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Updated 03-21-08
Nijo /Nakanoin
Masatada no musume (1257/8-aft.1308)
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"WHEN I FIND A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE ARE SYMPATHETIC AND WRITE
POETRY, I STAY."
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Born to a family with a reputation for literary ability, Nijo was raised in the Japanese imperial court where her father and grandfather held important positions. At the age of 13 she became a concubine to Retired Emperor GoFukakusa, 15 years older than she. Within two years her father had died, and other family members apparently did nothing to help Nijo become a consort, a role that would have given her permanent security. As a result, Nijo's position depended entirely on the good will of GoFukakusa.
Nijo had at least two lovers besides the retired emperor;
in general, this didn't bother GoFukakusa, who appears to have
enjoyed the role of voyeur as much or more than that of lover.
By the time she was 25, Nijo had four children: one by GoFukakusa,
the others by two of her lovers (only one of these without GoFukakusa's
knowledge and tacit consent). However, because of her reputation,
even perhaps untrue rumors were believed, and in 1283, Nijo was
expelled from the court, the only home she had ever known, at
the instigation of GoFukakusa's empress but with the retired
emperor's approval.
Nijo's story then jumps to 1289 (some material may be missing
from her book), by which time she was already a Buddhist nun:
comparatively poor, but making pilgrimages throughout the country,
thinking about her past and writing down her thoughts about what
she saw and the people she met.
In 1304, after GoFukakusa's death, she decided to write her story. The five books of Towazugatari (literally, "an unsolicited tale") were completed sometime after 1307. Books 1-3 cover Nijo's time at court; Books 4 and 5 deal with her life and travels as a nun. The first books show a naive, though outwardly sophisticated, adolescent and young woman. The last books show a wiser woman reflecting on her life and responding to the "common" people she meets and the tales she hears.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from translations in print.
Information about secondary sources.
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1. Passages from Towazugatari:
(a) First a brief introductory essay by Eddie Kohler on Towazugatari; then, at another page of the same site, the first of 243 verse passages from all five books (in Karen Brazell's translation). At the bottom of each page, you can link to the next.
(b) In the first chapter of Bernard Faure's 1998 book, The Red Thread: Buddhist Approaches to Sexuality, use your browser's search function to go to "Nijo" for two passages from Book 3, translated by Brazell, on the love of GoFukakusa's priest-brother for Nijo, which had made him abandon his desire for immediate salvation so that he might be reborn with her.
2. Essays, etc.:
(a) Brazell's entry on Nijo in the 1999 Medieval Japanese Writers (part of the Dictionary of Literary Biography) is a useful introduction to her life and writing.
(b) A 1999 essay by Anthony J. Bryant, "Forced Affection: Rape as the First Act of Romance in Heian Japan"; one of the texts analyzed is Towazugatari; passages quoted are in Brazell's translation.
(c) At the bottom of the page, an abstract of a 2006 conference presentation by Christina Laffin, "Women on the Road: Nijo's Encounters with Female Travelers."
(d) At the bottom of the page, an abstract of a 2000 conference presentation by Edith Sarra, "The Politics of Literary Self-Presentation: Banishment and Poetic Pilgrimage in Towazugatari" (for information on a 2001 essay by Sarra, see under "Secondary sources").
3. Reviews (for excerpts from the translation, see under "In print"; for information on the other books' treatment of Nijo, see "Secondary sources"):
(a) Branislav L. Slantchev on Brazell's 1973 translation, The Confessions of Lady Nijo.
(b) Timothy J. Van Compernolle on the 2001 essay collection, The Father-daughter Plot: Japanese Literary Women and the Law of the Father.
(c) "Meng-hu" (a pseudonym) on Michele Marra's 1991 study, The Aesthetics of Discontent: Politics and Reclusion in Medieval Japanese Literature.
4. For historical background, Jane Reichhold's essay on early Japanese women's writing; Nijo is briefly discussed.
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[This translation of Towazugatari is by Karen Brazell; the introduction, a list of major characters, and the notes are helpful. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The confessions of Lady Nijo. Translated from the Japanese
by Karen Brazell. Garden City, N.Y., Anchor Books [1973]. (xxxi,
288 p.)
LC#: PL792.N3 T613 1973; ISBN: 0385036795.
Includes bibliographical references.
[Also: (1) London : Owen, 1975. ISBN: 0720600847; (2) Stanford
University Press, 1976. ISBN: 0804709297; 0804709300.]
