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    18 views14 pages

    Cambridge History of Japan II McCullough Marriage Etc

    Uploaded by

    Mihaela Petrova

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 14
    ns THE CAPITAL AND 175 SOCIETY equally great difference in income between the lowest ank ofthe noe nobles (the Third Rank) and the highest of the ordinary nobles {he Fourth Rani, Those incomes changed markedly during the po- od as the governments economie situation deteriorated, but it probably safe ro assume that che disparity in wealth between the 190 levels ofthe nobility remained at east as pronounced asin the codes provisions, and thatthe gap between the nobles and whatever re ‘mained of the lowor offcaldom by that time was similarly main- ‘ined or widened, Despite the continuing importance ofthe clan in the erty and mid Hilan periods, the chief focus inthe day-to-day life of the nobility was the clan sublineage and the coresidental family or household, the partial divorce of which fom cach other distinguished both from the medieval and ater “house” (ie), Sublineages within a clan sccm to have been referred to most commonly a "eates™ (Rad) oF “houses” (i) te latter a term excessively familiar vo students of Japanese social history. The word ie was used in Heian vernacular texts up 10 the eleventh century mainly in the meaning of “house” for home” (the physical pee, including the various buildings and grounds), but sometimes also in reference 10 the dwellers in a house or, in other words, 10 a family or houschold. The ie as Fam- ily had geneslogial but not to any very important degree prope- cary continuity. One spoke, for example, ofa noble or base house, bbut not ofa ich or poor one af house lineage but not of house pat ‘mony, Misspplication ofthe later i concept to Heian noble soci ty has led to some confusion on the subject ‘An examination of the Heian noble fail may begin, therefore, with the observation dhat the Family eesidence was unconnected with jincome or income-producing property. A noble had nthe a coun- ‘ry seat that was the administrative center of a surrounding landed estate nor, of course, any Kind of urban commercial, trading, oF ‘manufacturing enterprise, His income came almost ently fom frovernmental rvenscso the reverie from scattered pieces of gr altura land, most of which he never st and with the operation and oversight of which he usually had Kee of nothing to do Sats cee Tami residence, adhering Fee acy eo SS ee = 4 ‘rip Nose FAMiLy 135 five to follow other principles. A man sequired rank and office Jangey through the patellne ut since that rank and office, with the attendant income, followed him wherever he chose to live, his test dence could be, ad perhaps even ordinarily was, untelted tl cage, Residence was determined partly by social convention and pardy by circumstance, ‘A chief determinant of Heian noble residence was the nature of| the marriage institutions of the time, Before taking up the dire ‘bearing of marriage on residence, however, thee preliminary points say be made (One isthe very arly age at which initial marriages frequently oc- ‘curred often at about the age of puberty (girls might be only eleven ‘or twee; boys a year or rwo ols) In sch marriages, the ages of the bride and groom were usualy feitly close to each other, but the ‘ride wis often two or thee yeas older than er hsband, and in ome cates as much as seven to ten years older. In second and sub- seaiient marriages, men often marred women much jnioe to them eves (Fometimes mere children), and che marriage was apt to be "he fat for the bride. Women ere apparently les likely to marry a ‘second time (eit high mortality rate in chilies and the general Absence of violence between men accounts undoubtedly for pat of the diference— there must have been man fewer widows than wide ‘overt, but when they di the husband seems rpically to have ben. ‘older and the marriage seldom if eer his fist AA second feture of the period's mariage institutions was the practice of polveyny: Men were permited to have more than ane wife although by no means al of them did, even among the wealth- iest and most puissant. Women, on the other hang, were ot permit ‘ed to engage in polyandrous marriage. They could, through divorce or by the death ofa spouse, have mote than one husband, bu not {so or more at the same time, When a man had more than one wife the woman fist married seems to have had a strong presumptive claim to be a principal wie inthe sense tht (s) her husband's usta] orexpeced wither) aca ser . Oe ‘ted ofher associated witha wife iasinguished by ‘he first two characterises. The tide of a principal wife, “northern quarter” (ita no hat), was eefined and confirmed however, neither bylaw nor by sacred ering, and the status of such wives