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"1000 A.D.
Japan – Poetess: Women
coming out of the Shadows"
From approximately 800 AD to
1200 AD, Japan was first
free from their Chinese
overlords. China was in one
its upheaval periods and
could not pay attention to
Japan. So the Japanese used
this time to refine their
language and customs. While
their men became
poet/statesmen, their women
began to slowly emerge out
of the shadows. Many changes
were still indistinct, but
they were slowly reaching
for the light. The first
recorded novel was written
by a woman, the Heian court
lady Sei Shonagon. There was
development in the ninth
century of a handy phonetic
script called kana. Since
this script could be learned
without extensive schooling,
it was deemed acceptable for
women. Thus Shonagon wrote
“the Pillow Book” and
Murasaki wrote the “Tale of
the Genji.”
My poetess is an elegant
lady with her flowing
kimono-like dress. It was a
richly layered as the
costumes of the day were.
The ivory-like Asian animals
at her neck were hidden only
to her suitors. The small,
circular pictures of women
were partly obscured, but
beginning to come forward as
they became more literate,
or were they?
Note from the Artist: The
structure for the weaving of
our lady’s dress was partly
my own design, and partly
from an older structure. I
manipulated the design on my
computer until it had simple
Asian features.
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