Beyond the Tale of Genji: Murasaki Shikibu As Icon and Exemplum in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth- Century Popular Japanese Texts for Women Satoko Naito

Home , Murasaki, Murasaki Shikibu, The Tales of Ise, The Tale of Genji, Waka (poetry)

Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014

Beyond The Tale of Genji: Murasaki Shikibu as Icon and Exemplum in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth- Century Popular Japanese Texts for Women Satoko Naito

n the long, rich, and exceedingly complex history of The Tale of Genji I(Genji monogatari 源氏物語 ca. 1008), a major tendency has been to label the classic as “female.” And it is perhaps only to be expected: its author Murasaki Shikibu (紫式部 d. ca. 1014) was lady-in-waiting to an empress and wrote prose in the Japanese syllabic script kana (仮名), sometimes called the “woman’s hand” (onnade 女手). The Tale of Genji’s readership too has been naturalized female, at times discussed as if women were the exclusive audience of the tale, not least because by Murasaki’s time in the Heian period (平安 794–1185) fictional tales (monogatari 物語) had long been identified as a generic category for women.1 Indeed, although there remain early records of prominent male readers, The Tale of Genji seems to have been initially read most widely by women of the highest echelons of

1 The Three Jewels (Sanbōe 三宝絵 ca. 984) by Minamoto no Tamenori (源為憲 941?–1011) characterizes monogatari as being favored by female readers. Minamoto Tamenori, The Three Jewels: A Study and Translation of Minamoto Tamenori’s Sanbōe, trans. Edward Kamens (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1988), 93. The Tale of Genji itself depicts monogatari as being read primarily by women: in the “Fireflies” (Hotaru 蛍) chapter, the character Genji (源氏) teases Tamakazura (玉鬘) as being a typical woman, willfully deceived by fictional tales. Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji, trans. Royall Tyler (New York: Viking Press, 2001), 461.

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court society.2 Thus the statement by twentieth-century scholar Tamagami Takuya ( 玉上琢弥) that Genji was written “by a woman, for women, about women” has considerable truth to it.3 And yet the relationship between the tale and female readership, imagined and actual, has never been simple. While one can cite texts that portray enthusiastic consumption of the tale by female readers like Sarashina Diary (Sarashina nikki 更級日記 ca. 1059) by Sugawara no Takasue’s Daughter (Takasue no musume 孝標女 b.1008) and Nameless Book (Mumyōzōshi 無名草子 ca. 1200), attributed to the “daughter” of Fujiwara no Shunzei (Shunzei no musume 俊成女), both works present a pronounced Buddhist reticence towards The Tale of Genji.4 Although the nun Abutsu (Abutsuni 阿仏尼 1225–83) advocated the Genji as a book worthy of serious study for her daughter in Letter from a Wetnurse (Menoto no fumi 乳母のふみ) also known as Home Teachings (Niwa no oshie 庭のおしへ ca. 1264), centuries later a number of instructional books or

2 The earliest records of male Genji readers are found in Murasaki Shikibu’s diary (Murasaki Shikibu nikki 紫式部日記), which suggests that Grand Councelor Fujiwara no Kintō (藤原公任 966–1041), the Regent Fujiwara no Michinaga (藤原道長 966–1027), and Emperor Ichijō (一条 980–1011; r.986–1011) were all familiar with the tale. The earliest reference to Genji in a male-authored text is not found until Records of a Clear Moon (Meigetsuki 明月記), the diary of Fujiwara no Teika (藤原定家 1162–1241). G. G. Rowley, Yosano Akiko and The Tale of Genji (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2000), 21. 3 Literally, “about the world of women.” Tamagami Takuya 玉上琢弥, “Onna ni yoru onna no tame no onna no sekai no monogatari (女による女のための女の世界の物語),” Kokubungaku kaishaku to kanshō 国文学解釈と鑑賞 26,6 (1961): 22–26, cited in G. G. Rowley, Yosano Akiko and The Tale of Genji, 21. 4 Shunzei no musume (ca. 1170–1250) was in fact the granddaughter of Fujiwara no Shunzei (藤原俊成 1114–1204). Sarashina nikki has been translated by Ivan Morris, As I Crossed the Bridge of Dreams (New York: Penguin Books, 1971). Mumyōzōshi has been translated in three parts by Michele Marra, “Mumyōzōshi. Introduction and Translation,” Monumenta Nipponica 39,2 (summer 1984): 115–45; “Mumyōzōshi. Part 2,” Monumenta Nipponica 39,3 (autumn 1984): 281–305; “Mumyōzōshi. Part 3,” Monumenta Nipponica 39,4 (winter 1984): 409–34. In the Sarashina nikki, Genji is depicted as antithetical to religious piety; in the Mumyōzōshi, the discussion of Genji is situated in a Buddhist context. Beyond The Tale of Genji 49

ōraimono (往来物) for women discouraged its reading.5 Familiarity with Genji was long deemed essential for the cultural and poetic edification of aristocratic women,6 but during the seventeenth century, those who opposed a wider female consumption of Genji critiqued the tale for its amorous content.7 In this essay I investigate a particular relationship between female readers and The Tale of Genji by examining select representations of its author Murasaki Shikibu during the Edo period (江戸 1603–1868) in popular vernacular prose books (kana zōshi 仮名草子) and in ōraimono intended for women. While The Tale of Genji had both defenders and detractors in these texts, Murasaki herself is frequently featured as an ideal woman worthy of celebration and emulation. Focusing on Mirror of Japanese Beauties (Honchō bijin kagami 本朝美人鑑 1687), I will discuss several popular texts that circulated during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to examine the manner in which Murasaki is constructed as a seemingly perfect woman — one who is beautiful, intelligent, chaste, and religiously devout. The unambiguously positive characterization of the author offers a contrast to the profound moral ambiguity found in her tale. She is also presented as a historian, thereby providing a counterweight to the consistent condemnation of Genji based on its fictitious content. Even in cases where Murasaki’s work is critiqued, she herself is ultimately viewed in a positive light. I suggest that the author’s idealization as an exemplum allows for a simplistic evaluation of The Tale of Genji that celebrates the

5 For a discussion of Menoto no fumi’s references to Genji, see Saitō Akiko 斉藤昭子, “Furumau karada no politikusu: Jokunsho ni okeru ‘Genji monogatari’ to iu kanon no hōhō ふるまう身体のポリティクス：女訓書における「源氏物語」というカノンの方法,” Tekusuto e no seiaijutsu — monogatari bunseki no riron to jissen テクストへの性愛術 — 物語分析の理論と実践, ed. Takagi Makoto 高木信 and Andō Tōru 安藤徹 (Tokyo: Shinwasha, 2000), 242–45. 6 G. G. Rowley, “The Tale of Genji: Required Reading for Aristocratic Women,” The Female as Subject: Reading and Writing in Early Modern Japan, eds. P. F. Kornicki, Mara Patessio, and G. G. Rowley (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2010), 39–57. 7 P. F. Kornicki, “Unsuitable Books for Women? Genji Monogatari and Ise Monogatari in Late Seventeenth-Century Japan,” Monumenta Nipponica 60,2 (summer 2005):147–93. 50 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

author and her tale while circumventing the details of the text — such as its characters and storylines — altogether.

Edo, Genji, and Women Readers

Around the middle of the seventeenth century, as commercial woodblock printing began to flourish in Japan, texts old and new were introduced to an ever-expanding reading market. It was only during this period that The Tale of Genji first became widely accessible beyond a limited aristocratic audience.8 The Illustrated Tale of Genji (Eiri Genji monogatari 絵入源氏物語 1654) of Yamamoto Shunshō (山本春正 1610–82) greatly facilitated understanding of the tale by adding punctuation, short annota- tions, and other reading guides to the original text. Digests such as Genji in Ten Chapters (Jūjō Genji 十帖源氏 1661) by Nonoguchi Ryūho (野々口立圃 1595–1669) summarized chapters with simplified plots, waka (和歌) poems, and illustrations, making the tale available to a wide range of readers.9 Finally, The Tale of Genji Moon on the Lake Commentary (Genji monogatari Kogetsushō 源氏物語湖月抄 1673) provided excerpts from the most significant commentaries of the preceding centuries along with the entirety of Genji.10 Composed and edited by the scholar and poet Kitamura Kigin (北村季吟 1624–1705), this annotated edition quickly came to epitomize Genji scholarship in the Edo period and remained highly influential well into the twentieth century.