may have been as vague in practice as it seems in modern formulation. Al "hough the ranked ies ofthe imperial harem might lead one to ex 16 ‘THE CAPITAL AND (TS sociETY pect a similar hiearchy of wives in noble polygynous marriages, ‘there are quas-hstorial cases of polygyous mareiages in which the principale ile was used of concurrent wives of single husband, suggesting equal or nearly equal statu for the wives. ~A final point about Heian marriages is that they were accom= plished sole domestic rites, nd, as frase known, neither ‘government nor say religious authority played a role in sanc- tioning or confirming them. Furthermore there appears to have ‘been no writen marrage contactor other similar instrament exe~ tuted by the families or the principale the existence of 2 union ested entirely on familia and social recognition. There was conss- ‘quently no legal or moral bastardy, and there i also mo evidence that ‘dren of informal unions who were recognized by thelr fathers ee lor of chllaen by secondary wives. Perhaps, infact, paternal recog- nition of chien was the regula ‘ion of sex nother words for marcage. From a social point of view the most critical aspect of «marrage — part from its basic function of uniting aman and woman for the production and rearing of ciliren ir apt to be the locaton of the ‘married-couple’s residence, Anthropologists and sociologists often ‘deni four chief types of marital residence found among the diverse Societies of the word: (:) af oF nea the husband's parental home (isla, or patilocal tesidence) (2) at or near the wiles parental hhome (urorloel or matriloea (3) ata house separate from ether spouse's parental home (neolocl); and (4) at the respective parental homes of the wife and husband, the husband vsking his wife at her ‘house but continuing to lve ais own (duooca). Other types of ree idence are, of course, possible, and there may be shifting from one ‘ype of residence to another in the couse o single marrage (espe ly likely inthe ease of duolocal residence it cers), but societies appear usually to exhibit a preference ether n practice o inthe ial for one of the above four chief types. It should be noted, however, that few if any scities follow exclusively one type of esdence pat tern. Each of the four residential types and thei various combi- ‘ations is undoubtedly found at least occasionally, for example, in presentlay American rocetys where neolocal maerage neverthe~ Fess utually the goal and pracice. Individual eieumstances and need sem commonly able fo overrule socal norms in such matters. ‘During most ofthe Helan period, and especialy during its mid- de century and half (950-1100), the prevailing modes of matital ‘rhe Nome Pasty 7 seen ole society at he ait wee urea lea snd duolocal. Ie-appeats thatthe soe ‘ma Fie tha took pace when all things were normal dn they should te was uxoroeal, or uxorilocal felled by neolca idence, and iti ily that uch marsages were also numerically predominant. They were, in any cas, very common among the nobility. = ‘When a mariage was the frst for both bride and groom and the bride's parents were present and leading nonreligious ives, the typ ical residence rule seems to have been uxorilocal. Such matriages ‘began with a period of dualocal residence that lasted for vaeying Pe ‘ds of ime, from a few days up to a year oF mote (he bith ofthe fiat eld may have uly merked the upper limit ofthe duslocal ‘phase, but eventually the husband took uprerdence a the house of his wife’ parents. As the youthfl couple matured and began to sume greater responsibility for their owa lives, the wifes parents often moved into another house, usually nearby or povided «sepa rate house for the couple, and sometimes the husband supplied ‘eve howe for himself and his wit, ‘The wxorilocal and uxorilcal-neolocal unions were the ma flages chat might be regarded ae the most orthodox. The exes {youth of the bride and groom, tether with che general absence of ‘opportunities for social intercourse between high-ranking boys and sich, meane inevitably that such manages were arranged by the es les The wishes ofthe prinipas in the mater ‘were but litle ifaall consulted (the coupe often, pezhaps even rea- lr, met for the fist time during thet wedding rites, hich in- volved lying together but nor necessarily the consummation of the ‘marsiage). The primary considerations were, rather, the usual ones ‘of noble societies: rank, politcal or social advantage, wealth, and 40 fon. The | ‘obtaining a hus band ‘connections promised high rank and office for ‘him at court and thus eventually large income and broad inf Tne groom's Family looked fora wife whose family could pro- vee adequate support and care for their son sn assist him in his career at courtsBoth families also sought to strengthen their cal cal canting