Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan

Her brother Sadayoshi was Governor of that Province.

79

Kaminari sama.

80

In 1057, as Governor of Shinano Province.

81

She was thirty-five years old and her husband forty-one years old when they were married. We may suppose that she was his second wife. This daughter must have been borne by the first wife. The cause of starting from his daughter's house is some superstitious idea, and not the coldness of their relation.

82

The rank of the person determined the colour of his clothes. Red was worn by nobles of the fifth degree.

83

The Japanese believed that "human fire" or spirit can be seen leaving the body of one who is soon to die.

84

Her husband died.

85

At death the Lord Buddha coming on a cloud appears to the faithful one and accompanies the soul to Heaven.

86

The point of this is in the name of the place, Obásuté, which may be translated, "Aunt Casting Away," or "Cast-Away-Aunt." It is a place famous for the beauty of its scenery in moonlight.

87

This diary seems to have been jotted down in disconnected paragraphs and the editors have preserved that form.

88

Tsuchimikado: the residence of Prime Minister Fujiwara, the father of the Queen.

89

Priests are praying for the easy delivery of the Queen, who has gone to her parents' house before the birth, in accordance with old Japanese custom.

90

The writer of this diary lost her husband in 1001.

91

Altars before Fudo, Gosansé, Gunsari, Daiitoku, Kongoyasha.

92

See the plan of a great house of those days.

93

Yorimichi, the Prime Minister Fujiwara Michinaga's son, who was then sixteen years old.

94

Misu: a thin finely woven bamboo curtain, behind which one may see but not be seen, hung before great personages and women's apartments.

95

Tonearasoi: at present not known.

96

Imayo, or "new style," a kind of song in vogue in those days. The verse consists of eight or ten alternating seven-and five-syllable lines.

97

This perfume was composed of purified Borneo camphor, aloe wood and musk, and was used to perfume clothing, etc.

98

Hagi: violet-coloured dress with blue lining, the violet dye taken from sapan-wood; Shion: pale purple dress with blue lining.

99

A face covering used while sleeping.

100

Floss silk was used to protect chrysanthemum flowers from frost. The flower itself was believed to have the virtue of lengthening life. The Imperial garden party undoubtedly originated from a belief in this virtue in the flower.

101

Ladies were crowded close behind the misu looking at the moon.

102

Hangings, screens, and clothes of attendants were all white at the time of a birth.

103

Which would otherwise have attacked the Queen. Some of the ladies-in-waiting undertook this duty. There is a difference of opinion between the translators as to whether this was done with the intention of deceiving the evil spirits into attacking the wrong person (by introducing into her neighbourhood other women surrounded with screens and attendants) or by transmitting the supposed evil spirits out of the Queen into her ladies by a sort of mesmerization.

104

Fudo: a terrible-looking Buddhist idol who was thought to have the power to subdue all evil spirits.

105

For good luck.

106

So that she might be ordained as a priestess and insured a good reception in the next world, only done when the sick person is in great danger.

107

This was contrary to etiquette and shows the extreme excitement of the moment. Ladies and gentlemen of the court remained in separate rooms on social occasions.

108

Kurodo = secretary (in charge of court manuscripts).

109

Everybody was still wearing white, colour of purification.

110

See frontispiece.

111

Every Japanese family does this to-day, for almost all gardens have artificial brooks or ponds.

112

Imperial shrine at Isé: the oldest shrine, built 5 B.C., dedicated to the Heaven Shining Goddess, ancestor of the Imperial family. This shrine is rebuilt every twenty years on the same model. It is the most sacred spot in Japan, and all serious events pertaining to the Empire or Imperial Household are announced there to the Goddess-Ancestor by Imperial Messenger.

113

Nusa: rolls of silk or paper offered by a worshipper.

114

Because a birth in a house was defilement, while a messenger to or from a god was holy.

115

Saishi: a kind of gold ornament with five radiating points worn on the forehead and tied on around the head. (See frontispiece.)

116

This was to frighten away evil spirits.

117

Rice-scattering; for good luck.

118

Here occurs an untranslatable sentence. Literally it would seem to be: It seems hair growing in good monochromatic picture. That might mean that the Queen seemed like a beauty in a picture drawn with ink and brush (see some illustrations in this book).

119

Purple and scarlet.