8 The first full-text reproductions were published in the second half of the Keichō (慶長) period (1596–1615) and typeset in 1623. Yoshida Kōichi 吉田幸一, Eiribon Genji monogatari kō jō 絵入本源氏物語孝上 (Musashimurayama: Seishōdō shoten, 1987), 1. 9 Haruo Shirane, “The Tale of Genji and the Dynamics of Cultural Production: Canonization and Popularization,” Envisioning the Tale of Genji: Media, Gender, and Cultural Production, ed. Shirane (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008), 23. Ryūho later published a shortened version of Jūjō Genji as Genji for the Young (Osana Genji おさな源氏 1665). 10 These previous commentaries, including The River and Sea Commentary (Kakaishō 河海抄 1363) by Yotsutsuji Yoshinari (四辻善成 1326–1402) and Intimations of Flowers and Birds (Kachō yosei 花鳥余情 1472) by Ichijō Kanera (一条兼良 1402–81), cite only short passages of Genji, followed by its explication, and is centered on philology and identification of literary antecedents. Beyond The Tale of Genji 51

Kigin is also credited11 with two vernacular prose books (kana zōshi 仮名草子) that have later been labeled educational material for women (jokunmono 女訓物): Biographies of Women in Japanese (Kana retsujoden 仮名列女伝 1655),12 the first Japanese translation of the Chinese classic Categorized Biographies of Women (Ch. Lienü zhuan Jp. Retsujoden 列女伝 1st century BCE), and Tales of Maidenflowers (Ominaeshi monogatari 女郎花物語 ca. 1661). Such jokunmono represent only one aspect of a larger phenomenon of the time: the increased number of publications specifically intended for female consumption, including primers for the general education of girls and women.13 There was a great variety in such texts, and while some were concerned with teaching proper epistolary etiquette, others included detailed instructions on hair styling and dress. Still others were heavily didactic and espoused Buddhist or Confucian virtues and ideals. Both Kana retsujoden and Ominaeshi monogatari belong to the last category of jokunmono discussed above and display a marked Confucian tendency. Both also include a number of overt references to The Tale of Genji. Ominaeshi monogatari, which declares that poems composed by female poets should be studied by girls and women, culls examples of female characters from Genji and elsewhere to illustrate desirable traits for women (such as patience) and undesirable traits (such as jealousy).14 In the post-face to Kana retsujoden, the Genji and other tales are likened to the original Lienü zhuan, composed in order to teach virtue and urge read-

11 On Kigin’s authorship see Aoyama Tadakazu 青山忠一, Kanazōshi jokun bungei no kenkyū 仮名草子女訓文芸の研究 (Tokyo: Ōfūsha, 1982), 27–38; and Paul G. Schalow, “Theorizing sex/gender in early modern Japan: Kitamura Kigin’s Maidenflowers and Wild Azaleas,” Japanese Studies 18,3 (1998): 259. 12 For the dating, see Nakano Setsuko 中野節子, “Kaidai 解題,” Edo jidai josei bunko 江戸時代女性文庫 6 (Tokyo: Ōzorasha, 1994), 1 (essay paginated separately). 13 P. F. Kornicki, “Women, Education, and Literacy,” The Female as Subject: Reading and Writing in Early Modern Japan, eds. Kornicki, Mara Patessio, and G. G. Rowley (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2010), esp. 23–32. 14 Schalow, “Theorizing sex/gender,” 250–52. Murasaki (紫) and Akashi (明石) are deemed to epitomize patience, while Aoi (葵) and Rokujō (六条) are decried for their jealousy. Moriyama Shigeru 森山茂, “Ominaeshi monogatari no sho mondai — shuttenkō o chūshin to shite — 女郎花物語の諸問題 — 出典攷を中心として — ,” Kokubungakukō 国文学攷 27 (1962): 88–89. 52 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

ers to practice vigilance in their behavior.15 Kigin thus declares that Genji and other monogatari contain lessons that can serve as moral and social instruction for women. Indeed, Genji is lauded elsewhere as containing lessons appropriate precisely for Japanese women.16 However, the Heian tale was not universally advocated as appropriate reading material for women. The Tale of Genji appears frequently in the various ōraimono for women, but the references are often limited to the tale’s chapter titles. The Mandates for Women (Onna shikimoku 女式目 written before 1660) declares that women should practice writing these titles,17 and Rapid Learning for Women (Onna hayagakumon 女早学問 1777) also includes the list of chapters.18 Such texts, marking the tale’s chapter titles to be important information that should be committed to memory, implicitly sanction The Tale of Genji without necessarily promot- ing its reading. Accordingly, they give little or no information about the contents of the chapters (aside from a poem to represent each chapter).19

15 Kornicki, “Unsuitable Books for Women?,” 164. 16 Kumazawa Banzan (熊沢蕃山 1619–91), who authored Auxiliary Chapters on Genji (Genji gaiden 源氏外伝 ca. 1673), declares in Teachings for Women (Joshikun 女子訓 1691) that Genji provides appropriate instruction for women, citing the Akashi Lady (明石) in particular. Ii Haruki also discusses the example of Ichijō Kanera’s work in “Didactic Readings of The Tale of Genji: Politics and Women’s Education,” Envisioning the Tale of Genji, 160–63. 17 Kanazōshi shūsei 仮名草子集成 11, ed. Asakura Haruhiko 朝倉治彦 and Fukazawa Akio 深沢秋男 (Tokyo, Tokyōdō shuppan, 1990), 161. 18 Kikō ōraimono shūsei 稀覯往来物集成 19, ed. Koizumi Yoshinaga 小泉吉永 (Tokyo: Ōzorasha, 1997), 192–95. 19 Although some texts like Educational Mirror for Women: The Tale of Genji (Onna Genji kyōkun kagami 女源氏教訓鑑 1713) include summaries of each chapter, most ōraimono only include chapter titles and select poems. For Genji in ōraimono primers for women, see Kornicki, “Unsuitable Books for Women?” as well as Joshua Mostow ジョシュワ・モストウ , “Genji monogatari to jokunsho 「源氏物語」と女訓書,” Genji monogatari to Edo bunka: kashika sareru gazoku「源氏物語」と江戸文化 — 可視化される雅俗, eds. Kojima Naoko 小嶋菜温子, Komine Kazuaki 小峯和明, and Watanabe Kenji 渡辺憲司 (Tokyo: Shinwasha, 2008), 337–46; Tokunaga Yumi 徳永結美, “Ōraimono ni okeru Genji monogatari 往来物における「源氏物語」,” Gakugei koten bungaku 学芸古典文学 1 (2008): 134–46; Tan Kazuhiro 丹和浩, “Ōraimono 往来物,” Genji monogatari no hensōkyōku: Edo no Shirabe 源氏物語の変奏曲：江戸の調べ, ed. Suzuki Kenichi 鈴木健一 (Tokyo: Miyai Beyond The Tale of Genji 53

Some texts advocated the tale’s consumption with certain caveats, such as reading under the guidance of a female teacher or with proper study-aids.20 The passage below is from a later popular primer, called Multiplication Ta b l e s and More for Women (Onna kuku no koe 女九九乃声 1787), in a section titled “What it means to study texts”:

The books that girls should learn from are those such as The Four Books for Women (Onna shisho 女四書),21 The Lesser Learning for Japan (Yamato shōgaku 大和小学) — there are two versions of this, either one is fine — Biographies of Exemplary Women in Japanese (Kana retsujoden 仮名列女伝) . . . and Precepts for Japanese Customs for Children (Wazoku dōjikun 和俗童子訓). As for The Tale of Genji, Essays in Idleness (Tsurezuregusa 徒然草), and Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari 伊勢物語), these too are beneficial if you read them with a proper heart. If read in the wrong way, they will be detrimental. With everything, one should take to studying ceaselessly, day and night.22