ira micah tea our tres The natural result of such considerations was fay suit class endogansy and, asthe Fujiwara came to control mot ofthe choice +s Wi Muh is ahs nt nel rad ara ef 18 rite CAPITAL AND 175 sociETY court ofc, even tendency toward lan endoguy, especial at the uppe levels ofthe nobly incest rules were narsowly den, the only clearly disapproved marriages being thve witha dec a= ‘endant or descendant and with full oF hal bing) ita fay had more than one daughter, the second and ubse- ausot daughters night be marred roca, either inthe same Seiden wth he St daughter orl the hue to whigh the pa nts Inter removed or, epellyethaps when the groom wat sn Sc, they might be provided by the patent with aloe! res denot- As one would anume, when the groom wes sl hid the inl marta residence sem never to have been neces Te was not uncommon for an adult groom or his parents abo vo provide thelial residence fra neoleal mariage. That was Teast, ‘tenth cae probably, when special reumntanee (fe OF mpl, the as porn hows) made the arangement necessary Gr convenient even under whut might obese be considered nor- thal Greumatanes (ey when the wiles parents were alive al of the foble group fiom which the husband might be expeted take Princip wie). Groomsuppited ola eaidencer may have Deen the rl, on the other hand for imperil princes, and aso when the tide was severly isadvantaged an orphan, or ofa aon oF ste sons fro o tat of the groom thither parents ould oe pro- ‘ide ving quarters and suppor commessunte with their sonn- Ins soperor tat I olcal maniges were the most orthodox Anu the lest senna in erin, the ter pe of neloeal mar "age in which the sand supplied the residence for an orphaned Gi ora worn of inferior rank or ekeunstances, was the mos F0- any and its perhaps ietable at much ofthe Heo ofthe pe- od eeered on sich unions. They originated ast excises the Eston and inference tll inthe man's lection for the woman, Since thee was othervite nothing to arith to masta dat $ielded ihe important economic nor soil bent wo him. The ‘oman, on the oer hand ad much to gain rom such «marae contac support, «tse in soci status and peshape even some fromite of longterm scr. Te was her interest laty to et Courage end mtntain her husbands ove ‘aman took a secondary wife the marriage was almost always wu Sy ona owen ae nots as Deg Sn Hea LIFE INTHE MANSION Ms Figue 2, Plan of Ononomia, Adapted fhm Yoshida Sana, "jarano Sanesuke to Ononomipee” ph sand adoptive father, Sanevori, was developed ove a petiod of about "wenty-ive years following a Tie in go7 that destoyed most ofthe ‘original structures, Sanesuke Seems to have lived inthe residences of his frst two wives while they were alive, but within a fev years ofthe death of the second wite ing he took up permanent esidence at (nonomiya, never egun formally marrying snd moving tothe resi dence of & principal wife, ‘The chief eesidental quarters, situated inthe northern two-thirds ofthe square ste, consisted eventually of a central “dwelling all” snd three adjacent “opposed houses” (oi no 9a) on the eas Westy 146 ‘nv CAPITAL AND 175 sociETY and north, each connected withthe dwelling all across a space of| out 400845 fet by one, or, as inthe western house, by 060 roofed hallways (estado). Stepe descended tothe main courtyard from the southern ofthe gwo allway leading to the western Bouse Sug feating thatthe allway there was open on the sides. The retangu- Tardesign ofthe opposed houses was the same a that of the dveling bal, bat each slso included one the case of the northern house) for to (the eastern and western houses) rectangular wings (eort- dor," 13) extending from corners ofthe structures at right angles. ‘Since the houses ar assumed to have faced the dweling hall as their ‘name suggests che wings are believed to have been on the sides of the houses sway from the central steuctre. "The dweling hall self faced south toward a courtyard formed by the southern wings (ri) of the eastern and western houses. One of more epricot trees (une, commonly misidentified as plum trees) frew in the courtyard, and south of there, occupying about a third bt the entre site, were the man-made ponds and hills of an extensive sutden, The largest of the ponds, broad enough to contain an island fon which a anguct for a sable group of people could be held vas Airey south ofthe courtyard; the to smaller ponds seem to have been west and youth of there, near the corner of the proper’. Two hile stood a the southern edge ofthe sie, sing beblnd the ponds snd providing for observers in the residential quarters displays of foliage and blossoms aeros the intervening water. The ponds were probably fed both by an iigation stream brought in beneath the roofed hallway connecting the eastern opposed house to the dwell ing hall and bya spring southeast