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"Though it was only a girl, I was grieved..."
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[When Nijo was 15 she had GoFukakusa's son, to widespread celebration; a year later she was again pregnant, by her first lover, the courtier Akebono. Unlike the first birth, this one had to be kept secret from the court. Nijo describes the birth of her daughter and its aftermath:]
After the lamps were lit I suddenly felt that my time was near. Yet there was no twanging of bows [to keep evil spirits away] on this occasion; unaided I suffered under my gown until, when the late-night bell tolled, I could stand it no longer and tried to get up.
"I'm not sure, but isn't the woman supposed to be held around the waist?" Akebono asked. "Perhaps it's taking so long because I'm not doing that. How should I hold you?" I clung to him as he pulled me up, and the baby was safely delivered....
He lit a lamp to look at the child, and I got a glimpse of fine black hair and eyes already opened. It was my own child, and naturally enough I thought it was adorable. As I looked on, Akebono took the white gown beside me and wrapped the baby in it, cut the umbilical cord with a short sword that lay by my pillow, and taking the baby, left without a word to anyone. I did not even get a second glimpse of the child's face.
I wanted to cry out and ask why, if the baby must be taken away, I could not at least look at it again; but that would have been rash, and so I remained quiet, letting the tears on my sleeves express my feelings.
"It will be all right. You have nothing to worry about.
If it lives you'll be able to see it," Akebono said on his
return, attempting to console me. Yet I could not forget the
face I had glimpsed but once. Though it was only a girl, I was
grieved to think that I did not even know where she had been
taken. I also knew it would have been impossible to keep her
even if I had so desired. There was nothing for me to do but
wrap my sleeves around myself and sob inwardly.
[pp.49-51]
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"I wondered why he was not feeling aggrieved."
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[Shortly after this birth (and the death of her son by GoFukakusa), the Retired Emperor's half-brother Ariake, a Buddhist priest, became infatuated with Nijo, and threatened her with curses when she resisted him. Nijo told GoFukakusa of his brother's advances, and was surprised at the Retired Emperor's reaction:]
"It is truly an astonishing relationship," GoFukakusa responded. "First, Ariake was so overwhelmed by passion that he persuaded Takaaki [Nijo's uncle] to act as go-between; then you did your best to elude him; and after this you felt the malicious effect of his passion. None of this bodes well for the future, for events from the past teach us that passion respects neither rank nor station.... Try not to worry, and do what you can to keep his malice from increasing."
I wondered why he was not feeling aggrieved. [pp.123-24]
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"I thought of the vast numbers of people... never confronted
by such dilemmas."
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[To help his half-brother overcome his obsession, GoFukakusa repeatedly sent Nijo to Ariake; but when Nijo eventually came to feel at least pity for Ariake, the Retired Emperor changed his attitude:]
Back in my own quarters I lay pondering our apparently inescapable bond when my rest was interrupted by a summons from GoFukakusa. "All night I have waited in vain for you to come," he complained. "You have just left him, haven't you, and you are still so affected by the remorse of parting that the dawn sky seems cruel."
He went on in this this vein, leaving me utterly speechless. I thought of the vast numbers of people in the world who are never confronted by such dilemmas, and I wondered why I was always singled out. Then I burst into tears....
GoFukakusa, however, was convinced that I was weeping only for Ariake and that I resented his summons, and so he broke off in mid-sentence and left the room. More disturbed than ever, I made my way back to my own quarters. [pp.134-35]
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"I recalled coming to the palace for the first time in...
the year I was four."
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[By the time Nijo was 25, Ariake was dead and her first lover, Akebono, was "no more than a figure from my past." But then GoFukakusa heard and believed a rumor (apparently untrue) that Nijo was having an affair with his full brother and political rival; as a result, he finally agrees to his empress' long-standing desire that Nijo be dismissed from his service:]
In early autumn I received a letter from my grandfather, Lord Takachika, which said: "Prepare to leave the palace permanently. I'll send for you tonight." Unable to comprehend this, I took it to His Majesty [GoFukakusa] and asked him to explain, only to be turned away without a reply.
Next I went to Lady Genki... and told her of my bewilderment. "I can't understand what is happening. I received this letter and asked His Majesty about it, but he wouldn't answer me," I said. She replied that she didn't know either.
