Regarding the Names of Noblewomen in the Heian Period
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Berfu ŞENGÜN
Mar 4, 2021, 9:01:54 AM3/4/21
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Dear All,
I have been a PMJS member since fall yet I was a little hesitant to ask questions or participate in the discussions. I learned a lot from reading your e-mails and I am very happy to be a part of this community. Despite my different academic background (I'm a Sinologist with a Master's degree in English Literature), last semester I got accepted to the University of Zurich's PhD program in Japanese Studies. My research interests focus on the Genji Monogatari and writings of the noblewomen in the Heian period.
My question is, "why do we have no information regarding the names of some female writers?". And it is not just the name but also the date of birth/death too. It is weird when we know so much about their fathers, grandfathers, brothers (in short, the male relatives) or husbands, yet there is no official record on those women's identity. Moreover, they are mostly referred to by some kind of nickname (for instance Murasaki Shikibu). The other day, I started to read Edward Seidensticker's translation of Kagero Nikki and after reading the introduction I felt puzzled.
Could someone please explain to me why is it like this?
With warm greetings from Istanbul.
Best regards,
Berfu ŞENGÜN, PhD Cand.
Universität Zürich
Universität Zürich
Arden Taylor
Mar 4, 2021, 9:37:44 AM3/4/21
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One of the things that I think you can sense from the Genji is the need to keep the highest level of aristocratic women in very restricted surroundings, including the desirable fashions at the time of never cutting one's hair and wearing multiple layers of heavy garments. Of course this also includes a sense of propriety about who is allowed to have close contact with them; not just being allowed to see them, or even hear their voice, but knowing their personal names as well. For example, there is a scene within the Uji chapters in which Kaoru is embittered by Niou's ability to use his status to charm a gentlewoman into giving up her mistress's personal name. As far as a reason why, well sexism and masculine hegemony comes to mind, but for example Chapter 12 of Hank Glassman's book "The Buddhist Dead" touches on the way burial practices of the late Heian period reveal an increasing influence by Chinese patriarchal family structure, beginning with the imperial family and high aristocracy. Hope this helps!
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Arden Taylor
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MA Student in Classical Japanese Literature
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Alexander Vovin
Mar 4, 2021, 10:34:05 AM3/4/21
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Berfu Hanım,
I am not a historian, and it has been a long time since I worked on Heian, but I think the reason is very simple: women were not (with few exceptions) a part of the bureaucratic apparatus, therefore there was no need to keep any official records of their biographies. Interestingly enough, we have more information on women in the Nara period and for 6-7th centuries when Japan was less Sinicized. And note that biographies of men who were not a proper part of the bureaucratic system are also poorly known if at all. Thus, for example, we have only glimpses of the biography of the greatest Man'yōshū poet, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro almost all the records are limited to his activities as a court poet. In contrast, we know a great deal about poets from Ōtomo clan: Tabito and Yakamochi.
Hope this helps,
Alexander Vovin
Membre élu d'Academia Europaea
Directeur d'études, linguistique historique du Japon, de la Corée et de l'Asie centrale
Membre associé de CENTRE DE RECHERCHES SUR LE JAPON
Laureate of 2015 Japanese Institute for Humanities Prize for a Foreign Scholar
Editor-in-chief, series Languages of Asia, Brill
Co-editor, of International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics, Brill
PI of the ERC Advanced Project, AN ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE JAPONIC LANGUAGES
105 Blvd Raspail, 75006 Parishttps://ehess.academia.edu/AlexanderVovin
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萬井 良大
Mar 4, 2021, 1:51:19 PM3/4/21
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Dear Berfu ŞENGÜN,
There are two types of names imina (忌み名/諱) and yobina (呼び名) in pre-modern Japanese. Yobina is a kind of nickname, so sometimes called kemyō (仮名). And Imina is the real name, sometimes called jitsumyō (実名).
In pre-modern times, it was thought that imina was not something that should be taught to others except for a person who he/she serves. Therefore, the fact that it is recorded does not mean that people around a person know about his/her imina. In fact, even a person who was a family friend of Saigo Takamori did not know of his imina.
Moreover, in pre-modern times, males were supposed to serve the public, and females were supposed to serve a man. That's why males' imina are easily retained on the public records. But females' are not. The only exceptions are women who have official positions, such as being the wife of an emperor.
This does not mean that women were excluded from public places. Rather, on the contrary, because they were outside the public system, they were considered to be unbound by the system. They were thought to be privileged, even sacred existences.
You can refer to some books written by Miyata Noboru or Amino Yoshihiko. They have done some research on the sacredness of pre-modern women.
Best Regards,
Yoshihiro Man'i
There are two types of names imina (忌み名/諱) and yobina (呼び名) in pre-modern Japanese. Yobina is a kind of nickname, so sometimes called kemyō (仮名). And Imina is the real name, sometimes called jitsumyō (実名).
In pre-modern times, it was thought that imina was not something that should be taught to others except for a person who he/she serves. Therefore, the fact that it is recorded does not mean that people around a person know about his/her imina. In fact, even a person who was a family friend of Saigo Takamori did not know of his imina.