ofthe largest pond. The garden contrned to Buddhist chapels the larger one a the foot ofthe hill next wo the spring southeast ofthe main pond, and the stnaller apparent beeween the to pond in the southwest comer. ‘Avsable and building ured for storage stood on the southwestern tvlg ofthe site, js inside a wall hat enctced the entre propery ‘There were thre gates inthe encircling wall, one each on the east west and north ‘The weet gate, a reatvely large, rooted passageway fof the Kind descrived as quadipedal (soauasi), was the main for mal entrance tothe st, Tosde the Westgate, atthe southern end of the western houte and is southern corridor wing, was another gate (he “inne gate" chimon) lading into the courtyard south of the lveling hal ‘Such were the known major structures and features of the main ‘Ononomivasite as thy existed in about the year 2030, Tt was a large IPR OTH masstON ur and handsome establishment Ind out end executed with a sophisti Cation of taste and sensibility uncommon, sel, n the World of me sieval domestic architecture. A source from the following century claimed that the mansion was kept in uch beautiful repair that there ‘was never a day when seven or elght carpenters were not busy there: the two places where one was always certain to hear the sound of aazes the narrator i the source asserts, were the Tait Temple st Nara andthe Ononomiya mansion. Buti must be kept in mina that the spaciousness ofthe site did not necessarily eesule in commen- surtely spacious living quarters for che inhabitants, The overall di- mensions ofthe largest structure measured perhaps Bo by 30 feet the opposed houses onthe east and west were probably about So by 4o fee; and the northern opposed house approximately 70 by 40 feet. (All of those measurements are rough estimates) ‘The tot ‘oor space in che main buildings thus amounted to something over ‘goo square feet and the hallways and coredors wigs may have added another 5000 t 6,00, a gran total of nearly 393000 square feet of usable space. ‘Lower-anking nobles ved in much less spaciows surroundings than those of Sanetuke, of course, A will from the end of the sleventh century, for example, seems to show that che main resi fence of an otherwise unkown but obviously wealthy man named (Oe no Kiminaka was crowded onto eight house lots of one of hie tree large properties in Heian (each listed at one hi, of about 3.5 acres). The property on which the main residence stood alo ine luda in its othr sections a library. which would have bec espe- ‘ally appropriate far a member of the lesmed Oe family, and a chapel "The physical traces of another more humble, probably asble, ex- tablishment were revealed atthe time of the Teconstruction of 4 [Kyoto high school in 1979. Located in the northeastern corner of Hisan, the site showed sn excaration the outline of a rectangular sain hall about 21 by 46 meters, with two smaller buildings on et ther side and another at the rear, "The plan seems 0 repretent the ‘shindencui design at an incipient sage. “The Ononomiya compound, in addition to its chet half-dozen or so inhabitants, also housed, temporarily ot permanently, lades-in- Writing, servants, and miscellaneous workers and hangers-on, 30 us TUR CAPYEAL AND rF8 socIBTY that the total gwenty-four-hour population ofthe rite may have been ‘outed in tee figures, There was, fordhermore, a dally steam of stor: kinsmen, court offcnls, and religious, who came at all hours of the day and night, offen accompanied by their own com panions and servants. Between the resident population and the visi {ors the chambers, corridors, and wings of Ononomiya must have Jacen constantly alive with what to modern seniiies might sem vette hordes of people. "The relaively high density of site popwlation and the openness of| interior space would have combined to produce & publisyle of it~ ing. Sleeping or waking, the individual as rarely if ever wory fa moved from companions, and the occasions when one was com- Pletely alone were probably exceptional indeed, Darkness sleep, and "urtins sem offen to have been al hat prowcted even a couples ‘exual relations ffom kin and attendants in the same room. To be sone, oF nesey so, at night in a dark building was enough 10 make fren the bravest man feel the sharp tlons of goblins matching at him, orto fights a timid gil quite erally to death, ‘Large numbers of people living together in a relatively limited space with lle provision or opportunity for privacy may have ere sted to patalyconteaditory tendencies in the personal relation ‘Ships of family members. On the one hand, the fequency and int Imacy of sociation may have helped strengthen certain ties, ‘specially those with personal atendants, who sometimes were aso family kin or related through fosterage. (The child of a wer nurse might become a personal