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Home , Emperor Antoku, Emperor Kanmu, Emperor Toba, Fujiwara no Michinaga, Fujiwara no Yoshifusa, Minister of the Left

“Never Had I Known Such Sorrow”: Death and Emotional Standards in Heian

by

Emily Hillman

A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto

© Copyright by Emily Hillman, 2018

“Never Had I Known Such Sorrow”: Death and Emotional Standards in Heian Japan

Emily Hillman

Master of Arts

Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto

2018 Abstract Death is perhaps the only universal human experience, yet emotional reactions to it are neither natural nor universal. Although every person experiences emotions, socially constructed standards shape how an individual conceives, perceives, and expresses a given emotion. As failing to comply with a society’s standards is a serious and damaging social mistake, researching standards of emotion provides an opportunity to bring forward new aspects of complex social relationships. In this thesis, the aristocratic society of Heian Japan (794-1185 CE) is studied from the perspective of emotional history, focusing upon expressions of sadness in response to death as described in nikki , a popular form of literature. After establishing the emotional standards of departures for the purpose of comparison, the thesis moves on to establish the standards for the deaths of loved ones and of the emperor. Compared to other aspects of life, death allowed for far more extreme expressions of sadness.

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents ...... iii Chapter 1 Introduction ...... 1 1. Historiography ...... 2 2. Historical Context ...... 8 3. Primary Sources ...... 11 Chapter 2 Departures ...... 15 1. Departures in the Capital ...... 15 2. Provincial Departures ...... 20 3. Conclusion ...... 27 Chapter 3 Death of a Loved One ...... 30 1. Kagerō Nikki ...... 30 2. Sarashina Nikki ...... 33 3. Kenreimon’in Ukyō no Daibu Shū ...... 35 4. Tosa Nikki and Midō Kanpakuki ...... 37 5. Conclusion ...... 41 Chapter 4 Death of the Emperor ...... 44 1. Kagerō Nikki ...... 44 2. Sanuki no Suke Nikki ...... 46 3. Kenreimon’in Ukyō no Daibu ...... 52 4. Teishinkōki and Midō Kanpakuki ...... 54 5. Conclusion ...... 57 Chapter 5 Conclusion ...... 59 Bibliography ...... 63

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Chapter 1 Introduction

Known for its elegant court society and literary masterpieces, the is a culturally significant era of Japanese history that remains influential even today. From 794 to 1185, a small population of elites based in the capital city of Heian-kyō dominated the political, economic, and cultural worlds of Japan. Confident in their innate superiority and disdainful of those who did not belong to their exclusive society, the elites lived comfortable lives filled with art, leisure, and the occasional political intrigue. In such a small community located within one city, maintaining one’s reputation was of utmost importance. Although rank played a significant role in how an elite was viewed by others in the rigidly hierarchical society of court, other qualities contributed as well. Social reputation depended heavily on an aristocrat being able to meet expectations of what constituted a true noble and differentiated them from the common masses. Many of these qualities involved artistic talent and aesthetic taste, requiring both men and women to be capable of, among other things, composing clever poems, writing elegant calligraphy, and choosing appropriate colour combinations for clothing. While exceptional talent could allow for lower- ranked elites to achieve fame, failing to meet expectations of artistic talents might not necessarily have economic or political repercussions, but could result in an elite being viewed as nothing more than a joke by their peers. 1

It was not only rank and artistic skill that determined one’s social reputation, however. One of the main qualities that nobles felt defined their class and distinguished them from unsophisticated commoners and boorish provincials was emotional sensitivity, in particular the capacity to feel and express sadness with elegance. Many situations provoked sadness in a true elite, from the falling of cherry blossoms to romantic endeavours. Being able to properly express sadness

1 Title page quote: Takasue no Musume, As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams: Recollections of a Woman in Eleventh- Century Japan , ed. and trans. Ivan Morris (New York: The Dial Press, 1979), 119. Helen Craig McCullough, “Aristocratic Culture,” in The Cambridge , vol. 2, Heian Japan, ed. John Whitley Hall (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 390, 395, 414-418. Ivan Morris, The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964), 2, 13, 64-66, 170, 180-183. In the late tenth-century Makura no Sōshi , the author writes of an incident in which some of the “high-ranking ladies and gentlemen at Court” wrote a song mocking a fellow courtier for his “uncouth” manners and provincial heritage. The courtiers were unrepentant, one even arguing that “if he did [hear the song] he wouldn’t understand” because of his lack of wit and poetic knowledge. Apparently, the song became so popular that even the emperor played the tune on his flute. Sei Shōnagon, of Sei Shōnagon, vol. 1, ed. and trans. Ivan Morris (New York: Columbia University Press, 1967), 30-31. Sei Shōnagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon, vol. 2, ed. and trans. Ivan Morris (New York: Columbia University Press, 1967), 32-33. 1

2 brought admiration and respect, while also confirming one’s social status. However, expressing too much sadness could be just as detrimental as failing to display any, causing an elite to lose the aesthetic appeal of refined and restrained sadness and therefore damage their reputation. 2 By approaching this need for sensitivity from the perspective of emotional history, a deeper understanding of the interactions between emotional behaviour, reputation, and social status can emerge. Despite the name, the history of emotions focuses on societal attitudes toward certain emotions, as well as expectations of appropriate behaviour held by a society, rather than attempting to judge the sincerity of emotions professed by people of the past. 3 Heian elites are best known for their elegantly restrained expressions of sadness in response to romance and aesthetics. However, other situations associated with sadness did not necessarily adhere to these same emotional standards. In particular, this thesis will attempt to establish the standard expressions of sadness associated with a universal and more extreme situation: death.

1. Historiography

Although interest in the history of emotions has existed since the early twentieth century, viable methods through which it may be studied have only recently been developed. The first scholars to propose a practical method were Peter and Carol Stearns. The Stearns argue that the phrase “history of emotions” is misleading, and instead distinguish between genuine emotional experience and “emotionology,” defined as “the attitudes and standards that a society … maintains toward basic emotions and their appropriate expression.” 4 Attempting to study the history of genuine emotions is nearly impossible, as one can never really know how others truly feel. However, establishing and understanding the collective standards held by a society is a more realistic goal. According to the Stearns, emotional standards are not universal or static, but are rather social constructs similar to gender or race that differ by culture, time period, and

2 Donald Keene, Appreciations of Japanese Culture (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2002), 29-30 . Morris, Shining Prince, xiv , 196-198 . On one occasion, the shy lady-in-waiting Takasue no Musume met a mysterious high-class courtier late at night. She was dazzled not only by his appreciation of nature and poetic talent, but also by his emotional sensitivity and understanding of sadness, writing, “He talked in a quiet, gentle way and I could tell he was a man of perfect qualities … Then he started speaking about the sadness of the world and other such matters, and there was something so sensitive about his manner that, for all my usual shyness, I found it hard to remain stiff and aloof.” Takasue no Musume, Bridge of Dreams, 90-95. 3 Peter N. Stearns and Carol Z. Stearns, “Emotionology: Clarifying the History of Emotions and Emotional Standards,” The American Historical Review 90:4 (1985): 813. 4 Stearns and Stearns, “Emotionology,” 813.

3 various other social categories. By studying a specific set of emotional standards and their effect on people, the Stearns argue that many social issues, such as ideals, behaviour, and broad social change, can be better understood. 5

Despite the efforts of the Stearns, however, it was not until Barbara Rosenwein proposed a revised version of their theory in 2002 that the history of emotion began to gain attention. 6 A specialist in medieval European history, Rosenwein criticized the Stearns’ argument that emotional standards only exist in modern societies with widespread popular cultures. Furthermore, she argues that the psychological theory used by the Stearns is outdated and fails to recognize the influence of culture on emotions and emotional expression. Instead, she proposes that emotions be understood through either the cognitive theory or the social constructivism theory, both modern theories better suited for the study of emotional standards because of their focus on the centrality of cultural norms in shaping how emotions are expressed. Additionally, Rosenwein builds on the idea of emotionology through her new concept of “emotional communities.” According to Rosenwein, a society does not have just one set of emotional standards, but rather is composed of many co-existing emotional communities, each with its own values and standards, that differ based on factors such as location, gender, or age. A single person belongs to multiple emotional communities, shifting their emotional behaviour based on the context. 7 As a result of this more nuanced approach, Rosenwein’s theory of emotional communities continues to be the most common approach to the study of the history of emotion.8

Unfortunately, very few scholars have studied the emotional standards of regions in Asia. 9 Therefore, in order to find models for this thesis, namely research on sadness as it is portrayed in literary sources, it is necessary to look to historians of Europe. Despite the differing contexts,

5 Stearns and Stearns, 813-814, 820, 825-830, 833. 6 Jan Plamper, The History of Emotions: An Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 62. 7 For example, the same person would likely express anger in a different manner if in the privacy of their home than in the middle of a restaurant. Barbara H. Rosenwein, “Worrying about Emotions in History,” The American Historical Review 107:3 (2002): 825, 835-837, 842-843. 8 In 2012 and 2015 respectively, Jonas Liliequist and Jan Plamper published books concerning the current state of literature related to the history of emotions. Liliequist’s edited collection aims to show the many interdisciplinary approaches to studying emotional history by presenting research done by a variety of diverse scholars, connecting emotional standards to topics such as sexuality, art, and politics. Plamper focuses instead on providing readers with an overview of modern scholarship on the history of emotion. His work acts as a guide to unstudied fields and proper methodology. Both authors argue that Rosenwein’s theory of emotional communities is currently the best approach. Jonas Liliequist, ed, A History of Emotions, 1200-1800 (London: Pickering & Chatto, Ltd., 2012), 1, 4. Plamper, The History of Emotions, 7-8, 67-70. 9 Liliequist, A History of Emotions, 1-2. Plamper, The History of Emotions, 64, 67.

4 these studies show how the theory of emotional communities can be applied and interpreted, while also demonstrating how common criticisms of literary sources actually make them ideal for a study of emotional standards. Literary sources, especially those written for an audience, often reflect the norms and ideals of society rather than the genuine emotion of the author, providing insight into what constituted appropriate emotional behaviour for a particular emotional community. Two studies of early modern England are particularly relevant. Based on depictions of men crying in English literature, Jennifer Vaught argues that factors such as class, age, and location changed whether authors judged this behaviour positively or negatively. Additionally, she shows how societal change could influence emotional standards by looking at how perceptions of men crying changed as the elites shifted from warriors to courtiers.10 Similarly, Paola Baseotto applies the concept of emotional communities to English Protestants, arguing that multiple distinct communities co-existed. For Puritans, writing of depression and suicidal urges in diaries became a conventional way to prove one’s conversion, while other Protestant sects were influenced by the renewed popularity of Stoicism, privileging emotional restraint and therefore disdaining the Puritans’ emotional outbursts.11 Both authors demonstrate the existence of emotional communities, the usefulness of the concept for understanding the nuances of attitudes toward emotional behaviour, and the benefits of literary sources.

Currently, relatively little research on the emotional standards of Heian Japan has been published in English. Of the scholarship that exists, most relies on Genji Monogatari , a lengthy and detailed eleventh-century novel written by that has often been used as a guide to court society. The earliest English work to address emotional standards is Ivan Morris’s classic book, The World of the Shining Prince . Using Genji and other Heian works, Morris argues that aesthetics, or “the rule of taste,” shaped the standards of emotion and emotional

10 Jennifer Vaught, Masculinity and Emotion in Early Modern English Literature (Alershot, England: Ashgate, 2008), 2-3, 7. 11 Paola Baseotto, “Theology and Interiority: Emotions as Evidence of the Working of Grace in Elizabethan and Stuart Conversion Narratives,” in A History of Emotions, 1200-1800, ed. Jonas Liliequist (London: Pickering & Chatto, Ltd., 2012), 65, 71, 76. Although not specifically about sadness, Lisa Perfetti’s study of premodern European emotional standards for women based on portrayals in literature raises relevant points. She argues that not all women were expected to behave to the same standards, as factors such as class and race affected what behaviour was deemed appropriate. Additionally, Perfetti argues that literature is an ideal source for studying standards of emotion, as the conventional emotions and behaviour shown in literature often reflects widespread expectations. She further claims that the manner in which literature portrays emotional expression could influence emotional standards as well. Lisa Perfetti, ed., The Representation of Women’s Emotions in Medieval and Early Modern Culture (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005), 1-2, 5, 7-8.

5 expression. Elites distinguished themselves from commoners by claiming that emotional sensitivity was a quality possessed only by true aristocrats, believing that an inability to properly understand and express sadness made one a boor. 12 Though Morris gives only a brief outline, the connection between aesthetics, elite status, and emotions is significant.

Later authors have tended to examine the standards of a specific emotion. In her study of female jealousy, Doris Bargen argues that emotional standards discouraged women from showing the jealousy and anger caused by the polygamous relationships of the time. According to Bargen, scenes of spirit possession in Genji Monogatari are not a condemnation of female jealousy as assumed by most commentators, but rather Murasaki Shikibu’s attempt to give her female characters a socially acceptable way to express negative emotions. 13 Unfortunately, Bargen’s findings are based solely on the world of Genji , and lack any connection to events of the real world.

While Bargen focuses on jealousy, Margaret Childs turns to the emotional standards of love as seen in Genji Monogatari . In particular, she addresses the reasons for the common modern interpretation of the protagonist, Genji, of committing rape. First, she argues that love and attraction have often been associated with pity and vulnerability in Japanese culture. These emotional standards, that differ from those of modern Western society, generally caused courtship conventions to involve the performance of aggression from men and reluctance from women. 14 The second issue arises from the difficulties of using translations, as she criticizes the suggestive word choices of English translators for lacking the ambiguity of the original and giving an inaccurate impression of Genji’s actions.15 Though focused on the connection that

12 Morris, Shining Prince, xiv , 196-198 In a later book, Morris looks at emotional ideals throughout Japanese history, arguing that hopelessly tragic figures who die while sincerely fighting for a futile cause are the most beloved heroes. According to Morris, this love of tragedy comes from societal attitudes that highly value sadness, sincerity, and vulnerability. Although one of the men studied is from the Heian period (), the focus is on his popularity in later eras rather than his own. Ivan Morris, The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1975), xxi-xxiii, 64-66. 13 Doris Bargen, A Woman’s Weapon: Spirit Possession in (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1997), 3, 5-6, 27. 14 Of course, Childs does not argue that rape and coercion never happened, but argues instead that some seemingly problematic relationships (from a modern perspective) are not always what they appear. As contemporary female readers viewed Genji as the ideal man and lover, they do not seem to have interpreted his actions as negative or abusive, supporting Childs’s argument that his behaviour was perceived as conforming to emotional standards. Margaret H. Childs, “The Value of Vulnerability: Sexual Coercion and the Nature of Love in Japanese Court Literature,” The Journal of Asian Studies 58:4 (1999): 1059, 1061-1063. 15 Childs, “The Value of Vulnerability,” 1062.

6 sadness had with love rather than with death, Childs’s article gives a clear example of how emotional standards affected social relationships, while also pointing out the possible dangers of translations. A third scholar, Max Moerman, studies elite anxiety caused by religion. In particular, he looks at anxiety related to the coming of mappō , a Buddhist concept that refers to the loss of Buddhist teachings and descent of the world into anarchy, believed by the elites to begin in 1052. In addition to literature, Moerman uses archaeology to study the practice of sutra burials. Although these burials were allegedly done to save and increase one’s chances of personal salvation, Moerman argues that most sutra burials were prompted by political ambition rather than genuine anxiety, showing a connection between proper emotional behaviour and other aspects of life. 16 Finally, the medieval European historian, William Reddy, published a study looking at the concept of love in three contemporary societies, including Heian Japan. As the topic of the book is primarily medieval Europe, however, Heian standards of love are only discussed in the context of being compared to those of Europe. Following the research of Heian specialists, Reddy focuses on the connection between love and sadness, and argues that Buddhism played a significant role in bringing these two emotions together. 17

As shown by Childs, major problems can arise from a failure to properly understand the primary sources. In order to avoid these issues as best as possible, referencing earlier research that analyzes and comments on these sources is crucial. For a modern reader, Heian literature can be difficult to understand, due both to the frequently ambiguous nature of the Classical Japanese language itself and to the constant allusions to poetry, Buddhist sutras, and the unexplained details of daily life unfamiliar to anyone not belonging to elite Heian society. Without this knowledge, it is easy to misunderstand a quote or overlook the subtleties of a poem, problems that are amplified when trying to translate. Any attempt at translation will lose some qualities of the original, particularly when the literature relies so heavily upon wordplay and ambiguous meanings. In an attempt to remedy this, translators of Classical Japanese often provide multiple versions of the same line, so that the various meanings and puns may be understood. 18 However,

16 Max Moerman, “The Archeology of Anxiety: An Underground History of Heian Religion,” in Heian Japan: Centers and Peripheries , ed. Mikael Adolphson et al. (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2005), 245-246, 266- 267. 17 William Reddy, The Making of Romantic Love: Longing and Sexuality in Europe, South Asia, and Japan, 900- 1200 CE (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2012), 290-291, 296-297. 18 Morris, Shining Prince, 280-283. Richard Okada, Figures of Resistance: Language, Poetry, and Narrating in The Tale of Genji and Other Mid-Heian Texts (Durham: Duke University Press, 1992), 15-20.

7 as Childs argued, personal interpretations of a primary source influences how it is translated, potentially creating meanings that did not exist in the original. Although translations cannot be avoided, being aware of their faults can be helpful in remembering the limitations of the primary sources. 19 Analyses of and commentaries on Heian literature can clarify allusions and meanings, while also explaining the lifestyles and larger contexts of the Heian period. The lengthy introductions, footnotes, and appendices that accompany most translations of primary sources provide much of this information, making them an excellent resource.