Moreover, in pre-modern times, males were supposed to serve the public, and females were supposed to serve a man. That's why males' imina are easily retained on the public records. But females' are not. The only exceptions are women who have official positions, such as being the wife of an emperor.
This does not mean that women were excluded from public places. Rather, on the contrary, because they were outside the public system, they were considered to be unbound by the system. They were thought to be privileged, even sacred existences.
You can refer to some books written by Miyata Noboru or Amino Yoshihiko. They have done some research on the sacredness of pre-modern women.
Best Regards,
Yoshihiro Man'i
Anthony Chambers
Mar 4, 2021, 3:14:44 PM3/4/21
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Professor Man'i's comments on premodern names is very helpful. Reading Genji, one gets the impression that names (imina) of both men and women were rarely used in the Heian court. We don't know the women's given names, and in most cases we don't know the men's names, either--except their family/clan name, which in most cases is either Fujiwara or Minamoto. Men in the book are generally referred to by their title (Minister of the Right) or their address (Nijo), women by their relationship to an important man. If we followed this practice, the current residents of the White House would be called the Delaware President and Delaware First Lady. We'd know his name, but we wouldn't use it. The only exception to this rule that I can think of in Genji is the protagonist's servant Yoshikiyo. Though he's a member of a noble family, his role in the book is that of a servant.
This doesn't answer the original question (why we don't know the names of women authors). We do know the names of male authors (Ki no Tsurayuki, for example), even if their imina weren't used at the time. Men's full names were recorded, women's weren't, except for members of the royal family. The question remains: why were women's imina not recorded?
Anthony H. Chambers
Professor of Japanese Literature, Emeritus
School of International Letters and Cultures
Professor of Japanese Literature, Emeritus
School of International Letters and Cultures
Arizona State University
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萬井 良大
Mar 5, 2021, 5:19:01 AM3/5/21
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Dear Prof. Chambers,
As imina is also written as "忌み名," teaching their own imina means being dominated. The word "知る" also means "to dominate." Therefore, when entering into a master-servant relationship, one teaches the person who will be the master one's name. The reason why Yoshikiyo's imina appears in the story is probably that he is a servant of Hikaru Genji.
A woman never teaches her imina to anyone other than her husband. For example, the Kamakura shogunate issued kudashibumi 下文, which is a certificate that proves a fief of gokenin 御家人. But there is no kudashibumi to be issued for female lords, which at that period, were not rare. Because the format of kudashibumi was just for the servent of Shogun, and because women did not have a master-servant relationship with the general. For female lords, the shogunate issued the certificates in the other format.
The reason why male imina were recorded is probably that they had many opportunities to teach their imina in public. For instance, in the case of aristocrats, when they are appointed in the court, they are issued a document called iki 位記. At that time, they had to inform the court of their imina in order to be written their imina in the iki. The records of the appointment are still partially preserved today, so we can find out their imina from those records. In other cases, the diary of noblemen, which is not private records but public ones, may reveal the imina of people serving in the court. Also we can find imina out of family trees.
As imina is also written as "忌み名," teaching their own imina means being dominated. The word "知る" also means "to dominate." Therefore, when entering into a master-servant relationship, one teaches the person who will be the master one's name. The reason why Yoshikiyo's imina appears in the story is probably that he is a servant of Hikaru Genji.
A woman never teaches her imina to anyone other than her husband. For example, the Kamakura shogunate issued kudashibumi 下文, which is a certificate that proves a fief of gokenin 御家人. But there is no kudashibumi to be issued for female lords, which at that period, were not rare. Because the format of kudashibumi was just for the servent of Shogun, and because women did not have a master-servant relationship with the general. For female lords, the shogunate issued the certificates in the other format.
The reason why male imina were recorded is probably that they had many opportunities to teach their imina in public. For instance, in the case of aristocrats, when they are appointed in the court, they are issued a document called iki 位記. At that time, they had to inform the court of their imina in order to be written their imina in the iki. The records of the appointment are still partially preserved today, so we can find out their imina from those records. In other cases, the diary of noblemen, which is not private records but public ones, may reveal the imina of people serving in the court. Also we can find imina out of family trees.
Best Regards,
Yoshihiro Man'i
PhD student at Gent University
Doctoral degree (Kanagawa University)
Doctoral degree (Kanagawa University)
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Berfu ŞENGÜN
Mar 5, 2021, 5:19:19 AM3/5/21
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Dear Professor Chambers,
Thank you for your response. Thanks to Professor Man'i I got to learn an important aspect of the naming system. I will surely look into them in more detail.
I do understand why their given names were not used by others, yet there are many important figures who slipped through the gap of the official recording system. As there are things that make sense, there are also things that do not match. Moreover, it is also quite interesting that even though the person is well-known in her circle and highly respected, how come there is no record of her date of death.
I do understand why their given names were not used by others, yet there are many important figures who slipped through the gap of the official recording system. As there are things that make sense, there are also things that do not match. Moreover, it is also quite interesting that even though the person is well-known in her circle and highly respected, how come there is no record of her date of death.
I truly wish to hear our respected professors' and colleagues' opinions on "why were women's imina not recorded?".
Best regards,
Berfu ŞENGÜN
Anthony Chambers <acha...@asu.edu>, 4 Mar 2021 Per, 23:14 tarihinde şunu yazdı:
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