the contemp. literati. 111
 * Murasaki's father was not a scholar. Born Fujiwara no Tametoki (birthdate unknown, service date = 997 - 1018) was a student at the State Academy (Daigakuryo); served at the Ministry of Ceremonies (Shikibusho); appointed gov to Echizen Province. (111)
 * How waka was taught > look this up again. (112)
 * Murasaki often mixed a type of formal Chinese style with mundane subjects = sense of parody or satire (121-122)

Shirane

 * When she was young Murasaki's mother died and she lived w/, was supported by her father for an unusually long time. (218)
 * Possibly 3 other half-siblings who prob were raised by their mother (218)
 * Murasaki began studying Chinese at a v early age & v unusual for a young girl to be taught Chinese (218)
 * She had fairly extensive contact with other women but limited contact w/ men as shown in her poetry (218)
 * The poems she exchanged with her husband reflect her resentment (218) Note: prob needs clarification
 * She married v late for a woman of the Heian aristocracy who were normally married when they reached puberty > she was married at in her late twenties, perhaps even at 30 (218 )
 * Her father posted to Echizen as gov in 996 & she went w/ him; then returned to Kyoto to marry father's friend, her 2nd cousin, and much older Fujiwara no Nobutaka in 998. (218)
 * He had multiple governerships & by the time of the marriage w/ M perhaps quite wealthy. He children w/ at least 3 wives. 219
 * Daughter born in 999 - Kanshi (Kataibo); husband died in 1001 (perhaps from plague?) in Kyoto.
 * Possible Murasaki began to write as a widow and her work drew the attention - she was brought to court for her reputation (219 )
 * Murasaki with Shōshi, empress to Ichijo, (sort out this) in 1005 (219)
 * Ichijo (980 - 1011, r 986 -1011) 219
 * Siblings - Josen who became an abbot at a Tendai temple; Nobumichi or Koremichi became vice-gov of Hitachi (218)
 * Murasaki likely cont writing while at court depicting court life, often extremely realistically, from her experiences (221)
 * She may have written the 2nd part of the work in 1008 while still with Shōshi (221)
 * Patronage necessary to complete such a work - she had the patronage of Shoshi's father Michinaga who likely gave her supplies (paper & ink); of Shoshi's husband (and emp) Ichijo, and Shōshi herself who may have had other attendants help with production (binding etc.) Monagatori not considered serious lit, but Genji drew attention of literati such as Fujiwara no Kinto. (221)
 * Ichijō died in 1011 - Shōshi left imperial residence and Murasaki likely went to live with her - in Lake Biwa, Biwa Mansion. Scholars uncertain whether Genji completed as early as 1008 or whether Murasaki cont writing until her death in 1014. She is recorded to have still been w/ Shoshi in 1013. (222)
 * Brother = Nobunori (died 1011) who was a poet (218)
 * Her brother died in 1011. Father resigned governership, returned to Kyoto, then took vows at Miidera temple where Jōsen (another son) was an abbot. 973 most accepted date for birth > 1014 = 41. 222

Shirane (2008)

 * Japanese Literature
 * From the northern Fujiwara branch from Fujiwara no Fuyutsugo whose son Yoshifusa became first regent. 293
 * Father died 1029 293
 * MS born between 970 and 978. 293
 * Possible she began writing Genji as result of grief from husband's death 293
 * Lady-in-waiting = nyōbō 293
 * Half of the diary is about the birth of Shoshi's son which made her the mother of an emperor & Michinaga grandfather to an emperor 293
 * Genji - title comes from the surname of the hero (son of the emperor) 293
 * Genji shows remarkable psychological development of the character 295
 * Diary = kana genre. Diaries written to honor court patrons - hence the large amount devoted to birth of Shoshi's son/Michinaga's grandson 448
 * Second part of the diary written is epistolary 449
 * Court literature written by women "paid homage to the powerful Fujiwara patrons" 115
 * Major works written by women in Shōshi's court; only Pillow Book written for Teishi's salon 248
 * MS combined traditions of diary writing & monagatori 116
 * Note: much more detail for Genji page