The first titles that are cited in the passage above are textbooks, which like Onna kuku itself, were intended for girls and women. These are touted to be properly edifying and beneficial without fail, while the two monogatari and Essays in Idleness (Tsurezuregusa 徒然草 1329–33) by Kenkō (兼好 ca.1283–ca.1352) come with strong warnings. With these texts of ambig- uous benefit, emphasis is placed on the manner of reading, thus underscor- ing the responsibility of the reader. It is not only necessary to read these

shoten, 2003), 224–34; Watanuki Toyoaki 綿抜豊昭, “Genji monogatari no chishikika 「源氏物語」の知識化,” Bungaku 文学 (2003): 94–102. 20 Instructions for Women (Jokunshō 女訓抄1642). Rpt. Ōraimono taikei 往来物大系 81, ed. Ishikawa Matsutarō 石川松太郎 (Tokyo: Ōzorasha, 1994). 21 According to Aoyama Tadakazu, this title is to be read Joshisho. Aoyama, Kanazōshi jokun bungei, 130. 22 Edo jidai shomin bunko 江戸時代庶民文庫 4, ed. Koizumi Yoshinaga 小泉吉永 (Tokyo: Ōzorasha, 2012), 84. Unless otherwise noted, translations in this essay are my own. 54 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

tales with a proper heart in order to learn from them; it is also crucial to avoid being victimized by their potentially detrimental effects.23 As Peter Kornicki has shown, some Sinologists in the latter half of the seventeenth century explicitly spoke against women reading The Tale of Genji, stating that for proper moral education women should read Chinese classics, including Lienü zhuan.24 Though such critics usually limited their evaluations to the text of Genji, Hayashi Razan (林羅山 1583–1657) con- cluded that since the author Murasaki Shikibu was a woman, she could not possibly compose proper literature, while Nakayama Sanryū (中山三柳 1614–84) grouped her together with other notable female poets of her day, noting that they were akin to harlots (inpu 淫婦).25 Such harsh judgments concerning Murasaki Shikibu herself, however, were not widely repeated in critical texts by Sinologists, and are even less prominent in books intended for women, in which Murasaki is nearly always depicted positively, regardless of how The Tale of Genji is assessed. Five Classics for Women (Onna gokyō 女五経, early Edo) claims that though readers only value its amorous content, Murasaki herself intended other-

23 Onna kuku no koe was composed after the middle of the eighteenth century when it was “a matter of course that women include Genji in their reading.” Kornicki, “Unsuitable Books for Women?,” 179. 24 Nagata Zensai (永田善齋 1597–1664) was one of the earliest critics who denounced the tale as advocating lascivious behavior. Kornicki, “Unsuitable Books for Women?,” 155. The same attitude is seen for example in the preface to The Four Books for Women (女四書) by Tsujihara Genpo (辻原元甫 b. 1622?): “Though women too should study in the same manner as men do, as is the custom of our country, it has been established that women do not partake in [serious] literature. Not reading the proper writings of China, they instead only playfully read things called fictional tales and books of this country. The great majority of these types of books portray exclusively immoral and lewd behavior. Thus, following what they see, before long their hearts become tainted. . . . as this is inevitable, they should not read such texts.” Quoted in Aoyama, Kanazōshi jokun bungei, 135–36. 25 See Kornicki, “Unsuitable Books for Women?,” 153 (on Razan) and 159 (on Sanryū). Sanryū cited by Nakamura Yukihiko 中村幸彦, Kinsei bungei shichōkō 近世文藝思潮巧 (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1975), 27. Beyond The Tale of Genji 55

wise and wrote the tale as an admonishment for people of later ages.26 In other words, the author is not to be blamed for those who read the texts without “a proper heart,” as it were. The Educational Primer for Women (Onna gakuhan 女学範 mid-Edo) declares that The Tale of Genji is lewd and suggestive, and yet includes Murasaki in a list of notable female scholars, presumably so that readers can commit her name to memory.27

The Author as Exemplary Woman

Though Kitamura Kigin and others have suggested that The Tale of Genji could be a kind of retsujoden (biographies of women),28 it is Murasaki Shikibu herself, rather than the female characters from her tale, who is most often depicted as an exemplary woman. Though here I use the term retsujoden as a generic marker, the original Chinese Lienü zhuan (Categorized Biographies of Women) was compiled by the male scholar Liu Xiang (Jp. Ryūkyō 劉向, 79–78 BCE) near the end of the Former Han dynasty (206 BCE–8 CE). It was purportedly presented to the emperor in an attempt to warn him against the proclivities of bad women — particularly those from the lower classes — and to alert him to the actions of good women, as well as to provide positive exemplars for women residing

26 Onna gokyō, reproduction of text from 1681 in Edo jidai josei bunko 江戸時代女性文庫 2 (Tokyo: Ōzorasha, 1994), n.p. This assessment is found in numerous Genji commentaries. 27 Ibid., Onna gakuhan, reproduction of text from 1768. However, ōraimono are often a compendium of various materials that can contradict one another. Onna gakuhan elsewhere praises the tale as having superior prose. Tan Kazuhiro, “Ōraimono,” 228. 28 The argument that The Tale of Genji can be read as a catalogue of women is most often made by citing the “ranking of women” (shina sadame 品定め) passage in the “Broom Tree” (Hahakigi 帚木) chapter. Murasaki, The Tale of Genji, 22–35. In addition, the tale features dozens of female characters, all unique in political and social station, age, appearance, personality, poetic prowess, and relationship to the male character Genji. Some claim that the Genji was purposefully modeled on Liu Xiang’s Lienü zhuan. Tanaka Taka’aki 田中隆昭, “Genji monogatari to Shisho to Retsujoden to 源氏物語と史書と列女伝と,’” Genji monogatari to Kanbungaku 源氏物語と漢文学, ed. Wakan hikakubungakukai 和漢比較文学会 (Tokyo: Kyūko shoin, 1993), 47–64. 56 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

at court.29 It is a collection of stories of legendary and historical figures that exhibited superior rhetoric and reasoning, were morally virtuous, or, as in the chapter titled “Depraved and Favored” (Ch. niebi and Jp. geppei 孽嬖), dangerously flawed. In China, later iterations of the Lienü zhuan appended biographies of contemporary women or replaced the original examples altogether.30 In Japan too, many such texts were composed and widely circulated in the Edo period, particularly after the introduction of Kigin’s Japanese translation. These retsujoden include historical and fictional women from both China and Japan, and often contain biographies of famous women from the Heian period such as Akazome Emon (赤染衛門 ca. 964–1021) and Izumi Shikibu (和泉式部 b. 976?), both contemporaries of the Genji author. Some retsujoden, such as Kana retsujoden and Biographies of Women of Our Land (Honchō retsujoden 本朝列女伝 1668), were more clearly based on Confucian ideals, while others, such as Mirror of Women of Our Land (Honchō jokan or Honchō onna kagami 本朝女鑑 1661), discussed below, also incorporated Buddhist ideas. Still many other retsujoden have no clear ideological predilections, including Comparison of the Love of Prominent Women (Meijo nasake kurabe 名女情比 1678), which I will also discuss below.31 Despite these variations, accounts about Murasaki Shikibu generally follow a similar pattern.32 I now turn to focus on Mirror of Beauties of Our Land (Honchō bijin kagami 本朝美人鑑 1687) as one typical example.

29 Anne Behnke Kinney, Exemplary Women of Early China: The Lienü Zhuan of Liu Xiang (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014), xvii. It was published in Japan as Classic Categorized Biographies of Women ( Jp. Ko retsujoden 古列女伝 1654). 30 These adaptations were read by both men and women, and could be as entertaining as they were instructional. For Lienü zhuan expansions and other biographical narratives in China, see Beyond Exemplar Tales: Women’s Biography in Chinese History, eds. Joan Judge and Hu Ying (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011); and Lisa Ann Raphals, Sharing the Light: Representations of Women and Virtue in Early China (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998), 236–46. 31 According to Aoyama Tadakazu, Meijo nasake kurabe simply depicts “modern” women of the period. Aoyama, Kanazōshi jokun bungei, 5–6. 32 In one notable exception to this pattern, Honchō retsujoden confuses Murasaki Shikibu with Sei Shōnagon. Nihon jinbutsu jōhō taikei 日本人物情報大系 1, ed. Haga Noboru 芳賀登 et al. (Tokyo: Kōseisha, 1999), 95. Beyond The Tale of Genji 57

Figure 1: Honchō bijin kagami By permission of Kyoto University Library

Beauty and Intelligence

A collection of unknown authorship that catalogues a total of 36 beauties (bijin 美人), Honchō bijin kagami [fig. 1] includes legendary Japanese figures as well as poets, empresses, and princesses.33 As in many other accounts about Murasaki Shikibu, the Genji author is introduced first through her father Fujiwara no Tametoki (藤原為時 d.1029?).

