Return to the index of "Other Women's Voices."
Updated 05-11-08
Akazome Emon (d. aft.1041)
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"THOUGH AN EMPEROR IS, TO BE SURE, AN EMPEROR, SOME OF THEM
ARE NOT QUITE WHAT ONE WOULD WISH."
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Akazome Emon's name come from her stepfather, Akazome no Tokimochi, and a minor post he held in the Japanese Palace Gate Guard (Emon). In the 970s, she married Oe no Masahira, a future governor of a province and a member of a scholarly family with access to a substantial library. At some point she became an attendant to Rinshi, the principal wife of Fujiwara no Michinaga. By the late 990s, Michinaga had become the most powerful man in Japan. When Shoshi /Akiko, the daughter of Rinshi and Michinaga, went to court as the emperor's consort in 999 (and empress a year later), Akazome Emon went with her and served there until the emperor's death in 1011. At court she was probably the oldest of the women who formed the empress' literary salon, which included Murasaki Shikibu and Izumi Shikibu. (Murasaki, no gentle critic, said in her nikki that Akasome's poems "are very satisfying,... even her miscellaneous poems shame us.")
After her husband's death in 1012, Akazome became a Buddhist nun but continued to be very much a part of court life. She participated in (and described) poetry competitions sponsored either by the court or the Fujiwara family, about whom she would write her most famous work; the last official mention of her is in 1041. An anthology of her poems was published as Akazome Emon shu, and thirty-two of her poems were included in a 1086 imperial anthology, the Goshuishu.
Eiga monogatari (Tale of flowering fortunes) is a history of life in and around the Heian court from 889 to 1028, focusing on the Fujiwara family and especially on Michinaga. The first 30 chapters were probably written between 1030 and 1040 (the last ten chapters are believed to have been added later by another writer). Around 1300, a scholar attributed Eiga monogatari to Akazome Emon, and modern scholars generally accept that attribution. McCullough and McCullough say that "most available evidence tends to point toward Akazome" (p.46).
To cover the first 100 years of her history, Akazome had access to the library of her husband's family, and the result reads much like library research. It is when she reaches the 980s and the rise of Michinaga to power that the author begins to enjoy herself. She had access to Rinshi, Michinaga's wife, and to Michinaga himself, whom she admired (though not blindly). Eiga monogatari becomes a biography of Michinaga and of those around him. Since his family was the most powerful in the nation, and Michinaga moved rapidly up to the top, his story and that of his family is also the story of the Japanese court. Enjoyable for what it tells us of Akazome and her views, the book also gives a relatively objective picture of the courts of which Sei Shonagon, Murasaki Shikibu, and Izumi Shikibu were a part.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from translations in print:
Eiga monogatari
Description and poems from a poetry competition held in1035Information on secondary sources.
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1. Links to translations, by Thomas McAuley, of six poems by Akazome Emon from imperial anthologies; for each, the Japanese is also given in script and in romanization (clicking on highlighted names and phrases will bring explanatory notes). At the same site, a brief introduction to Goshuishu, in which 32 of her poems were published.
2. Near the end of a review by Mark Morris of Donald Keene's 1993 history, Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century, Keene's translation of two other poems from Goshuishu: "I had supposed that I alone lamented," on the death of her husband; and "I wish I could live long enough to see him soar," on the birth of a great-grandson (for more on Keene's book, see below, under "Secondary sources").
3. At Wikipedia, two
poems: "Though I have no reason for regret," and
"The fallen blossoms of last spring"; the originals
are given in script and romanization.
4. Versions of a poem by Akazome which was included in an important
anthology of the 1200s, Hyakunin Isshu:
(a) "Better to have slept," by Clay MacCauley (but "modernized"); the Japanese is given in script and in romanized form.
(b) "I should not have waited," by Kenneth Rexroth.
(c) "Waiting and hoping for thy step," by William N. Porter, with a 1700s woodcut and the romanized Japanese.
(d) "I wish I had gone to bed," with an 1800's woodblock print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi; the original script is given on the print.