It appeared I would have to leave. As I made ready for my departure, I recalled coming to the palace for the first time in the ninth month of the year I was four. Ever since then I had felt a certain uneasiness about being away from the palace even briefly, so I could not accept the fact that today was really the end. I stared at even the trees and grasses in the garden until tears blurred my vision. [p.158]
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"I journey far and wide in an attempt to overcome my emotions."
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[For about six years, Nijo lived in seclusion; at some point she took Buddhist vows. In 1289, she began to travel around Japan as a pilgrim. Three years later, when GoFukakusa was about 50 years old and Nijo about 35, they met privately for the first time in 10 years. He couldn't believe that she no longer had a lover:]
The moon was bright, yet at the sight of him so changed from his past appearance, tears clouded my eyes. Once again we had a long talk ranging from that time in the distant past when I had played at his knees as a young child to the day I fled his palace certain that all was over....
GoFukakusa said, "I hope that we can meet again on another moonlit night in this lifetime, but you persist in placing your hopes for our meeting only after the far distant dawn of salvation. What kind of vows are you cherishing? A man is more or less free to travel eastward or even to China, but there are so many hindrances for a traveling woman that I understand it to be impossible. Who have you pledged yourself to as a companion in your renunciation of this world? I still cannot believe it is possible for you to travel alone...."
At last I replied, "....I swear to you that though I traveled eastward as far as the Sumida River in Musashino, I did not so much as make a single night's pledge to any man. If I did, may I be excluded from the promise of Amida to save all mankind and may I sink to the deepest hell for all eternity....
"Many years have drifted past since we parted so unexpectedly, yet I shed tears for the past whenever I meet you on one of your excursions, and I am never unaffected when official positions are conferred and I learn of another family's prosperity or of the rise of an old acquaintance. When I try to still the feelings prompted by these occasions I find I am unable to hold back my tears, so I journey far and wide in an attempt to overcome my emotions.
"Sometimes I stay at cloisters; other times I mix with common men. When I find a place where people are sympathetic and compose poetry, I stay for several days, and of course there is no dearth of people who enjoy starting rumors, whether in the capital or in the countryside.
"I have heard that sometimes, against her better judgment, a nun will get involved with an ascetic or mendicant she happens to meet, but I have never fallen into such a relationship. I spend my idle nights in solitude.
"If only I had such a relationship in the capital. If only I had someone to share my bed, it might help ward off the mountain winds on cold and frosty nights. But there is no such person; no one awaits me, and I pass idle days under the blossoms. In the autumn, when leaves turn, the insect voices, weakening as the frost deepens, reflect my own unhappy fate as I spend night after night in travelers' lodgings." [pp.220-222]
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"Her words filled me with longing."
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[GoFukakusa and Nijo met once again, but never resumed their liaison. Nijo continued her pilgrimages; 10 years later, she was still seeking, but never feeling assured of, salvation; on one trip, she met a group of Buddhist nuns who were ex-prostitutes:]
On the small island of Taika, not far offshore from the bustling mainland port of Tomo, there was a row of small huts belonging to women who had fled from lives in prostitution.
Born into households whose business meant they were fated to be constantly reborn into the six realms, they had been mired deep in the toils of illusion. They would perfume their gowns in hopes of alluring men, and comb their dark hair, wondering on whose pillow it would become disheveled. When night fell they would await lovers, and when day broke, grieve over separation.
I admired them for having renounced that way of life and come here to live in seclusion.
When I asked about the religious practices they observed and the reasons behind their conversions, one of the nuns spoke up, "I am the leader of the women on this island. Formerly I made my livelihood by assembling girls and selling their charms. We would attempt to lure travelers, rejoicing if they stopped, disconsolate if they moved on by. We would vow eternal love to complete strangers and encourage drunkenness beneath the blossoms.
"I was over fifty when some karmic effect suddenly enabled me to shake off the sleep of illusion, give up my old life, and come to this island, where each morning I climb the mountain and gather flowers to offer to the Buddhas of the past, present, and future."
Her words filled me with longing. [p.228]
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[Wilfred Whitehouse and Eizo Yanagisawa have also translated Towazugatari; the book has useful notes and appendices which analyze the book and provide historical background:]
Lady Nijo's own story; Towazugatari: the candid diary of a
thirteenth-century Japanese imperial concubine. Translated by
Wilfrid Whitehouse & Eizo Yanagisawa. Rutland, Vt., Tuttle
[1974]. (395 p.)