33 Also featured are numerous women of The Tales of the Heike (Heike monogatari 平家物語 mid-thirteenth century). The text is slightly reworked and published in 1709 as Tamakazura of Our Land (Wakoku Tamakazura 和国玉かつら). Kurahashi Tohikisa 倉橋節尚, “Honchō bijin kagami kaisetsu「本朝美人鑑」解説 ,” Eiri Honchō bijin kagami 絵入本朝美人鑑, ed. Kurahashi Tokihisa 倉橋節尚 (Tokyo: Koten bunko, 1985), 243–55. 58 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

Murasaki Shikibu, the daughter of Tametoki, the governor of Echizen (越前), was an attendant to Jōtōmon’in (上等門院).34 Though she was first called Fuji Shikibu (藤式部), because she wrote so splendidly of Lady Murasaki when she composed The Tale of Genji, it is said that she was given the sobriquet Murasaki Shikibu.

Now, this Shikibu was not merely a beautiful face. Widely studied in the writings of China and Japan, she was also practiced in Chinese poetry. As for Japanese poetry, while respecting the ways of the ancients, her compositions were simultaneously extremely modern. Indeed there is much to revere, and her intel- lect cannot be praised enough.35

This first section of the entry is characteristic of retsujoden of the time. “Biographical” accounts of women in such texts often begin by naming the woman’s father along with his occupation or position within the imperial court, often the highest status achieved during his lifetime. On the rare occasion that Murasaki Shikibu’s mother is mentioned as well, she is simply identified as “the daughter of Tamenobu (為信), the governor of Settsu (摂津).” 36 Women’s names were generally recorded at the time only if she was directly connected to the imperial throne — for example, as an empress or as the mother of an emperor. For this reason, when pertinent, a brief explanation is provided that gives the provenance of the moniker by which the woman came to be known.37

34 Jōtōmon’in is the name conferred upon Empress Shōshi (彰子 988–1074), chief consort of Emperor Ichijō and a daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga. 35 Honchō bijin kagami, 54–56. See also Hihyō shūsei Genji monogatari 批評集成源氏物語 1, ed. Akiyama Ken 秋山兼 et al. (Tokyo: Yumani Shobō, 1999), 471–72. 36 For example, Women’s library of many treasures: High-relief lacquerwork (Manpō onna bunko takamaki’e 万宝女文庫高蒔絵 1721), a reprint of Zōeki jokyō bunshō 増益女教文章, reproduced in Ōraimono taikei 往来物大系 92, ed. Ishikawa Matsutarō 石川松太郎 (Tokyo: Ōzorasha, 1994). 37 The explanation that the moniker of the Genji author derives from the character Murasaki can be found, for example, in Kakaishō. Shimeishō, Kakaishō 紫盟抄河海抄 ed. Tamagami Takuya 玉上琢弥 (Tokyo: Kadokawa shoten, 1968), 186. Beyond The Tale of Genji 59

In the account included in the Honchō bijin kagami above, Murasaki Shikibu is then praised in a manner similar to women in this and other retsujoden, where both intelligence and beauty are lauded. For example, Akazome Emon is described as being “superior in appearance and character” and a highly accomplished poet.38 Lady Ise (伊勢 ca. 875–938) is said to have the reputation of being “truly refined and beautiful” as well as a “poet of great distinction.”39 Though the emphasis on the women’s attractiveness in these examples is hardly surprising, given the inclusion of the term bijin in its title, other texts also extol the physical appearance of idealized women. The following example comes from Murasaki Shikibu’s Scroll (Murasaki Shikibu no maki 紫式部の巻 1658), an otogi zōshi (御伽草子) with an extended biographical narrative that includes a more detailed and rather embellished description of the Genji author’s appearance.40

At the time of Emperor Ichijō there was an attendant lady to Jōtōmon’in named Murasaki Shikibu, who was an intelligent woman. Her figure was extraordinarily beautiful, like a willow swaying in the wind . . . Her lips like a lotus flower, her breasts were [as if ] bejeweled. Her figure was as beautiful as the plum and cherry blossoms spilling over in the sunset.41

The focus on her beauty marks her clearly as a woman. Though accolades of the Genji author’s intelligence are abundant in commentaries like Kogetsushō, in which she is described as having “vast knowledge and numerous talents” (hakugaku kōsai 博学広才), in such contexts there are

38 Honchō bijin kagami, 75. 39 Honchō bijin kagami, 46–48. 40 This text is not addressed solely to a female audience. 41 Muromachi jidai monogatari taisei 室町時代物語大成 2, eds. Yokoyama Shigeru 横山重 and Matsumoto Takanobu 松本隆信 (Tokyo: Kadokawa shoten, 1974), 241. Murasaki Shikibu no maki is included as part of Tales of Ishiyama (Ishiyama monogatari 石山物語). The passage is similar to the account found in Koshikibu, which I discuss below. R. Keller Kimbrough, Preachers, Poets, Women and the Way: Izumi Shikibu and the Buddhist Literature of Medieval Japan (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2008), 17–18. 60 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

hardly ever any references to the author’s physical characteristics.42 And while descriptions of her beauty are not limited to retsujoden or to ōraimono specifically intended for women, they are found much more often in such texts. Although an emphasis on a woman’s beauty may also invite the “male gaze” upon a sexualized (or at the least, a sexed) object, in retsujoden and other texts primarily intended for women, such highlighting underscores the shared gender of these texts’ readers and the Genji author.

Loyalty to One Man

Regardless of the particular woman in question, in retusjoden praise for both beauty and intelligence is common. Murasaki Shikibu, however, is also often portrayed as a loyal widow. The following account appears near the end of her account in Honchō bijin kagami:

At a certain time, her husband fell ill. She took her leave and tried somehow to bring him back to health. But it was to no avail and he died. Shikibu, extremely saddened and in seclusion, wrote this poem:

The person I loved turned to smoke From that evening, even the name brings memories Bay of Shiogama

Gazing afar, there was no end to her tears.43

The poem cited here is recorded in the imperial Collection of Poems Old and New (Shinkokinwakashū 新古今和歌集 1205) as well as in the Poetic Collection of Murasaki Shikibu (Murasaki Shikibu shū 紫式部集), the poetry collection that was likely compiled after her death.44 In Honchō bijin kagami the husband — who incidentally remains unnamed — is not mentioned

42 Kitamura Kigin 北村季吟, Genji monogatari Kogetsushō: zōchū jō 源氏物語湖月抄: 増注上, ed. Arikawa Takehiko 有川武彦 (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1982), 7. 43 Honchō bijin kagami, 57–58. 44 Murasaki Shikibu shū no. 48 and Shinkokinwakashū no. 820. Beyond The Tale of Genji 61

elsewhere, and as soon as we find out that the author is married, she is quickly widowed. Flowers and Birds: One Hundred Poems, One Hundred Poets (Kachō hyakunin isshu 花鳥百人一首 1629?), an ōraimono for women, also identifies her from the beginning as a widow:

Murasaki Shikibu was the wife of Fujiwara no Nobutaka (藤原宣孝). The husband died in the fifth month of the third year of Chōhō (長保) [1001] and she did not remarry. She became an attendant for Jōtōmon’in. The ladies of her court were all accomplished but even among this group Shikibu excelled in her studies. She, however, never flaunted her superior intelligence and was a reserved person.45

Indeed, Murasaki Shikibu was married for only a short while; it is thought that Nobutaka died soon after their daughter Kenshi (賢子) — later known as Daini no Sanmi 大弐三位) — was born. The above passage suggests that after the death of her husband, Murasaki deliberately chose to join the empress’s all-female literary salon rather than marry another man. She thus appears to have remained loyal to her late husband for life. In fact, stories about Murasaki Shikibu hardly ever include romantic relationships, in contrast to The Tale of Genji and its abundance of stories about amorous dalliances between women and men. There is one notable exception, Comparison of the Love of Prominent Women (Meijo nasake kurabe 名女情比 ca. 1681), which refers to a fictional relationship between the Genji author and Minamoto no Taka’akira (源高明 914–82), an apoc- ryphal pairing stemming from the popular theory that the character Genji was modeled on Taka’akira.46 Yet even in this case where she is portrayed as being passionately in love, the Genji author can hardly be called indecent in her actions.