Currently, no English research on the emotional standards of sadness related to death has been done in the area of Heian Japan. Although some scholars have studied the relationship between sadness, love, and aesthetics, death remains an untouched topic despite its significance in the lives of elites. Analyzing and comparing how different elites behaved in response to death will allow for a fuller appreciation of the emotional standards held by Heian court society, extending this knowledge beyond romance and the aesthetics of nature to include a broader range of sadness. While the former situations may have required elegant and restrained displays of sadness, death is a more extreme event that could permit more extreme reactions, allowing elites to break away from the elegance for which this period is best known without being judged by their peers. By applying Rosenwein’s theory of emotional communities, it will be argued that while certain contexts required elites to adhere to standards of refined and aesthetic sadness, in the context of death, emotional standards allowed elites to behave with considerably less restraint, though limitations still existed. Following the lead of Vaught and Baseotto, the focus will be on behaviour as depicted in literature. In order to provide a closer comparison to death, emotional standards of departures will be established first, followed by the standards related to the death of loved ones and those for the death of an emperor.

19 Feeling that previous translations and interpretations of Heian literature have misrepresented the cultural and gendered aspects of the texts because they rely on Western ideas of literary criticism, Richard Okada attempts to interpret texts based on their cultural and social contexts. He also criticizes translations, arguing that translating Classical Japanese into readable English forces the texts to conform to a new context and thereby lose its significance. Okada, Figures of Resistance, 2-3, 6. Tomiko Yoda similarly critiques postwar analyses of Heian literature through the lens of feminism, noting how national culture, Heian literature, and perceptions of Japan as feminine have intersected and made recent studies of literature problematic. Tomiko Yoda, Gender and National Literature: Heian Texts in the Constructions of Heian Modernity (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004), 2-4, 18.

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2. Historical Context

In order to establish the emotional standards of sadness held by Heian elites, it is crucial to first understand the larger socio-political context. In 794, moved the court’s capital to Heian-kyō, hoping to escape the increasingly powerful Buddhist temples of . Heian-kyō, now known as , would become the longest-lasting capital city in Japanese history, flourishing as the centre of politics, culture, and wealth for the entirety of the Heian period. All aspects of court life centred around the figure of the emperor, with courtiers competing over access to him in order to gain political power, as he who controlled the emperor controlled the court. For most of the period, the court was dominated by the , in particular the Sekkanke, or Regent branch of the family. 20 By the late eleventh-century, however, rivals for power emerged in the form of the retired emperor. No longer bound by the highly ritualized life of a but still retaining the prestige, retired emperors could more easily move against the Sekkanke. Beginning with the retired emperor Shirakawa, the imperial family began to reassert itself, accumulating wealth and allying with non-Sekkanke nobles. 21 Tensions over imperial succession escalated in the twelfth-century, eventually culminating in war as the opposing sides turned to families for help. This proved to be the end of the Heian period, as the shogunate established by the Minamoto family in 1192 began to leech power away from the imperial court, changing the lives of capital elites forever. 22

20 As indicated by the name, the Sekkanke held power through the position of regent. Before the Heian period, regents existed only when children or (some) women became emperor, and were always members of the imperial family. With the reign of the child emperor, Seiwa, however, his maternal grandfather became the first non-imperial to be named regent. Soon after, during the reign of Emperor Kōkō, became the first regent for an adult emperor, setting a precedent that would continue for the remainder of the period. Although the word for regent changes depending on the age of the emperor ( sesshō for a child, kanpaku for an adult), there are no substantial differences between the two posts. A Tale of Flowering Fortunes: Annals of Japanese Aristocratic Life in the Heian Period, vol. 2, ed. and trans. William and Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1980), 795-796. Francine Hérail, La cour du Japon à l’époque Heian (Paris: Hachette, 1995), 27-29, 34. William H. McCullough, “The Heian Court, 794-1070,” in The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2, Heian Japan, ed. John Whitley Hall (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 20, 24-25. 21 Technically, the resistance of the retired emperors began with Shirakawa’s father, Go-Sanjō, but as he died fairly soon after retiring, Go-Sanjō was personally unable to accomplish much as a retired emperor other than giving his son ideas. Most of these allies were still Fujiwara, but Fujiwara from other branches of the family. John Whitley Hall and Jeffrey P. Mass, ed., Medieval Japan: Essays in Institutional History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974), 63, 66, 68. G. Cameron Hurst III, “Insei,” in The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2, Heian Japan, ed. John Whitley Hall (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 585-586, 591-595. 22 During the late Heian period, the two main samurai families were the Taira and the Minamoto, both distant descendants of the imperial family. The Hōgen and Heiji rebellions of the mid-twelfth-century resulted in gaining control of the court and the emperor, eventually marrying his daughter to Emperor Takakura and

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For the Heian elites, rank and hierarchy played a major role in all aspects of life. For both men and women, everything, from what colours one could wear to what political positions one could attain, depended on rank. Technically, anyone could rise through the ranks to achieve the highest positions, but usually the rank of a courtier’s father determined their fate. In addition to the nine levels of rank, another set of divisions loosely related to rank existed for elite men. 23 Twenty to thirty men controlled politics as kugyō (usually at least third rank), around one hundred tenjōbito (usually fourth and fifth rank) were allowed to attend court and be in the presence of the emperor, and the remaining majority were jige (usually sixth rank and below). Although jige lived far more luxurious lives than the majority of the population ever could, their wealth and power was insignificant compared to the kugyō and tenjōbito .24

While rank was not as much of a determining factor for women as for men, it still played a significant role in women’s lives, especially for those who served at court. Generally known as naishi , these women served as attendants for members of the imperial family, providing practical services like carrying messages, as well as cultural entertainment such as writing poetry or playing musical instruments. 25 Similar to male courtiers, naishi had bureaucratic positions and rank, and could achieve higher ranks over the course of their careers. Those that served the emperor reached particularly high rank, with even the lowest-ranking naishi attaining higher status than the majority of men. 26 However, this should not be taken as a sign of gender equality. Men remained firmly in control of power, and though some women such as naishi or empresses

putting his grandson Antoku on the throne. This decision is said to have sparked the (1180-1185), a revolt by the Minamoto that ended with the victory of and the creation of a shogunate at Kamakura. Takeuchi Rizō, “The Rise of the Warriors,” in The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2, Heian Japan, ed. John Whitley Hall (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 650, 688-696, 700, 708-709. 23 Aristocratic society was divided into eight ranks. Ranks one to three were further divided into Senior and Junior, while the lower five were divided into four sections each, Senior Upper, Senior Lower, Junior Upper, and Junior Lower. The ninth rank consisted of the rest of the Japanese population, and the imperial family existed outside of the ranking system. Flowering Fortunes , vol. 2., 780. 24 Ibid., 790-791, 794, 827. 25 Translating naishi is a somewhat controversial topic. Popular translations like “lady-in-waiting” and “handmaid” can be misleading, as these Western concepts lack the implication of bureaucratic importance and high rank of naishi . Yumiko Hulvery argues the term “female courtier” more accurately reflects the role of these women. S. Yumiko Hulvey, “The Historical Context,” in Sacred Rites in Moonlight: Ben no Naishi Nikki , trans. S. Yumiko Hulvey (Ithaca, NY: East Asia Program Cornell University, 2005), 20. 26 Naishi belonged to twelve offices known collectively as the Back Palace, each with its own hierarchy. The largest and most important office was that which served the emperor, the Naishi no Tsukasa . The office consisted of one hundred low-ranking female attendants who could not directly interact with the emperor ( nyōju , of junior eighth rank and below) and twelve extremely high-ranking naishi : two naishi no kami (junior third), four naishi no suke (junior fourth), and six naishi no jō (junior upper fifth). Hulvey, “Historical Context,” 19-24.

10 certainly could wield considerable political influence, women were officially barred from politics. That being said, because of women’s significance at court, the emphasis on artistic talent, and the inheritance and marriage practices of the time, the elite women of the Heian court had relatively high levels of independence. 27

As many of the surviving literary sources were written by women who served at court, perceptions of Heian women’s lives are somewhat skewed. In reality, the majority of elite women did not work as naishi, but instead stayed at home, marrying and having children. In the Heian marriage system, relationships tended to be fairly fluid, made official only by the acknowledgment of the families and easily ended by either partner. Polygamy was common, and even expected of men, who often had serious relationships with principal and secondary wives, as well as brief affairs with lower-ranking female attendants. 28 While parents generally picked a first wife based on political or economic concerns, genuine attraction, on the part of the man at least, could play a role in the choosing of later wives. 29 Most women continued to live with their parents, their husbands either visiting periodically or moving into the woman’s house as well. Therefore, children were typically raised by and therefore closer to their maternal relatives. It was through this aspect of the marriage system that the Fujiwara, and later others, maintained control of the imperial family. Commonly referred to as “marriage politics,” the Sekkanke held influence by ensuring that the emperor had a Fujiwara mother, usually the sister or daughter of the regent. By marrying the emperor to another Sekkanke woman, the cycle could continue. 30

Finally, religion influenced all aspects of life for the Heian elites. Though Buddhism was the official religion of the court, it blended seamlessly with older beliefs as well as the Daoist concepts that accompanied it from . From a modern perspective, this aristocratic religion is filled with contradictions; emperors simultaneously derived authority from a Shinto kami while

27 Hérail, La cour du Japon, 128-129, 156-158. 28 Rank did not necessarily determine which woman was the principal wife, as secondary wives were often of the same or even higher rank. The principal wife was distinguished from the others by living with her husband, and by her children often reaching higher ranks. Although the first wife was usually the principal wife, this was not always the case, as she could easily be supplanted by a later wife for a number of reasons, such as having fewer children or simply losing the favour of her husband. William McCullough, “Japanese Marriage Institutes in the Heian Period,” Journal of Asiatic Studies 27 (1967): 134-139. 29 This can be seen in the relationship between the author of Kagerō Nikki and her husband, who appears to have been interested in her because of her literary talents and beauty. McCullough, “Marriage Institutes,” 137. 30 Indeed, it was the failure of any Sekkanke consorts to give birth to a son that allowed the retired emperors to oppose the Fujiwara regents, as a non-Fujiwara emperor was allowed to ascend the throne for the first time in two centuries. Hurst, “Insei,” 583.

11 becoming Buddhist monks later in life, most Buddhist temples co-existed with a Shinto shrine, and elites organized their daily lives around complex horoscopes based on Shinto taboos and Daoist principles of yin-yang. For the Heian elites, however, this blending of religions made sense, and influenced everything from medical practices to courtship. Buddhism in particular was influential in the development of emotional standards of sadness. Showing appropriate levels of emotional sensitivity over the falling of cherry blossoms, for example, demonstrated one’s understanding of life’s transience, one of the more popular concepts in Heian Buddhism. With this focus on the ephemerality of the world, Buddhism encouraged elites to adopt a melancholic air and raised the aesthetic appeal of sadness. 31

3. Primary Sources

Although most previous studies of emotional standards during the Heian period have focused upon Genji Monogatari , this thesis will instead look at other primary sources. While Genji is a detailed and valuable source, it is the product of one woman and therefore limited to her perception of proper emotional behaviour. By looking at a variety of sources written by different authors from different centuries and different social positions, a more complete understanding of emotional standards can emerge. In particular, this study is based on several nikki , primarily those written by women with occasional reference to those by men. Typically, Heian prose is split into two main categories, monogatari (“fictional tales”) and nikki (“diaries”), though distinctions between the two groups are often unclear. Unfortunately, “diary” is a highly misleading translation of Heian nikki , as the English word carries connotations of privacy and daily entries that do not resemble the reality of nikki . Contrary to expectations of diaries, nikki were carefully written literary productions created with the intention of being read by others. In the often-monotonous life of Heian women, reading nikki , monogatari , poems, and even letters

31 Allan G. Grapard, “Religious Practices,” in The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2, Heian Japan, ed. John Whitley Hall (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999) , 519-521, 525-528, 541-542, 551. , The Izumi Shikibu Diary: A Romance of the Heian Court, trans. Edwin A. Cranston (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969) , 153. Morris, Shining Prince, 93, 118-120, 124-125. Edward Seidensticker, “Introduction,” in The Gossamer Years: The Diary of a Noblewoman of Heian Japan, ed. and trans. Edward Seidensticker (Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1964), 17, 29. Stanley Weinstein, “Aristocratic Buddhism,” in The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2, Heian Japan, ed. John Whitley Hall (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999) , 479.

12 provided entertainment, and the best of these works would be shared by many. 32 Nikki authors frequently address the audience through lines such as “you can imagine my feelings” and “I may perhaps leave it to the reader to imagine how I felt,” and at other times refer to people reading earlier sections of their work. 33 Although authors often argue that their nikki is badly written and therefore hope that no one will ever read it, these seem to be conventional sentiments expressed by every author, and do no reflect their actual intentions. 34 One author, Sanuki no Suke, is more open about the calculating nature of nikki writing, stating outright her plan to send the nikki to a certain high-ranking and influential lady who could pass around and popularize it. 35 Nikki provided women with a socially acceptable opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions, as well as to demonstrate literary talent and emotional sensitivity. As a result of the crafted nature and intended purpose of nikki , the emotional behaviour and attitudes described within most likely reflect the generally held standards of emotions, thus making nikki the perfect source for studying emotional standards.

Although other sources will be referenced when necessary, four nikki compose the basis of this study. Each is written by a woman from a different social position, as well as from a different era of the Heian period. The first is Kagerō Nikki , written by Michitsuna no Haha in the early 970s. 36 The oldest known nikki written by a woman, Kagerō Nikki focuses on the author’s volatile

32 S. Yumiko Hulvey, “The Literary Context,” in Sacred Rites in Moonlight: Ben no Naishi Nikki , trans. S. Yumiko Hulvey (Ithaca, NY: East Asia Program Cornell University, 2005), 41-44. In her account of court life, Makura no Shōshi , Sei Shōnagon writes of an exchange of letters and poems between herself and the famous calligrapher, Fujiwara no Yukinari, being passed around and read by many high-ranking people. She writes, “Bishop Ryūen was much impressed by this exchange. Bowing deeply, he took the first of the letters and brought it to the Empress; later he showed her all the others also. When I met Yukinari a little later, he laughed and said, “… By the way, all the senior courtiers have seen your letters.” Sei Shōnagon, The Pillow Book, vol. 1, 141. 33 Michitsuna no Haha, The Gossamer Years: The Diary of a Noblewoman of Heian Japan, ed. and trans. Edward Seidensticker (Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1964), 94. Sanuki no Suke, The Emperor Horikawa Diary, ed. and trans. Jennifer Brewster (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1977), 61. Of all of the nikki authors, Sanuki no Suke directly addresses the audience the most times. Jennifer Brewster, “Introduction,” in The Emperor Horikawa Diary, ed. and trans. Jennifer Brewster (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1977), 12. Morris, Shining Prince, 262. 34 “Whatever people may think of my book, I still regret that it ever came to light.” Sei Shōnagon, The Pillow Book, vol. 1, 268. “She was less handsome than most, and not remarkably gifted … Perhaps, she said to herself, even the story of her own dreary life, set down in a journal, might be of interest.” Michitsuna no Haha, Gossamer Years, 33. In the same scene where Sei Shōnagon and Yukinari discuss their exchange of letters being passed around, Yukinari expresses these conventional feelings as well, saying, “It’s a good thing you’ve hidden my letters. It would have been very sad and painful for me if you had shown them to anyone. Please go on hiding them in the future.” Sei Shōnagon, The Pillow Book, vol. 1, 141. 35 Sanuki no Suke, Emperor Horikawa, 114. 36 As with most Heian women, Michitsuna no Haha’s real name is unknown. Instead she is known by her relationship to a man, forever remembered as the Mother of Michitsuna.

13 relationship with her husband, Fujiwara no Kaneie. A member of the Fujiwara family, Michitsuna no Haha belonged to a lower-ranked lineage known for its literary talent. As her husband belonged to the significantly higher-ranked Sekkanke, many considered the marriage to be extremely fortunate for the author. She, however, remained eternally unhappy over her status as a secondary wife, and strongly resented Kaneie’s many relationships. Around 973, the marriage finally came to an end. Unusually for a nikki author, Michitsuna no Haha never served at court, instead remaining at home for her entire life. Kagerō Nikki covers around two decades of the author’s life, ending suddenly in 974 though she continued to live for at least twenty more years. In the last six years of the nikki her account becomes far more detailed, leading scholars to believe that she began to writing around this time, in 969. 37

The second nikki is Sarashina Nikki , written by Takasue no Musume in the 1060s. 38 On her father’s side, the author descended from the Sugawara, a lower-ranked family that had dominated the literature department of the university for two centuries, while her mother was the considerably younger half-sister of Michitsuna no Haha. Unlike Michitsuna no Haha, however, this author did periodically serve an imperial princess for several years before eventually marrying another member of the provincial governor class at the late age of thirty-six. Her nikki covers much of her life, beginning with her childhood journey from a distant province to the capital, then moving to her court service and later her frequent pilgrimages to Buddhist temples. The nikki ends during her widowhood in her fifties. It is likely that she wrote Sarashina Nikki during this time. Compared to Michitsuna no Haha, Takasue no Musume adopts a dreamier persona, concerned more with monogatari and religion than with the world around her. 39

Next is Sanuki no Suke Nikki , written by Sanuki no Suke around 1108. 40 The great-great- granddaughter of Michitsuna no Haha, the author once again belonged to a famous literary lineage. Unfortunately, Sanuki no Suke does not appear to have inherited the poetic talent of her

37 Seidensticker, “Introduction, ”, 8-9. 38 Like Michitsuna no Haha, Takasue no Musume’s real name is unknown, and she is instead referred to as the Daughter of Takasue. 39 Robert Borgen, Sugawara no Michizane and the Early Heian Court (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1994), 87-88. Ivan Morris, “Introduction,” in As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams: Recollections of a Woman in Eleventh-Century Japan , ed. and trans. Ivan Morris (New York: The Dial Press, 1979), 12-14, 16, 18-19, 23-24. 40 Unlike the two previous authors, Sanuki no Suke’s real name is known: Fujiwara no Nagako. However, as she would have almost always been referred to by her court title, Sanuki no Suke will be used in this thesis. The title derives from her desirable position as a naishi no suke , and to the province her father governed, Sanuki. Brewster, “Introduction,” 38.

