EA 170 Study Questions for Week 1

THESE ARE STUDY QUESTIONS. THEY DO NOT HAVE TO BE TURNED IN. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ARE ON SCHEDULE UNDER CLASS OUTLINES.

The more general and comparative "Discussion" questions (see here) will be discussed in class, as well as used to make up paper topics. Your answers to discussion questions should be typed (single-spaced, you should be able to answer in one page but okay to go over a bit) and turned in at the end of class.

(See Course Requirements for more on how to answer discussion questions.)

McCullough, "Japanese Marriage Institutions in the Heian Period"

This is a long article with lots of extended examples. Just read for the answers to the following questions and skim over the long historical discussions.

But look for and pay attention to discussions of Kagerô nikki (The Kagerô Diary) and Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji).

STUDY QUESTIONS:

Useful Terms: polygyny (having multiple wives), class endogamy (restricted to a class), nyôbô (lady-in-waiting), sesshô ("Regent" to child emperor), kampaku ("Chancellor" to adult emperor)

1) [p. 104] What is McCullough's definition of "marriage"? How is it different from our notion of marriage today?

2) Marital Residence [read 105-108; discussion of Kagerô nikki on pp. 107-8; skim 109-113; read 114-118] Make sure you understand the 4 types of marriage residence patterns: virilocal, uxorilocal, neolocal and duolocal. What pattern of marriage residence was NOT commonly practiced in the Heian period? Is this surprising to you?

3) Houses and Property [skim 118-123; read 124-127] Why was it necessary that women inherit property in the Heian period? What political effects did this system of marriage and inheritance have? What emotional effects?

4) Regulation of Marriage [127-141]:  What distinguishes a "main wife" from a man's other relationships? [127-128] What were the restrictions on incest? [135-6] What constituted a divorce? Who was most likely to get divorced? Who was least likely? Why? [139-140]

5) Children and the Family [141-146] Who was responsible for child raising? Was this true after divorce? Who was likely to be closer to children, the paternal or maternal grandparents? Why?

6) What do you think of McCullough's mixture of both literary (i.e. fictional) and historical documents as examples to prove his points? Why does he do this? Why might this be problematic?

Week 1b Kagerô Diary (Kagerô nikki) [click here]

Background: Written around 974, the diary or memoir of a very beautiful daughter of a well-to-do provincial governor (although she says at the start she "can hardly be compared to others" she was generally considered one of the three greatest beauties of her generation). This woman, whose name we are never given (she is known to history only as "Michitsuna's mother") marries "up" as the second wife of a very high ranking (and politically upwardly mobile) Fujiwara aristocrat, Fujiwara Kaneie. Kaneie married his first wife, Tokihime only a few years before marrying the author. Although the author's son, Michitsuna, was always given recognition and support by Kaneie, his sons by Tokihime (particularly Michinaga, who became the patron of Murasaki Shikibu, the author of Tale of Genji) were generally given precedence. For more information, see the introduction to the translation and the wikipedia article on Kagerô nikki.

STUDY QUESTIONS:

Introduction (1-50): This is long, but covers a number of useful topics for the course, including some that McCullough has already discussed.

pp. 1-7: The translator attempts to situation Kagero Diary within the wider realm of autobiography, the "female voice," romance narratives ("the marriage plot"), narrow "domestic" perspective, the pervasive tone of melancholy ("life is suffering").

pp. 8-13: Examines the historical context for the text, including the marriage system, economics/inheritance. This mainly repeats the McCullough article, with specific reference to the Kagero Diary.

pp. 13-17: The political context, and to what extent the author was aware of it in her writing.

pp. 17-22: Women's access to education, the effects of writing in Japanese (hiragana) as the "woman's hand," the diary in relation to tale literature (monogatari). All of these issues will be important in our reading of Tale of Genji as well.

pp. 22-25: The role that religions (Shinto and Buddhism) played in the author's life. Note that at this time in Japanese history, the author would have had difficulty distinguishing "Shinto" and "Buddhist" institutions.

pp. 25-34: The author's relationship with various people surrounding her: parents and siblings, husband, husband's other wives and lovers, children, friends, her public reputation.

pp.34-50: Artistry of the Text; issues of poetic style and translation. If you are a Japanese major, this is a useful introduction to poetic rhetoric. The author was considered in her lifetime a major poet, and was included in the famous "100 Poets, 1Poem Each" (Hyakunin Isshu). We will be paying some attention to this in class, but I want you to think particularly about how waka poetry functions in establishing relationships, and how its severe limitations are both helpful and a hindrance to communication between the author and other people, especially her husband.

Main text (55-101):

1) How is the exchange of poetry used to initiate and then develop the marriage? In the inital exchange of poetry (55-65), can you tell when they actually sleep together?

2) Considering our discussion of why men and women got married in this period, why do you suppose that the author of Kagerô Diary might have agreed to marry Kaneie?

3) Using the categories of marriage residence from McCullough's article (virilocal, uxorilocal, neolocal and duolocal), how would you characterize the author and Kaneie's living arrangements? Would you consider this a marriage? Why or why not?

4) How does the author's living situation seem to affect the author emotionally? Look for examples to support your argument.

5) Is the author able to express her feelings directly to Kaneie? What ways does she use to let him know how she feels? Do you think this is an effective way of dealing with the situation?

6) How does the author relate to Kaneie's first wife ("the place he has been familiar with for years" p. 75) ? What about the woman in the Machi Alley? Why do you think she might react differently to these two women?

7) Look at the two long poems on pages 89-97. This is one of the few places in the book where we get Kaneie's viewpoint. Do you think his response is reasonable? Why or why not?

8) How do you think Kaneie viewed his wife's writing about him? Why might he have supported it?

9) For Kagerô Diary and for Tale of Genji, keep a list of the qualities that seem to be considered masculine and feminine in the Heian period. Are any of these surprising to you?