45 Watanuki Toyoaki 綿抜豊昭, “Ōraimono ni mirareru Murasaki Shikibu zō ni tsuite 往来物にみられる紫式部像について,” Toshokan jōhō daigaku kenkyū hōkoku 図書館情報大学研究報告 20,2 (2001), 7. 46 Richard Bowring, Murasaki Shikibu: Her Diary and Poetic Memoirs (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982), 9–10. 62 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

A son of Emperor Murakami, the Minister of the Left (sadaijin 左大臣) Taka’akira developed feelings for Shikibu, and the way she thought of him was also without comparison. Furtively they exchanged vows.47

The two are said to have been deeply in love, and Murasaki is later devas- tated by Taka’akira’s exile; according to this account, she is thus inspired to model her tale’s eponymous hero Genji on the prince. Though there is a suggestion that Taka’akira shifted his feelings for her from another woman (onkokoro wo utsusase tamahikereba 御こころをうつさせ給ひければ ), and though — and perhaps more to the point — they are described as meeting in secret (shinobi shinobi ni chigirase tamahikeri しのびしのびにちぎらせ給ひけり; shinobi ahi tamafu しのびあひ給ふ), there is no reference to Murasaki being already married, to Nobutaka or otherwise, and as far as the narrative is concerned, she is herself intimate with only one man.48 In fact, in the Meijo nasake kurabe’s retelling of her life, it is Murasaki’s loyalty to one man that serves as the inspiration for the depiction of Genji at Suma. Even if the tale shows men and women engaging in multiple affairs, Genji’s author remains faithful to one man and one man only, whether it is her real husband (Tametoki) or a legendary one (Taka’akira). The legend of Murasaki and Taka’akira is clearly fictional, but in another instance when the story veers even farther away from any historical accuracy, the Genji author is depicted as unequivocally chaste. In the Newly Published Murasaki Shikibu (Shinpan Murasaki Shikibu 新版紫式部 ca. 1747), which belongs to the kurohon (黒本) category of books, a popular genre that was likely read by children and women, Murasaki is pursued by multitudes of men but protects her virginity and eventually finds her place as an attendant in Empress Shōshi’s salon.49 This depiction

47 Mikan kanazōshishū to kenkyū 未刊仮名草子集と研究 1, vol 4 of Mikan kokubun shiryō dainiki 未刊国文資料第2期, ed. Asakura Haruhiko 朝倉治彦 (Toyohashi: Mikan kokubunshiryō kankōkai, 1960), 113. 48 Ibid., 113–15. 49 Ii Haruki 伊井春樹, Genji monogatari no densetsu 源氏物語の伝説 (Tokyo: Shōwa shuppan, 1976), 233–61. See also R. Keller Kimbrough’s translation in “Murasaki Shikibu for Children: The Illustrated Shinpan Murasaki Shikibu of ca. 1747,” Japanese Beyond The Tale of Genji 63

contributes to her representation as a pure, morally upright woman, as if in defiant defense against the criticism that The Tale of Genji is full of men and women of questionable moral fortitude.

Ishiyama Temple and Religious Devotion

One of the most frequently repeated stories in so-called biographies about the Genji author is the manner in which she composed her tale.50 The following is again from Honchō bijin kagami:

One day, a message came from the Great Priestess (daisai’in 大斎院),51 daughter of Emperor Murakami (村上), with a question: “Is there a story that is extraordinary?” Jōtōmon’in called forth Shikibu. “The likes of The Tale of Utsuho (Utsuho monogatari うつほ物語 ) and The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Taketori 竹取) are old, and there is nothing unique about them. You must take a brush and compose a new monogatari.” As it was a royal command, when she took leave of the empress she felt grateful for the task and heeded the mandate with great reverence. She went to Ishiyama temple (Ishiyama dera 石山寺) and prayed with a tranquil heart. She sat ready to compose with the blank side of a scripture that had been placed in front of the Buddhist altar. On the fifteenth night of the Eighth Month, the clear moon cast its reflection on the lake. Her vision unobstructed, a splendid idea came to her. First writing the Suma (須磨) and

Language and Literature 40,1 (April 2006): 1–36. In kurohon, the illustrations were generally given more import than the text, and were likely popular among younger and less skillful readers. 50 See, for example, Mirror for Young Ladies: Imagawa for Women (Onna imagawa hime kagami 女今川姫鑑 1763), Onna daigaku takarabako mentioned above, and Mirror for Calligraphy Practice, Instructions for Women (Onke jokun tenarai kagami 御家女訓手習鏡 1866). Watanuki, “Oraimono ni mirareru,” 1–11. 51 Senshi (選子 964–1035) was the tenth daughter of Emperor Murakami (r. 946–67). At age 12 in 975 she became the priestess of Kamo (賀茂) Shrine and came to be known as the “Great Priestess” due to her long term through five imperial reigns. 64 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

Akashi (明石) chapters, in the end she completed sixty fasci- cles.52 This is The Tale of Genji that we have today.53

This account refers to the legend that the Genji author wrote the tale at Ishiyama temple. Situated east of the Heian capital of Kyōto (京都), the temple is known for its ties to women of the imperial court and aris- tocracy. 54 The story first emerged in the early Kamakura period (鎌倉 1185–1333)55 and became increasingly prevalent in the medieval period, as seen in Yotsutsuji Yoshinari’s (四辻善成) The River and Sea Commentary (Kakaishō 河海抄 ca. 1390).56 This popular version is similar to that found in Honchō bijin kagami.57 The icon of Murasaki Shikibu writing the Genji at Ishiyama temple was popularly reproduced in both text and image, gaining traction as one recognized metonym for The Tale of Genji by the Edo period. The digest Jūjō Genji I discussed earlier in this essay opens with this image [fig. 2], and the title Kogetsushō (literally “lake moon commentary”) is a reference to the moon’s reflection on the lake that inspires Murasaki to write. Not only retsujoden but other texts for women also include this story. Most frequently depicted is a beautiful woman writing the tale, and similar images are reproduced in various media like hanging picture scrolls and ukiyo’e (浮世絵), such as “The Five Virtues: Faith (Murasaki Shikibu)” (Gojō: Shin (Murasaki Shikibu) 五常「信」（紫式部）1767) by Suzuki Harunobu (鈴木春信 1725–70) [fig. 3]. The popularity of this image is suggested by its inclusion in a guidebook for illustrations (Ehon shahō bukuro 絵本写宝袋, Illustrated Book: A Treasure Bag, 1720) [fig. 4].

52 Sixty is often cited as the true number of Genji chapters in reference to the Tendai (天台) scriptures. 53 Honchō bijin kagami, 56–57. 54 The Ishiyama temple was popular as a pilgrimage site among Murasaki Shikibu and her female contemporaries. It also briefly appears in The Tale of Genji. Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji, 316. 55 Ii, Genji monogatari no densetsu, 25. 56 Tamagami, Shimeishō, Kakaishō, 186. 57 For a brief history of the Ishiyama legend, see Ikeda Kikan 池田亀鑑, Ikeda Kikan senshū: Monogatari bungaku 池田亀鑑選集：物語文学 1 (Tokyo: Shibundō, 1969), 351–59. Beyond The Tale of Genji 65

Figure 2: Genji in Ten Chapters 1661 By permission of Waseda University

It is no accident that this image and story became so widely dissemi- nated within Genji commentaries, digests, texts for women, and elsewhere, for the legend provides an indisputably auspicious frame to the tale. Senshi and Shōshi emphasize Murasaki Shikibu’s connection to the imperial household, and the story cites a court mandate as the impetus for the tale’s composition. The particular passage in Honchō bijin kagami underscores Murasaki’s clear devotion to the court; she is both daunted by and grateful for the task she is assigned. It is only after spending nights in prayer cloistered in the Ishiyama temple that Murasaki Shikibuku is finally enabled by the temple and its Buddhist deity to complete the task of composition. The Tale of Genji is also said to have been written on the reverse side of a handwritten copy of the Great Wisdom Sutra, so that the tale literally shares its physical foundation with that of a major scripture in the Buddhist canon. The Ishiyama legend is a laudatory origin myth that marks The Tale of Genji as felicitous 66 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