120

Karaginu: a short garment with long sleeves and worn of a different colour from the uchigi. (See frontispiece.)

121

Uchigi: long unconfined flowing robe put on over the dress. It was made of elegant material and lined with another colour and was the distinctive and beautiful part of the court dress of that day. Under it were worn two or more other silk robes of different colours, one often intended to show through and modify the colour of the other. They were fastened in front by a belt like the present-day kimono, and over them was hung at the back the long and elaborate train of heavy white silk on which the last word of elegance in embroidery or painting was placed. In the presence of Royalty the ladies knelt in rows one behind the other, and doubtless these trains made a great display spread out before those sitting behind. (See frontispiece.)

122

See frontispiece.

123

Unemé: beautiful women, selected from various provinces for their beauty, especially to wait on the Royal table.

124

Mohitori: officials who had charge of wells, shoyu (Japanese sauce) and ice-houses.

125

Migusiagé: attendants whose hair was done up with hairpins.

126

King's housekeepers.

127

Cleaners.

128

Da: a gambling game now not known. It was played with dice.

129

(The following poem, then composed, is made with words of two meanings. It is impossible to arrange it in poetic form in English, but we present the two meanings in separate phrases, which the reader may combine for himself.)

130

A pleated divided skirt worn by both men and women.

131

In Kioto it used to be the custom to cover the earth of the gardens with very white fine sand.

132

A school created in 825 A.D. by the Prime Minister Fujiwara Fuyutsugu to educate the younger members of the Fujiwara family.

133

This "court fashion" of sending rolls of silk as presents from the Emperor or Empress prevails to-day, one thousand years later.

134

This person was the second son of the Prime Minister; therefore the Queen's brother or half-brother and uncle of the Crown Prince.

135

The island of Horai; Japanese Elysium, a crystal island of eternal youth and felicity, supposed to exist in mid-ocean. A miniature presentation of this island is used on festal occasions as the emblem of eternity, or unchangeableness.

136

The Prime Minister wished to arrange a marriage between his eldest son and the Prince's daughter. The authoress's cousin had adopted the Prince's son.

137

This incident has for some reason become very famous and artists have used it as a subject for pictures. One of these is now hanging in the Imperial Museum in Tokyo.

138

Poems were written on oblongs of crimson, yellow, gold, or other paper according to the feeling of the writer. Nowadays oblong poem papers can be bought anywhere, but they are generally white or gray with gold decoration.

139

The King's visit was made October 16, 1008.

140

It was de rigueur for ladies to conceal their faces with fans.

141

The left side is the more honourable position, but this time the King sat at the right side because perhaps they could not move the Queen's dais.

142

A special effect of brilliant shining produced by beating the silk.

143

A special effect of brilliant shining produced by beating the silk.

144

These garments were evidently made of very thin material, colours underneath being intended to modify the outer ones, hence the art of dressing became very subtle.

145

Doubtless this office was highly important and held in honour. In those days poison and inferior foods were to be guarded against. Throughout the journal it may be noticed that all directly serving the King and Queen in any way are persons of high rank.

146

In this curiously delicate operation the actual leaf or flower from which the colour was obtained was rubbed onto the silk to make the desired pattern.

147

Light blue and some kinds of yellow are colours relegated to the elderly in Japan. Babies and young people are dressed in bright colours and showy patterns. The old wear plain stuffs and pale or dull colours.

148

This dance was performed by court nobles at the coronation of the present Emperor at Kioto, 1915.

149

Artificial hills in Japanese gardens are intended to bring mountain scenery to mind, whether large or small. They are sometimes of considerable size.

150

Reigned 970 to 984. This lady may have been his mistress or had interesting reminiscences to relate.

151

The feuds of the Fujiwara family. Fujiwara Fuhito had four sons who became the founders of the four great Fujiwara families – Minami, Kyo, Kita, and Shiki. They were all aspiring to the King's favour and at enmity with each other, the present Prime Minister Michinaga far outstripping the others in power.

152

Mochi: a cake made of beaten rice flour paste.

153

These dainty white wooden boxes of food arranged in a way pleasing to the eye are still a feature of Japanese life. They are distributed, with varying contents, at weddings and funerals, sold at railway stations, and carried on picnics.