5. Passages from Eiga monogatari:
(a) On the attempts to save Michinaga's second daughter, Grand Empress Kenshi, from the disease that killed her in 1027; the translation is by William H. and Helen Craig McCullough.
(b) Half-way down the page, on Michinaga's 1028 deathbed devotion to Amida Buddha (nembutsu refers to invocations of the Buddha).
6. A review, by Branislav L. Slantchev, of the McCullough's 1980 translation, A Tale of Flowering Fortunes: Annals of Japanese Aristocratic Life in the Heian Period (for excerpts from the book, see "In print").
7. Illustrations (etc.) from early manuscripts of Eiga monogatari:
(a) Women playing a game of go (the emperor is behind the bamboo blind).
(b) A woman (perhaps Murasaki Shikibu) reading to the empress.
(c) The emperor attending a horse race.
(d) And a page of Eiga text from an undated manuscript.
8. A 1600s painting of Akazome holding pages of a manuscript; a brief biography and a poem are given on the painting in Japanese script.
9. In this excerpt from Murasaki Shikibu nikki, translated by Annie Shepley Omori and Kochi Doi, use your browser's search funtion to go to "Emon" for Murasaki's praise of Akazome (here called Masa Hira Emon, incorporating her husband's name).
10. Near the bottom of the page, a 2006 abstract of a conference presentation by Takeshi Watanabe, "To the Edge of the World: Imperial Pilgrimages to the Tennoji in Eiga monogatari" (the Tennoji is an area near Kyoto that was home to important temples).
11. Although the focus of Elena M. Diakonova's 2004 essay, "The Movement of History in Medieval Japanese Historical Tales," is on Okagami, another work on the rise of the Fujiwara, the essay's first sections describe the background and popularity of such works as Eiga monogatari.
12. For more historical background, two other essays:
(a) Jane Reichhold on early Japanese women's writing; Akazome is briefly discussed.
(b) "The Fujiwara Regency," which describes the world of Eiga monogatari.
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[This translation of the first 30 chapters of Eiga monogatari in two volumes, by William H. and Helen Craig McCullough, is an invaluable source. Besides the translation, the supplementary notes and appendices constitute a history of the period, with family trees, explanations of court terminology and procedures, etc.:]
A tale of flowering fortunes: annals of Japanese aristocratic
life in the Heian period / translated, with an introd. and notes,
by William H. and Helen Craig McCullough. Published: Stanford,
Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1980. (2 v. [xv, 910 p.]:
ill.)
LC#: PL787.E5 E5 1980; ISBN: 0804710392
Bibliography: p. [855]-864. Includes index.
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"...the affair was managed with discretion."
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[On the young Michinaga in the year 986:]
Indeed, his character was extraordinary and ideal in every respect!.... Although barely 20 years old, he avoided casual flirtations --- not from any absurdly rigid scruples, but simply because he was unwilling to make an enemy or cause a woman pain. When his affections were deeply engaged, he was careful to see that the affair was managed with discretion. [pp.138-139]
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"...almost excessively mature, in fact---"
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[In 999, Michinaga's 13-year-old daughter, Shoshi, became a consort of the 19-year-old Emperor Ichijo; Ichijo's current empress (Sei Shonagon's mistress) was 23 years old:]
When the Emperor went to visit Shoshi at the Fujitsubo, the rooms were of course appointed with the utmost magnificence, and he was charmed by her appearance and manner as she made him welcome.....
All his other consorts were quite grown up --- almost excessively mature, in fact --- but for Shoshi he could feel a fatherly affection. It was a delightful change after so many years, and he quickly developed a special fondness for her....
Though an Emperor is, to be sure, an Emperor, some of them are not quite what one might wish. One senses, perhaps a certain lack of maturity. But Emperor Ichijo was almost unbelievably handsome and attractive. He drank wine in moderation, and his mastery of the flute never ceased to impress the people around him. [p.220]
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"...a first intimation of their own insignificance."