Figure 3: Suzuki Harunobu, Japanese, 1725–70 Faith (Shin), from the series The Five Virtues (Gojō) Japanese, Edo period, 1767 (Meiwa 4) Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper Vertical chūban, 28.5 x 20.7 cm (11 ¼ x 8 1/8 in.) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston William S. and John T. Spaulding Collection, 21.4964 Beyond The Tale of Genji 67

Figure 4: Illustrated Book: A Treasure Bag, 1720 Author’s collection

at birth, elevating the fictional and purportedly lascivious tale to an impe- rially mandated work that was composed under Buddhist auspices and divine intervention. One of the major effects of the Ishiyama legend is to promote the Buddhist foundations of the tale, as well as the religious devotion of its author. Other accounts further highlight Murasaki’s religiosity by repre- senting her as an accomplished scholar of Tendai Buddhism. For example, Bunkai bag of wisdom for women’s education (Jokyō bunkai chiebukuro 女教文海智恵嚢 1749), another ōraimono for women, prefaces the Ishiyama legend with this passage:

Murasaki Shikibu is the daughter of Tametoki, the governor of Echizen. Because her father Tametoki was a wise scholar, from a young age she read and studied books, and mastered the texts of Japan and China. She also conveyed the essence of the notion of “concentration and insight” (shikan 止観) to the scholar-priest 68 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

of the mount of Tendai (天台), and cultivated the essence of the Buddhist way.58

Similar accounts of her deep understanding of Tendai Buddhism are found elsewhere, and such references are not limited to ōraimono and retsujoden that are exclusively or overtly Buddhist in tone or ideology.59 This emphasis on her devotion to Buddhist study, as well as the Buddhist sanction of her authorship that is found in the Ishiyama legend, is crucial because from at least the twelfth century opponents castigated The Tale of Genji for violating the Buddhist precept forbidding falsehood (mōgo 妄語) as well as frivolous language expressed by the phrase “wild words and fancy language” (kyōgen kigo 狂言綺語).60 Fabricated tales (monogatari 物語) as a genre were deemed sinful in their composition, and the issue became increasingly problematic during the cloistered emperor period (inseiki 院政期) of the early twelfth century.61 The Murasaki Shikibu daraku ron (紫式部堕落論), or the story of Murasaki’s fall to hell, appeared around this time, declaring that after the Genji author’s death her soul was unable to attain salvation thanks to her sin of writing the tale. Records and stories indicate that sanctification ceremonies (kuyō 供養) were conducted in order to pray for the salvation of both Murasaki and readers of the Genji through ceremonies that involved such acts as the copying of the Lotus Sutra and the composition of Buddhist poems incorporating Genji chapter titles. In these narratives, the Genji readers are often depicted as women, though

58 Jokyō bunkai chiebukuro. Reproduced in Edo jidai josei bunko 江戸時代女性文庫 33 (Tokyo: Ōzorasha, 1995). 59 Watanuki, “Ōraimono ni mirareru,” 3–5. 60 The notion of Genji employing kyōgen kigo is first articulated in The Tale of Genji Supplication (Genji monogatari hyōbyaku 源氏物語表白 late 12th c.). Teramoto Naohiko 寺本直彦, Genji monogatari juyōshi ronkō zokuhen 源氏物語受容史論考続編 (Tokyo: Kazama shobō, 1983), 500. 61 Ikegami Jun’ichi 池上純一, “Genji monogatari no kyōkaiteki hyōron 源氏物語の教戒的評論,” Kokubungaku kaishaku to kyōzai no kenkyu 国文学解釈と教材の研究 14,1 (1969): 22. Beyond The Tale of Genji 69

men participated in the ceremonies and clearly had a part in perpetuating the story.62 The legend that the Genji author had fallen to hell, though seen in the Murasaki Shikibu no maki mentioned above and adapted into nō (能) and jōruri (浄瑠璃) plays, is rarely found in retsujoden and ōraimono for women. Instead, it is the Ishiyama legend that is repeated, most likely because instead of calling for the tale’s retroactive sanctification, the Ishiyama legend affirms that the tale is, from its beginnings, free of sin. By making Murasaki into a devout woman learned in Tendai teachings, who wrote the tale with Buddhist blessings, the accounts found in Honchō bijin kagami and elsewhere counter both the general criticism of fiction as well as the particular legend that she was punished after death for having written the Genji. Indeed, some accounts further emphasize the tale’s Buddhist connections by transforming her into an actual manifestation of a deity, most often the bodhisattva Kannon (観音).63 While this addendum is also found in some extant versions of stories that tell of Murasaki’s “fall to hell,” in texts for women it is included as yet another celebratory characteristic of the Genji author.

The Author as Historian

Following its account of Murasaki Shikibu’s authorship at the Ishiyama temple, Honchō bijin kagami proceeds to extol The Tale of Genji, liken- ing it to Records of a Historian (Ch. Shiji, Jp. Shiki 史記), as well as to the parables of Zhuangzi (Jp. Sōshi 莊子). While acknowledging that the tale may appear to be full of lascivious stories, it claims that the Genji in fact leads one to understand the Buddhist truth of impermanence (mujō 無常).

62 The sponsor of the kuyō in Sutra for Genji (Genji ipponkyō 源氏一品経 ca. 1168) is widely said to be Bifukumon’in no Kaga (美福門院加賀), mother of Fujiwara no Teika ( 藤原定家 d. 1193). The otogi zōshi called Story of Genji kuyō (Genji kuyō zōshi 源氏供養草子 14th c.) also depicts a ceremony sponsored by a nun. 63 The suggestion that Murasaki Shikibu was a manifestation of a deity is found as early as Mirror of the Present (Imakagami 今鏡 ca. 1170) and was popularized by Kakaishō. Ikeda Kikan 池田亀鑑, Monogatari bungaku 物語文学 1, 360–62. 70 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

Its words elegant like jewels, in the same vein as the passages of the Records of a Historian of Sima Qian (Jp. Shibakō 司馬遷) and learning from the allegories of Zhuangzi, it shines light on old practices of the scholars of the past. Its foundation is the Way of Poetry (shikishima no michi 敷嶋の道). Though one may say that on the surface it tells of the passing pleasures of love and desire, in truth it enlightens people concerning the truth of mujō. It has since become the most popular book.64

This passage not only highlights, once again, the Buddhist characteristics of the tale, but also provides it with an affiliation with the Chinese classics. The association of Murasaki’s work with established histories and Chinese classics is made often in Genji commentaries and elsewhere. Along with the Chinese Shiji, many accounts liken The Tale of Genji to Chronicles of Japan (Nihon shoki or Nihongi 日本書紀 720). In retsujoden and ōraimono, she is identified as an historian most often with reference to the nickname “Lady of the Chronicles of Japan” (Nihongi no mitsubone 日本紀の御局) that was assigned to Murasaki in her time.65 Her own diary records that a fellow attendant gave her the moniker as a slight.66 Clearly the association of the tale with one of Japan’s earliest histories functions to elevate the status of The Tale of Genji from that of a fictional tale to a history. In another retsujoden, Murasaki Shikibu is compared to the Chinese female historian Ban Zhao (Jp. Hanshō 班昭, ca. 48–120), also known as Cao Dagu ( Jp. Sōtaiko 曹大姑 or 曹大家).67 This reference is found in a jokunmono called Mirror of Women of Our Land (Honchō jokan or Honchō onna kagami 本朝女鑑 1661), which is attributed to Asai Ryōi (浅井了意 d. 1691) and reproduced several times for varying capacities, likely reaching a wide audience.68 This somewhat lengthy account of Murasaki is again

64 Honchō bijin kagami, 57. 65 Watanuki, “Oraimono ni mirareru,” 5. 66 Bowring, Murasaki Shikibu, 137–39. 67 See Nancy Lee Swann, Pan Chao: Foremost Woman Scholar of China (1932; rpt. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 2001). 68 Aoyama, Kanazōshi jokun bungei, 250–77. Beyond The Tale of Genji 71 typical of the time, and ends with a quotation from a renowned study on the Genji:

