Eye-Opener: Memo

Role of Women in Japanese Lit/poetry in General

While I was reading the introduction for the book I bought at the MET (The Thirty-six Immortal Women Poets), I learned something about Japanese women's role in developing Japanese lit/poetry...

The ironic thing I found was that the limitation/restriction placed on them (due to women's "lower" status) eventually led them to act as catalysts in this cultural production of lit/poetry unique to Japan. Japanese women poets kept alive the haiku/tanka tradition in love letters.

The one in power (the emperor) had set the standards especially in the arts. At a time when haiku/tanka was blossoming, a change in emperors occured. With this change came a change in taste/fashion. The new emperor liked Chinese society and its arts so much that he did everything in his power to imitate this society (even if it meant destroying everything "Japanese"). Aristocratic men had to learn how to read, write and speak Chinese.

A majority of the women even in the courts (aristocrats) didn't have to be educated in this way. This was probably one of the few phenomena were lack of education helped to advance an intellectual movement. Women continued to do what they knew how to do, which was speak/communicate in Japanese.

The way they corresponded with their male lovers was through haiku. Their lovers had no other choice but to respond the same way. It wasn't much of a hassle for them because the form was simple and concise. One of the reason for this type of correspondence was because men and women were required to live separately (even when they were married- marriage wasn't monogamous).

I also learned that since Japanese women didn't have a clear role to play in society unlike Japanese men (ruler/protector etc.) back then (probably besides for procreation). In another twist they had more freedom to express their "emotion."

Even though men had the "power," they (like women) still had to conform to the mores of their time. Emotions led to feelings and therefore suffering, which was a result from desire according to Buddhism. So men tried to stay away from this.

The advantage of being 2nd class citizen, one had the potential to go either or direction- up to the top, or down. Having androgynous/vague standing enabled Japanese women poets to write about mixed emotions (better than men).

Many things especially the characters of the person were revealed in these short haikus. According to the intro, the brush strokes of the calligraphy, the words used, the color and thickness of paper showed the virtues and traits of a person. Everything had its purpose (subtlety painted the picture).

One of the other things I liked was what the author said about showing emotions rather than telling: externalizing inner feeling using nature or directly stating emotional condition (becoming nature). What was mind boggling was what the author said. According to him the essence of poetry writing was to express deep feelings by connecting internal feelings to the external events and objects of the world (Andrew J. Pekarik 18). He continued, their aim was more often to qualify and complicate that feeling than to express it clearly and simply.

With this new information, I understood more clearly the novel I read last semester in World Literature called Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata. One of the editors wrote in its introduction that this novel was like a giant haiku.

The haikus that influenced and kept alive Japanese lit/poetry were records of Japanese courtship. Snow Country followed this archetypal form of courtship.

the man's courtship, the woman's resistance, the joy of meeting, the pain of waiting, the sorrow of parting, the woman's fear of rumor and abandonment, the man's protestation of good intentions, the woman's anger and resentment because of his neglect, and the final despair and sadness of both man and woman. (16)

If one were to read Kawabata's novel Snow Country, one would notice this outline (but if they were to rely only on this, they would miss the splendor of imagery in words- so I recommend others to read it even if it's difficult).

Which brings me to my last thought, which is a tangent compared to the points made above (but still goes along with image, role, subtlety etc.)---> clothing specifically (aristocratic) Japanese women's 12 layer coat robes/kimonos. The length, it's nuance of color, the folds, the weight- all of these contribute to the burden women carried and the complexity of male/female relationship.

***Old cliche: Appearance is not what it seems...

Posted by Michael Diezmos at January 19, 2006 10:25 PM