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Murasaki meaning7/14/2023 ![]() It was during these linguistically fertile centuries that both kana systems were developed, radically transforming the course of written Japanese. Rubbing an important someone the wrong way could get you either exiled or banished to the countryside (which were equally terrible fates in the eyes of the courtiers).Īll this drama gave capital dwellers a lot to write about-and write they did. There were scandals and drunken revelry galore! Merely falling out of favor with the imperial powers could get you kicked out of court. There was marriage politicking, cutthroat social climbing, and competition for rank at court. There was constant scrutiny, judgment, and petty gossip. Foolishly wearing last season's color combinations to this season's party could make you wish you were dead. The imperial city was like the red carpet on Oscar night, where the slightest fashion crime or lackluster rhyme could turn you into a royal laughingstock. ![]() But on the other hand, being constantly pressed by the stringent demands of the courtly cult of beauty must have felt like living in a tabloid. On the one hand, these aristocratic families and their pursuit of aesthetic refinement in all areas of life had a positive and permanent impact on the content and quality of Japanese arts and culture. Sometimes I can barely bring myself to throw on jeans and a t-shirt before leaving my apartment. Basically it was very easy to spend more time getting ready to go out than the time you actually spent out. Men and women alike painted their faces white, blackened their teeth (that's right, blackened, not whitened), fastidiously styled and scented their hair, and meticulously dressed according to complex color combinations that symbolized everything from social status to weather to season. And in their quest to make life imitate art, courtiers followed a cumbersome beauty regimen that turned them into living dolls-in fact, their likenesses live on in the annual nationwide "Doll Festival" ( hinamatsuri) featuring replicas of Heian courtiers. During the Heian period, poetry was your ticket to both romantic and bureaucratic success, the language of courting lovers and courting imperial sponsors alike. So how did Heian courtiers go about trying to win the popularity contest that was daily life? Screw math, science, and standardized tests-an aristocratic education meant learning musical instruments, perfecting your calligraphy, and-most importantly–honing your poetic genius. If this sounds a little like our own starstruck Hollywood, it kinda was-with all the glitzy glamour and cutthroat competition that that implies. Court members led lives of luxury funded by their estates in the countryside while they looked down upon "the little people" outside the capital. When the Fujiwara family dominated court life (from the mid-9th to the mid-11th century), aristocratic government and culture was at its peak. Heian-kyo was THE place to see and be seen–anybody who was anybody could be found strolling through those streets (or, more likely, being carried through them on palanquins). As the center of the Japanese universe at the time, Heian-kyo lent its name to these four centuries in Japanese history, known as the Heian period ( heian jidai 平安時代 ( へいあんじだい )). Cutthroat Court Life in the Mid-Heian Periodįrom 794 to 1185–almost four hundred years-the hip and happening city of Heian-kyo (modern day Kyoto) acted as Japan's imperial capital. ![]() If the pen is indeed mightier than the katana, Murasaki could have kicked Tomoe's ass. At a time when paper and ink were precious luxury items, people were scraping together every scrap available just for the chance to read her scribbles. This 11th century wordsmith single-handedly wrote her way into history as the world's first novelist and one of Japan's most-celebrated cultural heroes. That said, I don't think Murasaki Shikibu has anything to worry about. As you might have guessed from the inaugural article in this series, the sword-slinging samurai Tomoe Gozen seems like a tough act to follow. ![]()
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