A woman's weapon : spirit possession in the Tale of Genji
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
A woman's weapon : spirit possession in the Tale of Genji
University of Hawaiʿi Press, c1997
- : cloth
- : pbk
Available at 52 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Bibliography: p. 337-362
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This text presents an examination of Murasaki Shikibu's 11th-century classic "The Tale of Genji". The author explores the role of possessing spirits from a female viewpoint, and considers how the male protagonist is central to determining the role of these spirits. Relying on anthropological as well as literary evidence, the author addresses the motives of the possessed character and locates Mono no ke within the politics of Heian society, interpreting spirit possession as a female strategy adopted to counter male strategies of empowerment. The author argues that possessions become performaces by women attempting to redress the balance of power. The book considers five major instances of spirit possession in the narrative and discusses the rendering of these possessions in the visual arts.
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