Coercive sex in TOWAZUGATARI

[Jos Vos]

Dear All,

I started translating Towazugatari into Dutch last year and like so many other readers I'm intrigued / puzzled by the relationship between the narrator and the men in her life, especially retired emperor Go-Fukakusa and the high-ranking monk she calls Ariake no tsuki.

I found some useful articles on sexual relations among the Heian / Kamakura period aristocracy on JSTOR, especially 'Sexual Coercion and the Nature of Love in Japanese Court Literature' by Margaret H. Childs (1999) and 'Coercive Sex in the Medieval Japanese Court: Lady Nijō's Memoir' by Hitomi Tonomura (2006).

However, as you can see, these articles are at least twenty years old, and I was wondering if anything else on the same subject has appeared since then, including essays or books that cannot be found on JSTOR.

I would be most grateful for your recommendations!

With kind regards,

Jos VOS

[Daniel Joseph]

Dear Jos,

Many years ago I wrote a chapter for a book on Sagoromo Monogatari (edited by Charo D'Etcheverry, and perennially forthcoming from Cornell) discussing among other things coercive sex in the context of that work, with some explicit reference to Towazugatari and both the articles you mention.

The book still isn't out, but if you're interested, I'd be happy to share my chapter with you!

Best,

  Dan

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Daniel Joseph

AM Harvard University 2016
Japanese Translator and Editor
djoseph.tr...@gmail.com

[Jos Vos]

Dear Dan,

Thank you for your reply! I'd be more than happy to read your chapter.

With kind regards,

Jos

josm...@hotmail.com

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From: pm...@googlegroups.com <pm...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Daniel Joseph <djoseph.tr...@gmail.com>
Sent: 18 February 2026 17:21
To: pm...@googlegroups.com <pm...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [PMJS] Coercive sex in TOWAZUGATARI

 

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[Charo D'Etcheverry]

Many thanks to Dan for reminding everyone that that edited volume is still in the ether, with his excellent chapter as well as great contributions by Steve Hanna and Michelle Kuhn (plus one by me)! I hope that it will see the light of day soon! To be precise, though, it is not forthcoming but rather awaiting fresh review. There is a sequencing issue in play, which I am hopeful will soon be set right!

Charo

Charo D'Etcheverry, Professor of Japanese Literature, UW-Madison

[Jos Vos]

Allow me to also thank those scholars who replied to me off list!

Best wishes,

Jos

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From: 'Charo D'Etcheverry' via PMJS: Listserv <pm...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: 19 February 2026 13:54
To: PMJS: Listserv <pm...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: [PMJS] Coercive sex in TOWAZUGATARI

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