Lady Nijo
I really want to do some reading in my textbooks like I promised David I would, but my roommate has the TV on and I can't exactly read when the TV is on. She hasn't even gone to take a shower yet either and its 9 already. Not something that normally happens.
Lets see... today my 8oclock class was cancelled so I decided to cancel my 9oclock as well. :) I had to promise David I would do some sort of homework so I read a section of my book that I should have read a little while back. It was actually quite sad. It was called "The Confessions of Lady Nijo" and it was the first of her four diaries she wrote in her lifetime. To read about the life a woman experienced in the Japanese court system made me sad. I cried when her father died, I felt sorry for her when she had an affair (these women were forced into affairs, they didnt quite have a choice). One of the things that brought me the most pain was to read about how she helped her 'husband' (technically she was just one of his concubines) achieve an affair with another woman. She had to literally lead him to the door of the woman and wait outside until he was finished. How sad can that be? She had been saying in an earlier passage about how sad she was when he didn't choose her company at night (he obviously had alot of choices). I imagine the life of a concubine was a very lonely one. In a way its kinna interesting to think that to them it was OK to not be monogamous (free love!). Although status dictated your relationships. In Nijo's case she was attached to the former Emporer, the highest status possible. So when she had an affair with another man it basically risked her position. Wanna get thrown out in the cold when both your parents are dead and you don't know how to take care of yourself? I bet it didn't matter who the former emporor chose to have an affair with. And yah its not a happy thing to think about sharing your loved one with another. But I guess the men got to pretty much do whatever they want... even defile their father's wives... (go read the Tale of Genji for that one..) So maybe my next paper will be about Lady Nijo, I just don't know what hypothesis I could prove. That women in the Japanese court system got the short end of the stick? That's obvious. :P
Anyways... gotta get onto that reading business...
Lets see... today my 8oclock class was cancelled so I decided to cancel my 9oclock as well. :) I had to promise David I would do some sort of homework so I read a section of my book that I should have read a little while back. It was actually quite sad. It was called "The Confessions of Lady Nijo" and it was the first of her four diaries she wrote in her lifetime. To read about the life a woman experienced in the Japanese court system made me sad. I cried when her father died, I felt sorry for her when she had an affair (these women were forced into affairs, they didnt quite have a choice). One of the things that brought me the most pain was to read about how she helped her 'husband' (technically she was just one of his concubines) achieve an affair with another woman. She had to literally lead him to the door of the woman and wait outside until he was finished. How sad can that be? She had been saying in an earlier passage about how sad she was when he didn't choose her company at night (he obviously had alot of choices). I imagine the life of a concubine was a very lonely one. In a way its kinna interesting to think that to them it was OK to not be monogamous (free love!). Although status dictated your relationships. In Nijo's case she was attached to the former Emporer, the highest status possible. So when she had an affair with another man it basically risked her position. Wanna get thrown out in the cold when both your parents are dead and you don't know how to take care of yourself? I bet it didn't matter who the former emporor chose to have an affair with. And yah its not a happy thing to think about sharing your loved one with another. But I guess the men got to pretty much do whatever they want... even defile their father's wives... (go read the Tale of Genji for that one..) So maybe my next paper will be about Lady Nijo, I just don't know what hypothesis I could prove. That women in the Japanese court system got the short end of the stick? That's obvious. :P
Anyways... gotta get onto that reading business...
posted by Mia 美亜 @ 9:19 午後
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