attendant of is mother's nuriling) Sene- ‘uke’ diary is too impersonal a document to provide examples of such relationships, but contemporary fiction contains frequent i- ances suggesting that dhe degseeof intimacy (if nt it precise ma- ture) approached what a modern observer might expect to ind be- fen congenisl siblings. On the other hand, the mulfariousness of felationshipe within avery large household, the strength of particu lar ies with household members ouside the family neleus, and the absence ofa special noutshing privacy for relationships among au- ‘lear family members wonld have presumably difased and some- ‘what weakened affective relationships between nuclear members themselves. It may be noteworthy that in a society where genealogy ‘and Kinship played such decisive roles there was nota single word ot ‘customary phase in the spoken language that designated the nucest (or elementary) family (parents and thelr unmarried chien). ‘Nuclear family relationships may have been further weakened by the practice of wetsnusing, which appears to have been nearly uni- versal among a leat the more exalted noble houscholis, fey if any Jadies of distinesion ever suckled their own children even for the briefest period, The practice difered radial, however, rom # form of i found at onc ume in Europe, where a newborn infant of the ‘wealthier classes might be sent away to poot, urully peasant, household for one or two years of nursing by a women whose pov” «imnorance, and inattention seems frequently enough to have led to the infane's death, The Heian custom wat to select one or more ‘wet nurses for an infant from among women of relatively good bith (often from Fifth-Rank families) and, if she wat not already in ser vice at the hous, to bring the nurse (or murs) there, were she might then remain more or less indefinitely, even after her charge thud been weaned. The natural mother war not physically separated from ber child, but her relationship with ie would have unvally been ‘weakened, one must suppose, insofar as she delegated nursing and ‘are to another woman. There was no doubt a good deal of individ ‘al variation in che degree of maternal responsibly delegated to @ nurses ranging from simply a year orto of breatt-fecding om up to ‘what may have amounted a times to a nearly complete surrender of maternal duties, but the overall tendency would have been toward some loosening, a least of the tink between a child and its natural mothe ‘Nuclear family tes were similarly aected by the presence in the household of other close relatives, regularly a daughter's husband (the son-indaw) and her children (the grandchildren), but also oo- «asionaly, cording o individual cieumetances, «brother or sister ‘of one of the parents. In such case, however, the eflect on nuclear relationships may have been slight since the nonnueleae Kin are known sometimes to have lived in subhouscholds in detached oF semidetached buildings. For example, when Sanesuke’s daughter CCifuru marred ip 1039, she and her husband lived together in the ‘astem oppoted house at Ononomiya, which had its own hovsehold offices and kitchen in the corridor wings and was probably also ‘equipped to function otherwise asa least a semlindependent estab- lishment, When Senesuke's sister moved to Ononomia in 200s, she ‘vas not housed at the main site bu inthe Western Residence, which lay across he stact hounding the site on the west, That residence also presumably functioned more or les independently of the resi ential quarters of Sanesuke’s immediate family “The tes of the nuclear family could be further loosened by the 50 rn CAPITAL AND 175 sociEry practice of polyayny. Seneruke, lke many or most Helan noblemen, coms to ave been formally marred t only one wife at te, But tome ike Michinags, lad two wives, and i was common for men to fhe continuing relations with women oes than ther principal and secondary wives either within oe ouside ther own households. All ‘ch relations, but especkally with a secondary wife in a separate hhouschold, would have reduced the frequency af astocaton between ‘aman and bis principal wife and beoreen him and ther chikren, Teng ordinarily to some weakening of nuclear far relationships. Early mortality had the same general effet iting the lifespan of a nuclear family and reducing the measure of common bistory and sociation that les atthe bate of personal zltionships. In Helan hoble society, where socil violence was relatively rare and warfare moet unimown, the chit danger vo parental ife apart rom disease ‘vas probably childbirth, and it was therefore the link wih the wife land the mother chat we mort likly tobe severed by early death. A though statistics ar lacking, the quency with which death in, oF ‘Shorty follwing, childbirth appear in the hterature and sources of the