 * Envisioning Genji
 * Genji has had a "profound impact a various levels of culture in every historical period since its composition". Continued to be popular for 1000 years "unmatched by any other Japanese text or artifact." Genji is known worldwide in the modern period, considered a classic and sometimes referred to "as perhaps the world's first novel." 1
 * Compared to Proust 1
 * Genji popularized through it's illustrations in various media: emaki (illustrated handscrolls); Byōbu-e (screen paintings), ukiyo-e (woodblock prints); films, comics, manga. 2
 * Tale of Genji scrolls = National Treasure (Heian Genji monagatori emaki) 2
 * Early Genji art = imperial status & symbolized court culture. Edo period ukiyo-e = made the illustrations available to samurai classes & then to commoners 2
 * Note: much more detail for Genji page

Keene (1999)

 * Rival empresses - Sei Shōnagon served Teishi - consort/wife to the emperor in. Teishi became chugu (empress) in when her father had a great deal of power. When her father died Michinaga assumed a great deal of power and in 999 his daughter  Shōshi became consort to the emp. & then she supplanted Teishi as chugu (empress) the following year at her father's insistence. Sei Shonagon was witty and clever & possible that Shōshi turned to Murasaki to rival Sei. Murasaki & Sei not friendly according to entry in Murasaki's diary. (414)
 * Murasaki was more withdrawn & sensitive - Sei more outgoing and talkative. (415)
 * Murasaki diary entry re Sei: "Sei Shōnagon ... was dreadfully conceited. She thought herself so clever, littered her writing with Chinese characters, [which] left a great deal to be desired." (415)
 * Possible that Sei Shōnagon gone from court when Murasaki arrived but Murasaki clearly knew her writing and mirrors the writing to some extent. Keene speculates that Murasaki's impression of Sei may have been colored by the women in Shoshi's court & Shoshi herself. Moreover Keene speculates that Shoshi may have "commissioned" Murasaki to write Genji in response to Sei's Pillow Book. Teishi died in 1001 ending the rivalry between the empresses. (415) Note: Murasaki not yet arrived at court in 1001. Check the dates

Keene (1988)

 * Genji drew from the traditions of earlier works such as The Tale of Ise, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, and from waka and court diaries. 81
 * Keene calls Genji the "supreme work of Japanese fiction" 81
 * Genji probably finished in 1010 > by 1021 it is recorded w/ all the chapters & is known in the provinces 82
 * Ichijo had it read to him = extremely unusual. Japanese writing = women's writing. 82
 * Monogatori equals a "telling of things" - Genji linked to the tradition of monogatori by the unrevealed narrator but goes farther & is more modern 82
 * Genji set in the late 9th cent/early 10th cent 82-83
 * Keene speculates that in the World of the Shining Prince, Murasaki took refuge from sordid court life. Genji is refined/ beautiful/ gifted, yet entirely human and believable. He calls it a "sublimation of her world" > no fantasy, no fairy tales as in earlier works 83
 * The work is about the fragility of things of life > "the sorrow of human existence" = mono no aware 86
 * Genji loves women, but is heroic because he is aware of the fragility of each relationship, the inner beauty of each woman 86-87
 * She created universal characters with universal concerns so the story continues to fascinate 84
 * After his translation in the 1920s, Waley himself was surprised that reviewers compared Genji to Shakespeare, Proust, Austen 84
 * She adds details of court life: women were always behind a screen, yet men fell in love passionately w/out seeing 8 4