14 predecessors, and her nikki is valued by modern scholars for its historical information more than its literary quality. Regardless, the author attained a higher position than many of the other nikki writers, serving as a naishi to two emperors. Her nikki is divided in two, the first half covering the final days of Emperor Horikawa’s life, and the second her first year of service to his son, . The nature of Sanuki no Suke and Horikawa’s relationship is somewhat unclear. Based on comments from the nikki , her adoptive mother’s status as one of the emperor’s nurses, and the lack of romance, some scholars believe that the pair viewed each other as foster- siblings. 41

The final work is Kenreimon’in Ukyō no Daibu Shū , written by Ukyō no Daibu in the early thirteenth-century. 42 As with the other authors, she came from lineages known for artistic talents. Her father, a Fujiwara, belonged to a branch family famous for calligraphy and was a talented literary scholar in his own right. Her mother belonged to the Ōmiwa, a family of famous musicians, and like her husband was well-known for her personal musical talent. Likely because of the skills learned from her parents, the author served in the court of Empress Tokuko for several years, where she met and began a romantic relationship with the empress’s nephew, Taira no Sukemori. Later in life, she attended court once more, though this time in service to the child emperor, Go-Toba. Although her nikki covers fifty years, the main focus is on her romantic relationship with Sukemori, and her endless sorrow over his death during the Genpei War. 43 Unlike the other authors, Ukyō no Daibu lived through war and chaos, witnessing the end of the Heian period and beginning of samurai rule. Overall, each of the four authors brings a different perspective, providing a basis for better understanding the emotional standards of sadness.

41 Brewster, “Introduction,” 1-2, 33, 41-42. During the Heian period, nurses tended to come from slightly lower- ranked families than their charges, and usually stayed with the child even after they had grown up. The nurse’s children, especially the one born at roughly the same time, generally had strong bonds with their higher-ranked foster sibling, and maintained reciprocal relationships throughout life, wherein the nurse’s children served their foster sibling, and in return received support and protection. Although Sanuki no Suke and Horikawa were around the same age, the author was adopted later in life, and therefore the two likely were not raised together. Still, she does not protest when described as the emperor’s foster-sibling by another naishi in her nikki . Ibid., 31, 33-34, 36. 42 Similar to most of the other authors, her true name is unknown. Her title, however, is far more confusing. The Kenreimon’in in her full title refers to the empress that she served, and Ukyō no Daibu to the position of some close male relative, but it is unclear who this could have been. The translator, Phillip Tudor Harries, suggests it may instead be a reference to her patron, , who held the position during her service to the empress. Phillip Tudor Harries, “Lady Daibu, Her Life and Times,” in The Poetic Memoirs of Lady Daibu , ed. and trans. Phillip Tudor Harries (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1980), 15-16. 43 Harries, “Lady Daibu,” 3, 11-13, 18.

Chapter 2 Departures

Although the departure of a loved one need not always end in death, a close association between the two events in the minds of nikki authors is apparent. Unlike the more aesthetic events that inspire tears in nikki , departures had a very real connection to death. Worrying that any parting could be one’s final meeting was not an unfounded fear, especially for elite women who were unable to move about freely. Additionally, one could argue that death and departure are inherently related events, as death is after all just a final parting. As these connections between death and parting exist, establishing the standards of emotional behaviour for various forms of departure could potentially provide insight into those surrounding death, giving a point of reference to which behaviour concerning death may be compared. At the same time, death was not a guaranteed result, creating a situation similar to death, but not as severe or final. How did the emotional standards of behaviour differ between the two scenarios? Would the distance being travelled allow for different levels of emotional expression? In order to better understand the standards of sadness surrounding departures, two situations will be examined: departures to other locations in the capital, and departures to the provinces.

1. Departures in the Capital

Departures are a common event in nikki , and one upon which the female authors like to dwell in sadness. In order to better understand the distress felt by these women, it is crucial to be aware of the different ways in which they perceived distance compared to modern readers. Often, locations that appear far from the capital, or journeys that feel as though they cover huge distances are actually insignificant from a modern perspective. Takasue no Musume, for example, describes her house five miles from the capital’s centre as having a “delightfully rustic atmosphere,” and mentions that since she “lived so far away, people no longer came to visit.” 44 Similarly, Michitsuna no Haha complains of the great distance between her home and her father’s, though in actuality they were separated by a fifteen-minute walk. 45 These seeming discrepancies between description and reality can be understood, however, by looking at the

44 Takasue no Musume, Bridge of Dreams , 81-82, 140 n. 110. 45 Michitsuna no Haha, The Gossamer Years, 176. 15

16 rules and customs that restricted the movement of elite women. Unless chosen to serve at court, an aristocratic woman spent the majority of her life confined to her home, and even within this home generally kept to her own rooms. When Michitsuna no Haha, for example, lived in a residence with her husband’s sister Jōganden for several months, the two communicated in letters carried by their servants, and met each other in person only once. 46 Additionally, when women did leave their residences for festivals and pilgrimages, they were expected to travel in slow-moving ox carts, causing travel times to rise. Directional taboos complicated movement even further by forcing all elites to travel the city in a roundabout manner, sometimes even having to spend the night elsewhere before reaching their intended destination. 47 Considering the many restrictions of movement that elite women faced in their daily lives, it becomes clear why even the smallest of distances could seem insurmountably huge, not to mention postings in the provinces. Someone dying before having the opportunity to meet once again was a very real possibility, no matter how physically close they may seem.

Perhaps the kind of departure the Heian period is most famous for is that of a man leaving his lover the morning after a romantic engagement. A common topic in poetry, seeing one’s husband depart in the morning would have been one of the most frequent events in the daily life of an aristocratic woman. As the emotional standards of love demanded that any romance be tinged with sadness, this event is typically portrayed in poetry as causing sorrow and tears, though always in a refined and aesthetically pleasing manner. Interestingly, the literature of the period tends to focus far more on how the man should behave in this situation than the woman, and female authors such as Sei Shōnagon are not subtle in describing exactly how they expect the ideal man to act. She writes:

A good lover will behave as elegantly at dawn as at any other time. He drags himself out of bed with a look of dismay on his face … He gives a deep sigh, as if to say that the night has not been nearly long enough and that it is agony to leave … Even when he is dressed, he still lingers, vaguely pretending to be fastening his sash. Presently he raises the lattice, and the two lovers stand together by the side door while he tells her how he dreads the coming day, which will keep them apart … Indeed, one’s

46 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary, trans. by Sonja Arntzen (Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1997), 149 47 Sonja Arntzen, “Introduction: Reclaiming an Ancestress” in The Kagerō Diary, trans. by Sonja Arntzen (Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1997), 19. Michitsuna no Haha, Gossamer Years, 96, 116, 135. Morris, Shining Prince, 124-125, 167. Takasue no Musume, Bridge of Dreams, 107. William McCullough, “The Capital and its Society,” in Cambridge History , 151-152.

17

attachment to a man depends largely on the elegance of his leave-taking. When he jumps out of bed, scurries about the room, tightly fastens his trouser-sash … one really begins to hate him. 48

In this description, Sei Shōnagon outright connects her feelings toward a man with his emotional behaviour at the moment of departure, and it is clear that the man who displays refined expressions of sadness is preferred. Although her essay is likely more ideal than realistic, and men leaving in a hurry was probably the more common situation, her opinion remains valuable as a source for expected behaviour and emotional standards.

Despite the fame of these departures and their frequent appearances in poetry, such scenes barely feature in any of the four main nikki being examined, as Michitsuna no Haha is the only author who writes about the departure of a husband or lover in this context. Sanuki no Suke’s nikki is utterly devoid of any lovers, and the husband of Takasue no Musume is non-existent in her writings until his death. Even Ukyō no Daibu, whose nikki is mostly devoted to her romantic relationship with Taira no Sukemori, does not write about any of his morning departures. Returning to Michitsuna no Haha, even she rarely gives detailed accounts of how her husband, Kaneie, departed after visiting, though there is one major exception. Unusually, in this scene it is actually Michitsuna no Haha who departs from her husband, who had asked her to visit him one night when he was too ill to leave his residence. Despite the role reversal, Kaneie acts similarly to Sei Shōnagon’s ideal man. He protests the author’s departure, inventing excuses for her to stay longer, and in general acts so distraught by her leaving that Michitsuna no Haha herself cries. Despite his illness, Kaneie vows to visit her the next day “since it is so distressing to be apart,” and sits “looking in [her] direction watching despondently as the carriage was drawn away.” 49 This scene is by far one of the most positive portrayals of Kaneie in Kagerō Nikki , and one of the few times Michitsuna no Haha seems genuinely pleased with their relationship and his behaviour. Overall, looking at the examples of Sei Shōnagon and Michitsuna no Haha, the standards of emotion surrounding departures from romantic meetings were more prominent for men than for women. Additionally, while professions of sadness and morose behaviour were the ideal, these expressions remain elegant; there are no excessive tears or extreme distress, but

48 Sei Shōnagon, The Pillow Book, vol. 1, 29-30. 49 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary , 127-129.

18 rather restrained actions more connected to aesthetics than a fear of death. Perhaps due to the frequency of visits, the threat of someone dying before the next meeting did not seem as strong.

While the departure of a husband usually carried the expectation that he would be visiting again soon, the departure of family members or friends to new residences elsewhere in the capital had less certain results. In nikki , this kind of separation is almost always between two women, whose restricted ability to travel would force them to remain apart. In Kagerō Nikki , one of Michitsuna no Haha’s sisters is moved to a new location by her husband. The author writes, “realizing that it will be difficult to see her at all, I am truly sad,” acknowledging the difficulty of meeting with another woman. Despite her sadness, however, the scene does not describe any direct interactions between the sisters at the moment of departure. Instead, Michitsuna no Haha sends “out” a poem to the carriage describing her unhappiness at being left behind, which is then replied to by her sister’s husband rather than the sister herself. 50 Later, Michitsuna no Haha is similarly moved to a different residence by her husband. For several months, she shares this home with one of Kaneie’s sisters, Jōganden. The two women appear to have been friends, often sending each other poems and gifts even before living together, though according to the nikki , never meeting in person. Eventually, Jōganden was called to serve at court once again, and would therefore be leaving their shared residence. Leading up to her departure, she repeatedly asks Michitsuna no Haha to visit her quarters, an precedented act apparently brought on by her sadness over parting. The night before she leaves, the author finally accepts and at last meets Jōganden, though their meeting is cut short by Kaneie’s arrival and his demands that the author pay attention to him instead. 51 As with the departure of her sister, Michitsuna no Haha does not describe the event in much detail, nor are there any descriptions of crying or any displays of emotion.

Takasue no Musume also writes about such forms of separation. Upon arriving in Heian-kyō as a child, her stepmother decides to end her relationship with the author’s father, and permanently leaves his household. Although the author’s biological mother was still alive, she does not appear to have accompanied her husband and children to the provinces, and as a result Takasue no

50 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary , 73. 51 Ibid., 145-149.

19

Musume seems to have been much closer to her stepmother. 52 Before leaving, her stepmother vows to never forget her, and, likely in an attempt to comfort the young girl, promises to return the next year when the plum tree blossomed once again. Takasue no Musume writes that she “yearned for her and wept silently day after day” and “kept looking at the plum tree, waiting impatiently for the blossoms to appear.” 53 Eventually, “utterly dejected” that her stepmother had not returned, she sends a depressed poem accompanied by a plum branch to her. 54 Although both women continued to live in the capital, following this departure there is no indication they were ever able to meet again.

Later in her life, Takasue no Musume served as a naishi to a young imperial princess. Though she rarely stayed at court for any significant length of time, each visit necessitated a departure from her parents. The author never writes about the moment of departure, but she does describe her feelings regarding the separation in detail. Away from her family, she feels unhappy and uncomfortable, and writes that she “wept secretly until dawn.” 55 Additionally, she further “spent all day in loving, anxious thoughts about Father” and of her two motherless nieces. 56 Her father expresses his sadness in a similar manner, crying at the thought of her permanently serving at court, and eventually even putting an end to her service in order to prevent any future partings. 57

Even when a loved one departed to another location within the same city, expressions of sadness were expected. Romantic departures seem to have constituted their own, separate emotional community, one in which the standards of emotional behaviour focused far more on the actions of men, and in which women had an active role in judging what behaviour was appropriate. Although the ideal man acted depressed and sighed over his inability to stay longer, his behaviour should remain restrained. Non-romantic departures brought about different forms of behaviour. Outside of declaring how depressed the departures make them, however, Michitsuna no Haha and Takasue no Musume describe very different reactions. While Michitsuna no Haha is

52 Almost immediately after her stepmother left, the author’s biological mother returned to live with her husband and children. While Takasue no Musume’s descriptions of her stepmother are positive and loving, her descriptions of her mother are at best neutral and at worst unflattering. Takasue no Musume, Bridge of Dreams , 53, 76. 53 Ibid., 53. 54 Takasue no Musume received a more cheerful poem in return, entreating her to be happy about the return of her biological mother. Ibid., 53-54. 55 Ibid., 82-84. 56 Interestingly, she does not mention her mother in her list of people that she misses. Ibid., 84. 57 This was only temporary, however, as Takasue no Musume did return to court, though allegedly for the sake of her nieces’ social status. Ibid., 82-88.

20 certainly clear on how sad the partings make her, she chooses to describe herself as acting far more restrained and calm than Takasue no Musume, whose accounts are filled with uncontrolled weeping and listless longing. There is one similarity between the two nikki , however; the role of poetry. When faced with a close female relative moving to a new residence, both authors write that they expressed their feelings of sadness and longing in poetry, which each then sent to the departing woman. Writing a poem is not a particularly unique action, however, as Heian elites wrote poems constantly, for almost any occasion. 58 Still, it is important to note that in the event of a loved one departing to a new home, women seem to have been expected to write a poem. Other than this expression of sadness through poetry, the emotional standards of behaviour are unfortunately unclear with regard to departures within the capital city.

2. Provincial Departures

While separations within the capital city of Heian-kyō caused sadness, departures to the provinces were a far more extreme event. The aristocrats of the capital had an uncomfortable relationship with the provinces – while the provinces and their inhabitants were viewed as uncultured and barely worth acknowledging, elite society still relied upon them for the taxes necessary to sustain their extravagant lifestyles. Detestable as provincial life seemed, some city elites did have to leave for the provinces to manage estates and ensure the system operated smoothly. Usually, this task fell to the members of the provincial governor class, from which the majority of nikki authors came. As such, relatives departing for the provinces is a fairly common event in most nikki .59 Additionally, more extraordinary events also prompted departures to the provinces, such as exile or war. While such occasions obviously entailed danger, even during the most peaceful moments of the Heian period, travel through the provinces was a genuinely dangerous undertaking, filled with pirates, storms, and illness. 60 The threat of death surely

58 Phillip Tudor Harries, “Poetic Memoirs and Autobiographical Poetry Collections,” in The Poetic Memoirs of Lady Daibu , trans. Phillip Tudor Harries (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1980), 28-30. 59 Many provincial governors spent as little time as possible in the provinces they managed. The husband of Takasue no Musume, for example, only stayed in his province for the first eight months of his four-year term. Takasue no Musume, Bridge of Dreams, 72-73, 153 n. 204. Cornelius J. Kiley, “Provincial Administration and Land Tenure in Early Heian,” in The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2, Heian Japan, ed. John Whitley Hall (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 236-240. 60 Tosa Nikki is one of the rare descriptions of travel in the Heian period, and the image it paints is grim. Ki no Tsurayuki, The Tosa Diary: Translated from Japanese, ed. and trans. William N. Porter (Rutland: C. E. Tuttle, 1981), 47, 75-79, 89.

21 loomed over any departure to the provinces. With this in mind, will the emotional standards of sadness surrounding such departures be similar to those dealing with actual death? Will they provide a better point of comparison than departures within the capital, where death seemed far more distant?

