The Confessions of Lady Nijô (Towazugatari)
Lady Nijô
Translated by Karen Brazell
Stanford University Press, 1973 (1976 reissue); Pages: xxxi, 288
Review © 2001 Branislav L. Slantchev
Writing at the height of the Kamakura period, Lady Nijô produced an account of her life, from the dizzying aristocratic heights as Emperor GoFukakusa's favorite lover, to the spiritual struggle of an old wandering Buddhist nun. The autobiographical tale covers about thirty years, from 1271 to 1306, and presents an intimate portrait of a very human emperor, a court obsessed with nostalgia for the glorious Heian past, and the often turbulent life of a beautiful woman "pursued from all sides" by the amorous advances of well-placed suitors. Lady Nijô has more in common with the outspoken Sei Shonagon and much less with the retiring and pensive Lady Sarashina, or the complaining Michitsuna no Haha. Yet, her fate was ultimately unhappy --- she, who knew the lavish favors of an emperor, and who bore children to him, to a very influential lover, and to a high priest, grew old without being able to see her children, and without being admitted to the procession of her beloved GoFukakusa when he died.Lady Nijô came from a fairly influential branch of the Minamoto clan and, given the high rank of her father, could have been expected to do very well at court. Her youth was quite auspicious, growing up as the foster daughter of a prime minister and treated as a foster daughter of Lady Kitayama (the mother and grandmother of emperors). Unfortunately, her father died when she was fifteen, leaving her without a powerful champion of her interests at court. Remarkably, she still enjoyed worldly success, even bearing a son to cloistered emperor GoFukakusa. However, with the early death of this child, she may have lost whatever chance she might have had to rise above the concubine level.
She flaunted her beauty by taking on several lovers, first and foremost being the powerful Saionji Sanekane (whom she calls Yuki no Akebono in the journal), and to whom she bears a daughter. Her other significant lover is the prince priest Shôjo (Ariake no Tsuki in the journal), whose passionate love for her borders on insanity and occupies one of the most poignant parts of the narrative. She bears two sons to the priest amidst self-recrimination and blame for dragging his soul to hell. Her other lovers include retired emperor Kameyama (which might have been the cause of estrangement from GoFukakusa, who was embroiled in a bitter succession dispute with him at the time), and the regent Kanehira. Curiously, GoFukakusa seems to have tolerated, if not even actively encouraged, her affairs, going so far as to recognize the priest's son. Eventually, however, he abandoned Lady Nijô when she incurred, for the umpteenth time, the displeasure of Empress Higashi-Nijô, whose inexplicable jealousy marred their relationship from the very beginning.
With Ariake dead, and Akebono all but having completely lost interest in her, out of service, and out of favor, Lady Nijô takes religious vows and wanders as a Buddhist nun. During her travels she meets various common people, prostitutes, warlords, nuns, Shinto priests, and musicians, and through her contact with them gradually transforms from a somewhat vain high-born lady into a compassionate human being. She meets GoFukakusa, who has also taken the tonsure, twice before his death, and comes to realize the tender love he has had for her, and the foolishness of her rash behavior that might have alienated him. When he dies, however, she is unable to attend the funeral procession but runs barefoot after it through the streets of Kyoto.
As a narrative, Towazugatari is one of the best examples of the memoir literature written during the classical period. Undoubtedly influenced by Murasaki Shikibu's Genji monogatari, as evidenced by the numerous allusions, quotes, and direct imitation, the style is lucid, with subtle characterizations, and is a pleasure to read. Although most of the poems are of pedestrian quality, there are a few that reach the touching levels of the best waka. Perhaps the strongest are Ariaki's death-poem to her:
Body thus consumed by passionand her reaction upon opening the letter box delivered to her after his death:
May the smoke it leaves
Drift through the sky in your direction.
Now I'm afloat, now sinking.In fact, without exaggeration, the love story between her and Ariake is the most engrossing, and somewhat unsettling, of them all. While her relationship with Akebono seems to have begun in love, it slowly disintegrates when he loses interest in her. Of the others, none seems to have entertained more than a fleeting desire to sleep with her. GoFukakusa's pledges and devotion, although genuine enough, seems to have been marred by an unhealthy desire to arrange her love affairs, and in any case the emperor is quick to bestow his imperial attentions to many other women, even having Lady Nijô act as a go-between in at least two cases. Ariake's tragic love, on the other hand, is so extreme that he forsakes the hope of salvation for the sake of spending time with Lady Nijô. Although she tries to end their relationship, she yields to its strength, concluding that it is some karma from previous life that binds them so. It is to him that she bears two sons.
If the streams of the afterworld
Had shoals where we might meet,
I would hurl my body in to see you.
Karen Brazell's translation is impeccable, and comparable to the excellent modern translations of the other classical works. The notes are sparse but seem to cover the most important details, and the introduction gives the necessary background to appreciate the work. Of course, Lady Nijô assumed a certain level of literary sophistication from her readers, and she naturally did not deem it necessary to explain motivations and acts when these seemed obvious to her. Some of that is irretrievably lost (e.g. the significance of the various tree branches when attaching poems, or the exact arrangements of the garments, something to which she pays much attention to). Perhaps not surprisingly, very little of the political affairs enters her narrative. There is some hint of the conflict between GoFukakusa and Kameyama, there is also a brief mention of the incident, in which the of the Rokuhara deputies of Kamakura was disposed of when found plotting against the bakufu, she even depicts the departure of the deposed shogun from Kamakura. Yet none of this is seen as more than the "dewness" of life, the transitoriness of fame and power, and none is placed in its political context. Again, this is not surprising. (It is curious that she never mentions the two Mongol invasions, which placed such financial strain on the feudal system that it eventually unraveled.)
As literature, Towazugatari is an enjoyable read. Beside the sections mentioned above, one must be sure not to miss the enchanting travelogue of Lady Nijô's journeys as a nun. Clearly influenced by her favorite poet and wandering monk Saigyô, the rich narrative is vibrant with imagery and with insightful relation of the scenery to her inner struggle and turmoil. As the author says through the words of her Father in a dream,
Sow all the words you canHer quest to keep the literary tradition of her illustrious predecessors has been crowned with success.
For in a better age
Men shall judge the harvest
By its intrinsic worth.
October 7, 2001.
@BOOK{nijo:confessions
title = {The Confessions of Lady Nij{\={o}}},
author = {{Lady Nij\={o}}},
year = {1307 [1973]},
publisher = {Stanford University Press},
address = {Stanford},
isbn = {0-8047-0930-0 (pbk.)},
note = {Translated by Karen Brazell.}
}