Bibliographic Information

The confessions of Lady Nijō

translated from the Japanese by Karen Brazell

Stanford University Press, 1976, c1973

  • : pbk

Other Title

とはずがたり

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Note

Translation of: とはずがたり

Includes bibliographical references

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

ISBN 9780804709293

Description

Reprint of edition originally published Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1973.
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780804709309

Description

In about 1307 a remarkable woman in Japan sat down to complete the story of her life. The result was an autobiographical narrative, a tale of thirty-six years (1271-1306) in the life of Lady Nijo, starting when she became the concubine of a retired emperor in Kyoto at the age of fourteen and ending, several love affairs later, with an account of her new life as a wandering Buddhist nun. Through the vagaries of history, however, the glory of Lady Nijo's story has taken six and half centuries to arrive. The Confessions of Lady Nijo or Towazugatari in Japanese, was not widely circulated after it was written, perhaps because of the dynastic quarrel that soon split the imperial family, or perhaps because of Lady Nijo's intimate portrait of a very human emperor. Whatever the cause, the book was neglected, then forgotten completely, and only a single manuscript survived. This was finally discovered in 1940, but would not be published until after World War II in 1950. This translation and its annotations draw on multiple Japanese editions, but borrow most heavily from the interpretations offered by Tsugita Kasumi.

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