Although Michitsuna no Haha married into a class above her own, many of her family members continued to serve in the provinces. One of the first events in Kagerō Nikki is the departure of her father, Tomoyasu, to the northern province of Michinoku. Unlike her description of her sister leaving for a new residence, or Jōganden going to court, Michitsuna no Haha’s account of her father’s departure is far more detailed and emotionally unrestrained. In the days leading up to his departure, the author writes that she is so unhappy and worried that she “bursts into tears” every time her husband, Kaneie, visits, as she fears that she will have to depend on her new (and potentially unreliable) husband should her father die in the provinces. 61 On the day itself, she describes both her father and herself as having strong reactions to the separation. According to Michitsuna no Haha, her father “cannot restrain his tears” and continually delays his departure. 62 Finally, when he can stay no longer, Tomoyasu leaves a letter containing a poem for Kaneie and, “once again breaking into tears,” he finally departs. 63 As for the author’s actions, she writes that her sadness is extreme, and she is unable to even look at the letter for a time. Eventually, “pulling [herself] together,” she reads the poem, but this only inspires her to greater sadness. 64 When Kaneie visits her soon after, Michitsuna no Haha describes herself as being “lost in my own thoughts” and is unable to look at her husband. 65 Prior to the departure, Michitsuna no Haha writes that Kaneie is sympathetic to her sadness and frequent tears, and attempts to comfort her by promising that he is reliable. After the departure, however, Kaneie is initially less patient with her distance and preoccupation, arguing that she is overreacting to what is “a perfectly ordinary

61 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary, 65-67. 62 Ibid., 67. 63 Ibid., 67. 64 Ibid., 67. In Seidensticker’s translation, the author is said to have cried upon reading her father’s poem, however, Arntzen’s translation describes internal feelings of sadness, and Michitsuna no Haha is not said to have cried once during Tomoyasu’s actual departure. Michitsuna no Haha, Gossamer Years, 36. 65 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary , 67.

22 occurrence in the world.” 66 Upon reading Tomoyasu’s emotional poem, his mood changes once again to be more sympathetic, and he replies with poem promising to care for the author. 67

Several years later, Michitsuna no Haha faced the departure of yet another close family member to the provinces. This time it was a sister, likely the same one whose departure to a new residence was described earlier. As in the previous situation, the departure causes the author to feel great sadness, however, her account is more detailed this time. Despite the usual restrictions on a woman’s movements, Michitsuna no Haha visits her sister’s home on the day she is to leave. According to Kagerō Nikki , the two sisters are “unable to look one another in the eye” and “unable to stop [their] tears,” and finally exchange outer robes before Michitsuna no Haha is once again forced to end a touching departure in order to attend to Kaneie. 68 She continues to cry “wretchedly,” and later that night composes poems with her aunt expressing the sadness caused by her sister’s parting. 69 It is interesting to note that although the behaviour of the author and her sister does not appear overly different from how she and her father had behaved at his departure, the two women are censured repeatedly for the way they act. While at the sister’s home, Michitsuna no Haha writes, “Everyone says things like, ‘What are you crying for?’ ‘Get a grip on yourselves.’ ‘How very inauspicious behaviour for a departure.’” 70 Kaneie rebukes the author in a similar manner when she continues to cry, saying, “Why on earth do you behave so? You’ll bring bad luck.” 71 The reprimands against the sisters’ behaviour are grounded in a belief that excessive crying at a departure caused bad luck, yet strangely, no one brought this up when it was her father who could not “restrain his tears.” 72

Throughout Sarashina Nikki , Takasue no Musume also describes many partings that involve the provinces. Though not a departure to a province, the account of her childhood journey from the eastern province of Kazusa to the capital includes two occasions in which she and her family parted from others who would remain behind in the provinces. First, she is forced to part from a

66 The Seidensticker and Arntzen translations differ slightly in the tone of Kaneie’s complaints; although he essentially says the same things in both, Seidensticker’s Kaneie sounds much more impatient (“What is the matter with you?”), while Arntzen’s complaints seem intended to distract the author from her sorrow. Michitsuna no Haha, Gossamer Years, 37. Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary , 67. 67 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary , 67. 68 Ibid., 122-123. 69 Ibid., 123. 70 Ibid., 123. 71 Ibid., 123. 72 Ibid., 67, 122 n. 3.

23 beloved nurse who gave birth along the way and therefore had to stay in Shimōsa province until her period of defilement ended. Desperate to see her nurse once more before leaving, Takasue no Musume writes of asking her elder brother to carry her to the nurse’s temporary dwelling. Both the young author and her nurse are described as distraught, and weep rather than speak. Eventually, her brother’s impatience stops Takasue no Musume from staying long, and she is soon returned to her own lodging, where she “wilted with sorrow” and could not be consoled even by the beauty of the moon. The next day, the author describes a second parting, this time from people who had accompanied her family partway but had to return to Kazusa. Though not as detailed as when writing of her nurse, here Takasue no Musume states that everyone “wept bitterly,” and that “even [her] childish heart was full of grief.” 73 Overall, crying is the dominant behaviour in both situations.

After the family arrived in the capital, several years passed before the author’s father, Takasue, received another appointment. As before, he was assigned to a distant Eastern province, but this time chose to leave his family behind in Heian-kyō. According to the author, both she and her father are devastated by this separation, and her father outright mentions the possibility of his death before their reunion. 74 Takasue no Musume writes:

Thus he lamented day and night, making me so unhappy that I could no longer even notice the beauty of the flowers and the leaves … During the five days before his departure he did not visit my room a single time, since our meetings only made things worse … “The time has come,” said Father, raising the blind in my room. We looked at each and wept bitterly. Then he left without another word. After he had gone, I lay there motionless, and my tears made everything turn dark. 75

Soon after leaving, Takasue sends a poem expressing his sadness back to his daughter, to which she gives an equally depressed reply, despite her feeling “quite unable to express [herself]” in poetry. 76 Several days after his departure, they again exchange poems expressing their feelings of sorrow over being apart. Although not exactly the same, there are many similarities between the behaviour of Takasue no Musume, Michitsuna no Haha, and their fathers. In both cases, the father and daughter are described as being reduced to tears and unable to speak, communicating

73 Takasue no Musume, Bridge of Dreams , 43. 74 Despite his statement that he “may not be long for this world,” Takasue did not in fact die during his provincial tour, and is still alive at the end of the nikki . Ibid., 72. 75 Ibid., 73. 76 Ibid., 73.

24 instead through poetry. Additionally, after the departure, both authors write of becoming listless and lost in their thoughts, though Michitsuna no Haha does not dwell on her feelings after the departure nearly as much as Takasue no Musume.

Years later, Takasue no Musume describes yet another departure to the provinces, this time that of her rarely mentioned husband. Unlike every other departure discussed so far, this parting is unusually happy and hopeful. Upon first hearing of her husband’s appointment to a provincial post, Takasue no Musume is upset, but seems to recover quickly from this sadness. She writes of the days just before the departure as “lively” and full of “high spirits,” and describes the departure itself as “brilliant.” 77 Furthermore, the author mentions neither tears nor sad poems, nor even any feelings of longing. While this initially seems odd, the strangely happy tone of the departure is a deliberate literary choice, one likely intended to create a larger contrast to the sorrow that Takasue no Musume would face soon after when her husband died. This is supported by several ominous comments placed within the otherwise happy departure scene, such as “we had no way of knowing how things would turn out” and “how could I have guessed what the omen really meant?” 78 Such cryptic statements create a sense of foreboding despite the cheerfulness, supporting the idea that the lack of sadness is intended to heighten the effect of her husband’s sudden death.

Although ordinary political appointments are by far the most common kind of departure to the provinces found in nikki , several extraordinary partings are described as well. First, there are exiles. For most of the Heian period, the highest punishment for treasonous elites was not execution, but instead banishment to a distant province. Despite the fancy title, being named the Governor-General of Dazaifu, Kyushu, was seen as a social, political, and often actual death sentence. 79 None of the nikki authors lost close family members in this way, however, two of them did record brief accounts of prominent exiles. In Kagerō Nikki, the only scene that discusses politics is the exile of Minamoto no Takaakira, the powerful . Soon after Takaakira married his daughter to a potential crown prince, disrupting the Fujiwara strategy

77 Takasue no Musume, Bridge of Dreams, 118. 78 Ibid., 118. 79 Exile was not necessarily a life sentence, however. Fujiwara no Korechika, a contender for regency that opposed , was only temporarily banished to Kyushu. Once his empress sister died and her children were securely pushed aside in favour of those of Michinaga’s empress daughter, Korechika was no longer a threat and therefore allowed to return. Borgen, Sugawara no Michizane, 278. 289 . McCullough, “The Heian Court,” 63, 67-68.

25 of marriage politics, he was accused of treason and exiled to Kyushu. According to Michitsuna no Haha, the exile made a huge impact on the people of Heian-kyō. She writes that “there is no one among those who know and are concerned with the affair, not to mention even someone like myself not connected with it at all, who does not dampen their sleeves for him.” 80 Despite the fact that her husband was likely involved in accusing Takaakira, or at least benefited from his exile, Michitsuna no Haha sympathizes with the exiled man, as well as with the wife he leaves behind in the capital, even sending the other woman a long poem about the sadness this departure must be causing her. 81 Throughout the poem, Michitsuna no Haha frequently describes how she thinks the other woman must be feeling, and how she must be behaving, pointing to emotional standards for the situation. As with less dramatic departures to the provinces, the expected behaviour centres on “longing for her lord / crying without end,” and worrying that Takaakira will die before they can meet again. 82 Though a less detailed account, Ukyō no Daibu also briefly mentions an exile in her nikki . Like Michitsuna no Haha, she sends two poems expressing her sympathy to the lady Kyōgoku after her husband, Fujiwara no Narichika, is exiled for plotting against the Taira regent. Both poems focus on how she expects the husband’s departure to be causing the other woman to spend her time endlessly weeping. Similarly, Kyōgoku’s two reply poems portray herself as crying constantly and being trapped in listless longing. 83 From these two indirect accounts, it appears that exile demanded similar forms of behaviour to any provincial departure, while also causing a widespread effect of upsetting (relatively) unconnected courtiers.

Finally, in Ukyō no Daibu’s nikki , she describes her lover departing for the war that would bring about the end of the Heian period. While fighting, or at least fighting that involved the capital- dwelling aristocrats, was extremely rare for most of the Heian period, the final decades of the period were far more chaotic. As the grandson of Taira no Kiyomori, Ukyō no Daibu’s lover Sukemori was forced to flee the capital during the Genpei War, never to return. The final

80 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary , 173. 81 Most modern scholars believe that Takaakira was innocent and was framed by several Fujiwara brothers, including Kaneie. Ibid., 172 n. 1. McCullough, “The Heian Court,” 63-64. 82 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary , 177-183. 83 Again, similar to Michitsuna no Haha, Ukyō no Daibu presents herself as sympathetic to people who opposed the Taira, despite her many close ties with the family. At the time of the exile, she was both serving a Taira empress and involved in a romantic relationship with the regent’s grandson. Kenreimon’in Ukyō no Daibu, The Poetic Memoirs of Lady Daibu, ed. and trans. by Phillip Tudor Harries (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1980), 134 n. 60-61, 135-137.

26 meeting between the two is highly emotional, with the author unable to speak through her tears. Sukemori gives a lengthy speech that highlights the likeliness of his death in the provinces, saying:

These troubles have now reached the point where there can be no doubt that I, too, shall number among the dead … Even if, perchance, my life is spared for a while longer, I am resolved in my heart not to think of the person I once was … I cannot know how weak my spirit might be in spite of my determination, so I have renounced all attachments to this world. I have made up my mind not to send you even the briefest of messages from whatever distant shore I find myself upon. Don’t think, however, that my love for you is weak merely because I send no word … I have come to think of myself as one already dead. 84

According to the author, Sukemori has already accepted his departure as being his death, and unlike the other departing men, makes no effort to contact her once he has left.

For the most part, the behaviour leading up to and after departures to the provinces is consistent throughout the nikki . Other than Takasue no Musume’s account of her husband’s departure, the scenes are dominated by expressions of sadness. In particular, unrestrained tears, the inability to speak or make eye contact, and a state of listlessness following the departure form the basis of appropriate behaviour. Additionally, expressing one’s sadness through poetry seems to have been the proper way in which to communicate. In the nikki , both men and women behave according to these standards. However, the only occasions in which anyone is reprimanded for their actions is when the departure is between two women. Michitsuna no Haha and her sister are scolded for excessive crying, while Takasue no Musume’s brother would not allow her to stay with her nurse for as long as she wished. Finally, the scene between Ukyō no Daibu and Sukemori demonstrates some unusual behaviour. While the author acts as expected, she portrays Sukemori as giving an articulate and tearless speech, and not sending even a single poem after he leaves. Perhaps, because his death seems so much more certain than that of anyone else, the standards for his emotional behaviour will lean closer to those of someone about to die than for one departing to a political posting.

84 Kenreimon’in Ukyō no Daibu, Poetic Memoirs , 191.

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3. Conclusion

It is of course important to always remember that nikki are not diaries in the modern Western sense of the word, but were instead literary productions written with the intention of being read by others. Even in personal and private diaries, authors are biased in their descriptions of events, intentionally or not, and the balance between fiction and reality in nikki is a topic still debated by modern scholars. 85 However, in a study of emotional standards, whether or not a nikki faithfully retells true events is irrelevant, as the focus is on the ideal standards held by a society rather than genuine emotion. Just because standards exist does not mean that people actually follow them at all times, or even at all. The literary nature of nikki makes them an ideal source, as regardless of how an event played out in real life, an author would still want to portray herself in the best possible way, while also potentially attacking an enemy by writing them as failing to meet emotional standards.

With regard to departures, what were the emotional standards of sadness? As portrayed in nikki , no matter the kind of departure, sadness was almost always the dominant emotion, though the appropriate manner of expressing that sadness differed between the various types of departure. While romantic partings focused almost solely on the behaviour of men and favoured restrained displays of sadness such as sighs, departures to the provinces allowed for more extreme behaviour, particularly endless weeping, an inability to speak, and listlessness. The standards associated with non-romantic departures to other locations within the capital are less clear, however. The relative lack of examples, as well as the disparity between how Michitsuna no Haha and Takasue no Musume portray these scenes, makes it difficult to establish any behavioural standards of emotion for this situation. Nevertheless, the significance of poetry as an appropriate way to express sadness is easily seen in every kind of departure. Even when the authors are not directly involved but wish to console those who were, they use poetry, as seen in the examples of exile. Perhaps significantly, poetry is noticeably absent in the parting between Ukyō no Daibu and Sukemori, a scene in which the likelihood of death is even higher than normal.

85 Hulvey, “Literary Context,” 41-46.

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Another noteworthy aspect of departures is the role played by men in attempting to regulate the behaviour of women. Allegedly, the reprimands against women’s “excessive” weeping is related to the belief that too many tears could bring about misfortune, yet men are never scolded for similar behaviour. Regardless, the fact that authors chose to include such admonishments in their nikki does raise questions. Why would an author decide to portray herself as behaving in an inauspicious, and therefore inappropriate, way? As the authors generally depict themselves favourably, the choice likely has some positive connotation, despite its initial negative impression. The decision could be based on literary considerations; just as Takasue no Musume’s depiction of her husband’s departure is uncharacteristically cheerful in order to create contrast and raise tensions, depictions of excessive, inappropriate levels of sad behaviour could be there to emphasize the author’s suffering. However, the answer may also lie in the scene from Kagerō Nikki in which Michitsuna no Haha and her temporary housemate Jōganden part from each other. The scene is notable mainly in that it shows the two women finally meeting face-to-face, an unusual event that broke conventions, and was only acceptable because of Jōganden’s imminent departure. The sadness associated with two friends parting from each other allowed the women to act in a usually inappropriate manner without being judged. While not exactly the same, the choice of authors to portray themselves behaving inappropriately, and to include comments by men confirming this, may come from a similar perspective. The departure of a loved one to the provinces may have been perceived by Heian courtiers as so upsetting that normal conventions against excessive crying could be broken. The prevalence of this behaviour throughout the various nikki suggests that being so upset that one was willing to ignore both critics and beliefs about misfortune in order to continue crying may have itself been an emotional standard.

Overall, as people departed to locations farther and farther away, the standards of behaviour became less and less restrained. Behaviour that would normally be considered unusual or excessive became acceptable. At the same time, there appears to be a connection between this less controlled behaviour and a preoccupation with death. Despite the professions of sadness during departures within the capital, the possibility of death is rarely mentioned in these scenes. On the other hand, along with their more extreme behaviour, nikki authors also bring up the potential of death frequently whenever someone departs for the provinces, whether it be for a political post or an exile. The threat of death reaches it highest point in the final meeting between Ukyō no Daibu and Sukemori. While others may have worried that someone would die,

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Sukemori is portrayed as having already accepted the inevitability of his death, and his behaviour is accordingly different from that of other departing courtiers. As the possibility of death rises, the emotional standards change; will the trends seen here continue on into situations in which an actual death occurs?

Chapter 3 Death of a Loved One

Everyone experiences death. The death of a family member is a universal event, one that often has a huge effect on those left behind. Heian elites are certainly no exception; the deaths of parents, siblings, children, and spouses are almost always major events in nikki that occupy the authors’ thoughts for years. The epidemics that tore through the capital, the dangers of childbirth, the threat of illness – all meant that death was part of everyday experience. For elites, the death of family members also brought about legally regulated mourning periods that lasted for a set amount of time depending on the relationship between a person and the deceased. During these officially sanctioned periods of mourning, mourners could not attend court and other public activities, and many aspects of daily life such as clothing were similarly regulated. 86 Alongside these official rules of how one ought to behave, however, less formal though no less important rules existed in the form of emotional standards. What were the emotional standards for the death of a family member, and how did they differ from other, less personal deaths? Will the trends seen in the standards of departure continue?