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[Akazome had been in the service of Michinaga's wife Rinshi, so she felt quite proprietorial when in 1008 Shoshi, now Empress, went with her entourage to visit her family's mansion:]
That evening, the Empress was again present in the Buddha Hall.... As the ladies-in-waiting returned to their rooms at dawn, they wound their way through corridors and galleries, along the veranda of the west wing, past the main hall....
It was a chastening experience, even for those who, on private excursions to shrines and temples, had always tried, unsuccessfully, to impress people by surrounding themselves with bevies of young women, putting on an air of importance, ordering their servants to clear other travelers out of the way, and sauntering along with haughty expressions on their faces. To some of these last, the interminable journey through the great mansion appears to have brought a first intimation of their own insignificance. [p.269]
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"...with no consideration for your mother and me?"
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[The book gives many example of Michinaga's power, but even he could not get all he wanted; in 1113, his 18-year-old son ran off and became a monk. Too late to stop him, Michinaga sounds like any father anywhere:]
"What made you decide to do it?" Michinaga asked through his tears. "Were you worried about anything? Did some act of mine seem harsh? Were you impatient for a promotion? Was there a girl you were in love with? As long as my influenced lasted, I was ready to get you anything you wanted. I feel utterly miserable. How could you have done such a thing with no consideration for your mother and me?" [p.344]
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"What kind of being could have perpetrated that terrible
deed?"
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[Michinaga spent much time during the last years of his life performing Buddhist ritual; his faith was tested at the death in 1025 of his and Rinshi's youngest daughter, a consort of the Crown Prince, only days after she had given birth to a future emperor:]
Kishi's death was a poignant reminder of the insubstantiality of worldly things. Two days before, the Prince's birth had created a sensation in society, stirring even the [childless] Emperor to envy; now, an unforeseen dream had brought tumult and pain.
....Michinaga's heart almost burst with bitterness and resentment, even toward the Buddhas and the gods. What kind of being could have perpetrated that terrible deed? [p.677]
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"It's a pity the level is so low."
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[In 1019 a Buddhist monk had prophesied that Michinaga would, in the next life, "ascend to the highest level of the first class in the Land of Ultimate Bliss" (p.496); but when Michinaga died in 1028, one of his daughters dreamt that a monk had given her a letter from her father:]
...[S]he opened it and read that he had been reborn at the lowest level of the lowest class of paradise. "That's not at all what I expected," she said. "I can't believe it."
"Oh, no, it's perfectly proper," the monk answered. "It's is no mean achievement to be reborn at that level."
"Well, then, it's certain that out father has been reborn in paradise," one of the brothers said when he heard about it,
"It's a pity the level is so low," another said.... [p.770]
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Description and poems from a poetry competition held in 1035
[Setsuko Ito's anthology includes his translation of part of a poetry competition (uta awase) held in 1035 by Fujiwara no Yorimichi. Ito gives Akazome's prose description of the preparations for the competition and 24 of the 40 recorded poems (including five written by Akazome). The poems are also given in romanization and (in an appendix) in Japanese script:]
Ito, Setsuko. An Anthology of traditional Japanese poetry
competitions: uta-awase (913-1815) (Chinathemen Bd. 57).
Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1991. (vii, 430 p.: ill.; 18 cm)
LC#:PL728.81 .I85 1991; ISBN: 3883399485
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"...such as has not been held for a long time."
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[Seven years after Michinaga's death, his eldest son and his heir, Yorimichi, held a poetry competition to provide a period of light relief during a month-long Buddhist ceremony. The participants in the competition were divided into two teams of courtiers, called the Right and the Left. The topics had been assigned beforehand; an elderly courtier acted as judge. The reading of the poems was only one part of a day-long festivity that included singing and dancing and artwork. (For the kind of competition the courtiers were trying to emulate, see the description of a 913 event at this site's page on Lady Ise.) Akezome's description opens:]
As the state of the nation has been considerably stable and affluent, all kinds of entertainment were arranged during the Thirty Lessons of the Lotus Sutra.... All the court nobles were consulted. Some said, "...[L]et us divide the court nobles into two teams and take part in a poetry competition, such as has not been held for a long time." The advice was accepted. [p.86]
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"It sounded as if they were doing it deliberately."
