The Emperor Horikawa Diary (Sanuki no Suke Nikki)

Fujiwara no Nagako
Translated by Jennifer Brewster

Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii, 1977; Pages: xi,155

Review © 2002 Branislav L. Slantchev

Written sometime around 1109-1110, Sanuki no Suke Nikki is a less well-known example of the rather famous "journal with literary merit" composition from the height of the Heian period. The author, Fujiwara no Nagako, was a member of a minor branch of the powerful Fujiwara family, and was probably born in 1079, the same year as the future Emperor Horikawa, whose palace attendant she would become around 1101, and whom she would serve until his death in 1107 under the name Lady Sanuke.

The "diary" (the word is not an adequate translation of nikki because the work is not a record of events in the traditional Western sense but rather a list of occasions that have left an indelible impression upon the author) comprises two parts. The first deals with the rapidly deteriorating health of the young Emperor and his death. As one of his favorites, Nagako was in position to observe almost every moment of his last flagging days, although not much in the diary betrays the distress that must have accompanied the affair. Rather, the impression is one of stunned detachment as she narrates events of momentous significance without being able to comprehend them, as if in a dream.

The second part consists of entries dealing with Emperor Toba's accession, Nagako's recall to court service, and her inability to go with the flow of events. It is in this part that the full weight of the sad realization of Horikawa's death that finally impresses upon her. Every sight around the palace is a painful reminder of her previous life there. She is frequently distraught, unable to accept the seemingly quick resumption of normal life at court, with people forgetting so fast her beloved sovereign. Although forced to attend the child Emperor, she frequently loses herself in fantasies invoked by the falling snow, or the painted screens. At her own admission, she wrote the diary "in an attempt to console" herself (p. 113).

As literature, Sanuki no Suke Nikki is not very remarkable. Unlike many of its illustrious companions such as Tosa Nikki, Kagero Nikki, or Izumi Shikibu Nikki, it does not have the intensely personal touch, especially evident in the superior poetry included in the others. It is not that Nagako lacks passion, it just that so much in her work deals with Horikawa that it is quite impossible to picture the shadowy figure of the author, who gets lost in her lamentations for the Emperor. Having said that, this diary is exceptionally important because it is one of the few records of Horikawa, about whom little is known despite his relatively long reign and excellent reputation.

Brewster provides a good introduction, in which she talks briefly about the nikki genre, compares Sanuki no Suke Nikki to other well-known pieces of related writing, provides a short history of Horikawa's life and reign (along with a useful discussion of the institution of insei, usually translated as "cloister government"), and a capsule biography of the author, Fujiwara no Nagako. Both the introduction and the translation are supplied with extensive notes, and there is a short bibliography of primary and secondary sources in Japanese and English.

February 7, 2002

---

@book{nagako,
  title     = {Sanuki no Suke Nikki},
  author    = {{Fujiwara no Nagako}},
  year      = {1977},
  publisher = {The University Press of Hawaii},
  address   = {Honolulu},
  isbn      = {0-8248-0605-0},
  notes     = {Tr. Jennifer Brewster, index; Pp. XI,155}
}