1. Kagerō Nikki

As Kagerō Nikki covers much of the author’s life, death and near-death experiences are frequent. At several points in the nikki , people close to Michitsuna no Haha become seriously ill. Although these events did not result in death, they still provide examples of how people behaved when confronted with death, as the lack of effective medical treatments meant that even minor illnesses could easily end poorly. Since the potential of death therefore hung over every sickness, illnesses were generally treated seriously by everyone involved. As no one can predict how an illness may end, the behaviour of elites faced with a severely ill family member can be expected to be extremely similar to their behaviour in the lead-up to an actual death. On the other hand,

86 Mourning tended to last one year for the people closest to the deceased, such as family members or close attendants. In addition to being forbidden from attending court, activities such as singing and playing instruments were not allowed. In cases where a romantic partner had died, beginning new relationships does not seem to have been outright banned, but was still viewed as scandalous. Courtiers could be forced out of mourning early in certain situations. For example, the Retired Emperor Shirakawa ordered the author of Sanuki no Suke Nikki to end her mourning and rejoin the court in the service of the new emperor, who was in need of experienced and high-ranking ladies-in-waiting. Izumi Shikibu, Izumi Shikibu Diary, 9, 12. Michitsuna no Haha, Gossamer Years , 55-56. Sanuki no Suke, Emperor Horikawa, 58, 82-84, 128 n. 93-94. 30

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Michitsuna no Haha and the other nikki authors usually wrote about these events long after they had happened, and therefore at the time of writing did know which illnesses would lead to death and which would not. While this could bias how an author chooses to describe a particular scene, portraying these two scenarios in a similar manner would help to create tension and make the story more entertaining.

The first major illness to appear in Kagerō Nikki is that of her husband, Kaneie. While in the middle of visiting the author, Kaneie suddenly falls ill, and is soon declaring that his death is imminent. According to Michitsuna no Haha, he weeps over the prospect of her forgetting about him after his death and marrying someone else, the sight of which causes her to “lose control and begin to cry miserably too.” 87 Although the author writes that she is too “overwhelmed’ to speak, Kaneie is depicted as able to give a lengthy speech about how he may never see the author again, an act that causes their attendants to cry as well. 88 Finally, the scene is brought to an end by the arrival of Michitsuna no Haha’s elder brother. Similar to how men behaved in the departure scenes, he chastises the gathered people for crying, claiming that the situation is not as bad as it seems and that tears will only bring bad luck. 89 After Kaneie returns to his home, the author breaks convention and behaves in a manner that would normally be deemed inappropriate, sending him multiple letters a day and eventually even visiting him. 90 Michitsuna no Haha acknowledges the impropriety of her actions, claiming that she would be mortified if anyone ever found out, yet nevertheless includes it in her nikki .91

Many years later, when the relationship between Michitsuna no Haha and Kaneie had essentially ended, their son Michitsuna falls ill during a smallpox epidemic. According to the author, the situation becomes so severe that she feels Kaneie should be alerted, and selflessly puts aside her dislike in order to contact him. However, she writes that Kaneie shows little interest in their son,

87 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary , 125. 88 Ibid., 125. 89 Once again, the tone of his comments differs between the Seidensticker and Arntzen translations. While the brother appears more understanding and respectful in Arntzen’s (“Why are you inviting bad luck in this way. Surely it is not as you think. Quickly let us be on our way, your lordship.”), in Seidensticker’s he seems impatient and insensitive, bluntly telling the couple they are overreacting (“What is all the wailing about? There is nothing really the matter with him. Let’s hurry it up a bit.”) Either way, he is not portrayed by Michitsuna no Haha as overly affected by the situation. Michitsuna no Haha, Gossamer Years, 57. Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary, 125. 90 This is, of course, the scene discussed in the previous chapter. Both the constant letters and the visit could have been viewed as offensive to Kaneie’s principal wife, and potentially seen as the author’s attempt to usurp her position. 91 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary , 124-127.

32 never even bothering to personally visit him at any point during his illness, and instead only sending messenger to check for updates. She contrasts this behaviour with that of other people who had less of a connection to her and her son yet still visit, criticizing Kaneie for his lack of concern and sensitivity. Unlike other descriptions of severe illnesses, here Michitsuna no Haha does not focus on her emotions or behaviour, but instead writes only of how inappropriately Kaneie acted. 92

Finally, the author herself fell severely ill twice during the period covered in her nikki . In response to her mother’s death, Michitsuna no Haha writes of becoming so sick that she cannot move. Convinced that she would soon follow her mother into death, the author’s companions bustle about ineffectually and cry in bewilderment. Hearing of the situation, Kaneie comes to visit her, bursting into tears upon seeing her and risking defilement to be by her side, though he is eventually convinced to remain standing. 93 Just as Michitsuna no Haha had behaved in an extraordinary manner in response to Kaneie’s serious illness, so too is he described as trying to act in a more extreme and unusual way. In addition to Kaneie’s visit, news of her illness brings the author’s father back from the provinces to see her. Unlike everyone else, Tomoyasu is portrayed as calm and rational, urging her to drink broth and regain her will to live. Although the process is slow, she credits his intervention with the beginning of her recovery. 94

Michitsuna no Haha describes a second illness several years later, this one of unknown cause. Once again, she describes the people around her as desperately trying to find some cure, particularly by ordering rituals for her sake. Eventually, as the illness drags on even Kaneie joins in by sponsoring “distinguished monks” to attend to her, as well as by trying to lift her spirits through gifts and poems. 95 While Michitsuna no Haha portrays herself as having accepted the inevitability of her death, she is saddened with worry over what will befall her son once he is without her protection and therefore writes a lengthy letter to Kaneie politely threatening him to take care of their son in the event of her death. Despite her command that the letter was not to be read until her death, the author chose to include it in her nikki .96

92 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary , 361. 93 The recent death of her mother had defiled Michitsuna no Haha, and to sit at her side would pass that defilement on to Kaneie. As a major political figure, unnecessary defilement could cause problems, and so he was persuaded to remain standing in the room’s entrance and thereby avoid defilement. Ibid., 114 n. 2, 115. 94 Ibid., 115. 95 Ibid., 175. 96 Ibid., 174-177.

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Aside from these illnesses, the only major death in Kagerō Nikki is that of the author’s mother. Immediately after her death, Michitsuna no Haha writes that her desire to die alongside her mother causes her to fall gravely ill, stating “my arms and legs became stiff and unmovable, and it seemed as though I couldn’t breathe.” 97 She emphasizes that this mysterious illness is caused by the unique severity of her sadness, writing that her “feelings of utter helplessness and loss were much greater than usual for people at such a time” and that “of all the family members, I was the one who lost myself in thoughts of, I don’t want to stay behind, let me die now too. ”98 Although her father’s intervention causes her to slowly recover from her illness, Michitsuna no Haha continues to dwell upon the pointlessness of returning to the capital without her mother. 99 Even after returning home, the author describes herself as having no interest in life, being depressed by the sights of her mother’s old possessions, and as once again being the only member of her family to be especially listless during a Buddhist ceremony. The nikki then quickly jumps to the first anniversary of her mother’s death, with Michitsuna no Haha only briefly commenting that she spent the year “feeling empty and alone,” and crying through the nights. 100 At the ceremony marking the anniversary, she writes again of becoming “unaware of everything around me” and crying when forced to remove her mourning clothes before her grief had come to an end. 101 Throughout this section of Kagerō Nikki , Michitsuna no Haha frequently includes poems expressing sadness that were written by herself and her family members. Finally, for the remainder of her nikki , Michitsuna no Haha continues to mention the anniversary of her mother’s death, her descriptions constantly filled with the worry that her strained relationship with Kaneie would leave her unable to afford future ceremonies. 102

2. Sarashina Nikki

Though less detailed than Kagerō Nikki , Sarashina Nikki also provides several examples of elite

97 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary , 113. 98 Ibid., 113. 99 The family had recently accompanied her mother to a temple for healing. As the author’s mother died at the temple, her family members were forced to remain there for a short period. 100 Ibid., 113-121. 101 Ibid., 121. 102 Ibid., 205, 313.

34 responses to the death of a loved one . Compared to Michitsuna no Haha, Takasue no Musume’s reactions to departures did tend toward more openly emotional behaviour; will this trend continue in her descriptions of death? In her nikki , the author does describe herself as unusually sensitive to death, writing that “ever since I was a child the news of people’s death, even that of strangers, had disturbed me greatly, and it used to take a long time to recover from the shock.” 103 Just as Michitsuna no Haha frequently states that her reaction to her mother’s death is more extreme than that of anyone else, so too does Takasue no Musume claim to be special in how deeply death affects her, no matter her relation to the deceased.

The first death of a loved one to occur in Sarashina Nikki is that of the author’s nurse, the same woman previously left behind in the provinces. Takasue no Musume describes her child self as being “crushed by grief” and weeping constantly, even losing her interest in monogatari .104 Apparently, even as a child, she is able to produce an elegant poem based on falling cherry blossoms that expresses her longing for the nurse. Despite the depth of her grief, however, the author writes that receiving new chapters of Genji Monogatari from her mother quickly ends her devastation. A few years later, Takasue no Musume’s sister dies while giving birth, leaving her so shattered that she cannot describe her pain. In her nikki , the author records a series of poems about the death, written by herself, her sister’s nurse, her brother, another relative, and even her estranged stepmother. Although in one poem she claims that grief has rendered her unable to write, she and the others are shown as using poetry in order to express their sadness over death. 105 Finally, the death of Takasue no Musume’s husband is the last major event of Sarashina Nikki . Soon after his unusually hopeful departure to a provincial post, he returns home to the capital and promptly dies. Despite not even having mentioned him in the nikki prior to this, in response to his death, the author writes that she had “never … known such sorrow,” and further describes her state of being during his funeral procession as dreamlike. 106 Once again, she expresses her feelings through poems, all of which centre around the topic of her constant tears. For the (admittedly short) remainder of her nikki , Takasue no Musume focuses only on the sadness caused by her husband’s death as she grows farther and farther from society. 107

103 Takasue no Musume, Bridge of Dreams , 62. 104 Ibid., 54. 105 “My brush’s strokes that used to flow so free / Have frozen stiff as icicles.” Ibid., 62-64. 106 Ibid., 119. 107 Ibid., 119-122.

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3. Kenreimon’in Ukyō no Daibu Shū

Unlike the other authors, Ukyō no Daibu lived during a time of war and chaos, and consequently her nikki is filled with far more horrifying scenes than any of the others. She describes her experiences during the Genpei War as being dreamlike and barely believable, writing:

Such was the upheaval in our world … that whatever I may call it – dream, illusion, tragedy – no words can possibly describe it. I was so confused that I cannot even say what exactly happened, and in fact right up till now I have repressed all thought of it…No words, no emotions can do it justice…and faced with the actual event, we were all stunned…We could only feel that it was just some indescribable dream. 108

As someone closely aligned with members of the losing side, Ukyō no Daibu lost many friends to the war, most of them dying far away from the capital. Hearing of acquaintances who were killed or committed suicide during the war, she reiterates the dreamlike quality of the time through poetry. 109 Even before the war, however, she witnesses several deaths of those close to her, the most notable being that of her mother. Similar to Michitsuna no Haha’s description of her mother’s death, Ukyō no Daibu writes that following the passing of her mother, she “lived day and night with no sense of purpose.” 110 During the ceremony forty-nine days after the death, the sight of her mother’s robes “reawakened” the author’s grief and “only made [her] all the more depressed and wretched.” 111 She expresses her sadness through two poems, the second of which laments her future “in a world / where there is no one / who will look on me with tenderness.” 112 On the anniversary of her mother’s death, Ukyō no Daibu writes of her renewed sadness. “Though I was feeling far from well,” the author states that she ensures the proper sutras would be read and personally performs ablutions for her mother’s soul.113 However, her uncertain position in life leaves her fearful that she will not be able to perform the necessary rites in the following years, a thought which drives her to tears and causes her to write a poem about how upsetting this would be. 114 Additionally, though only a brief entry with almost no details,

108 Kenreimon’in Ukyō no Daibu, Poetic Memoirs, 189. 109 Ibid. , 197. “Alas! Alas! / Can it be true? / I ask myself / or can it after all / be no more than a dream?” 110 Ibid., 185. 111 Ibid., 185-187. 112 Ibid., 187. 113 Ibid., 239. 114 “When I think that this / may be the last time I shall greet / the year, the month, the day, / on which she parted from me, / oh, what grief and pain it brings.” Ibid., 239.

36 the author records a poem written in response to someone who had sent her an iris while she was in mourning for an unspecified person. The poem, “while I was yet unaware / that now is the time / to deck our eaves with irises, / you have made known to me / what very day this is” once again echoes the sentiment of losing a sense of reality following death. 115

Though both the war and her mother’s death are significant events in Ukyō no Daibu’s nikki , the most important death by far is that of her lover, Taira no Sukemori. The first half of her writings builds to the moment of his death; from Sukemori’s departure to the provinces, to her constant anxiety as the war grows worse, to reports of his brothers dying one by one. Although Sukemori had (unusually) not sent any poems to the author after departing, she does write of an exchange of letters and poems once before his death. Just as in his speech before departing, Sukemori’s poems portray him as having so thoroughly accepted death that he no longer truly considers himself to be alive. Upon hearing of his passing soon after, Ukyō no Daibu writes:

How can I possibly convey what I felt then. I had already known that it would come to this, and yet I felt completely dazed. I was utterly unable to hold back my tears. But I was upset at the idea of having people witness my despair, so I told them I did not feel well, and I spent the whole day lying on my bed. I drew the covers up over my head and abandoned myself to my tears … My body itself was in torment, and I can not describe all the anguish I suffered. 116

Consistent with her descriptions of behaviour in response to other deaths, the author writes of feeling dazed and “shutting [herself] off from the normal life of the world,” though her actions of hiding away in order to cry all day are more extreme. 117 Additionally, just as both Michitsuna no Haha and Takasue no Musume write of their suffering as being far worse than that of anyone else, so too does Ukyō no Daibu. As Sukemori died in war rather than from natural consequences, she argues that his death is sadder and more painful, a sentiment that she repeats multiple times in poetry and prose. 118 Furthermore, she states that her grief is worse even than that of all the other people who had lost loved ones in the war, writing “there were many people, both known and unknown to me, who had lived through the same nightmare in their relationships

115 Kenreimon’in Ukyō no Daibu, Poetic Memoirs , 123. 116 Ibid., 205. 117 Ibid., 207. 118 It is unclear whether Sukemori was killed or committed suicide. Ibid., 204 n. 21. In poetry, she writes: “Whoever called them sad, / this world’s ordinary, / this world’s natural deaths, / must have been one who never knew / a nightmare such as this” and “If only, oh, if only / we could use some / common, ordinary words, / and call this / pitiable or sad!” Ibid. , 205, 207.

37 with the Taira family, but at the time I felt that my experience was without parallel … such a bitter parting as mine could never have happened to anyone else.” 119

According to Ukyō no Daibu, her depression becomes so great that she “kept [her] feelings locked away in [her] heart, feelings that were too much even for tears.” 120 Despite her dazed state of grief, however, the thought of Sukemori not receiving the proper ceremonies and prayers “roused [her] from [her] depression.” 121 As Sukemori had died an enemy of the new Minamoto government, his surviving family members in Heian-kyō could not perform the appropriate ceremonies without facing punishment. The author therefore feels it her duty to perform the rituals and prayers in secret, the sense of responsibility at least temporarily allowing her to put aside her grief and become engaged in the world of living once again. Nevertheless, the next year of her nikki is filled with almost nothing but descriptions of her endless sadness over Sukemori’s death, often expressed through poetry. Ukyō no Daibu writes of frequently crying, particularly when confronted by any object or place that reminds her of Sukemori, and of briefly turning to religion for comfort. On the anniversary of his death, she once again performs the appropriate rituals in secret. As with the anniversary of her mother’s death, the thought that there would be no one to continue to pray for Sukemori should she die drives her to tears. 122

4. Tosa Nikki and Midō Kanpakuki

Although the main focus of this study is the emotional standards of sadness as portrayed in nikki written by women, a brief look at men’s literature could allow for a more complex understanding of these behavioural standards by adding a new perspective. It should first be noted, however, that nikki written by men were generally stylistically different from those written by women. Typically, women’s nikki deal with personal events and emotions, and tend to be chronologically vague, while men’s nikki serve as records of their public careers, giving little attention to the thoughts and feelings of the author. 123 Of course, there are exceptions to this generalization. Perhaps the most notable is Tosa Nikki , written by a famous poet, Ki no Tsurayuki, in the early

119 Kenreimon’in Ukyō no Daibu, Poetic Memoirs , 207. 120 Ibid., 209. 121 Ibid., 209. 122 Ibid., 213, 215, 225,239. 123 Hulvey, “The Literary Context,” 42-43.

38 tenth century. Though in reality a man, Tsurayuki adopts the authorial persona of a nameless lady-in-waiting. 124 However, this fictional lady is given no history or personality, and even though Tosa Nikki is technically written from her perspective, it remains an account of Tsurayuki’s thoughts and travels with no attention paid to the “author.” Nevertheless, this choice allowed Tsurayuki to write in a style quite unlike that usually expected of men’s nikki .

The main plot of Tosa Nikki is the author’s account of his journey from Shikoku to the capital, but the death of his young daughter is a recurring topic throughout. While the death itself is not depicted, it happened soon before the journey began, and both Tsurayuki and his wife are portrayed as frequently dwelling upon it. Tsurayuki constantly insists that neither of them is ever able to forget about their daughter and the sadness caused by her death, for example writing, “the child’s question … reminded him of one who was gone. When will she ever be forgotten,” “and here the mother of one now gone, whom she never forgets for a day, or even a moment,” and “his sorrows, which he can never forget.” 125 Additionally, he describes his own pain as “more than most men could bear,” implying as the women authors had that his sorrow was unusually extreme. 126 Though he is often sad, however, it is only his wife that Tsurayuki ever depicts as losing control. Upon seeing other parents embrace their children, she “could no longer restrain her grief … with these words she wept.” 127 Finally, Tsurayuki and his wife almost always express their sadness through poetry, with the author even pointing this out explicitly by stating “here, as in China, (we compose a poem) when are hearts are too full of feeling.” 128 Overall, the behaviour described by Tsurayuki is similar to that of the women authors.

