The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan

Ivan Morris's study of the Heian era, particularly the 10th and 11th centuries when Murasaki Shikibu lived, is an excellent introduction to the period for anyone interested in Tale of Genji or Heian literature. Since we at the blog have read a few of the diaries and monogatari and poetry of the era, we were recommended Morris's study to ensure a great understanding of the cultural, social, historical, and literary contexts. And as an exploration of the Heian era, one begins to see how Japan, influenced heavily by Chinese civilization, Buddhism, and continental ideas, began to develop its literature in an insular way that looked to the past (T'ang dynasty China, for instance) while blending, in an eclectic fashion, Shinto, Buddhist and native traditions to reflect what Morris calls the cult of beauty. While not expecting the degree of isolation Morris attributes to the Heian era, it certainly helps explain how a unique and independent foray in prose fiction developed by the 10th century, and why women, in the peculiar context of this era, produced the most memorable literary works that perfectly capture the aestheticism of the age.

Everything in in the rather narrow worlds of the Heian aristocracy reflected this obsession with style and beauty, even as their world  fell into decline as the Fujiwara-dominated government failed to contain provincial uprisings and the breakdown of law and order. If you're trying to learn more about how the economy functioned, or the lifestyles of the peasantry or artisans, this book won't help you very much. As Morris admits, the women (and male) writers of the Heian period looked at commoners at is they were barely human, and Murasaki Shikibu or Sei Shonagon rarely mentioned lower classes or discussed the economic basis for the wealth of the aristocrats of higher ranks. Yet one cannot help but admire Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon as talented, intelligent women who, despite enjoying a higher status than women in later periods of Japanese history, were still at a tremendous disadvantage in a polygamous and sexist world. And it is they who appear to represent the zenith of Heian civilization's literature while providing a testament to the cultural accomplishments of the Fujiwara-dominated period, even as Japan languished in other fields.