154

At banquets a great cup was used which could contain one or two quarts of liquor. When this was circulated among the guests each was expected to empty the cup, and it was the pride of the drinker to toss it off in one draught.

155

The hero of Genji Monogatari.

156

The Queen desired a literary Court to rival that of the first Queen. See note on p. 131.

157

A special kind of wild duck called oshidori which is always seen in couples.

158

Kokiden: residence of the first Queen.

159

The World; i.e. matrimonial affairs.

160

Three anthologies, of Ancient and Modern Poems, Later Selections of Poems, and Miscellaneous Poems, respectively.

161

These men were famous calligraphers.

162

This famous dance, whose origin is given below, was performed at the present Emperor's coronation at Kioto in 1915, by five daughters of ancient noble families selected for their beauty. It is said that these young ladies immediately thereafter received a great many offers of marriage.

Gosetchi was a great holiday succeeded by two days of feasting. The dancing girls (of the diary) were all daughters of persons of high rank, three being daughters of courtiers and two daughters of province governors. Tradition says that when King Tenmu was at his palace of Yoshino, heavenly maidens came down and danced before him fluttering the long celestial sleeves of their feathery dresses five times. This was the origin of the dance.

163

Each dancer was attended by helpers who were sometimes persons of degree. Their duties were to arrange trains and costumes in the postures of the dance.

164

Her father was Keeper of the Seal. Her aunt was one of the queens.

165

See signs of the zodiac, of Old Japan.

166

The name of a detached hall in the Imperial Palace.

167

Like the knights' tents in the tournaments each girl's apartment was distinguished by special devices of cloths or banners hung before it.

168

Horai: an island of eternal life and felicity supposed to exist in the eastern ocean. Horai symbolizes changelessness, and it must have been intended as a hint at the impropriety of Sakyō's changed position.

169

Festival of the ancient gods, for which preparation was made the day before by fasting.

170

This incident was very well known and is mentioned in several of the writings of the period. The mirror is the symbol of the soul of a Japanese woman. With the mirror Sakyō sent a poem:

Alas! the waving moss deceived your vision.The clear mirror is never tarnished:Therefore look deep.

171

Mochi: it is still the custom in Japan to serve a cake made of beaten rice on New Year's Day, the great festival of the year. The sound of this beating is heard from house to house throughout the country, and gives everybody a holiday feeling. The ceremonies last three days.

172

These colour combinations were very subtle because the effect was produced by the play of one or perhaps two colours showing through one another.

173

One of the young women who had danced the Gosetchi.

174

Fujiwara Michitaka, the Prime Minister's brother.

175

This lady was one of the greatest poets Japan has ever produced. See her diary, which is the record of her liaison with a young prince.

176

A daughter of the famous court lady, poet, and historian Akazomé Emon, to whom the court history of the time is traditionally ascribed.

177

Seishonagon. A lady famous for her learning and wit and with a little reputation for daring. Pretty and vivacious, learned and witty, she was allowed liberties unrebuked – one may call her the New Woman of the day. She served in the court of the first Queen Sadako, daughter of the Prime Minister's brother. The two Queens were in rivalry. Seishonagon was the literary light of that court, as Murasaki Shikibu and Izumi Shikibu were of this.

178

Because one may be bewitched; ancient belief dating from long before her day.

179

A koto is called a horizontal harp, but it consists of a number of strings stretched the length of the instrument, the scale made by an arrangement of bridges placed under the strings, and played upon by four ivory keys worn on the four fingers of the right hand.

180

Her husband who was a scholar in Chinese literature. He died in 1001. It is now 1008.

181

Large and learned volumes by the Chinese scholar Seŭ-ma Ch'ien.

182

The Merciful Buddha of the West Paradise.

183

It is believed that this Buddha comes to welcome the departing soul of the believer mounted on a rainbow-coloured cloud.

184

The great Enryakuji on Mount Hiyé, northeast of Kioto.

185

A line from an old Chinese poem about Jofuku and Bunsei, seekers of the herb of eternal life. When they entered the boat they were young men, but were very old when they returned.

186

The Japanese New Year ceremonies extend over three days.

187

Both these little princes, grandsons of the Prime Minister, eventually came to the throne.

188

Toso: New Year's drink of spiced saké supposed to prolong life.