On the other hand, Fujiwara no Michinaga’s Midō Kanpakuki does not resemble those nikki stylistically at all. Written by one of the most powerful men to have lived during the Heian period, Midō Kanpakuki consists of brief, generally straightforward entries that cover the main public duties performed by the author each day. Michinaga’s writing feels far more distant than that of the female authors; his thoughts and emotions about events are rarely stated directly, and

124 Tosa Nikki is also the earliest known nikki of this style, preceding Kagerō Nikki by a few decades. Although the genre would be known for its female authors, its origins appear to have been with men. Interestingly, the opening line of Tosa Nikki states that such works have only ever previously been written by men . Ki no Tsurayuki, The Tosa Diary , 13. 125 Ibid., 51, 103, 131 126 Ibid., 21. 127 Ibid., 119. 128 Ibid., 119.

39 the record often feels as though it could easily have been written by an observer rather than the man himself. Of course, this does not necessarily mean that Michinaga is less biased or more historically accurate in his account than any of the previous authors. Although Midō Kanpakuki is less of a literary composition, it was still written with the intention of being read by others, an eternal record of Michinaga’s glorious reign.129 This can be seen, for example, in his choice to omit any mention of his daughter’s main rival, Empress Teishi, giving birth to a son and potential emperor, despite the political significance of this event. 130 While not as obviously emotional as the other nikki , Midō Kanpakuki can still provide insight into emotional standards of behaviour for men, as Michinaga, like the women authors, would have wanted to present himself in the best possible way.

Although Midō Kanpakuki focuses on Michinaga’s political life, references to the severe illnesses and deaths of his family members are frequent. 131 The most common mentions of death in Midō Kanpakuki comes from Michinaga’s records of preparing and attending ceremonies and rituals on the anniversaries of his parents’ deaths, as well as occasionally for the deaths of his principal wife’s parents. Although Michinaga always brings up his involvement in honouring his parents, his descriptions are devoid of the tears, sadness, and poetry found in the other nikki , and similarly lack the significance placed upon the event by women authors. Instead, his accounts of the anniversaries generally follow the pattern of “I went to Hōkō’in for the first day of the Eight Lessons of the Lotus Sutra, and there were also prayers,” noted casually in amongst the other activities he did that day. 132 On two other occasions, the only substantial comment Michinaga makes is to remark upon which important men attended the ceremony and how many (nameless)

129 Fujiwara no Michinaga, Notes Journalières de Fujiwara no Michinaga, ministre à la cour Heian (995-1018), vol. 1, ed. and trans. Francine Hérail (Geneva: Droz, 1987), 153 n. 1. 130 Fujiwara no Michinaga, Notes Journalières, vol. 1, 251 n. 1. 131 In order to differentiate between this chapter and the following, in which the standards of sadness related to the deaths of emperors will be examined, only the deaths of Michinga’s relatives who were not also emperors or empresses will be discussed here. 132 “Je me rends au Hōkō’in pour le premier jour des Huit Leçons du sûtra du Lotus, il y a aussi des prières.” Hōkō’in was a temple devoted to Michinaga’s father, Kaneie (the same man married to Michitsuna no Haha). Fujiwara no Michinaga, Notes Journalières, vol. 1, 145, 147-148 n. 6. For other examples, see Ibid., 261, 302, 387- 388, 489, 526. Fujiwara no Michinaga, Notes Journalières de Fujiwara no Michinaga, ministre à la cour Heian (995-1018), vol. 2, ed. and trans. Francine Hérail (Geneva: Droz, 1988), 223.

40 courtiers paid their respects. 133 Despite his lack of emotional writing, however, Michinaga did continue to attend such ceremonies until the end of his nikki .134

Unlike the nikki written by women, Midō Kanpakuki rarely gives details about the actual deaths of Michinaga’s (non-imperial) relatives. Instead, these deaths are generally only noted in order to explain why Michinaga is in mourning and could therefore not participate in some ceremony or event. One of the few deaths to receive any attention in writing is that of his half-sister, Suishi, but even her severe illness and death are only mentioned briefly before Michinaga returns to describing the party he is attending when news of her death arrives.135 Similarly, when his eldest son and heir, Yorimichi, falls severely ill as a child, Michinaga promptly departs to another residence in order to avoid becoming ill himself. Although he comments on Yorimichi’s condition several times, it is his wife, Rinshi, who is shown staying with their son and seeking a way to heal him. 136 Finally, with regard to his periods of mourning, Michinaga once again describes himself as behaving quite differently from the female authors. Although he rarely outright points it out himself, Michinaga almost always fails to respect the entirety of the mourning period when the deceased is a family member, returning to court service earlier than he should. 137 While Michitsuna no Haha and Ukyō no Daibu complained of mourning not lasting long enough, Michinaga does not profess the same sentiment. Again, he generally does not announce his indiscretions in Midō Kanpakuki , but the dates clearly show his failures to adhere to proper mourning periods. Overall, although Michinaga participates in the same social conventions associated with death as the female authors, his descriptions of emotional behaviour are completely different.

133 The first was the anniversary of his principal wife’s father’s death, the second that of his own father. Fujiwara no Michinaga, Notes Journalières, vol. 1, 227, 387. 134 Fujiwara no Michinaga, Notes Journalières de Fujiwara no Michinaga, ministre à la cour Heian (995-1018), vol. 3, ed. and trans. Francine Hérail (Geneva: Droz, 1991), 375. 135 Some of this lack of interest in describing Suishi may have been the result of her scandalous life; while the consort of a crown prince (the future Emperor Sanjō), she had a well-known affair with a courtier and was consequently replaced by another consort. According to Francine Hérail, Michinaga likely viewed Suishi as an inconvenient liability that could do nothing to help his political career, and may even have been relieved by her death. Fujiwara no Michinaga, Notes Journalières, vol. 1, 316-317, 317-318 n. 5. 136 Ibid., 226-226 137 Ibid., 151, 319. Fujiwara no Michinaga, Notes Journalières, vol. 3, 369, 374.

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5. Conclusion

What, then, were the emotional standards of sadness with regard to the death of family members? Overall, many of the same behavioural trends seen in response to provincial departures exist in response to death as well, though often to a more extreme degree. As with the days leading up to a parting, severe illnesses required observers to be overcome with tears and unable to speak. Similarly, all of the women authors describe themselves as feeling disconnected from reality following both departures to the provinces and deaths, though this dreamlike state is portrayed as lasting much longer in the case of death. Moreover, Michitsuna no Haha and Ukyō no Daibu both write of falling ill in response to a loved one dying, of being in too much pain to interact with others and instead hiding away from the world. Poetry also continued to hold an important place as an expected form of behaviour, functioning as a medium that allowed elites to express feelings of sadness that were otherwise described as impossible to communicate. Even when the topic was death, it appears that a true aristocrat was still expected to be capable of composing a beautiful and clever poem. Since the majority of nikki were written long after the events had actually taken place, authors could easily have composed the poems whenever they pleased. Still, the choice to include these poems and present them as having been written in the moment shows that being able to compose an elegant poem was a behavioural standard, even if in reality writing such poems during such devastation likely would have been difficult.

Other emotional standards can be found in the authors’ thoughts on mourning periods. Once again, Michitsuna no Haha and Ukyō no Daibu write remarkably similar accounts. The two authors argue that official mourning periods end far too soon, proclaiming that their grief has hardly come to an end just because the prescribed months have passed. Here, there seems to be a continuation of a trend seen in the standards of departure. In the previous chapter, it was argued that breaking conventions of appropriate behaviour could in itself be an expected reaction. The repeated statements by Michitsuna no Haha and Ukyō no Daibu about their dissatisfaction with the laws of mourning and desire to ignore them suggests that longing to break away from social rules and continue with allegedly excessive behaviour could once more be an emotional standard in and of itself. This willingness to behave in a usually inappropriate manner when faced with death can be found elsewhere in Kagerō Nikki as well. During the respective illnesses of

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Michitsuna no Haha and Kaneie, both partners are portrayed as breaking convention. The author clearly approves of her husband’s extreme actions, and though she acknowledges the inappropriacy of her own, still chooses to include them in her nikki . As with the standards of departure, breaking social convention seems to have been expected behaviour following the death of a loved one.

Although there are similarities between the emotional standards surrounding departures and deaths, new forms of expected behaviour also appear. Every author other than Michinaga write frequently of how the pain of their sadness is far worse than that of anyone else. While Takasue no Musume and Tsurayuki simply state that their sadness is unusually strong, Michitsuna no Haha and Ukyō no Daibu not only claim that their grief is the worst of all time, but also explicitly compare the severity of their sadness and behaviour to the people around them who have suffered the exact same loss. Ceremonies held on the yearly anniversaries of a death provide yet another scenario to study emotional standards. Even in the relatively emotionless Midō Kanpakuki , Michinaga always mentions preparing and attending ceremonies on the anniversaries of his parents’ deaths, showing the social necessity of properly respecting the dead. Female authors add another layer to the situation through their descriptions of emotional standards. Michitsuna no Haha and Ukyō no Daibu portray their behaviour in response to anniversaries almost identically; the two authors emphasize their devotion to performing the appropriate rituals despite extenuating circumstances, while also expressing the selfless fear that after their deaths, no one will remain to pray for their loved ones. Finally, every author writes of their inability to forget the death, and generally continues to write of it for the remainder of the nikki .

Additionally, some of the examples in this chapter provide insight into the emotional standards for men. Looking at the behaviour of men in nikki written by women, as well as how Tsurayuki portrays himself in Tosa Nikki , it is clear that men were often expected to behave in a manner similar to women. Tears, poetry, and a certain disconnect from reality appear to have been the ideal reactions for men as well as for women, and men failing to meet these standards met with fierce criticism from female authors. At the same time, however, men are also portrayed as the ones who keep emotions from becoming too unrestrained. In the previous chapter, men were frequently shown to criticize the women authors for crying too much or being too upset over a

43 loved one’s parting. Similarly, in Kagerō Nikki , Michitsuna no Haha writes of two situations wherein her brother and father are portrayed as the only calm people among a disorderly mess of others panicking over an imminent death. In both situations, the men restore order to the situation by remaining in control of their emotions. While this only happens in Kagerō Nikki , the relative restraint of Tsurayuki compared to his wife, as well as the lack of emotion in Midō Kanpakuki may point to men as having been expected to behave in a more restrained manner. Other aspects of the emotional standards for men are raised by the differences in how Tosa Nikki and Midō Kanpakuki represent the behaviour of their male authors in response to familial death. The concept of emotional communities helps to explain the disparity. According to Rosenwein, the emotional standards held by a society at any given time differ based on factors such as location, gender, or age. 138 In this case, literary genres could also be considered a form of emotional community. While nikki and poetry provided Heian aristocrats with an acceptable medium with which to express or write about emotions, the emotional standards for the writing of the record- like Midō Kanpakuki expected authors to show more restraint. 139

Finally, Sarashina Nikki hints at yet another set of emotional standards – those for children. While Takasue no Musume’s description of her reaction to her nurse’s death as a child initially resembles that of an adult woman (endless crying, a lack of interest in reality, etc.), the author writes that she rebounded from her sadness as soon as she received new chapters of Genji Monogatari . Among the incidents in the nikki looked at in this chapter, this quick recovery is a unique reaction. Perhaps assumptions based on their age allowed children to have more emotional volatility than adults. Unfortunately, determining the emotional standards of sadness for children is more difficult than for adults, as any potential works written by children have not survived, and adult authors rarely give much attention to children. The only real sources come from authors commenting on their own childhood, but most nikki begin at later points in life. For now, the behaviour expected of children in response to death remains unclear.

138 Rosenwein, “Emotions in History,” 842. 139 This is not necessarily only a standard for men. Although outside the scope of this study, the Kamakura era Ben no Naishi Nikki is similarly stripped of overt emotion despite being written by a woman and classified as a nikki . Like Midō Kanpakuki , it focuses on the public life of a (female) courtier rather than her personal life, and therefore feels like more of a historical record than the typical nikki . Hulvey, “The Literary Context,” 58-62.

Chapter 4 Death of the Emperor

While the death of a family member is a universal experience, other deaths are more unique to a particular society. With regard to the elite society of Heian Japan, the death of an emperor, whether reigning or retired, was a significant political and social event. Although true power was rarely held by the emperor in the Heian period, the emperor remained an influential and important figure around whom court life centred. Political power flowed from the emperor; no matter who truly controlled the court, that person’s power would rely on his connection to and influence over the emperor. Additionally, both reigning and retired emperors, as well as their main consorts, were often major cultural figures, patronizing poetry competitions, art, and talented individuals. An imperial death had a farther-reaching effect than the death of a nikki author’s loved one because of the emperor’s centrality to court life. Political power could shift, a poet could lose their support, and religious ceremonies could be postponed. All members of the court participated in periods of mourning and their accompanying regulations, rules that would affect the daily lives of many and disrupt the everyday functioning of the court. However, what were the emotional standards of sadness in response to an emperor’s death? Presumably, the centrality of the emperor to political, cultural, and religious life, as well as the uniqueness of his position, will bring about new standards of emotional response, perhaps even more extreme than those in response to a loved one’s death.

1. Kagerō Nikki

Although Michitsuna no Haha rarely comments upon politics in Kagerō Nikki , she does briefly address the death of the reigning emperor, Murakami. In her account, she portrays herself as remarkably unaffected by the death. Instead of discussing tears and dreamlike sorrow, the author focuses on how Murakami’s passing will affect her positively – because her husband Kaneie served in the household of the crown prince, the accession of said prince meant that he too would rise to a more powerful position. Though Michitsuna no Haha does note some “public sadness” over Murakami’s death, she writes in far more detail about the happiness and excitement this death has brought to her life, stating, “all that was heard over here was congratulations for the promotion. As I responded to some of the well-wishers myself, I felt somewhat like a person of 44

45 importance … it did seem as though things had been turned upside down and gotten quite lively around here.” 140 Additionally, the only sadness that she personally exhibits on this occasion has nothing to do with Murakami but is rather her usual complaints over the unsatisfactory nature of her relationship with Kaneie. 141 Her flippant response to the emperor’s death seems unusual, especially when compared to how the literary historical record Eiga Monogatari portrays the aristocrats’ reaction to Murakami’s death:

To what can one possibly compare Emperor Murakami’s tragic death? It was as though banks of clouds had come from nowhere to enshroud a celestial orb shining in all its glory … How meaningless it is to call such an event “inexpressibly sad”! The courtiers and senior nobles stamped the floor in an agony of grief, sobbing, “We shall never see such a ruler again! If only we might perish too!” … In a sense, the period of national mourning was no different from any other, but so widespread were the observances that the people of the nation seemed transformed into a congregation of crows. 142

Despite this account of extreme and widespread grief, Eiga Monogatari is not entirely somber in its description of Murakami’s death, however. In particular, its author notes the rampant speculation over who the new crown prince would be, commenting that this flurry of political gossip was “really rather amusing.”143 From these two examples, it seems that while elites may have been expected to show some amount of sadness over an emperor’s death, political scrambling was not considered inappropriate.

While Michitsuna no Haha herself may have been unconcerned about the emperor’s death, she does include a brief reference to the reaction of someone much closer to him personally: Jōganden, a sister of Kaneie and the favourite concubine of Murakami. 144 Feeling “sad imagining how it must be for those whom he had favoured,” the author sends a sympathetic poem to

140 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary , 143, 144 n. 1, 145. 141 Ibid., 145. 142 A Tale of Flowering Fortunes: Annals of Japanese Aristocratic Life in the Heian Period, vol. 1, ed. and trans. William and Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1980), 95-96. 143 Flowering Fortunes , vol. 1, 95. 144 Jōganden and Murakami’s relationship was something of a scandal at the time. Almost immediately after the death of Anshi, Jōganden and Kaneie’s sister as well as Murakami’s empress, Murakami called Jōganden to court to be one of his consorts. Several years earlier when Jōganden visited her sister at court, the pair had apparently had a romantic entanglement that offended Anshi and resulted in Jōganden being sent home. According to Eiga Monogatari , the emperor’s decision to recall Jōganden after her sister’s death was viewed as insulting to Anshi’s memory by many, with some courtiers even gossiping that Jōganden had brought about Anshi’s death through magic. Arntzen, “Introduction,” 32-33. Flowering Fortunes, vol.1, 88-90.

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Jōganden commenting on how much sorrow she expects the other woman to be feeling. 145 Jōganden’s reply, “‘I shan’t be long, my lord’ / at heart, this sorrowful self / dwells on Misasagi / and is it not already with you / on the mountain crossing to death?” shows both a disconnect from real life and a desire to follow the emperor in death, the same reactions expressed by nikki authors in response to the deaths of their loved ones. 146 Although neither Michitsuna no Haha’s nor Jōganden’s reactions are described at length, there are clearly differences between how the two women are portrayed in behaving over the death of the same emperor. The reason for this might lie in each woman’s respective relationship to Murakami. For Michitsuna no Haha, he may have been a respected figure, but the two were complete strangers. For Jōganden, however, Murakami was not only the emperor, but also a person that she knew and for whom she likely cared. Perhaps imperial status alone was not enough to warrant emotional reactions, and other factors played into what behavior was expected of an elite.

