Sexual Consent in Heian Japan

[kate_nepveu]

Okay, I did read chapter 20 last night, but I want to talk about two articles first since my thoughts about the chapter are influenced by them. So we'll see how long this takes and whether I get to chapter 20.

Comments

[hikarugenji]

There's an interesting passage in the Hahakigi chapter when Genji is pressing his first sexual encounter with Utsusemi. Tyler's translation has "It upset him to find that his forwardness really did repel her, and he saw how justly she was outraged."

The original Japanese is a little vaguer, and if I can get the spacing to work I will try a linear gloss:

kaku oshidachi tamaheru wo fukaku nasakenaku ushi
that forcing (honorific) deeply distress sadness

to omoiiritaru-sama mo,
way of thinking [i.e. by Utsusemi] also

geni itohoshiku kokorohazukashi kehai nareba
actually sad embarassing state

Obviously the text is not very clear, although it's more clear than that nearly-incomprehensible gloss probably indicates. The question is exactly what Genji is finding embarassing -- I was very surprised to find that the note in the Shogakkan edition I'm using says "mizukara no koui ga goukan to no jikaku wa aru" ("he realizes that his own actions are rape"). I personally thought that he was just thinking that Utsusemi's rank was too low for him, but perhaps it was possible for a man to regret forcing sex on someone?

[kate_nepveu]

Bryant's article mentions that men in Heian literature often feel guilt, but can't come to firm conclusions about it.

I'm not sure what Seidensticker translates that passage as--possibly "He was sorry for her and somewhat ashamed of himself, but his answer was careful and sober. 'You take me for one of the young profligates you see around? I must protest. . . . '"

In a Western context, I would suggest that the men are feeling guilty for "despoiling" women; I don't know whether that would translate here.

[hikarugenji]

Another thing to remember in the cultural context is that the sexual encounters in many cases were tantamount to a marriage, and some of the women's reasons for refusal have less to do with the sexual act itself than the consequences of it -- for instance, Akashi's fear that Genji will be recalled to the capital and leave her behind. Utsusemi is another example; at the end of the Hahakigi chapter she thinks to herself that if she were not married already she would gladly accept Genji.

I think it is also very unclear from any of the texts we have exactly how physically violent these encounters were. I don't think we should imagine Genji slamming the women to the ground and pinning their arms, or anything like that. In the cases where the girl's father has ordered her to consent, this is essentially the same as an arranged marriage in any culture except for the rather unusual beginning.

Clearly in modern cultural sensibilities, many of the encounters in the Tale of Genji would qualify as rape, but I find it difficult to enjoy the story if I take that view of it.

[kate_nepveu]

Tyler thinks they weren't violent at all, which I questioned in the margin of my printout and then left aside in my post. Specifically, I wondered how he could be so sure, because so much is elided, but he's the scholar and I'm not.

[hikarugenji]

I think it would be inconsistent with the rest of the picture of Heian court life that we have if they were particularly violent (physically) -- at least the ones in the tale. Obviously nobody can be sure how violent the actual sexual encounters of Heian life were, but in the idealized world of Genji I think it's a safer assumption that they were not.

[slobbit]

Considering the tricky nature of the clothing, I believe the garments could have contributed quite a bit to the restraint. A man could simply kneel on the sleeves, and since everything was open from the bottom,

well.

[kate_nepveu]

well. indeed.

Or, (1) thank you for reminding me about the nature of the clothes and (2) ick.

[slobbit]

You're welcome. I think.

Sometimes being an organic writer and having this stuff assemble itself straight out of the primordial brain soup is a little self-squicking.

[slobbit]

Oh, and did I mention the crotch gussets on most of the men's trousers were open?

I'll leave it at that.

[slobbit]

Except there wasn't the emphasis or veneration of the virginal state in Heian Japan as there was in, say medieval Europe. Though I have to admit I'd be hard-pressed to come up with my references for it. But what my back brain has formuated from my research is exactly what Tyler discusses -- that it's the emotional or intellectual innoncence that's important.

I think the shame comes from dishonoring the woman's father, not from "despoiling" the woman herself. A Confucian shame.

Also keep in mind that sheltered as Heian women were, they were much freer in many ways than their later Sengoku and Edo counterparts, especially when Western ideas were introduced.

[kate_nepveu]

Tyler does point out that there's a special _responsibility_ for men who are the first to have sex with a high-ranking woman, but I agree that I haven't seen any indication of a special emphasis on the woman remaining virginal, except insofar as that coincides with socially-acceptable behavior.

[hikarugenji]

The only reference to virginity I can remember in the entire story is in Yugao, when Genji is thinking about Nokiba no Ogi (Utsusemi's sister, who he "accidentally" slept with in chapter 3) and thinks that her soon-to-be husband will be surprised to find out she's not a virgin. It's not completely clear whether Genji thinks the man will be upset or simply surprised -- the word "itohoshi" is used but that can have a range of meanings that makes it a little hard to pin down.