period suggests that atthe wery least a large proportion of all Imortiages ended in tat fashion hit akan together with the un- Aloubeedly high mortality rte fom disease, may mean that it was the ‘exception fora husband and wife in thei fist maerage 10 Hive be- yond their twenties together. For instance, Sones’ ist mariage nde it the death of hie wife in g86 shor after the birth of ther fist child, in the welt or thrteendh year ofthe marriage, when ‘Sanesuke wae enty-nine, Had the wife borne acid earit, there isan excellent chance thatthe marriage would! have lasted no longs than Sanesule's second marrage, which was brought to an end in is fifth yearby the eth of his wife, Sunesuke also had two children by ‘woman who may have been in the service ofhis ister; she, 00, ded shorty afer te Birth of her second infant, which had ded immedi- ately after bith ‘Such personal histories may have been more nearly the rule than the exception, anda child probably had to count itself fortunate it reached adolescence with even one parent alive Since the death of ‘young wornen in childbirth was so common as to be almost normal, nd since childhood mortality was expecially high, the Heian noble Chik aso often found itzl€ with nether 2 nataeal mother nor any Tull siblings. Many children, and peshaps a majority lived for longer bcstiorter periods of thei ves in foster or adoptive fans, o Be- fame stepchildren in dhe household of «remarried surviving parent {is entirely posible thatthe nuclear family asa ule was even less stable among the Heian nobility than ii in presentday societies, ‘where the frequency f divore may be atleast party a function of improved physical heakh and increased longevity. If stepbildren and adopted children are excluded, it may also be true that the ieian nuclear family was lite lagor than its counterpart todsy in Japan or the West: few Heian couples scem to have had more thin to oF thee children who lived pas infancy. Finally, ties within the family were probably also affected by the tendency ofthe Heian noble to change residences often The divorce of residence from income and status, the relative simplicity and tphemerlty ofthe noble house, and the prevaling patra of mar tal residence led toa high degee of residential mobility within the ‘arrow confines ofthe capital city. A great nobleman ike Michinagn ‘oF Sanesue was ely to live in a autceston of houres as one rar age followed another, new houses were acquired by putchase or transfer, and fie destroyed the old, Michineg, for instance, med for contlled seven houses inthe capital, dee aequted through bie ‘marital connections and four otherwise, and he had vila at Katsura {near the present Katsura Detached Palace) and Uji (on the ste of the Byésoin, in most of which he is known to have lived atone ine ‘or another, Fire, storm, and family viistude probably also made i rare even fora woman to reach old age in the houte in which she was ‘born and mari. Such absences were oceasioned by the intendic= tions of in-yang Tore bythe requirements of oficial duty at court by ceremonial or ritual factions at ather noble households, by child. Dir and is attendant ritual pollution, and sometimes simply by in- clination. Although iis tue that the enge of pica! movement wis restricted, usually involving no more than a few hundred yards of travel and often simply a shit fom one structure Co anther on the same propery, the frequency of moves and absences from home and of new construction presumably contributed to atleast some dif sion of personal relationships outside the household and « com sponding loosening within, Tha process would no, however, have af fected the two sexes equally. Since the woman wat Tar es kel to move otto absent herel from home than the man the overall effet must have been to reinforce the uxorlocl nate of many house holds by centering the closest, most intense personal ies on women * genre erneeeeramemsice 1s "TH CAPITAL AND 18 soctETY "The foregoing suggest thee were cicumstances in Heian noble so- ciety tending toward a difusion of affective tes aay from the ae leat family and a weakening of relationships within it There i also at east one smal piece of abjctve evidence tht may confirm the fexstence of dat tendency ith respect ro children. The death of « Hian noble adult was marked by a considerable amount of cer ‘mony an ritual leading to and following the cremation or interment fof the bods. However, when hilden under eight calendar years of age died, parents were advised by experts in such matters that the proper course was simply to abandon the body in the opes, which Seems to have been a frequent practice among commoners even in the case of adults. References in contemporary sources to the aban- donment of children's corpres ate frequent enough to indicate that the practice was