Courtship in Mid-Heian Writings
Courtship in Mid-Heian Writings
This chapter analyzes selected courtship scenes in mid-Heian poem tales (uta monogatari), fabricated tales (tsukuri monogatari), random notes (zuihitsu), and diaries (nikki). It also briefly discusses the sole instance of a visual taboo in the fairytale world of Taketori monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter). Although Genji is indisputably the classic example of courtship in the Heian period, the chapter contends that it is useful to explore courtship in earlier as well as contemporary literary expressions. Hence, the chapter's main focus here is on the early tenth-century Ise monogatari (Tales of Ise), the most inspiring literary precursor of the Genji, and on Sei Shōnagon's Makura no sōshi (The Pillow Book), the fullest contemporary account of courtship at the height of the Heian period.
Keywords: courtship scenes, poem tales, fabricated tales, random notes, diaries, fairytales, Tales of Ise, The Pillow Book, Heian courtship
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