Mulhern

 * little information  - information from her writing: Genji, diary and collected poems 257
 * Geneaology traced in the 14th century 257
 * Father = 5th generation descendant of northern Fujiwara & distantly related to Michinaga = most powerful of the period 257
 * Grandfather = Fujiwara Kanesuke. Poems published in Collections of 36 Poets (c 1160) and Yamato monogatori (Tales of Yamato) 257
 * Born sometime between 970 & 978. Name unknown. Names of women from imperial family not recorded. In his diary Michinaga mentions a few women by name who were at court in 1007 including a Fujiwara Takako (Kyōshi) > possible it was Murasaki 257-258
 * Most court women had nicknames consisting of a place name or a male relative's name. Shikibu = father's position at the Ministry of Ceremonials (Shikibu-shō) 258
 * Fuji means wisteria, color = purple, purple = Murasaki, so possible she was Murasaki as nickname of Fujiwara.More possible is the incident (recorded in diary 1008) when poet Fujiwara Kintō at a court dinner asked for "Little Murasaki" - an allusion to her work and a great compliment from a male court poet. 258
 * She had a second nickname "Our Lady of the Chronicles" (Nihongi no tsubone) which was actually considered an insult b/c women shouldn't know Chinese (Nihongi) but she likely was flattered. 258
 * Marriage = to Fujiwara Nobutaka, court functionary, bureaucrat, also at Ministry of Ceremonials. She may have been married in her mid 20s (note - not a single source seems to agree on marriage age), he in his 40s. She married late according to Heian court custom - he would have had multiple wives and children and she would have continued to live with father according to polygamous customs of the time. They had a daughter Kaitako (Kanshi) > note this name differs from source to source. Only married 2 yrs when he died. 258 Add these discrepancies to a note or the the text
 * Michinaga had Shoshi made 2nd empress - 1st empress =Fujiwara Teishi, (Sadako 976-1000), daughter of Michinaga's brother Michitaka. Teishi had Sei Shonagon in her court - she wrote about Teishi's court in Pillow Book. 259
 * Typical of married women of her status, she prob lived a life of leisure w/ servants taking care of the household & daughter & with much time to herself. Most likely began writing Tale after she married - Genji would have been read by friends and perhaps copies made. Mulhern says she was invited to court on the strength of her reputation as a writer (poet?) . Shōshi was 19, Murasaki mid-30s. 259
 * Began in court on 1006 (note - what happened during the 5 years after husband died?) and began a diary then. Diary = mid 1008 to 1010. According to Mulhern scholars wonder why the momentous change at a comparatively late period of her life. Moreover, Murasaki's diary shows poetry exchanged w/ Michinaga that has led speculation to whether romantic interest between Murasaki & Michinaga.
 * Others believe Michinaga wanted at court because of her skill & reputation as an author. 259
 * Princess Senshi had a prestigious salon (she was the emperor's mother) and Michinaga may have wanted Shōshi to surround herself w/ more skilled women for a better salon. For Murasaki court life = prestige and opportunity to add to experience which was incorporated in writing. Court life depicted in chapters of Genji written after she joined Shōshi. 259
 * Shoshi's gathered well known writers in her salon - Izumi Shikibu (poet), Akazome Emon - The Tale of Flowering Fortunes, first history in vernacular. In her diary Murasaki mentions Izumi w/ disapproval. (Izumi may had a "close friendship" w/ Emon. 156
 * Murasaki's daughter entered court in 1025 - renamed Daini no Sanmi > became wetnurse to future emp. Go-Reizei (1025 - 68). 259
 * Shoshi retired from court in 1011 when Ichijō died. Possible Murasaki retired w/ her. M not on list of court ladies in 1031. M's father came to Kyoto in 1014 from Echigo - perhaps b/c she died. 259
 * Hers was uneventful life in contrast to other court poets of the period - exact date of death not known. 260
 * Work - Poetic Memoirs = 128 biographical verses. Poems would have been passed around and copied. Her work from Memoirs anthologized and collected in Imperial collection in 1206 by Fujiwara Teika (New collections of ancient and modern times). Poems seem to be directed at a lover, poss her husband or maybe convention. Biographical detail from poems = sister who died; went to Echizen w/ father; wrote poetry on behalf of Shōshi. 260
 * Diary > describes in great detail birth of Shōshi's two sons (one became emp) at Michinaga's residence - presumably to keep control/power; describes calligraphers copying Genji;
 * Diary describes Michinaga stealing a newly written piece of Genji from her room; romantic advances; that she appears to have preferred to stay in seclusion and write. 260-261
 * Genji - The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatori) - early 11th century. Mulhern says "a work of remarkable complexity and psychological insight" 262
 * 54 chapters, 1100 pages. Murasaki melded various lit trads in her work > Chinese narrative poetry, Chinese history, Japanese prose. It's a novel of the inner life > the effects of love, the passage of time (note v close para here; reword). Generally separated into 3 segments 262
 * It's a novel about the "sadness of things" > the transience of love; the transience of nature; the transience of life. 264
 * List of various versions/ translations 264
 * Noh plays; Genji's character = ideal b/c he's sensitive; latter part of book darker 264
 * compares Heian Japan to Shakespeare's Elizabethan England. 264