189

The names of these colours are translated in modern terms. The Japanese names of colours for dresses were all of colours in combination, which often were called after flowers or plants. These names could not convey the right idea. For instance, what is here translated old rose and white, would be in those days called cherry, intended to convey to the mind the thought of the cherry-tree in bloom.

190

Paper doors.

191

In the writings of the ladies of those days World (yononaka) is often used as a synonym of love-affair; i.e. their relations with men.

192

In those days noblemen's houses were surrounded with an embankment, instead of a wall.

193

Prince Tametaka, the third Prince of the Emperor Rezrei who reigned 968-969. The Prince died on June 13, 1002. He had been Izumi Shikibu's lover.

194

Tachibana: a kind of orange.

195

The cuckoo sings when the tachibana is in flower. In this instance the "cuckoo" means the young Prince. Thus there is a suggestion here if he chooses to take it.

196

The period of mourning was to end on June 13, 1003.

197

The cuckoo sings with low note in early spring, but when April is passed his voice grows clear and loud. It is a favourite bird in Japan.

198

The meaning of the poem is vague. Ayame may mean Iris sibirica – rain-stop, darkness– these are homonyms in Japanese. The fifth day of the fifth month was a festival day, and people adorned their houses with iris sibirica, so the last line might mean that she wanted to prepare for the festival. If we take the word ayame in the meaning of rain-stop, then we can understand the poem as follows: "It is the wet season now, and it is raining within my heart. To-night I am going to the temple to pray that the rainy season will be over (and to chase away the darkness from my soul). After that I wish you to come."

199

Ukon-no-Zo, an officer in the Bodyguard. He seems to have been an attendant of the late Prince Tametaka, before he served the present Prince.

200

Prime Minister Fujiwara-no-Michinaga, the most powerful man of the age. (See the Introduction and the Murasaki Shikibu diary.)

201

In the Japanese Matsu, n.=pine-tree; Matsu, v.=to wait. This poem refers to a famous one: /$ If my heart grows faithless, and beat for another man, May waves pass over the hill of pines, where I pine for my beloved! $/

202

For the Festival of the stars on the seventh day of the Seventh month see the notes on pages 23, 24 of the Sarashina Diary. On this evening it was customary to write letters or pay visits in memory of the heavenly lovers.

203

Ishiyama Temple is some five miles to the east of Kioto. To reach there one must rise over the ascent of Osaka, and the barrier of Seki at the foot of Mount Seki, where travellers were stopped and examined. The temple commands a fine view of Lake Biwa, still more distant.

204

This group of poems have as their base the play upon words of two meanings, or place-names whose meanings make the necessary suggestive idea. Omi is the name of the province in which are Ishiyama and Lake Biwa. Here the word is used as the homophon of meeting. Mount Nagara is near the Ishiyama Temple. Nagara is the homophon of "while being (on the mountain)."

205

Law of Buddha.

206

The waning moon is called the morning moon because it can be seen after dawn.

207

Wild geese visit Japan in Autumn and fly away northwards in the early spring. They are never alone, and their cries calling to each other make the solitary woman feel loneliness more keenly.

208

It is the Japanese way to say night opens instead of day dawns. The word little means nothing but a feeling of endearment.

209

The Japanese lady in her dwelling where the light was softened by her window-panes of white silk, or her sudaré, dwelt always in a sort of twilight probably very becoming to beauty.

210

Mayumi —Evonymœus europus. In Autumn the leaves of the tree become purple or red, and they are so pretty that people call them "mountain brocade."

211

According to an ancient fable, En-no-Shokaku, a great magician who could command even gods, once summoned gods of many mountains to make a stone bridge at Kumé on Mount Katuragi in the Province of Yamato. The goddess of Mount Katuragi was very shy, and, working only at night, never showed herself before others. The magician grew angry with her, and punished her by unveiling her. That was the cause of the failure in the work. (The inmost soul hides itself and works in the dark. If you try to bring it into clear consciousness, you will fail in your work.)

212

The Godless month – the Tenth month; so called because in that month all the gods left their abodes and went to the High Plain of Heaven to hold counsel together.

213

In those days they believed in lucky and unlucky directions. Those who went in an unlucky direction might have some unfortunate incidents. This belief still holds in the country life of the people. The writer was once deprived of a good servant who wanted to come to her, but could not because her house was in an "unlucky direction!"