2. Sanuki no Suke Nikki

Though the death of Emperor Murakami may have occupied only the briefest of mentions in Kagerō Nikki , the death of an emperor is the main topic of Sanuki no Suke Nikki . As suggested by the alternate title of this work, Horikawa In no Nikki , Emperor Horikawa is of central importance to the story. As one of the emperor’s highest-ranking female attendants and a constant companion for years, Sanuki no Suke cared for Horikawa in the days leading up to his death and witnessed his passing, the events of which make up the first half of her nikki . Confronted with the emperor’s pain and inevitable death, the author describes her behaviour in a manner consistent with the standards of emotions seen in the previous chapter. Frequently, she writes of how Horikawa’s complaints and blunt comments about his impending death drive her to tears, leave her incapable of speaking, or make her feel as if she is dreaming, for example writing “I was so choked with tears at hearing this, that I could not reply,” “as I watched over his sleeping features, I could do nothing but weep,” “I …was unable to continue [speaking],” “I was so saddened by the sight of this, that my eyes clouded over with tears and I could not see properly,” and “hearing it clearly enunciated by the Emperor’s own lips aroused a feeling of

145 Michitsuna no Haha, The Kagerō Diary , 145. 146 Ibid., 145.

47 unreality, as if I were in a dream, and I could not restrain my tears.” 147 At other times, however, Sanuki no Suke describes her efforts to remain composed, restraining her grief in order to avoid losing herself entirely to emotion. 148

Sanuki no Suke was not the only one tending to the emperor, and her portrayal of the behaviour of those around her is consistent with how she depicts herself. The other naishi spend much of their time weeping and unable to speak, but interestingly, the men surrounding the emperor also behave in the same manner. Hearing Horikawa speak bluntly of his death’s inevitability, the departed, “his face buried in the sleeve of his robe.” 149 Similarly, when the emperor requests that his priest uncle Jōkai recites sutras for him once more before he dies, Sanuki no Suke writes that “for a time the Holy Teacher made no reply. It would seem that the reason that his voice was not heard reading the sutras was that he was too upset.” 150 As Horikawa’s condition worsens, increasingly extreme rituals are performed by monks and ascetics, eventually culminating with the arrival of Archbishop Fujiwara no Nagazane. Sanuki no Suke states that the severity and desperation of the situation causes proper court etiquette to break down, writing that “usually we [the naishi and emperor] were separated from [the Archbishop] by a curtain of state, but now we were all clustered together without distinction, too distraught to feel embarrassed.” 151 This is not the only time that such unusual mingling happens during the emperor’s illness, however. At one point, the Minister of the Right comes to the emperor’s side to discuss political concerns while Sanuki no Suke is still there. Although normally she would have been expected to leave the men, she remains next to Horikawa due to the severity of his condition. 152

Immediately following Horikawa’s death, Sanuki no Suke portrays all etiquette and restraint as vanishing completely, the assembled courtiers devolving into chaotic grief. She writes:

Hearing [Ōidono no Sammi] start weeping abandonedly, everyone realised the cause and joined her … over ten [men] in all – as well as the ladies-in-waiting who had attended the Emperor, lifted up their voices and abandoned themselves to their

147 Sanuki no Suke, Emperor Horikawa, 60-62, 69, 71. 148 Ibid., 63. 149 Ibid., 60. 150 Ibid., 70. 151 Ibid., 72. 152 The author actually brings up this scene on several different occasions. Apparently, Horikawa’s considerate action of shielding her from the Minister’s view made a deep impression on her. Ibid., 63, 90.

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common sorrow. So frenzied was their grief that the paper sliding-door vibrated and rocked as if there were an earthquake. A timid disposition would certainly have been unable to endure the pandemonium. 153

In some ways, this description mirrors that of the reactions to Murakami’s death in Eiga Monogatari , particularly through the shared imagery of the gathered elites being so unified in the extremity of their grief. Sanuki no Suke’s account continues, recording individual reactions to Horikawa’s death. In particular, she focuses on the actions of the emperor’s three nurses, elite women who had been his caretakers since birth. According to the author, Ōidono no Sammi collapsed at the emperor’s side, “to all intents and purposes not breathing,” while Daini no Sammi repeatedly professed her desire to follow the emperor in death, continuing her lament throughout the night. 154 Meanwhile, Tōzammi, whose own illness had not allowed her to attend Horikawa in his final days, nevertheless sneaks into his room after hearing of his death, bursting into tears and ranting insensibly. Left unable to move by the severity of their reactions, all three women have to be carried from the room. 155 These reactions are not limited to women, however. The Minister of the Centre, who seems to have been in charge of making arrangements for the body, is frequently described as losing himself to grief after giving a command. For example, Sanuki no Suke writes,

I was dimly aware of the Minister of the Centre coming in and glancing at the Emperor. The ribs of the fan he was holding rasped together as he folded and unfolded it, apparently trying to reach some decision. Then he left the room weeping … The Minister of the Centre reappeared, and said brokenly, “We must change His Majesty’s clothes now, and remove the padding from the mats.” He was unable to continue [speaking], but occupied himself with such tasks as fetching the Emperor’s unlined robe and drawing it over him. 156

Significantly, although the minister is definitely portrayed as distraught and not entirely in control of his emotional behaviour, he does continue to perform his duties. Unlike Horikawa’s nurses, he is not depicted as being rendered senseless with grief.

While Sanuki no Suke generally presents these extreme reactions to the emperor’s death in a positive light, she also indicates the existence of limits. One of the previously mentioned nurses,

153 Sanuki no Suke, Emperor Horikawa, 73-74. 154 Ibid., 74, 76, 78. 155 Ibid., 58, 74-77. 156 Ibid., 75-76.

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Tōzammi, was also the author’s older half-sister and adoptive mother. Although Sanuki no Suke describes herself as sympathetic to Tōzammi’s distress, she writes in a more critical tone when discussing her sister’s behaviour than she does for either of the other two nurses, perhaps feeling more comfortable to criticize a family member. She writes:

Tōzammi, who was obviously weakened by her illness, had been babbling incessantly from the moment she had been bundled into the room. Although such grief-stricken behaviour was natural enough, the Minister of the Centre must have thought she was becoming too overwrought, for he looked over at her son … and said, “Please assist her away from here” … “Please come to the women’s quarters,” I said, trying to tug her away … She was extremely overwrought, weeping and moaning and seeming to feel that someone was to blame for what had happened. Yet I could sympathize with her … I tried to pull her away, but she clung to the Emperor, crying … Since [her son] was disinclined to carry his mother away when she was acting like this, I said to him, “… I shall call some of my ladies-in-waiting.” At this, Tōzammi, who seemed completely out of her senses, immediately objected, “How could you call servants to come into my lord’s chambers?” She burst into hysterical weeping … I felt that this objection indicated that she had completely taken leave of her senses. Therefore I summoned some of my own ladies-in-waiting, and she was carried away on [their] backs … dragged off as it were willy-nilly. 157

Based on Sanuki no Suke’s comments, she views Tōzammi’s reaction as mostly natural and appropriate because of the situation and her illness. Instead, it seems to be the location that bothers the author. Throughout the passage, Sanuki no Suke and others repeatedly try to remove Tōzammi from the emperor’s rooms and bring her back to the women’s quarters. The other two nurses had similarly been taken from the room once their behaviour was deemed too extreme by their male relatives, while more composed naishi such as Sanuki no Suke and Inaba no Naishi are allowed to stay with the male courtiers at Horikawa’s side. Once returned to a women-only area, however, the ranting and endless weeping of the nurses is once more presented as wholly sympathetic and appropriate. 158 Looking at the situation with the concept of emotional communities, it appears that extreme behaviour such as falling ill or weeping without restraint were appropriate reactions for the women closest to the emperor. However, this behaviour was only appropriate when around other women. In the presence of men, women were expected to show more restraint.

157 Sanuki no Suke, Emperor Horikawa , 76-77. 158 Ibid., 77-78.

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Despite the emotional outbursts of everyone around her, after Horikawa’s death, Sanuki no Suke portrays herself as behaving in an unexpectedly stoic manner. According to the author, her lack of outward emotion bothers her, as she writes, “for years I had believed that my affection for the Emperor was no less than that of these people, but now I was haunted by the thought that my feelings must indeed be inferior, since I could not raise my voice in weeping as they were doing.” 159 At first, it seems as though Sanuki no Suke is criticizing her own behaviour, deeming her composure as inappropriate. However, several later remarks that she makes indicate that her stoic behaviour is intentional and that she consciously chooses to avoid excessive displays of emotion. “Her tear-drenched face made me too feel like weeping. It was hard to stand the strain,” “the sound of her lamentations increased the strain upon me,” and “the mere sight of her made me feel even closer to breaking down,” all imply that the author is on the verge of descending into extreme behavior, but is able to resist and remain calm.160 Furthermore, when she finally does begin to cry, she describes the reaction as happening because her sorrow at last overtook her and left her unable to stay composed any longer. 161 Considering the behaviour of the other women, as well as the tears and distress of the men, why would Sanuki no Suke choose to present herself as being restrained and outwardly in control of her emotions? According to the translator, Jennifer Brewster, Sanuki no Suke lost all of her main supporters around the time of beginning her nikki and may have written it in order to attract a new patron. 162 Although deviating from the usual behaviour expected of women in response to the emperor’s death, she does successfully create an image of herself as being calm and composed in difficult situations while still demonstrating emotional sensitivity. By behaving in a manner more in line with the emotional standards for men, perhaps she hoped to appear useful and desirable to any potential patrons.

Regardless of her restraint immediately after Horikawa’s death, Sanuki no Suke portrays her behaviour as more extreme in the following months. The second half of her nikki covers the year after the emperor’s death, from the author’s returning to her home for the mourning period, to her apparently reluctant return to court to serve the new emperor, Horikawa’s son Toba.

159 Sanuki no Suke, Emperor Horikawa , 75. 160 Ibid.77-78. 161 Ibid., 78. 162 Both Horikawa and her father died in the same year (1107). Her sister Tōzammi became a nun around this time as well, removing herself from secular life. Brewster “Introduction,”, 38-39.

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According to Sanuki no Suke, she attends a memorial service for the emperor every month during this year, no matter the circumstances. On one particular occasion, she writes that heavy snowfall causes her attendants to encourage her to skip the ceremony, arguing that her reputation would not be damaged by missing one month. Nevertheless, the author insists upon going, stating that she wishes to attend not out of any concern for her reputation, but rather because of her deep devotion to Horikawa. Although she describes the roads as “completely obliterated by snow,” Sanuki no Suke presses on, apparently amazing everyone with her commitment to honouring the anniversary of the emperor’s death. 163 Despite her devotion to Horikawa’s memory, however, the author is soon ordered by the retired emperor Shirakawa to end her mourning period early and become an attendant to Toba. She describes changing out of her mourning clothes as “heart-breaking,” and feels as though she is throwing away a beloved gift from Horikawa. Eventually, the author concedes to regulations but remains dissatisfied, writing, “I knew that one could not do as one liked in a matter such as this, but it still did not make the thought of changing any less disagreeable.” 164 Additionally, Sanuki no Suke contrasts her depressed and devoted behaviour to that of her attendants and the other naishi . While positively portraying herself as devastated by the end of mourning, the author angrily describes the other women as bored and eager to return to the excitement of court life, and dressing in brightly coloured clothing as soon as possible, “as if nothing had ever happened.” 165

Upon returning to court, seemingly every location, ceremony, and sight reminds Sanuki no Suke of Horikawa, driving her to frequent tears. However, the author always comments on the inappropriateness of this behaviour. As an attendant to a new emperor, she repeatedly states that crying during a ceremony, writing gloomy poetry, or showing any sadness before Toba would

163 Sanuki no Suke, Emperor Horikawa, 85-86. In general, she describes everyone as being impressed by her choice to attend the monthly ceremony every time it happens. Ibid., 91, 96. 164 Ibid., 84, 97-98. Although Sanuki no Suke portrays herself as upset over being made to stop mourning, she describes her brother as being extremely jealous, and by extent, insensitive. Upon hearing the news, he allegedly exclaimed, “Ah, how I, as a man, should like to receive such an imperial order. I am green with envy that the Retired Emperor should hold you in such esteem … I think it rather strange that, when people who had spent long years in court service during the reign of the late Emperor Horikawa … were given mourning clothes to wear, you were included in that number … and that now in the reign of this Emperor, you are regarded as being so indispensable that an imperial order comes saying, ‘Discard your mourning clothes,’ even before the end of the mourning period.” While it is unclear why she would want to portray her brother in a way that “filled [her] with disgust and shame,” the speech does have the effect of making Sanuki no Suke sound like a valuable and competent naishi to any potential patrons. Ibid., 84. 165 Ibid., 85, 97.

52 not be suitable, and is perhaps even inauspicious. 166 Additionally, as a high-ranking naishi to the emperor, Sanuki no Suke lived an unusually visible life for a Heian woman, particularly when acting in ceremonies. When she describes crying at one ceremony, the author focuses less on being inauspicious and more about her reputation and appearance, writing, “as I had no intention of making a public display of myself, I pulled the imperial curtain of state closer to me and watched from behind its shelter … not wanting to make a spectacle of myself, I withdrew from the Emperor’s presence before the ceremony was over.” 167 Despite her repeated insistence over the inappropriateness of her continued sorrow, Sanuki no Suke chooses to portray herself this way in her nikki . As in the previous chapters, it appears that breaking emotional standards was itself an emotional standard.

Finally, unlike other nikki authors, Sanuki no Suke includes very little poetry in her nikki . On the rare occasion that she does express her feelings through a poem, it is often a famous poem written by someone else. 168 This unusual aspect of Sanuki no Suke’s behaviour likely has nothing to do with emotional standards over the death of an emperor, but is rather a result of her lack of poetical skill. According to Brewster, Sanuki no Suke may have been talented at writing prose, but she was significantly worse at composing poems. 169 The fact that she includes any poetry at all in her nikki is most likely because of emotional standards; elites were expected to express sadness through elegant poetry, and in order to accomplish this, Sanuki no Suke turns to the poetry of others. Overall, the emotional behaviour in relation to an emperor’s death described by Sanuki no Suke is nothing like that of Michitsuna no Haha, but instead strongly resembles the accounts of loved one’s deaths found in the previous chapter.

3. Kenreimon’in Ukyō no Daibu

In her nikki , Ukyō no Daibu records her reaction to the death of Emperor Takakura. Unlike Michitsuna no Haha, Ukyō no Daibu did have a personal connection to Takakura, in that she served his main consort, Empress Tokuko, for several years. However, because she served Tokuko rather than the emperor directly, her relationship with Takakura was nowhere near as

166 Sanuki no Suke, Emperor Horikawa , 98, 102. 167 Ibid., 94. 168 Ibid., 57, 81, 92, 98, 101. 169 Jennifer Brewster, “Introduction,” 41-42.

53 close as that between Horikawa and Sanuki no Suke. The author’s description of Takakura’s death is brief, though filled with sadness. By the time of his death, Ukyō no Daibu is no longer serving the empress and therefore unable to participate in any ceremonies. She writes that even though she could attend nothing, his death nevertheless affects her. As expected, the author then includes a poem, writing, “How grieved I am to hear / that the light has vanished / from the moon which once / I thought would shine forever / in that land above the clouds.” 170 Following this, she adds another poem expressing her sympathy for her former mistress, the empress, writing of the grief she expects Tokuko to be feeling. 171

Much like Sanuki no Suke, Ukyō no Daibu is later called against her will to serve a new patron at court. After the Genpei War ended, she began to serve the newly ascended Emperor Go-Toba, a young son of Takakura. 172 Once again similar to Sanuki no Suke, the author’s descriptions of her return to court are filled with her sad memories of how things used to be. Everything, from a friendly dog to Go-Toba’s resemblance to his father, reminds her of the time when Takakura was still alive, and causes her to cry and write sad poetry expressing these thoughts. Although her behaviour is similar to that of Sanuki no Suke, the reason for her sadness seems to be more about the absence of both Tokuko and Sukemori than any lingering emotion over Takakura’s death. 173

Finally, Ukyō no Daibu records one other occasion related to the death of an imperial family member. While still serving Tokuko, the author attends a ceremony for the anniversary of the death of Empress Shigeko, Takakura’s mother. Similar to Fujiwara no Michinaga’s description of the same ceremony for his parents, Ukyō no Daibu’s account is more concerned with who attended and what fabulous offerings they brought. She does, however, include a poem, though rather than expressing sadness, it speaks of her certainty that the ceremony and gifts would benefit the deceased empress. 174 Overall, her nikki shows behaviour that lands somewhere between the extremes of Michitsuna no Haha and Sanuki no Suke; while certainly displaying

170 Kenreimon’in Ukyō no Daibu, Poetic Memoirs, 187. 171 “The sun that used to shine / beside the moon / has veiled its radiance; / surely the moon in its solitude / is overcast with grief.” Ibid., 187. 172 Though the son of Takakura, Go-Toba’s mother was not Tokuko, but one of the lesser consorts. Tokuko’s only child was Takakura’s immediate heir, , who had been made to commit suicide during the Genpei War because of his Taira heritage. Takeuchi Rizō, “The Rise of the Warriors,” 700. 173 Kenreimon’in Ukyō no Daibu, Poetic Memoirs, 261-265. 174 Ibid., 85.

54 more emotional behaviour than the former, it never reaches the extremes found in the nikki of the latter.

4. Teishinkōki and Midō Kanpakuki

In order to better understand the standards of emotions surrounding the death of an emperor, turning once more to nikki written by men will hopefully provide new perspectives. Although not recording any actual deaths, the translation of Fujiwara no Tadahira’s Teishinkōki does give an account of how a regent responded to the severe illnesses of the reigning emperor, Suzaku, and his mother, the dowager empress Yasuko. The great-grandfather of Fujiwara no Michinaga, Tadahira similarly held power through his familial ties to an emperor, and even achieved the position of regent during the reign of his nephew, Suzaku. Stylistically, Teishinkōki closely resembles Michinaga’s Midō Kanpakuki ; that is, it consists of brief and straightforward entries that cover the political activities of the author. Additionally, the two works were likely written for the same reason, intended to last as records of the wise decisions and greatness of their authors.