Inge

 * literate family - great-grandfather & grandfather poets (9 )
 * father "master of Chinese classics and poetry" - & public servant under various emperors (9)
 * Chinese = lang of govt > not for women. Murasaki admits in diary she learned Chinese by listening to brother's lessons and quickly became proficient (long quote) (9)
 * She was outspoken making her few friends - records in diary that others said of her she was "pretentious, awkward, difficult to approach, prickly, too fond of her tales, haughty, prone to versifying, disdainful, cantankerous and scornful". (9)
 * Note: for Genji page - long analysis of the novel.

Knapp

 * She shows the court as it was, describing in her writing ceremonies, courtships, "the complexities of the marriage system"
 * Women lived a secluded life. Could not speak to men other than relatives, not educated, except for in the areas of manner and arts. Find this!!!

Lockard > Heian culture overview

 * Heian culture reached an apex c 1000. Approx 100,000 living in Kyoto - nobel families were court/govt bureaucrats. Isolated world. The aristocracy "extrodinarilay withdrawn" & "created a culture governed by standards of form and beauty in which the destinction between art and beauty was not clearly made." Art was revered and unusual period of history in which the elite revered art. 292
 * Heian noblewomen had a fair bit of status - were romantic; told tales, wrote poetry, indulged in affairs; kept diaries 292

Aston

 * Shikibiu, if it meant anything would indicate that she was connected with the "Board of Rites"; it was however customary for court ladies at the time to take fancy official designations without particular application; in her case the name was perhaps suggested by the fact that her father held office in that department
 * Murasaki belonged to a junior branch of the fujiwara clan
 * her father had a reputation for scholarship and others of her family were poets of some note
 * murasaki displayed love of learning at early age
 * she was well versed in japanese and chinese lit.; father wished that such talents were not wasted on her
 * she married another fujiwara but lost husband after a short time and then attached herself to empress akiko (also a fujiwara and fond of learning pursuits) -> this explains her familiarity with ceremonies and court institutions
 * her writings bear testimony that she moved in the best circles of her time (and country)
 * there is a legend that M. S. retired to Ishiyama-dera where she retired from court life and devoted the remainder of her days to literature and religion (and where she composed genji); there are sceptics of this story however; at the temple there is a "genji room" (room where she supposedly wrote genji) including the ink-slab used
 * like fielding in england she was the creator of prose epic of real life; in quality of her genius she more resembled richardson; none, but an extreme japanophile will go so faras to place M. S. n a level with Fielding, Thackeray, Victor Hugo, Dumas and Cervantes
 * "The Genji is generally supposed to have been finished in A.D. 1004, but this date has been disputed, and it may have been composed a few years earlier. There is a pleasing legend which associates its composition with the Temple of Ishiyama at the southern end of Lake Biwa, where the river Uji issues from it. To this beautiful spot, it is said, Murasaki no Shikibu retired from court life to devote the remainder of her days to literature and religion. There are sceptics, however, Motoöri being one, who refuse to believe this story, pointing out, after the manner of their kind, that it is irreconcilable with known facts. On the other hand, the very chamber in the temple where the Genji was written is shown --- with the ink-slab which the author used, and a Buddhist Sutra in her handwriting, which, if they do not satisfy the critic, still are sufficient to carry conviction to the minds of ordinary visitors to the temple." [p. 93]

