Courtly poetry and lousy samurai: What are the memories of Japanese ladies and gentlemen of the Heian era

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Heian is one of the most romanticized eras in Japanese history. In this era, courtesy flourishes, genres of Japanese poetry appear, and the knighthood of Japan - samurai - is formed. Legendary writers and no less legendary princes lived in this era. But to live in the Heian era, no matter how fascinating it is, hardly any of the people of the 21st century would agree. Everything was too complicated, and sometimes, on closer inspection, it was unsightly.

Saint Petersburg in the Japanese manner

Very often, the Heian era is compared with the courteous Middle Ages of Europe, and there are good reasons for this comparison. But the name "Heian" is translated as "peace, tranquility", and the Middle Ages are little associated with peace. To be honest, the Heian era was also full of armed conflicts: the Japanese, being colonists for the islands, continued to conquer land from the Emishi, the indigenous population. In addition, from time to time the feudal lords resisted the power of the imperial family.

They named the era in honor of the city of Heian-kyo - the new capital, built and named by Emperor Kammu. Now she is known as Kyoto. The emperor sought to diminish the importance of the previous capital, Nara, where religious life was boiling and the Buddhist priesthood seized a lot of power.

The struggle against the power of Buddhist monks was bizarrely combined with the institution of monk-emperors, when there were actually two emperors on Japanese soil. When the old ruler found his son old enough to fulfill his duties, he abdicated in favor of his son and took the monastic dignity. This was done because the Japanese emperor was entangled in a network of obligations and restrictions, and a monk could enjoy all the privileges of the priesthood and much greater freedom of action in general, could afford to keep a separate court and a separate, seemingly non-imperial army, actively influencing politics while his son- the emperor takes up his honorary office.

The city of Heian-kyo is somewhat similar to St. Petersburg. Not only was it built right away in order to make it the capital, it was planned from the very beginning with straight parallel and perpendicular streets cutting the city into squares, and, of course, like St. Petersburg, Heian-kyo was erected by the sea …

Chinese - no, Japanese - yes

In the Heian era, patriotism arose in the Japanese, who had long been practically isolated from Asia. Everything Chinese began to seem gradually alien, morally obsolete and, moreover, caused ridicule by its artificiality. It was during the Heian era that two famous styles of syllabic writing, hiragana and katakana, emerge to make writing and reading easier. This gave an unprecedented flowering of Japanese national literature, and many works written during the Heian era are now considered classics.

Although many elements of Chinese ceremonial and some Chinese games were still necessary for every aristocrat wishing to lead a normal social life, in general the Heian Japanese developed tastes that they themselves believed to be natural. There is a fashion to admire seasonal phenomena, such as snow under the moonlight or cherry blossoms. The idea of female beauty has undergone changes. Now every beauty had to flaunt loose black hair - it's so natural! To make the hair look particularly lush and romantically dragged along the floor, they were often complemented with chignons. Hairpieces could be worn by their own fallen hairs, neatly removed from the comb, and hair bought from commoners. For the illusion of hair density, the hairline on the forehead was also tinted with ink.

The usual costume of a noble fashionista was a set of loose silk kimonos of different colors, put on each other so that the edges of all kimonos were visible, looking out from behind each other as if casually (but in fact, of course, very neatly). The lowest kimonos, of course, were intercepted with a belt. The kimono, acting as a shirt, was white and tucked into wide trousers, often red - hakama. Colors and patterns (so stylized images of plants that they would have looked good in the second half of the twentieth century, but still considered very natural) were selected for the season.

Despite all the craving for naturalness, the beauties' makeup was very dense, although it also imitated in its own way what was considered natural ideal beauty. Noble Japanese women generously whitewashed themselves with rice flour, painted their lower lips crimson to make their mouth look fresh and small, shaved off and painted above the eyebrows that were more ideal in terms of the ideas of their time - small and round. In a similar way - with the use of whitewash and redrawing of the eyebrows - the male court dandies were also painted.

It was during the Heian era that the custom of blackening teeth with a special varnish containing iron oxides spread widely among both men and women. On the one hand, this varnish prevented the destruction of the enamel. On the other hand, black carried deep symbolism, it was the color of fidelity and constancy. The woman, having blackened her teeth, swore allegiance to her future husband, the man - in devotion to the master.

When the spirit strives upward, and the despicable way of life underestimates everything

The Heian era was imbued with ceremony and care for beauty. Any person was judged primarily by their elegance and only then by virtues. In morality, double standards reigned: in general, visits by men to women with whom they were not connected by any ties were not encouraged, but if everything is done beautifully, then … Life, after all, is fleeting, and the Japanese (unlike the Chinese) know how to enjoy the wrong that is eternal, but a moment that is about to disappear.

A good lover, in addition to an impeccable suit and manners, required the ability to conduct delicate and exciting correspondence, quietly visit the lady's chambers (walls and doors in which were made of bamboo and paper), not offend her with indifference, dressing after intercourse, and the ability to unobtrusively give gifts, from cute little surprises to expensive kimonos. It was also expected that the gentleman would be able to play the flute or draw, or better, both.

From the lady, basically, only correspondence was required. The fact is that noble women of the Heian era hid from the eyes of men, unless they served at court, where everyone could see them. They fell in love with ladies by the silhouette that is visible on the paper wall, when the chambers are illuminated from the inside, by the voice that can be heard from behind the screen when coming to visit her, by the handwriting with which she answers notes, by the choice of color and pattern on the sleeve kimono, the edge of which spread out from under the screen on the floor. Ultimately, outwardly, falling in love was a disastrous thing - everyone walked with the same hairstyles and the same painted faces. It is not surprising that famous poetesses walked in the famous beauties, although almost no one saw their faces!

Unfortunately for the gentlemen, the ladies sometimes spoiled all the pleasure of the love game themselves. For example, in the story of the legendary prince Genji, it is described that a twelve-year-old girl whom he possessed in the middle of a child's play with dolls, to his annoyance, instead of sending him a gentle and sophisticated message in the morning, as it should be after a night of love, simply lay in a fever. completely indifferent to the message from Genji himself.

Admiring nature, too, sometimes entered into dissonance with the base body. We admired the snow in the garden in the moonlight on the open gallery, and it’s quite cold, even if you are wearing a lot of kimonos. It was damp to admire the raindrops, the fall of leaves - it is interesting until the moment when the wind hurls leaves together with dust in your face.

In addition, the degree of sophistication was greatly reduced by the numerous parasites characteristic of any human dwelling in any Middle Ages, be it European or Japanese. It was possible to find a bug in bed, sometimes mice ran on the floor at night in search of jars of rice powder, lice strove to get in the folds of clothes and hair (it is precisely with the need to somehow deal with lice that the famous samurai hairstyle is associated, when half a head is shaved - the remaining hair served for elegance). Love for cats and kitties provided refined ladies and noble gentlemen with intestinal parasites. They fought all these misfortunes to the best of their ability, then fumigating clothes with smoke, then eating drugs that almost equally poison the parasites and their host.

Besides, it was considered normal for a lady to be tipsy. Drinking heated sake, furnished with appropriate rituals, was tied to a religious base and acquired a sacred meaning, far from everyday drunkenness. This very much comforted the sedentary ladies in the cold season. Never again outside of the holidays have they shown such religiosity.

In Japan, a lot of attention is still paid to appearance and behavior. For example, girls there are ashamed not to shave their hands and receive compliments.