Because The Tale of Genji contains profound insights, scholars of later generations wrote numerous commentaries about it. The work called Mingō nisso (岷江入楚) is said to be exemplary, and it has been passed down to us:

Cao Dagu (Jp. Sōtaiko) of China is the daughter of Ban Gu ( Jp. Hanko 班固). As her father Hanko died while composing the Book of Later Han (Ch. Hou Han Shu, Jp. Go Kanjo 後漢書), the daughter Sōtaiko amended and completed this history. Great intelligence and rhetorical prowess — why should Murasaki Shikibu be ashamed of these?69

Born to a family of scholars, Ban Zhao is indeed credited with completing a national history, titled Book of Han (Ch. Han shu, Jp. Kanjo 漢書), not Book of Later Han (Ch. Hou Han shu, Jp. Go Kanjo 後漢書), the production of which she assumed after her brother was killed.70 She is often considered to be the first female historian of China, so that in the above passage Murasaki Shikibu is associated with not just another intelligent woman, but one who wrote a Chinese national history — a genre that pos- sessed considerably more cultural and political prestige than did a Japanese fictional monogatari.71 Significant authority is thereby bestowed on Genji and its author. Ban Zhao, however, was not known exclusively for her work on Book of Han; she was identified long ago by scholar Zeng Gong (Jp. Sō Kyō 曾鞏

69 Nihon jinbutsu jōhō taikei, 70. 70 Ban Zhao’s biography actually appears in the Book of Later Han which is perhaps how the mistake was made in Honchō jokan. There is another error in the putatively quoted passage (which is not found in Mingō nisso or any other major commentary); Ban Zhao was in fact the sister, not the daughter, of Ban Gu. 71 The Genji ipponkyō discussed above lists a hierarchy of texts: Buddhist sutras, Confucian texts, histories, Chinese poems, waka, then monogatari. 72 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

1019–83) as the editor and annotator who appended an eighth chapter to Liu Xiang’s Lienü zhuan.72 And though many have since borrowed its title, the original Admonitions for Women (Ch. Nüjie, Jp. Jokai or Nyokai 女戒 or 女誡, 1st c.) was written by Ban Zhao, presumably for her daughter(s).73 It includes direct precepts that instruct young women — particularly new brides — to act with proper feminine decorum, most importantly by obeying their husbands and parents-in-law. It was widely distributed in multiple iterations, and was translated into Japanese for the first time in the 1650s. It was also included as one of the four books that comprise the widely promoted The Four Books for Women (Onna shisho or Joshisho 女四書), and as such is also frequently listed as appropriate reading material for women.74 In China Ban Zhao came to be as well known as the author of Nüjie, and the same seems to have been the case in early modern Japan.75 Thus associating Murasaki Shikibu with Ban Zhao allowed for the association of Genji not only with the Book of Han but simultaneously with Nüjie and perhaps also Lienü zhuan. The comparison of the two female authors strongly suggests that the Genji is not such an immoral book full of fiction after all, and that it is indeed beneficial specifically for a female readership.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Murasaki Shikibu is also often compared to her daughter, and the two are usually celebrated together, as in the following passage, again from Honchō bijin kagami:

72 Zeng further explains that Ban Zhao divided each of the original seven chapters by Liu Xiang into two, and then added one for a total of fifteen. Kinney, Exemplary Women of Early China, xxxiii. 73 Translated in Swann, Pan Chao, 82–99. 74 Kansai notes (Kansai hikki 閑際筆記 1715) cites Nüjie as the best book for girls. Kornicki, “Unsuitable Books for Women?” 158. 75 In the Mirror for Young Ladies (Himekagami 姫鏡 1712) Ban Zhao is described foremost as the author of Admonitions for Women. In Genji scholarship, she is often mentioned as the “first female historian” of China, though she is not discussed in any depth. Beyond The Tale of Genji 73

Daini no Sanmi (大弐三位) was the nursemaid to cloistered Emperor GoIchijō (GoIchijō’in 後一条院).76 Her father was Nobutaka (宣孝) and her mother was Murasaki Shikibu. Because she was the wife of Senior Assistant Governor– General Nariakira (Daini Nariakira 大弐成章), she is called Daini no Sanmi. This person was a beauty and she was widely read in both Chinese and Japanese literature. Thus it is said that she was hardly inferior to her mother Murasaki Shikibu, and she too was celebrated.77

The biographical account concludes with yet another reference to the Genji author: “Her mother Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji,” thus framing Daini no Sanmi’s biography by her association with Murasaki Shikibu.78 At times Daini no Sanmi is featured in collections where Murasaki Shikibu is not, and the latter seems to be critiqued in comparison with her daughter. But even then, the actual object of criticism is the Genji text, rather than its author. Probably from the late eighteenth century,79 Twenty-four Filial Women of Japan (Honchō onna nijūshikō 本朝女二十四孝) contains an account that is repeated in later ōraimono for women:

76 GoIchijō (後一条 r.1016–36) was the son of Empress Shōshi and Emperor Ichijō and was born when Daini no Sanmi would have still been a child herself; his birth in 1008 is recorded in Murasaki Shikibu nikki. Daini no Sanmi was in fact the nursemaid to GoReizei (後冷泉 r.1045–68). 77 Honchō bijin kagami, 92–94. 78 The two are also celebrated together in, for example, Honchō onna kagami cited above and Imagawa for Women: Instructional Writing (Onna imagawa oshie bumi 女今川教文 1778). Edo jidai josei seikatsu ezu daijiten 江戸時代女性生活絵図大事典 9, ed. Emori Ichirō 江森一郎 (Tokyo: Ōzorasha, 1994), 106–7. 79 Honchō onna nijūshikō was likely composed after Twenty-four Filial Pieties of Japan (Honchō nijūshikō 本朝二十四孝 1766) and before 1832 when the preface of Mirror of Codes for Women (Onna shikimoku kagami gusa 女式目鏡草), which cites the text, was written. The latter is reproduced in Yokoyama Manabu 横山學 et. al, “Honkoku shiryō Takai Ranzan cho ‘Onna shikimoku kagami gusa’ (Tenpō sannen jo Kaei gonen kan) 翻刻資料高井蘭山著「女式目鏡草」（天保三年序嘉永五年刊）,” Seikatsu bunka kenkyūjo nenpō 生活文化研究年報 22 (2009): 223–70. 74 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

Daini no Sanmi The daughter of Saemon no suke Nobutaka, her mother is Murasaki Shikibu. Because she became the wife of Dazai no daini Nariakira and served as nursemaid to the cloistered Emperor GoIchijō’, she was accorded the third rank. Her writing brush for poetry was not inferior to her mother’s. Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji, and though it received high accolades, there were many who widely criticized it (satasuru 沙汰する), declaring that because Shikibu lacked a deep understanding of things, she foolishly wrote exclusively and variously of lustful delusions. Gravely lamenting this, Sanmi secretly wrote, in place of her mother, the ten Uji (宇治) chapters beginning with Lady on the Bridge (Hashihime 橋姫). Depicting impermanence (mujō) in the “Floating Bridge of Dreams” chapter (Yume no ukihashi 夢浮橋) and incorporating the fundamental idea of Tendai concentration and insight (shikan 止観), she forged a link to Buddhist understanding. Forty years after part- ing from her mother [due to her death], she also wrote the eight scrolls of Sagoromo (狭衣).80 In this text, the character called Sagoromo taishō Genji is not the same as the Shining Genji [of The Tale of Genji]. In this way, superior in writing, having the world know of her mother’s profound intentions as well as [Daini no Sanmi’s] own name, she carried out such actions that should be called an ultimate manifestation of filial piety.81

Although the account emphasizes Daini no Sanmi’s part in raising the status of Genji by adding the Uji chapters, the criticism of the detractors is not considered to be reasonable. In the end, she is credited with clarifying her

80 The Tale of Sagoromo (Sagoromo monogatari 狭衣物語 ca. 1060) was likely composed by Senji (宣旨 ca. 1020–92), daughter of Minamoto no Yorikuni (源頼国), though many early readers attribute the tale to Daini no Sanmi. Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600, ed. Haruo Shirane (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008), 504. 81 Honchō onna nijūshi kō 本朝女二十四孝, reproduced in Nihon jinbutsu jōhō taikei 日本人物情報体系 1 (Tokyo: Kōseisha, 1999), 16. Beyond The Tale of Genji 75

mother’s true and “profound intentions” (fukaki kokorozashi 深き志), which were interpreted incorrectly by the tale’s slanderers. Just as other accounts excused Murasaki Shikibu by determining that her actual motivation in writing Genji was noble (that is, her tale was meant to be read as an admonition) the true problem is found in the manner in which readers interpret the text, rather than in the text itself — and certainly not in the author.