Waley
NOTE: Go back to this. Many quotations from her diary
 * Born 978 vii
 * calls office of ceremonials > "Board of Rites" vii
 * marriage was sometime between 994 and 998 - Nobutaka was officer in imperial guard vii
 * two daughters, one daughter married Lord Lieutenant of Tsukushi vii
 * Murasaki's father went to Echizen in 1001 after Nobutaka died. Father almost lost the appt & had to plead w/ Michinaga for intervention vii
 * Murasaki 26 when widowed & father to Echizen - to keep her in Kyoto and away from provinces where a good 2nd marriage impossible, father arranged w/ Michinaga to take her to court. vii
 * Akiko 16 at the time & "very serious minded" - she spent part of her time at the palace & part of her time at her father's house (w/ her ladies in waiting) vii
 * Akiko = dull & staid. Long quote by MS: "she has gathered round her a number of very worthy young ladies. They have the merit of sharing all her opinions, but seem in some curious way like children who have never grown up. 'As the years go by Her Majesty is beginning to acquire more experience of life, and no longer judges others by the same rigid standards as before; but meanwhile her Court has gained a reputation for extreme dulness, and is shunned by all who can manage to avoid it.""'Her Majesty does indeed still constantly warn us that it is a great mistake to go too far, 'for a single slip may bring very unpleasant consequences,' and so on, in the old style; but she now also begs us not to reject advances in such a way as to hurt people's feelings. Unfortunately, habits of long standing are not so easily changed; moreover, now that the Empress's exceedingly stylish brothers bring so many of their young courtier-friends to amuse themselves at her house, we have in self-defence been obliged to become more virtuous than ever.'" viii
 * Waley claims MS would have preferred to have been in less strict court of Lady Senshi ix
 * Waley claims MS hired explicitely to teach Akiko/Shoshi Chinese ix
 * claims MS disliked court b/c of the "courseness and stupidity of the men" x
 * certain MS had affair w/ Michinaga - she writes to him: 'You have neither read my book nor won my love.' x
 * as late as 1010 writes flirting w/ emperor xi
 * MS became close friends w/ Lady Saisho but in general complained about the other women & the drunken revelry. Sei Shonagan does not mention or complain about other women at court. xi
 * Opinion of Izumi: ' Izumi Shikibu is an amusing letter-writer; but there is something not very satisfactory about her. She has a gift for dashing off informal compositions in a careless running-hand; but in poetry she needs either an interesting subject or some classic model to imitate. Indeed it does not seem to me that in herself she is really a poet at all.' xii
 * Incident when she is called Murasaki by Kinto xii
 * In her diary she writes about court: "I love to see the snow here" > put w/ the snow image xiii
 * Life at court: 'Even then I realized that my branch of the family was a very humble one; but the thought seldom troubled me, and I was in those days fat indeed from the painful consciousness of inferiority which makes life at Court a continual torment to me.' xiv
 * Waley's translation of MS's self-description: "'That I am very vain, reserved, unsociable, wanting always to keep people at a distance -- that I am wrapped up in the study of ancient stories, conceited, living all the time in a poetical world of my own and scarcely realizing the existence of other people, save occasionally to make spiteful and depreciatory comments upon them -- such is the opinion of me that most strangers hold, and they are prepared to dislike me accordingly. But when they get to know me, they find to their extreme surprise that I am kind and gentle -- in fact, quite a different person from the monster they had imagined; as indeed many have afterwards confessed. Nevertheless, I know that I have been definitely set down at Court as an ill-natured censorious prig. Not that I mind very much, for I am used to it and see that it is due to things in my nature which I cannot possibly change.' xv"
 * He says she's still w/ Akiko in 1025 when she was at ceremonies for future Emperor Go-Ryozen xv