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[Akazome's personal views and her sometimes caustic observations are clearly those of Eiga's author:]
Meanwhile, it was quite interesting to note that both the teams were busily scheming how to present their poems in the form of a suhana, the miniature landscape garden....
After the Lesson, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, the members of the Left team... all assembled and crammed on board the beautifully decorated boats and sailed slowly along the stream,... accompanied by music from the musicians on board. It was delightful.
Meanwhile the Right team, whose waiting-room was very near the pavilion where the competition was to be held, drove there in carriages making a great noise. It sounded as if they were doing it deliberately and it went on until one of the court nobles, who was already seated in the pavilion hall, complained. [pp. 86-87]
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"It was funny to hear people asking where the poems were."
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[The miniature garden, the suhana, was large enough to require several men to carry it and was made of precious metal and gems:]
In fact, both teams prepared marvellous sets of suhana. First the Left team presented its poems in a carved silver box placed in the suhana, which was put on an inlaid table. The poems were written besides ten pictures painted on ten fans of which the guards were made of silver....
The suhana for the poetry of the Right team was brought in by the two Chamberlains. A miniature garden fence made of sandalwood had been erected in the suhana and a mass of pinks made of silver were planted beside the fence with ten butterflies hovering above them. It was funny to hear people asking where the poems were written in the suhana. They were engraved beneath the wings of these butterflies. [p.87]
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"...must have had something to protest."
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[Akazome, as always, had her reservations about some of the arrangements. A third suhana was used for scoring:]
The suhana for scoring ought to have been presented before the Emperor..., but this did not happen. Furthermore, a sole pageboy was keeping the score of the suhana (of which the design was a beach front with pine trees); I for one thought he should at least have been supervised by some of the team members.
[And, after describing the elaborate court-mandated clothes worn by team members:]
Some of the team members who must have had something to protest in their minds, did not wear uniforms but dressed up in robes of their own choice, which also had admirable colour combinations. [pp.87-88]
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"He was a most suitable person."
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[But she approved of the judge, an 82-year-old Minister of Religion. This ends Akazome's report:]
Meanwhile the Third Ranked Sukechicka was summoned to judge the poems. He sat between the two teams. His austere countenance was in marked contrast to the worldly look of the team members. I thought he was a most suitable person for an occasion like this.
At about the time the third round finished, the moon began to rise; it was most beautiful. [p.88]
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"With success or without...."
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[It was not rare for poets to be asked to write for both teams. Here are two of Akazome's poems that competed against each other on the topic of the cuckoo; the second was awarded the win:]
Staying awake all night long
The cuckoo still
Did not come,
Not even
A single note.
[And:]
Waiting wide awake
For the cuckoo's song
With success or without
A sound sleep is a thing
That no one can obtain. [p.93]
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[In his history Donald Keene discusses Eiga monogatari in his chapter on "Mirrors of History"; on pp. 298-300 he translates six of Akazome's poems from the 1086 anthology Goshuishi. Keene also gives an overview of the literature of the period, and his bibliographies are thorough. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Keene, Donald. Seeds in the heart: Japanese literature from
earliest times to the late sixteenth century. New York: Henry
Holt & Co., 1993. (xiv, 1265 p.).
LC#: PL726.115 .K44 1993; ISBN: 0805019995
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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[This older book, by Ivan Morris, is probably still the best single introduction to Japanese court life in the 900s and 1000s:]
Morris, Ivan I. The world of the shining prince: court life
in ancient Japan; with a new introduction by Barbara Ruch (Kodansha
globe). New York: Kodansha International, 1994. (xxvii, 336 p.:
ill.)
LC#: DS824 .M6 1994; ISBN:1568360290.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [321]-324) and index.
[Also published: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England; New York,
N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, 1969, c1964 (1985 printing). ISBN:
0140550836]
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Updated 05-11-08