In search of the Perfect Man in Heian Period Sneaking through the court one day I happen to overhear three aristocratic women engaged in a heated debate concerning the issue of attributes of the perfect man. The three women are: Sei Shonagon, Murasaki Shikibu and Mother Michitsuna and they all are representatives of ancient Japanese historical period called Heian. It is no accident that the great figures of Heian Dynasty Japanese literature were women. Founded in 794, the Heian imperial state first mimicked Chinas system of administration by scholars. But by the 10th century, Japan had entered a period of stability under the rule of the Fujiwara clan, who controlled the imperial household by monopolizing the supply of wives, making women key in the exercise of political power. While men studied a distant, disused language-the Chinese classics and poetry-women perfected the art of Japanese vernacular prose.
This was Japan before samurai warriors, before geishas, without Zen Buddhism-or even sushi. It was a Japan whose aristocrats were utterly divorced from the masses of farmers and rural officials whose taxes they consumed. For a few brief generations this privileged nobility was free to focus on the pursuit of beauty-and romantic love-in a life that, by some standards, was decadent or even promiscuous. In this report we are going to talk about the attributes of a perfect man as it was seen by Heian women. One particularly famous female author of the Heian period is known only as the Mother of Michitsuna. The Mother of Michitsuna was an upper class woman unhappily married to a government official named Fujiware Kaneie. As a court lady, she lived a very comfortable, albeit sequestered life.
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In her luxurious prison, Michitsunas Mother endured her husbands numerous affairs. Such infidelity was extremely common. Noblemen were encouraged to keep several wives and/or mistresses without fear of rebuke or retribution. Wives existed only to produce children who would carry on the family legacy. Since this attitude was the norm, husbands generally made no effort to hide their activities. Fujiware Kaneie certainly did not, and there was nothing Michitsunas Mother could do about it. She was very dissatisfied with this situation and thus expressed her protest in her poetry.
In her Diary she paid attention to the attributes of a man that any woman of the time period would like. This vision expressed a man figure as a hero that is able to resist the existing situation concerning women and be more polite in relationships with women. One particular aspect that would make a perfect man would be his attitude towards women that as expressed by the poetess should be different of what they had back than. Other critically acclaimed works from the Heian period include Murasaki Shibikus epic novel The Tale of Genji and Sei Shonagons The Pillow Book. These novels were the first of their kind and stimulated interest in the diary genre. Both novels were written in a journal entry format that allowed their authors a vast amount of literary freedom. They were able to write about whatever they chose, free to gossip about their next-door neighbors, to admire the beauty of a poem, or to expound on the rigid social forms encircling Japanese men and women.
Their novels gave Murasaki Shibiku and Sei Shonagon a forum through which they could express their opinions on whatever they desired in a culture where women were not expected to have opinions. Male courtiers had plenty of time for pursuing women as their main duties were attending the emperor and little real administrative work was involved. Typically, high-ranking men were polygamous, with an arranged marriage to a principal wife for political reasons, plus several concubines and freedom to play the field. Seduction was largely a matter of getting behind the ladys screens – if she was unwilling – and then everything else followed pretty quickly. In fact, many of the seductions in the Tale could more accurately be described as rape, and some humorous episodes result on the rare occasions that a lady stubbornly defends her honor. Consequently it is clearly see that women of the Heian time period valued such characteristics of men as being more polished and elegant, especially when dealing with them. Another important attribute of a perfect man as it was expressed in the poetry of the Heian period was the ability of a man to engage in love feeling. Women were in search for this passionate feeling and thus they needed men to satisfy their desires.
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Genji was actually representing the ideal form of man in The Tale. In the end Genji is the better man for his weaknesses. Though his indiscretions never become virtues, he triumphs over them because of his tact and respect for the feelings of his sexual partners. Though Lady Murasaki laughs at him, Genji becomes likeable for the finer elements in his nature, for the amiableness of his desires, and for his touching acts of courtesy, such as his providing for Suyetsumuhana and the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers. Form in Genji includes the smooth execution of ritual, the scrupulous compliance with the dictates of heavenly bodies, and the discrimination of a refined taste, but it is more flexible than a rigid observance of convention would imply. Genjis sensitivity and manners make him the man he is in whom major blemishes become minor assets.
As a cultural hero, Genji is wanting, when compared with such heroes as Toshitsune and Benkei in Japanese military romances, but as a cultural ideal, Genji is something else, for he is in the tradition of Sugaware Michizane, patron deity of calligraphy. Like Orpheus, the legendary musician of Greek mythology, Genji charmed those who knew him. Though sweet and overly feminine, Genjis superlative qualities cannot be gainsaid. In the Heian period, many children were elevated to the role of Emperor. Therefore, their mothers were often only twenty years old. A woman didnt have to be an empress to have power and freedom in Heian Japan. Unlike most periods of Japanese history, in this era women were allowed to be as free-living as the men. Marriage was not the be-all and end-all for these women.
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In fact, many of the Empress courtiers never married but rather had numerous affairs. Children born from these affairs were accepted socially if they were recognized by their fathers. They were often recognized since disloyalty to ones mate was not an issue. These affairs were not discouraged in any way and did not make the woman cheap or wanton in the eyes of society. In fact, a worldly woman was highly respected. This theme of interaction between the opposite sex as well as love and lust is definitely one of the main themes in the story. This is seen in Chapter 2 when Genji and his friends speak at length about their past relationships with women.
This particular scene seems to set a stage for what is to happen in the story between Genji and the women he has relationships with. Also discussed at length in this story is the idea of hierarchy in this society. Hierarchy is not something in the story as an aside, but is crucial for the themes of The Tale of Genji. Rank, power and position all have a huge impact on with whom one marries visits and has relationships with. These roles help define the themes of love and interaction within the story which not only give a piece of history, but a good story as well. Reading Sei Shonagons accounts of her encounters with the men in her life, her feuds with her roommates, and her complaints about the other courtiers make us feel that not much has changed in one thousand years. Consequently it is necessary to state that all three of the women overheard in their dialog concerning their vision of the perfect man were very similar in their positions.
Because during the Heian time period there was a specific admiration of women and they had similar positions as men, women were looking for a strong and rich candidate that is able to manage family in terms of the desired life partner. The perfect man according to the stories should be very dedicated and truthful for their family, especially in their relationships with other people. Therefore poetry, calligraphy, painting, and music were what made a Heian man, for whom it was natural to shed tears over the beauty of the rising sun or weep in sorrow while leaving his lover. A good lover will behave just as elegantly at dawn as at any other time, Shonagon tells us. He tells her how he dreads the coming day, which will keep them apart. Then almost imperceptibly, he glides away. Poetry followed, in the obligatory morning-after letter. But poetry was not only an art; it was also a serious game in which men competed in front of judges.
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Shonagon seemed to relish her talent for outwitting men in poetry duels: With an allusion to some obscure Chinese poem she would leave her victims speechless.
Bibliography:
Murasaki Shikibu. The Tale of Genji. Sei Shonagon. The Pillow Book. Mother Michitsuna.
Michitsuna Diary. Hane, Mikiso. 2001. Modern Japan: a Historical Survey, 3rd ed. Boulder: West view Press. Iwao, Sumiko. 1991.
The Japanese Woman: Traditional Image & Changing Reality. New York: The Free Press. Leeming, David Adams, ed. 1990. The World of Myth: an Anthology. New York: Oxford University Press..