commonly observed. The high rate of childhood mortality undoubtedly argued in favor of « simple, inexpensive ‘method of disposing of the corpses, and in an age accustomed to the Sights and smells of death and mostly unacquainted withthe origins of disease, abandonment inthe open may have ssemed the simplest fd mont practical means available, But the custom seem to imply, nevertheless, a certain callousness toward, or distance from chil rca, a view of them at somichow Tes mmportant or less human than the als who were sen off with labora absequies and mourning Te scems legitimate ro conclude tat, generally speaking, the afec= tive tes of the Heian noble with members of his immediste family ‘were neither so strong nor so enduring a those among members of a reasonably succesful modern family i Japan oe the West, and hat ‘those ties were therefore more easily severed o shared than they ust- ally are nowadays. The implications were not usually quite the same {5 they would be for modern farmly members when, for exsmple,& Elan spouse ended a mariage by taking holy orders or by divorce, corwite a husband took a secondary wife, or when a soa left his fam Ay wove athis brides house, or when a child was given up for adop- tion. The break may often have been more easly accomplished at ‘hat dime than now, the sharing more wilingly undertaken, ‘One should no infer fom tis, of course, that mucleat family se- lations were unimportant in the practical or emotional life of the Filan noble. Although a noble hutband and wife sem normally 10 Ihave been lets closely bound by association and affetion to each ‘other and to thir children than we lke to think the modern matsied ‘coupe shouldbe, there was usually no other set of relationships that ‘vas of comparable strength. For most people ofthat age and class LPR IN THE MANSION 159 the deepest and most duesble emotional tise were still undoubtedly ‘within the confines of the immediate family. In inva case, ‘moreover, the bond between husband and wife or beween parent land child was as strong es any such relationship commonly sin the ‘modern family. Or so, atleast, the contemporary Heraure tell us fd some of the historial suroes wuggert We may perhaps infer {rom Sanesuke's dary, for instance, dha he was strongly aached t0 his firs wife, whom he marsied when he was sixteen and lived with for twelve o thirteen yers. Although the diry, a usual, seys noth jing about the author’ personal ectings atthe time of his wife death in 5, it does reveal that he continued to hold annual mourn- ing services on the date of her death for many yeas thereafter, ev dence peshaps of an uncommon degree of devotion (or fear of the spirit of the deceased?) Sanesuke was even more deeply atached t 8 daughter he had by a woman who had been in he sevice of his econd wife. He was in his anidfities when the daughter, Chitra, twas bor, childless except for adopted children anda clerical son in tvinom he had never evinced much interest and he seems to have poured all his thwasted parental affection into his daughters care 8nd upbeiaging. He ker her with him constants, took her on ot ing, catered seemingly to her every whim, reconstructed and refi bished the eastern opposed house t Ononomiya for her mattiage, and willed both Ononomiya ane most ofthe rest of his estate to er. “There is no indication in any of this that he ever considered sing CChifara further his wm plitcal ambitions at court. Her mothers relay low bith may have made hopes for at imperial martiage impractical in any ease, and fora man in Sanesuke's high postion (he was Minister of the Right during most of her ite) there was no other marital alance that could have been of much interest to him. Unhappily, he outlived that daughter, too: she died at about the age oftwenty-even, when he was eighty-one, leaving behind a two-year tld daughter who eventually inherited Ononomive "The teary and quas-hstrial sources for the period frequently describe domestic sens that would entirely agree with what ean be ‘een in, and inferred fom, Seneruke’s dary a husband snd wife in fee and affectionate converse about ther everyday ives Fond fe ‘ther holding his infant daughter and being amused when his clothes fare wee by hea father playing horse with his litle ons a mother ‘moved to teat Oy the Beauty of er children sisters seisting each ‘ther inthe conduc of love affairs or the searing grief caused by a ‘ath inthe family, including tht ofan infant or sal child, The a ce eee ast THE CAPITAL AND ITS SOCIETY {ective ties between parent and daughter seem to have been espe cially strong, and Sonesse's devotion to Chifara may alo i that ‘respect be reputded at pica of noble family relationships. “The ways in which space was employed at Ononomiya were also in cevitably rele to human relations there. Each area ofthe