Mostow

 * "Women in service showed faces to unrelated men; ladies-in-waiting in homes did not. Court women not quite as secluded. 133
 * Rival empresses - Michitaka thought by providing Teishi with an educated woman, who knew Chinese, such as Sei Shonagon, he was providing a "qualified empress"  because Teishi's mother Kishi knew Chinese 131
 * The Pillow Book = propaganda to showcase Teishi's court - Shonagon was commissioned to write it 130
 * Shonagan was aggressive, even w/ men, about her knowledge of Chinese 129 - 130
 * Chinese could not appear to be bookish & was set off against a backdrop of eroticism in Teishi's court 131
 * Shonagon softened her knowledge of Chinese by flirting = feminine 131
 * Murasaki cannot & does not compete w/ Shonagon. She hides her learning, denigrates Shonagon, & has greater command of Chinese of any woman at court 132
 * Murasaki also denigrates the pillow book genre 133
 * Incident when the Emperor was having Genji read to him & a woman remarked that Murasaki must be very learned, a lady-in-waiting, who apparently disliked Murasaki, called her "Our Lady of the Chronicles" & said she was flaunting her language. M wrote "How utterly ridiculous! Would I, who hesitate to reveal my learning to my women at home, ever think of doing so at court?" 133
 * Copeland believes hostility toward Chinese ran deep in Shoshi's salon and affected Murasaki - M hiding her learning was not so much b/c she was a woman but more that she knew Chinese 134
 * Unlike Sei's ostentatious display of Chinese, M rejected Chinese & prob made Michinaga happy. She used Chinese, she incorporated Chinese but she rejected Chinese for Japanese. 137

Note: missing some pages here explaining the rejection of Chinese & the building up of Japanese culture & language.

McCormick

 * Mostly for Genji page
 * Harvard University holds the 15th century Genji Album - now definitively dated to 1510. The album is considered the earliest of its kind, consists of 54 paintings by Tosa Mitsunobu and 54 sheets of calligraphy, 108 sheets total of shikishi in 5 colors. The calligraphy was done by various master calligraphers such as Rezei Tamehiro 54-55
 * The leaves are housed in an album dated to the Edo period which has a silk frontispiece painted by Tosa Mitsuoki (1617-1691) and is dated to late 17th century. In the album are Mitsuoki's authentification slips of his ancestor's 16th century paintings. (56)

Misc

 * Puette
 * Puette, William J. The Tale of Genji: A Reader's Guide. (1983) North Clarendon Vt: Tuttle Publishing Co. ISBN 0-8048-3331-1
 * p. 50 puts year of birth at 978
 * p. 50 She had an older sister; speculates that Nobunori a year younger and mother died in childbirth
 * p.50 father remarried w/ three more children: a daughter, so who became Gov. of Hitachi, & son who became Buddhist priest
 * p. 50 Speculates that MS closest to older sister who she used in the novel
 * p. 50 Apparently the sister died in her early 20s
 * p. 51 Legend is that after her husband's death she went to Ishiyama Temple where inspired by the full moon she began writing Genji - this however is most probably not true


 * Suematsu, Kencho. The Tale of Genji.
 * p. 11 Murasaki (the word) = violet
 * p. 11 her daughter wrote a piece of fiction = Sagamoro (narrow sleeves)


 * Stuart, Basil. A Guide to Japanese Prints and their subject matter.
 * p. 342 To write Genji MS went to Ishiyama temple overlooking Lake Biwa on the night of the full moon hoping for inspiration. Spent the night in vigil. Hiroshige print shows her in a tryptich, on a balcony overlooking the lake across from Seta Bridge


 * George Aston - A History of Japanese Literature (1899)
 * page 93 Legend that she returned to Ishiyama Temple when she left court
 * page 94 - compares her to Fielding - thinks she is a better novelist that Fielding

Bowring

 * The diary is difficult to interpret because of question of completeness - is it based only on fragments? Very difficult to know how it fits together. p.xl
 * Bowring diagrams the diary
 * Section A = 65% of the whole and covers the years 1008.7/8 - 1009.1.3 [Note: I don't understand these numbers - years & months?]
 * Section B = 20%. No discernible dates
 * Section C = 5%. No discernible dates
 * Section D = 10%. 1010.1 (p. xl)