Unfortunately, only one year (939) of Teishinkōki is available in translation, but a variety of events are covered, including the sudden and severe illnesses of Emperor Suzaku and his mother, Yasuko. As the brother of Yasuko, Tadahira was closely related to both the emperor and the dowager empress. The author’s description of his behaviour during Suzaku’s illness is perfunctory, generally just consisting of references to which monks and temples he has asked to pray for the emperor’s recovery. 175 His reaction to Yasuko’s illness, however, is more interesting. Upon hearing of his sister’s illness, Tadahira writes, “since the Queen-consort suddenly fell dangerously ill, I dashed to the palace despite the taboo prohibiting me from social interaction.” 176 Here, the author portrays himself as willing to break normal social conventions when Yasuko’s life appears to be in danger. Tadahira further records that his worry over the empress’s condition causes him to visit her daily, and even once stay with her overnight. Only his own sudden illness brings an end to these visits. Tadahira also lists the many religious rituals

175 Fujiwara no Tadahira, Teishinkōki: The Year 939 in the Journal of Regent Fujiwara no Tadahira, ed. and trans. Joan R. Piggott and Yoshida Sanae (Ithaca, NY: East Asia Program, Cornell University, 2008), 167, 171. 176 Fujiwara no Tadahira, Teishinkōki , 170.

55 that he orders for the sake of her health, from esoteric rites to sutra-copying to the ordination of new monks, as well as gifts sent to Shinto shrines.177 Overall, the Teishinkōki account portrays Tadahira as reacting far more strongly to the illness of his empress sister than his emperor nephew, though the reasons why are not entirely clear. Perhaps emotional standards demanded more extreme behaviour for the illness of a sister than a nephew, regardless of imperial status. Or perhaps Yasuko was simply suffering from a worse illness than her son, and Tadahira neglected to mention the difference. Either way, his response to his sister’s illness bear similarities to those seen in nikki written by women.

As Midō Kanpakuki covers a far longer period of its author’s life, descriptions of imperial deaths are much more common. Throughout, Michinaga frequently mentions the observance of kokki , the anniversaries of death for past emperors and mothers of emperors. By Michinaga’s lifetime, the deaths of six particularly important or virtuous emperors as well as three empresses were celebrated yearly, the occasions marked by religious ceremonies and a suspension of court activities. Although not mentioned in the other nikki , Michinaga always makes note of these events, though never with any emotional reaction or descriptions of the behaviour of others. As even the most recent emperor included on the list had been dead for almost seventy years by the writing of Midō Kanpakuki , it seems likely that these anniversaries had lost any emotional meaning or need for emotional displays that they may have once had, as people with a personal connection to the emperors would have been dead as well.178

In Midō Kanpakuki , Michinaga records the deaths of four emperors, the first of which is the retired emperor Kazan. For the most part, Michinaga is not involved in caring for Kazan or arranging his funeral. Immediately after Kazan’s death, a taboo causes Michinaga to refuse to attend court despite the confusion and need for his advice regarding the length of mourning, though he did eventually send his opinion through a messenger. He continues to mention the various rituals and customs performed after an imperial death, but overall seems more concerned with attending the yearly ceremonies marking the anniversary of Emperor En’yū’s death. One week after Kazan’s death, Michinaga finally visits his household, behaviour that the translator,

177 Fujiwara no Tadahira, Teishinkōki, 170-173. 178 The emperors celebrated were Tenji (r. 661-672), Kōnin (r. 770-781), Kanmu (r. 781-806), Ninmyō (r. 833-850), Kōkō (r. 884-887), and Daigo (r. 897-930). Fujiwara no Michinaga, Notes Journalières , vol. 1, 171-172, 179, 510, 514. Fujiwara no Michinaga, Notes Journalières, vol. 3, 499.

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Francine Hérail, contrasts with that of another famous diarist, Fujiwara no Yukinari, who had visited the deceased emperor’s household almost every day to help with preparations. She suggests that this difference may come from the relationships each man held with the retired emperor – Yukinari was his first cousin, and had benefited politically from the connection, while Michinaga was more distantly related. 179

Three years later, the emperor Ichijō fell severely ill, dying a week after he abdicated the throne. As the uncle of Ichijō and father of his main consort, Michinaga appears to have been far more involved in the activities surrounding the death of this emperor. In the days leading up to Ichijō’s death, Michinaga writes of visiting him in almost every entry, and even of refusing to attend the court of the new emperor, Sanjō, so that he could stay with Ichijō. As the retired emperor approaches death, Michinaga actually allows some amount of emotional behaviour into his nikki , writing that after hearing the emperor speak of his inevitable death, “the tears of those who attended this sight trickled like rain.” 180 Despite this moment of emotion, however, the rest of his account is focused on the practical aspects of dealing with an imperial death. Just before Ichijō dies, Michinaga orders the other high-ranking ministers to leave so as to avoid the defilement of death and therefore be able to continue in their duties. For the next several weeks, the entries of Midō Kanpakuki consist of almost nothing but extremely detailed records of preparations for the body, funeral, and tomb. Finally, when once again questioned about how long the mourning should last, Michinaga first claims that he is unable to think of such problems in such a time, before promptly giving his opinion, one that is concerned entirely with the practicality of which day is most convenient to end mourning. 181

The third emperor to die in Midō Kanpakuki is the retired emperor Reizei, father of Kazan and first cousin of Michinaga. 182 Although the author writes of rushing to Reizei’s side as soon as he hears of the severity of his illness, and of visiting his home almost every day until the funeral, he

179 By modern standards, Michinaga and Kazan likely would still be considered fairly closely related, as both of the retired emperor’s parents were Michinaga’s first cousins. At the time, however, such relationships were nowhere near as close and useful as being related to an emperor as an uncle, grandfather, or even father-in-law. Fujiwara no Michinaga, Notes Journalières, vol. 2, 230-234, 234 n. 3. 180 “Les pleurs de ceux qui assistent à ce spectacle ruissellent comme la pluie.” Ibid., 495. 181 Ibid., 486-502. 182 Although one of his main consorts was Michinaga’s older sister, Chōshi, Reizei’s brief reign happened when the author was a baby, and therefore had little connection to Michinaga’s political career.

57 provides considerably less emotion and detail about the preparations than he had for Ichijō. 183 Finally, Michinaga records the death of the retired emperor Sanjō, Reizei’s second son and nephew of Michinaga. Compared to all of the other descriptions of death in Midō Kanpakuki , Michinaga’s reaction to Sanjō’s death is unusually candid. First, the author actually describes himself as “distraught” upon hearing of his severe condition, though he avoids being with Sanjō at the moment of death in order to avoid defilement. 184 Additionally, Michinaga chooses not to accompany the deceased emperor’s body to its resting place, a decision that he feels the need to justify in his nikki . Michinaga writes:

As I am tired, I will not accompany the body. Since the nominations, I can not walk anymore. Additionally, since I was sick, I have been absolutely without strength. This is why I am not going to fulfil my duty to the deceased emperor. It is not that I am unwilling, but that my body has abandoned me. 185

Through his justification, Michinaga acknowledges the inappropriacy of his actions, quite unlike the behaviour of female authors like Sanuki no Suke who had emphasized their devotion to the deceased by attending every ceremony no matter the circumstances. Overall, though Michinaga’s descriptions are all less emotional than any of the other nikki , there are differences between how he portrays the deaths of emperors, differences seemingly dependent on his personal relationship with each emperor.

5. Conclusion

Did the death of an emperor bring about its own unique set of emotional standards? Based on the examples found in nikki , it seems not. Instead, emotional standards appear to have varied depending on one’s relation to the emperor. An account written by an author without an imperial connection such as Michitsuna no Haha is distinctly lacking in emotional displays. On the other hand, authors like Sanuki no Suke or Tadahira, who had close bonds with the emperor or empress, depict themselves as behaving in a manner identical to how others behaved when

183 Fujiwara no Michinaga, Notes Journalières, vol. 2, 537-542. 184 “Vers deux heures du matin Yorikiyo vient de chez l’empereur retiré dire que l’état du souverain est grave. Affolé, je me rends chez lui.” Fujiwara no Michinaga, Notes Journalières , vol. 3, 362. 185 “Comme je suis fatigué, je n’accompagne pas le corps. Depuis les nominations, je ne peux plus marcher. En outre, depuis que je suis malade, je suis absolument sans forces. C’est pourquoi je ne vais pas rendre mes devoirs à l’empereur défunt. Ce n’est pas mauvaise volonté, c’est que mon corps m’abandonne.” Ibid., 364.

58 confronted with the death of a loved one in the previous chapter. The differences between how Michinaga acted following the death of each emperor supports this idea, as his descriptions of the deaths of Ichijō and Sanjō, his nephews and sons-in-law, allow more emotion to creep in than those of Reizei and Kazan, emperors with whom he had less of a familial connection.

Moreover, comparing displays of emotion recorded by authors close to the emperor with those from the previous chapter further supports and adds to the standards of emotion established for the deaths of loved ones, whether or not they were an emperor. As always, unrestrained weeping and an inability to speak can be found in any nikki , and are even referenced by Michinaga with regard to Ichijō’s death. Additionally, the willingness to break usual etiquette and conventions seen repeatedly in both of the previous chapters can again be found in Tadahira’s rushing to his sister’s side despite a taboo, as well as the loss of boundaries between men and women and emperor as Horikawa drew closer to death in Sanuki no Suke Nikki . Furthermore, Sanuki no Suke’s description of the nurses’ behaviour strongly resembles that of Michitsuna no Haha. One of the nurses collapsing and appearing not to breathe in response to the emperor’s death is similar to Michitsuna no Haha’s sudden paralyzing illness after the death of her mother, and the desire to die alongside one’s loved one is professed by many of the women authors. In the months and years following a death, Sanuki no Suke, Michitsuna no Haha, and Ukyō no Daibu’s accounts of devotedly attending ceremonies, performing rites no matter what, and lamenting the end of mourning periods are remarkably similar. Michinaga’s need to justify not acting in such a way reinforces this commitment as being a form of behaviour expected of elites. Additionally, Sanuki no Suke’s account of men’s behaviour supports the idea that emotional standards of death were similar for women and men, but that men were still expected to demonstrate some amount of restraint and composure. Finally, poetry remains the prime way to express one’s emotions, and was an activity so expected that even those without poetic talent such as Sanuki no Suke had to include poems. No matter the rank of a loved one, emotional standards of sadness surrounding death are quite stable.

Chapter 5 Conclusion

What were the emotional standards of sadness held by Heian elites? As predicted by Barbara Rosenwein’s theory of emotional communities, different contexts brought about different sets of standards. Factors such as gender, location, and situation caused expectations of appropriate behaviour to shift. While the refined displays of sadness for which the period is known were ideal in the context of romance or the appreciation of nature, expressions of sadness were not limited to this kind of behaviour, and instead became less restrained as the situation grew more serious. Throughout the entirety of the Heian period, emotional standards of sadness as presented in nikki are remarkably consistent. Although the four main authors were chosen based on each belonging to different eras and social positions, these differences did not affect how each author portrays appropriate emotional behaviour. Two and a half centuries of political and social change separate Michitsuna no Haha and Ukyō no Daibu, yet their descriptions of mourning are almost identical. Similarly, there are no substantial differences between the accounts of women who served at court and those that stayed at home. It is difficult to know whether or not actual behaviour remained consistent throughout the entire period, but it is clear that ideals stayed the same, the later authors perhaps consciously emulating the behaviour written about by their predecessors even as the world around them changed.

In the range of situations that prompted sadness, departures lie between aesthetic concerns and deaths. Even within the category of departure, multiple sets of emotional standards existed based on other factors, particularly the destination of the departing person. Female authors are clear in their expectations of how a lover should behave when returning to his own home, considering sighs, a few tears, and repeated claims of wishing to stay longer to be ideal behaviour. On the other hand, loudly rushing about without concern for expressions of sadness was viewed as a sign that the man lacked emotional sensitivity and was therefore undesirable. Perhaps because most descriptions of these scenes come from female authors, the emotional standards are concerned only with the behaviour of men. It remains unclear how men expected women to express sadness in this context. Unfortunately, equally unclear is what constituted appropriate behaviour when a friend or family member moved to another location within the capital. The few examples of this situation found in nikki show the authors acting in completely different manners, one weeping endlessly while the other is sad but calm. It is difficult to draw any 59

60 conclusions from this information, but if more examples are found, behavioural trends may become clearer. Finally, departures to the provinces prompted more extreme behaviour than romantic partings. For men and women, constant tears, an inability to speak, and a feeling of listlessness were considered appropriate behaviour. However, too many tears could be seen as excessive behaviour, at least if the one crying was a woman. Despite the frequent criticisms of women for crying too much at departures, the fact that authors chose to write themselves as behaving in this way indicates that the behaviour was likely not as inappropriate as it first appears. Instead, a willingness to break social rules and behave “excessively” was expected, normal behaviour. Although not depicted in nikki , it seems likely that failing to express sadness to this extent would have been considered cold and insensitive by the other elites.

The emotional standards of death follow many of the behavioural trends set by those of provincial departures. As with departures, multiple co-existing emotional communities can be observed, though whether the loved one was a low-ranked noble or the emperor, the same sets of standards applied. For adult women, expected behaviour immediately after the death included endless weeping, falling ill, professing a desire to die, and retreating from the world. As described by Sanuki no Suke, failing to have this kind of reaction could create the impression that a person had never truly cared for the deceased. At the same time, however, there were limitations. Michitsuna no Haha’s father brought about the end of her illness when he felt it had gone on too long, and Sanuki no Suke describes the emperor’s three nurses as being carried to the women’s quarters when their male relatives judged their weeping and collapsing to be excessive. In the latter case, location played a role in determining the emotional standards, as the women’s behaviour was only viewed as excessively emotional when done in the presence of men. After retuning to a women-only area, it became appropriate once more.

In the weeks and months after a death, women were expected to attend every ceremony for the deceased, no matter the circumstances. In fact, authors often focus on the lengths they would go to in order to properly honour their dead loved one, proving the depth of their feelings through this unfaltering devotion. Sanuki no Suke contrasts her own behaviour with that of her attendants, portraying their desire to skip ceremonies because of heavy snowfall as insensitive and uncaring. Similarly, when writing nikki , claiming that no one had ever experienced such sorrow before appears to have been a conventional sentiment echoed by every female author. A

61 certain disregard for social rules was once again expected, this time in the form of complaining that mourning periods did not last nearly long enough. On the other hand, if a woman did not have a close relationship with the deceased, there were no expectations for her to express sadness over the event other than sending sympathetic poems, even if it was the emperor who had died.

Although much of the behaviour shown by women was equally displayed by men, differences did exist. Most notably, nikki always depict men as behaving with more emotional restraint than women. No matter how distraught a man may be over a death, he did not collapse in illness or rave of wanting to die. While some amount of crying or loss of composure was considered appropriate, completely breaking down was likely viewed as excessive behaviour for men. At the same time, elites looked down upon men who showed no emotion at all. In Kagerō Nikki , the author attacks her husband by describing him as uncaring during the severe illness of their son, potentially damaging his reputation by portraying him as coldly staying away rather than tearfully visiting. Similar to women, men could also break normal social conventions during deaths, as shown by Kaneie and Tadahira ignoring taboos when faced with the severe illnesses of loved ones. Finally, depending on the style of literature being written by a man, different emotional standards applied. Adopting a female persona, Tsurayuki could write as emotionally as he pleased, while Michinaga and Tadahira had to maintain a level of distance in their chronicle-like nikki .

Elites prided themselves on their emotional sensitivity and the ability to express sadness properly depending on the situation, viewing this as a sign of true nobility. As many of the female authors came from lower-ranked families that served as provincial governors, proving that one was an elegant elite rather than a provincial boor was a socially important task. Writing nikki provided these women with an opportunity to show off not only their literary talent, but also their understanding of proper emotional expression and general emotional sensitivity. Poetry had a similar role in demonstrating skill and emotion. However, its significance extended even farther. No matter the situation or context, emotional standards demanded the composing of poetry to mark every occasion, making poetry a socially acceptable manner with which to express complicated emotions.

In this thesis, the emotional standards expected in response to death and departures have been established. However, many areas requiring further research remain. How did the established

62 standards interact with other aspects of social life such as politics? As studies of Europe have shown, crying at an appropriate moment could, for example, make a motivational political speech all the more convincing, while on other occasions, tears could be seen as a sign of weakness and unsuitability to lead. 186 In a society that so highly prized emotional sensitivity and sadness, it seems likely that emotional standards influenced the politics of the Heian court. Furthermore, although the standards remained consistent throughout the Heian period, did they change alongside other aspects of life during the ? Finally, using a wider variety of sources could provide an even deeper understanding of emotional standards and their influence. In particular, a closer look at poetry could be beneficial to understanding its role as the preferred medium for expressing emotion. Applying the history of emotions to a study of the Heian court reveals new insight into the behaviour and ideals of the elites, allowing for a more nuanced view of status and social relationships.

186 Jonas Liliequist, “The Political Rhetoric of Tears in Early Modern Sweden,” in A History of Emotions, 1200- 1800, ed. Jonas Liliequist (London: Pickering & Chatto, Ltd., 2012), 181-184.

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