Categories such as ‘body,’ ‘woman,’ ‘gender,’ and ‘agency’-categories that emerged within the context of western philosophical, religious, and feminist debates – have become central to the analytical apparatus of scholars working on medieval Japanese history, literature, and Buddhism. Perfumed Sleeves and Tangled Hair examines both the possibilities and limitations of using these categories for an analysis of texts that come out of altogether different temporal and cultural contexts. Through close textual readings of a wide range of Japanese classical and medieval narratives, from well-known w ... More

Categories such as ‘body,’ ‘woman,’ ‘gender,’ and ‘agency’-categories that emerged within the context of western philosophical, religious, and feminist debates – have become central to the analytical apparatus of scholars working on medieval Japanese history, literature, and Buddhism. Perfumed Sleeves and Tangled Hair examines both the possibilities and limitations of using these categories for an analysis of texts that come out of altogether different temporal and cultural contexts. Through close textual readings of a wide range of Japanese classical and medieval narratives, from well-known works such as the Tale of Genji to popular Buddhist tales, the book locates these categories within the context of the medieval Buddhist episteme, which framed the meanings they came to have. The body in this tradition, is not divorced from the mind, and carries both the physical as well as the mental and emotional attributes that go into the making of selfhood. ‘Woman’ is not a self-evident and distinct category, but a fluid and malleable one in medieval texts. Taking a broad, inter-disciplinary approach, the book challenges modern assumptions that undergird how the categories body, woman, and desire are used to interpret medieval texts, thereby questioning the claim that Buddhism is misogynistic and oppressive of women.