After reading an abridged copy of The Tale of Genji (the unabridged, library copy is proving rather elusive), I decided to read more about Heian Japan, in the hopes of knowing more about the world and hence being able to appreciate the unabridged novel more when I finally find it.

The World of the Shining Prince is an accessible yet detailed book about court life in Heian Japan. It starts off with an introduction by Barabara Ruch, the Founder and first Director of EALAC’s Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture, which helps to place this work in the context of the period. Ruch points out that “Morris depicts the aesthetic of Heian Japan as governed by a “feminine sensibility” and contrasts it to a perceived more masculine, political Chinese sensibility, and to a “less feminine” Western tradition[,]” which is something that is not very welcome in today’s society. It did help me prepare myself for all the comparisons that Morris made between Heian Japan and other societies, which might have annoyed me otherwise.

Although Ruch points out that Morris wasn’t a modern day feminist (naturally, given that he was a product of his times), she also defends him against criticisms of sexism by recalling her tutelage under him. From what she says, he sounds like someone who saw women as equal to men, so I wasn’t too worried about him coming from a place of biases (in terms of sexism) when exploring this world.

After the introduction, we start the book proper. The World of the Shining Prince looks at the following aspects of Heian Japan:

• The Heian Period
• The Setting
• Politics and Society (Possibly the longest chapter in the book)
  • The Emperors
  • The Fujiwaras
  • Society
  • Administration
  • Economy
  • Provincials and the Lesser Breeds
• Religion
• Superstitions (Waley pointed out that the distinction between Religion and Superstition in this book is rather arbitary, so these two chapters could really be divided as Buddhism and not-Buddhism)
• The ‘Good People’ and their Lives
• The Cult of Beauty
• The Women of Heian and their Relations with Men
• Murasaki Shikibu
• Aspects of the Tale of Genji

I took so many notes while reading the book that to recap all of them would mean that I’d be writing a very long summary of the entire book. So instead, here are my key takeaways:

First, that Heian Japan developed a unique culture by isolating themselves after importing much of Chinese culture in the previous dynasties. I had the impression that 鎖国 (sakoku) was a unique policy of the Tokugawa period, but it seems like even before that, Japan had gone under a period where it was relatively closed off. That meant that the nobility in Heian Japan had the time to choose from the Chinese ideas and cultures imported into Japan, assimilating them into their own culture. By making them Japanese, they managed to develop a unique culture of their own.

Second, nature is huge in the book. I noticed that it appeared prominently in the book, but I didn’t appreciate its importance until it was explained to me. As the book puts it:

“In The Tale of Genji, then, the nature of Heian Kyo and its environs is no mere static background which the author introduces for decorative effect. It is a vital force, exerting a constant influence on the characters; and it is in terms of this nature that Prince Genji and the others perceive and express their emotions.” 

Third, the architecture of Heian Japan. While they took a lot of influence from China, they didn’t seem to be very influenced in terms of houses (although the layout of the city Heian Kyo was influenced by Changan). To quote:

“The wooden floor was bare, except for the individual straw mats and cushions on which people sat […] Chairs (goishi) had been introduced from the Chinese court in an earlier period, but never came into general use […] The emptiness of the room was relieved only by the occasional chest, brazier, screen, go table, or other movable object. In the center of the larger apartments was a chodai (‘curtained platform’ which served as a sort of bedchamber-cum-withdrawingroom. The chodai was a black platform about two foot high and nine foot square; it was covered with straw mats and cushions and surrounded by curtains. Rhinoceros horns were suspended above one end of the platform to ward off illness and opposite them was a pair of mirrors to keep the evil spirits at bay.” 

This will be fantastic when conceptualising the setting of whatever we’re doing later (if a photo shoot is involved). I was pretty surprised by the presence of the rhinoceros horns, since I’m pretty sure they aren’t native to Japan. A quick google shirt shows that the Asian rhinoceros used to live in China, so this is probably an import from China. This is something that would be interesting to follow up on.

Fourthly, the reign of emperors in Japan were very short, and the emperor was only a figurehead. This was due to marriage politics, where the Fujiwaras would do their best to get their daughers married to the emperor and have them give birth to the next emperor, allowing them to stay in power. And because a young emperor was a malleable emperor, they normally had the emperor abdicate early to keep the emperor on the throne young (plus it divides the court). This connects with the position of women in society – because of marriage politics, girls were actually seen as more useful than boys, since they could be used to make advantegeous marriages. They could also inherit and hold, but despite all this, Japan still saw women as lower in status than women. It was definitely a complicated time, and while women had some rights, they were often confined to their houses and bored to death. Morris also reminds us that while The Tale of Genji and works from Heian Japan may show women with a degree of freedom, this is really for upper class women, who make up a minority of women in Japan. Then again, this book basically deals only with the upper classes, which were the minority anyway.

With regards to beauty, Heian women “plucked their eyebrows and then carefully painted them in a curious blot-like set, either in the same place or an inch above. They also went to the greatest trouble to blacken their teeth with a type of dye usually made by soaking iron and powdered gallnut in vinegar or tea.” Later on, blackened teeth was for married women, but in Heian Japan, it was for upper class women of any marital status. And since a pale face was a sign of beauty of aristocratic birth, they used generous amounts of powder to whiten their face and on that, “married women usually applied a little rouge to their cheeks; and they also painted their lips to give the proper rosebud effect.”

As for men, good-looking men were basically good looking women with beards. I was imagining something along a modern ikemen, but the ideal of beauty for males was “a plump white face with a minute mouth, the narrowest slits for eyes and a little tuft of beard on the point of the chin.”

Despite the fact that tea was already pretty popular by the Tang dynasty (the Classic of Tea by Lu Yu was already written by then), it seems like tea wasn’t popular in Japan at that time – alcohol was still more important. That’s a pity because I would have loved to be able to delve deeper into tea culture.

There is a lot more information about the history of Heian Japan, how the Fujiwaras took power, and how romantic relations were conducted back then. If you want more, there are footnotes at the end of each chapter that go into more detail. I’m probably going to have to come back and re-read this.

The last two chapters of the book deal with Murasaki and The Tale of Genji. There were two issues that caught my eye – one was the question of scholarship, if Murasaki really did write The Tale of Genji. I agree with Morris that the arguments about Murasaki’s scholarship is similar to the arguments about Shakespeare’s plays – the question of authorship comes from people who can’t believe that someone like Murasaki (woman)/Shakespeare (not a noble) could write something so brilliant. It’s a bit of snobbery/sexism. The second issue is the question of whether the Tale of Genji is complete. Waley believes it’s complete, but Morris doesn’t. I haven’t read the unabridge version, so I’m not sure either – it’s definitely something that I have to keep in mind as I continue reading up about The Tale of Genji and the world it’s set it.

This book also reminded me that there are other contemporary works, namely The Pillow Book and Essays in Idleness. I’ve read both, but that was about six years ago and I am definitely going to read them again and see what else I can find about this work. In the meantime, I’m going to continue hunting down the unabridged version of The Tale of Genji and works about it. When I feel like I’ve learned enough, I’ll have to start thinking about which parts of Tang Dynasty China I want to look at in relation to Heian Japan.