Taira Notokushi's Birth of Emperor Antoku

chapter 3 Taira no Tokushi’s Birth of Emperor Antoku Naoko Gunji* Introduction Royal births were critical events for the imperial family and court. Ensuring a safe birth required over hundreds of rituals performed by numerous specialists spanning a long period. It also involved the use of sumptuous and empowered objects: clothes, accessories, talismans, medicines, and even the royal body itself. This chapter will examine a series of rituals associated with an imperial consort’s delivery of a prince in the late Heian period (794–1185). The woman under discussion in this chapter is Taira no Tokushi 平徳子 (also known as Kenreimon-in 建礼門院; 1155–1213?), the principal consort of Emperor Taka- kura 高倉天皇 (1161–1181; r. 1168–1180), and the baby is the future Emperor Antoku 安徳天皇 (1178–1185; r. 1180–1185). Childbirths and birth rituals in premodern Japan have been studied through perspectives of diverse disciplines. Literature specialists have examined childbirths and rituals thereof as a rite of passage in the life of a mother and of a child.1 Rituals to pray for the conception of a child and for a safe delivery involved Buddhist rituals and yin-yang practices, which have received much investigation by scholars of religious studies.2 Medicine, though it was not entirely separable from Buddhist and yin-yang rituals, played an important part in childbirth, too, as has been shown by historians’ research on early medical manuals such as the tenth-century Ishinpō 医心方 (Essentials of medicine).3 Art historians have analyzed birth scenes depicted in picture scrolls and iden- tified types of objects used in labor and birth rituals.4 All this scholarship has * I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Karen Gerhart for the opportunity to present this essay at the workshop on which this volume is based and for her advice and encour- agement. Grateful acknowledgement also goes to Anna Andreeva, Kōhei Kishida, the partic- ipants of the workshop, and the two anonymous referees. 1 Nakamura Yoshio, Ōchō no fūzoku to bungaku; Saeki Shin’ichi, Kenreimon’in to iu higeki. 2 See, for example, Nishiguchi, “Ōchō bukkyō”; and Nakajima, “Inseiki no shussan.” 3 Shinmura, Shussan to seishoku kan no rekishi; Katsuura, “Kodai, chūsei zenki shussan girei.” 4 Inamoto, “Egakareta shussan”; Suzuki, “Possessions and the Possessed.” It must be noted that © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi: 10.1163/9789004368194_005 90 gunji suggested that those rituals were for ensuring the safety of the mother, the new- born, and those involved in the pregnancy and labor. Nevertheless, behind the pursuit of these effects were often various sponsors with different intentions, adding nuanced significance to the rituals, practices, and objects involved. This nuance was particularly critical with imperial childbirths, since multifarious ritual activities were held in both private and public functions during the pregnancy, the labor, and after the birth. To make clear the significance of birth rituals, practices, and objects, one needs to carefully examine the circumstances and contexts of the childbirths as well. This chapter is among the first works—and is the most extensive one—to study childbirths and birth rituals in premodern Japan against the backdrop of their contexts.5 The case that this chapter investigates, Tokushi’s birth of Antoku, is useful in this sort of contextual study, because the rituals performed for Tokushi and Antoku are recorded in detail in several primary sources.6 In particular, Nakayama Tadachika 中山忠親 (1131–1195), who was the provisional head of the principal consort’s household (chūgū gon no daibu 中宮権大夫), left the most thorough account in his diary, Sankaiki 山槐記.7 Thanks to these these depictions are not necessarily historically accurate, for several reasons. One is that different moments of childbirth are depicted in the same pictorial composition, which obscures the actual process and setting of birth and its rituals. The visual device can be misleading, too: for instance, depictions of the interior of the birthroom either from the above with no ceiling depicted or from the front with no wall depicted have led some scholars to maintain that the labor could be seen from outside the room, but primary sources tell us that this was historically not the case with labor in elite families. Another reason is that many depictions are not based on historical records but on tales such as Heike monogatari 平家物語 (The Tale of the Heike, see footnote 6 below). In that respect, many literature specialists’ studies of childbirth are also based on tales and hence need additional assessment regarding historical accuracy. 5 Hirama Mitsuko examined the contexts of some of the imperial birth rituals to reveal their nuanced significance as an official rite primarily for the sake of the consort as a member of the imperial family. Hirama, “Heian jidai no shussan girei ni kansuru ichikōsatsu.” 6 Tokushi’s childbirth scenes are described in the quasi-historical chronicle Heike monogatari, and often depicted in visual arts (e.g., emaki, albums, screens, ukiyo-e, etc.) based on it. Although this chronicle provides valuable information about Tokushi’s labor, I will use it merely as supplemental material and with great caution, since it often modifies or even con- tradicts what the primary sources record. The visual representations will be treated similarly. The earliest surviving works depicting Tokushi’s delivery date to the sixteenth century. My analysis of these illustrations comparing them to primary sources reveals that none of them depicts the birth event with a high degree of accuracy. 7 The Sankaiki entries cited in this chapter can be found in Zōho shiryō taisei, vol. 27, except.

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