Separating the Author from her Tale

I conclude with a discussion of an otogi zōshi that was composed in the late medieval period but which remained popular into the early modern era. Although the title conventionally given to this otogi zōshi is Koshikibu, the tale tells the story of not one, but three female literati: Murasaki Shikibu, Izumi Shikibu, and Koshikibu (小式部 d. 1025).82 The tale opens with an introduction to Murasaki, who is showered with the highest accolades regarding her beauty, musical talents, poetic prowess, and religious devotion. She is called to serve the Empress Shōshi, and stands out even amidst the dignified refinement of the court. After having a dream that is simply described as “mysterious,” she becomes pregnant and begets Izumi Shikibu.83 This immaculate conception enables Murasaki Shikibu to pos- sess all of the qualities associated with motherhood, yet retain her virginal purity. Her fictional lineage as the mother of Izumi Shikibu also positions the Genji author as the progenitor of a line of notable female poets. This story suggests that she was singularly responsible for the female poets that followed, even if in reality there were no genealogical connections. As a mother, Murasaki Shikibu is a knowledgeable and persistent teacher. When Izumi Shikibu is the subject of salacious rumors accusing her of an affair with the poet priest Dōmyō (道命 974–1020), Murasaki gives an extended lecture instructing her on social decorum. This secret teaching addressed to her daughter serves to prescribe proper behavior of

82 Translated by Kimbrough, Preachers, Poets, 281–99. 83 There is no relation between Murasaki and Izumi Shikibu: the second part of the moniker Murasaki Shikibu derives from her father’s position within the Ministry of Ceremonials (Shikibushō 式部省). 76 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

ladies. Noting the importance of polite social interaction and declaring just how often and in what capacity a lady should speak while with her cohorts, she goes on to advise the young Izumi Shikibu on her relationship with her husband.

When you’re with your husband, you should be careful not to look overly assured, but you should also take care not to be too distrusting either . . . Then again, if you appear utterly uncon- cerned, he’s likely to grow suspicious of you instead. There are many examples of this from the past. For instance, there was once a person called the Middle Captain Ariwara [no Narihira] (在原業平). . . . Whether princesses, ladies of the court, or even the most lowly, wretched of women, there were none whose hearts were not stirred with longing for him. You can read all about it in Tales of Ise.84

The inclusion of the long letter, of which the above is but a short excerpt, is in itself not so unusual; many otogi zōshi combined the epistolary form with a framing fictional narrative, and similar admonitions for girls and women are found elsewhere. What is notable about the advice given by the Genji author to her daughter here is that her examples are all from The Tales of Ise, rather than The Tale of Genji. In fact, she does not offer her own tale as an instrument for conveying these important lessons to her daughter. Though the Ishiyama temple legend is mentioned earlier in the narrative, Murasaki’s writing of the tale is referred to almost as an aside. In Koshikibu, Murasaki Shikibu is a perfect woman, and although she is still clearly identified as the author of The Tale of Genji, she is not defined by — nor confined to — the tale. She is an ideal woman, mother, and teacher within the story (to her daughter) and through the story (to the readers of the otogi zōshi), but her significance, according to Koshikibu, has little, if anything, to do with the stories and characters portrayed in The Tale of Genji.

84 Kimbrough, Preachers, Poets, 286–87. Beyond The Tale of Genji 77

The depiction of Murasaki Shikibu in Koshikibu may be extreme but demonstrates the manner in which the Genji author is often presented to a female audience through retsujoden and ōraimono. Although the comparison with Ban Zhao found in Honchō jokan does associate Genji with Nüjie (and, to a lesser extent, with Leinü zhuan) and thus suggests that The Tale of Genji may serve to instruct female readers — in the same way that Murasaki deploys The Tales of Ise in Koshikibu — the celebratory biography of the Genji author works more directly as an admonition to women. Her life, therefore, can provide sufficient instruction; her tale is not necessarily required reading for all women. In Koshikibu and many other accounts about the author, The Tale of Genji is praised as a literary masterpiece, but there is rarely any summary or even a cursory discussion of the text; characters from the tale are hardly ever mentioned, except occasionally the eponymous Genji. Similarly, though the poetry of The Tale of Genji has long been one of the major factors in identifying the work as a crucial text for women’s literary and cultural education, when poetry is included in accounts about the author, it is most often not those that appear in The Tale of Genji.85 Indeed, in biographies about Murasaki Shikibu, while the story of how the tale came to be — that is, the Ishiyama Temple legend — is often front and center, the tale itself is not. The accolades given the author, paradoxically, do not derive from the substance of her work. As I have discussed, some scholars in the Edo period declared that instead of Genji, women should read Chinese classics like Lienü zhuan. It is telling, then, that Murasaki Shikibu herself appears in many texts that are

85 The following three poems appear most prominently in such texts: “Birds on the water; can I look at them dispassionately? I too am floating through a sad uncertain world,” from Murasaki Shikibu nikki and Collection of a Thousand Years (Senzaiwakashū 千載和歌集), no. 430; “Who will read it? Who will live forever in this world? A letter left behind in her undying memory,” from Murasaki Shikibu shū (no. 127) and Shinkokinwakashū (Grief: no. 817); “Brief encounter; did we meet or did it hide behind the clouds before I recognized the face of the midnight moon?” from Murasaki Shikibu shū no. 1 and Shinkokinwakashū (Misc.: no. 1497), and One Hundred Poems, One Hundred Poets, Ogura (Ogura Hyakunin isshu 小倉百人一首). Translations by Richard Bowring, Murasaki Shikibu: Her Diary and Poetic Memoirs, 75, 255, 217. 78 EMWJ Vol. 9, No. 1 • Fall 2014 Satoko Naito

themselves “biographies of women.” The story about Murasaki is in many ways very straightforward, unlike stories about Lady Murasaki, Fujitsubo (藤壷), or other characters from The Tale of Genji. Because she is portrayed as an intelligent, devout, and at times even a virginal beauty, she could serve as a role model for female readers. This does not mean that The Tale of Genji is deemed useless in texts for women, nor am I suggesting that women did not read the tale. As mentioned earlier, Genji often appears in ōraimono for women, at times listed as required reading. There has been sophisticated scholarship on the history of the reception and application of Genji by female readers, most notably in recent years by Gaye Rowley and Christina Laffin.86 But with regard to a more general female readership, the discussion has often been limited, roughly speaking, to three modes of “reading”: 1) Genji as a literary sourcebook from which women could learn to write or appreciate poetry and prose (as suggested early on in Mumyōzōshi); 2) Genji as a sourcebook which provided lessons for women through the conduct of the tale’s female characters (as suggested even earlier in Sarashina nikki); and 3) Genji as a cultural commodity, wherein it was more significant to be familiar with the tale (and its chapter titles) than to have read it. As I have argued here, female readers, particularly in the early modern period, were provided with the option of looking directly, as it were, to Murasaki Shikibu herself as an ideal woman — either to emulate or to simply celebrate. As presented in the texts I have examined, Murasaki Shikibu serves as an ideal exemplum that serves to defend the tale while also at times transcending it. The author of The Tale of Genji thus becomes an icon that lies beyond the confines of the text.

86 Rowley discusses Keifukuin Gyokuei (慶福院玉栄 b.1526) and Ōgimachi Machiko (正親町町子 1679–1724) in “The Tale of Genji: Required Reading for Aristocratic Women.” Laffin discusses nun Abutsu in Rewriting Medieval Women: Politics, Personality and Literary Production in the Life of Nun Abutsu (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2013).