 * Section A begins with descriptive detail interspersed with self-analysis in vignettes which Bowring considers to be "far from random", and has a "careful transition" to the events of the birth presented in chronological order. (p. xli)
 * Almost 70% percent through the work is a 2nd transition to more personal material about courtiers and the ladies-in-waiting. (p. xlii)
 * Then a complete break (no transition) followed by 3 vignettes that cannot be dated. (p. xlii)
 * The final piece is another series of events presented in chronological order - but only a few events from Kanko 7 (1010) (p. xlii)
 * Bowring hypothesizes the "strange arrangement" could be b/c the fragments are incomplete (p. xlii -xliii)
 * "Old Recensions" and "Teika Recensions" > [complicated]. Fujiwara no Teika may have collected the poems - 3 extant copies include 17 poems not in the diary suggesting he had in his possession a fuller manuscript than currently available. These poems are dated to Kanko 5, 1008. p. xliii
 * Entire sections of the diary were copied to the Eiga Monogatari > but the Eiga Monogatari has a section that directly precedes the beginning of the diary & therefore a fragment may be missing from the beginning. He presents long pieces of text comparing Eiga to MS diary - scenes in Eiga are longer so he concludes the person compiling the Eiga had a more complete manuscript available. Personal reflections and vignettes have been cut from the Eiga - it only presents the chronological detail. p. xliii - xlvi
 * Bowring believes the beginning of the diary is lost based on the Eiga evidence. Furthermore, according to him scholars disagree b/c the present beginning is well-done (a proper beginning). Possibly another version, a previous revision, a rough draft, an Ur-diary, he asks. He thinks not. p. xlvi
 * He believes that Section A and Section B (the letter portion) may not have been "joined" by Murasaki - that the transition was written later to join the two pieces. He sees textual evidence that shows differences between A & B, enough that he questions whether she would have structured B after A. p. xlvii
 * Dates: Section A can be dated; Section B cannot; Section C cannot; Section D can. p. xlviii
 * He believes A & D were written to refer at the time of the events chronicled and that B & C were interspersed, but when? p. xlix
 * He claims section ends abruptly, and we don't know who the letter (section b) was for or whether it was even meant to be part of the diary. p. xlix
 * Finally he claims MS did not structure the diary as it is today, that the fragments became detached & were reconstructed & that probably much has been lost. p. xlix

Shirane

 * Diary = genre of kana diaries court ladies-in-waiting (nyobo) wrote to honor patrons, ie. Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book (written for Teishi) 448
 * Differs from diaries written by middle-rank ladies not at court (i.e. Kagera Diary and Sarashina Diary) 448
 * Half of the work is about the Michinaga's "glorious moment" and "long awaited event" - birth in Ninth Month of 1008 of his grandson (Sochi's son) who would become emperor, making Michinaga maternal grandfather to emporer. The event recorded in "lavish detail" 448-49
 * Murasaki disliked court and in her writing shows "alienation" and "critical distance" 449
 * We know that Genji had been written, or at least in part, b/c she records the event when she is "named" : at a dinner party, a courtier, Fujiwara no Kinto who was drunk, said to her, "Excuse me, but is the young Murasaki hereabouts?" - associating Shikibu w/ Genji's heroine Murasaki. 449
 * The epistolary style in the 2nd half reveal spiritual struggles - she considered taken holy vows and sought salvation. 449
 * Some scholars (who??) speculate she wrote the last 10 chapters of Genji c. 1010, at about the same time she wrote the diary, b/c the tone is similar 449
 * [Huge long multipage quote]
 * "To be pleasant, gentle, calm and self-possessed: this is the basis of good taste and charm in a woman. No matter how amorous or passionate you may be, as long as you are calm and straightforward, and refrain from causing others embarrassment, no one will mind …. &&&&&& [page 56ish in Bowring - needs cutting]


 * Emergence of Kana

Emakimono

 * (in Japanese) mentions that today there are four parts of the emakimono: at Gotoh Museum, at Fujita Museum, at Tokyo National Museum and with a private collector. In 1920 Morikawa Kanichirō (森川勘一郎) discovered a five-chapter/section scroll (uncut) of the Nikki. The items at the Gotoh museum correspond to chapters/sections 1, 2 and 4 of that scroll. The five-chapter/section scroll was bought in 1932 by Masuda Donō (益田鈍翁) and in the same year the fifth chapter was cut off and bequeathed to the Morikawa family (today in private collection). In 1933 Donō cut off the 3rd chapter, mounted it as a hanging scroll (today at Tokyo National Museum). The remaining three chapters (1, 2, 4) were framed in 1934, and came into possession of the Gotoh Museum via the Takanashi family (高梨家) during the postwar period. This page also mentions that the Gotoh parts are NT, but does not give any further details on the Fujita Museum parts.