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Lady Nijos Own Story: The Candid Diary of a 13th Century Japanese Imperial Court Concubine

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From the book description:

"Lady Nijo, a lady-in-waiting of the thirteenth-century Japanese Imperial Court, was a small child when the young ex-emperor Go Fukakusa took her under his protection. She was between twelve and thirteen years old when he made her his mistress, and for more than a decade after that the lovely young girl from one of Japan's most noble families lived at the court as an honored Lady in the ex-Emperor's entourage.

In this fine English translation of a rare and beautiful manuscript (Towazu-gatari) that is preserved in the Imperial Household Library in Tokyo, Lady Nijo tells her own story in diary form. With startling candor, she begins with her first experience of physical love and continues into the years when she is forced to leave the court and become a wandering nun.

It is the mutual affection of Nijo and Go Fukakusa that provides the continuity for Nijo's life, but her favors are in no way limited to one man. In a memorable account of thirteenth-century court mores, Nijo relates her romantic encounters with several noblemen, with the ex-Emperor's half-brother, and with another ex-Emperor, Kameyama.

As a historical work, the book documents the routine of long-ago court life, with its great emphasis on poetry contests, "football" games, drinking parties, and clothing (at the most tragic moment, Lady Nijo stops to describe what the messenger bringing word of her lover's death is wearing).

Lady Nijo's story is much more than a day-to-day record of trivial events however. It is the tale of a courageous woman, told with consummate skill. Scholars agree that the newly-discovered diary is one of the masterpieces fo the country's literature, a genuine autobiography that not only records the social pastimes of the aristocracy, but also gives a contemporary view of the political and economic movements of our time."