The Heian Period in Japanese History

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07 November 2018
The Heian Period in Japanese History
The Heian period in Japanese history was in between the 794 and 1186 C.E. The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon and The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu were written in this period. In the period, Japanese culture, literature, and art were in a golden age with a distinct and recognizable identity. The two books, The Pillow Book and The Tale of Genji, both of which have female authors give an insight into the Japanese Culture in the Heian period. The two stories are centered on the life of the upper class in the imperial court. By focusing on the actions and behaviors of the various characters in the two books, this paper seeks to paint a clear picture of the Heian culture and demonstrate how poetry and romance were the main aspects of the culture.
The Tale of Genji is based in the imperial city of Kyoto, Japan. The story recreates life in the eleventh century Japan providing a detailed account of the customs, ceremonies, and romances in the imperial court (Murasaki, 23). The Tale of Genji revolves around the Genji, the main character and an emperor’s son who connects all other characters in the story. Genji’s mother was a lesser lady of the court and died in his childhood. The lords and ladies of the imperial realm have complicated and relationships and interrelationships that make up other plots and subplots and involved more characters. Although there was a social order, strict imperial protocol, the lives of the upper classes are full of scandals, gossips, superficial gallantly underlying the social etiquette, good manners, and propriety.
The Tale of Genji is an example of the how the Japanese told their stories in the medieval era and is a good representation of their literature particularly their views on fairy tales romances. Just as in the Western literature, the love life of the heroes was an important part of the story. The adolescent love affair was the fairy-tale tradition of the ancient Japanese stories. Murasaki’s romance started as an adolescent affair that progressed into a full-blown prose romance (Murasaki, 100). The Tale of Genji brings out the ideal life of the upper class as living well and enjoying nature and all forms of art; all this in isolation from the arts of war. The romances in the story present women playing a subordinate role to the idealized man, instead of the idealized in ancient Japan, which is attributable to the effects of Chinese culture.
Genji is portrayed as an ideal man, he is not a warrior but is a skillful musician, love, hero, singer and seduce. The attributes of Genji are associated with the romantic values of the Japanese tradition. “He had feared that Genji’s looks might suffer once his hair was put up, at least while he remained so young, but not at all: he only looked more devastatingly handsome than ever” (Murasaki, 235) The first six books present the young Genji as a lover, he almost had a new woman in every chapter. He was particularly attracted to women who resembled his mother, most notable his passionate love for Fujitsubo, one of his father’s concubines. They have a son who is thought to the emperors. With Genji growing older, he is was shows his f...