A Couple of Books About Medieval Japanese Women

So I have these two books out via inter-library loan (ILL), mainly because they're so pricey I can't afford them.

Japanese Women Writers: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook, edited by Chieko Mulhern is an interesting dictionary showcasing Japanese female writers.  There's a huge time-gap between the writers of the Heian and Kamakura eras, and then a skip to the Meiji era.  I don't agree with the writer's claim that there were virtually no women writers during the Edo period, particularly since I have translations of some of their poetry and Donald Keene notes some diaries written by women during this period in his book Travelers of a Hundred Ages, which I know that Mulhern read because she quotes it in some of her footnotes!

Setting that aside, the book did have some excellent essays regarding the following Heian and Kamakura era writers:

Ono no Komachi

Ise

Fujiwara Michitsuna's Mother

Sei Shonagon

Izumi Shikibu

Sugawara Takasue's Daughter

Sanuki no Suke

Fujiwara Shunzei's Daughter

Ben no Naishi

Abutsu-ni (the Nun Abutsu)

Nakatsukasa no Naishi

Junii Tameko (Kyogoku/Fujiwara Tameko)

Go-Fukakusa'in (Lady Nijo)

Eifuku Mon'in (Dowager Empress Eifuku)

The essays are excellent, reflecting both biographical information and some critical examinations of these writers' major works.  I'll probably photocopy them (for personal use!  It's allowed!) to refer to later.  If the book were not so expensive, I'd buy it.  There are also many excellent essays on Meiji and Taisho era female writers, but I'm just beginning to dabble in those waters.

The other book is Engendering Faith: Women and Buddhism in Pre-Modern Japan, edited by Barbara Ruch.  This book is a treasure and I hope to be able to afford a copy one day.  As the title reflects, it is a collection of essays (many translated from the Japanese) regarding the subject of women, particularly nuns, and their relation to the Buddhist faith.  The essays include:

Burning Iron against the Cheek: A Female Cleric's Last Resort

Empress Komyo's Buddhist Faith: Her Role in the Founding of the State Temple and Convent System

State Buddhism and Court Buddhism: The Role of Court Women in the Development of Buddhism from the Seventh to Ninth Centuries

Vicissitudes in the Ordination of Japanese Nuns During the Eighth through Tenth Centuries

Tonsure Forms for Nuns: Classification of nuns according to Hairstyle

Buddhist Convents in Medieval Japan

"Nun Shogun": Politics and Religion in the Life of Hojo Masako

Nuns and Other Female Devotees in Genko Shakusho (1322), Japan's First History of Buddhism

Where the Bones Go: Death and Burial of Women in the Heian High Aristocracy

The Original Bomori: Husband and Wife Congregations in Early Shin Buddhism

And these are a portion of the essays--others go into subjects such as Divorce Temples, Scriptural Issues and Iconagraphy, as well as Tokugawa-era practices.  It sounds dry, but actually, it's been very exciting reading so far.  The subject of Women and Buddhism is very new to scholars (even in Japan) and there is a lot of work that still needs to be done.  Makes me wish I could go to graduate school, finally learn Japanese properly, and be able to help in the study of this field! 

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in medieval Japanese women's lives.