LC#: PL792.N3 Z5213 1974; ISBN: 0804811172.
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"Guard well the poems you write."
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[In 1304, GoFukakusa died; Nijo was able to see him briefly before he died, but not to speak to him. From this point in the book, he seems to become identified in Nijo's mind with her father, who had died 33 years before in GoFukakusa's service. Unable to attend the retired emperor's funeral service, Nijo visited the spot where her father had been cremated; it seems to be this occasion that impelled her to write her story:]
I went to the crematory at Kaguragaoka, the site of my father's funeral pyre, where I was grieved to find that ancient lichens wet with dew and a blanket of dead leaves half buried the stone tablet which marked the resting place of his ashes.
As I stood there, I thought with deep sorrow that none of my father's poems had been included in the recently published anthology of poems collected by command of the Emperor GoUda. Had I still been in service at the court, I should certainly have pressed the compiler to include a few, for some had been included in each anthology since the Kokinshu, Second Series.
I myself had taken part in poetry compositions at the court and had carried on the family tradition, but it grieved me that with me would come to an end this tradition of poetical composition which had lasted through eight generations of the Koga family.... [pp.352-53]
[That night her father appeared to her in a dream; he reminded her of her literary ancestors, and then:]
Gazing at me steadfastly as he was leaving, he recited the poem:
"Be of good courage;
Guard well the poems you write,
For the day will come
When once more good poems
By low or high are treasured."
I woke up startled as he disappeared, but his image remained only as it was mirrored in my tears, and his voice lingered only on the pillow of my dreams.
From this time I devoted myself more and more to poetical composition.... [pp.354-44]
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"...these trifling details of my life."
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[The end of the extant work; the parenthetical note is that of a copyist of the 1600s:]
...I have continued to note down all these trifling details of my life, even though I cannot aspire to having left posterity anything worth reading.
(The rest seems to have been cut away with a sword.) [p.372]
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[Edith Sarra's essay in this collection, "Towazugatari: Unruly Tales from a Dutiful Daughter," discusses Nijo's relationship with her father and with GoFukakusa. In the process, Sarra shows the skill with which Nijo delays revelation of information that will affect the reader's understanding of those relationships. Cited passages are given in Karen Brazell's translation. The essay ends with a useful bibliography:]
The father-daughter plot: Japanese literary women and the
law of the father / edited by Rebecca L. Copeland and Esperanza
Ramirez-Christensen. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press,
c2001. (xi, 384 p.: ill.)
LC#: PL721.F37 F38 2001; ISBN: 0824821726, 0824824385
Includes bibliographical references and index
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[Michele Marra's study includes one chapter, "Images from the Past: The Politics of Intertextuality," which provides useful information on the court politics in which Nijo found herself embroiled. Marra shows the narrator Nijo's use of earlier Heien works (especially Genji monogatari) to comment on her relationships with GoFukakusa and the other leading men of the period:]
Marra, Michele. The aesthetics of discontent: politics and
reclusion in medieval Japanese literature. Honolulu: University
of Hawaii Press, c1991. (x, 222 p.: ill.)
LC#: PL726.33.P6 M37 1991; ISBN: 0824813367, 0824813642
Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-216) and index
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[This collection contains an essay by Joshua S. Mostow, "On
Becoming Ukifune: Autobiographical Heroines in Heian and Kamakura
Literature," which briefly (pp.52-56) but usefully shows
how Towazugatari uses earlier tales to present the central
character. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Crossing the bridge: comparative essays on medieval European
and Heian Japanese women writers / edited by Barbara Stevenson
and Cynthia Ho (New Middle Ages). New York: Palgrave, 2000. (
xiv, 234 p.: ill.)
LC#: PN471 .C67 2000; ISBN: 0312221673
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[Donald Keene's summaries and evaluations of Japanese diaries from the 800s to the mid-1800s includes a chapter, "The Confessions of Lady Nijo." Keene finds the work "an unforgettable portrait of the author herself" (p.162). He gives his translation and the original Japanese of quoted poems. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Keene, Donald. Travelers of a hundred ages: The Japanese as
revealed through 1,000 years of diaries. New York: Holt, c1989.
(xi, 468 p.)
LC#: PL 741 .K44 1989; ISBN: 0805007512
Bibliography: p. 443-449. Includes index
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Updated 03-21-08