establish tment tended tobe associated with pariculae functions, although dhe functional definitions of space were neither so detailed noes strictly applied as one might find inthe great houses ofthe wealthy in recent times, where many or most rooms may be reserved individually for some one particular activity or purpose: dining, breakasting, gam ing, dancing, sleeping, reading, snd 80 on. At Ononorniya, the ain functional divisions had to do with whether space was chiefly em ployed for everyday private living or forthe more public and cere- ‘monial or situa aspects off At the same time, in limited areas of the establishment, space was also defined by furly specific func- ‘onal criteria. The division of space into public and private pars ‘mostly concerned the principal family members; the more specific functional divisions mainly involved the household staf. "The greatest part of che main ste at Ononomiya ws reserved for the use of Sanesuke and the members of his fai The space allot ted fr that purpose consisted of che dwelling halal ofthe opposed houses, the corridor wing extending south fom the western opposed house, and one or both of the hallvays connecting that house with the divelling hal, "The cental chamber and the northern and eastern eave chambers ofthe dwelling hall together with the opposed houses on the east and north, were used by family members for everyday ving, but be- yond that minimal definition the space was not, for the most part urterdiferentated by function: the inhabitants slept ate and pure sued most of the actives of ther waking hours inthe samme und ferentated areas. Larne arrangements of the period are not well understood, but since there were servants responsible for the re ‘moval and cleaning of pots of human waste, perhaps those needs, too, were often or usually et inthe regular ving quarters The cen- twa chamber of Sanesuke' dweling hall included a walled room that was probably used for storage or possibly as sleeping quarters, but commonly in noble residences, the chief inhabitant of inhabitants Slept on a slightly ruined movable platform enclosed simply by eur fains and blinds suspended on lightly constructed frame, and the seendant lies in-walting slept nearby on the floor. Inthe normal LIRR IN THE MANSION 155 courte of ass, the only vistors to the living quarters seem to have been close relatives, one's official subordinates, and household e- hiner, atendants and servans. However, inthe case of highly placed man like Saneruke, whore hoveehold was lege and 0 whom Almost everyone else inthe government was subordinate, chat group “Ahough Sanesuke was st one with his modesty reticent age in ‘not mentioning the details of his sexual if, appears chat noe of his mistresses or secondary wives ever shared the dwelling hall with him as permanent resident after he took up residence at Onono- smija. The mother of his daughter Chifura may have lived in the portheen opposed house whichis thought to have been a common Tocation forthe quseters of noble wives, who were therefore genet ally removed from the scene of social intercourse centering on their Fhusbunds inthe dling all Such women, moreover, had far less ‘cession than their usbande did to venture forth from thei hous “The chief centers of sora intercourse among Heian nobles were the imperial court and the mansions of the leading court Sigues, and since noble wives did not normaly participate in the life ofthe court ‘or visit other residences, they remained perforce forthe most pat in ‘thsi com living quarters among thei children ladie-in-aiting and servants. An oeeasonal pilgrimage toa Buddhist temple r a Shinto ‘Shrine, an outing to witness a festival procession through the streets ‘ofthe capital, wansfer to another residence for childbirth, a visit toa [patent of sister, and in rare eases trip to the imperial court at time ofa daughter's marriage to an emperor —such limited oocasions constituted the bulk of the usual noblewoman’ experience of the ‘outer World. The eleventh-century tle that describes a noble git, alone inthe street of Kyoto and unable to find her wa to her own nearby house may not be a wholly fanciful representation of con- temporary female knowledge ofthe world outside the home gates. ‘AS a amull child, Sanesule's daughter Chifuru seems to have oc- cupied the eastern cave chamber of the dwveling hal (she lived in other words, in the same building with er father), but when she sare up, she moved tothe eastern opposed house and afer her mar- "Hage continued living there and in one ofthe house's corridor wings ‘with her husband and daughter. How living space was shared inthe house and wing is unknown, but the general lack of functional dif ferentiation remained a0 doubt very much the same as in the

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