Name: Đỗ Thị Anh Tú

ID: 1605638
Assignments for Session 6

China’s “middle period”

1. What were the main doctrines/religions in China’s “middle period” (after the
Han empire)? How were they developed? Which one was the most flourished?
In the second century the Han empire was crumbing. In the face of a collapsing
social order, writers and intellectuals began to show widespread disenchantment
with Confucian values of public service. After the Han empire’s failure, the
primary doctrine was Taoism. Taoist sects, concentrating on medical, alchemical,
and magical arts, flourished and founded great temples in the South. Buddhism,
which had been making minor inroads for many centuries, became a major force.
Buddhist missionaries from India and central Asia came to China in increasing
numbers, and, working together with Chinese monks, they began the immense
task of translating the important Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. Although both
Taoism and Buddhism are different in their aspects of life, they are promised to
bring salvation to people, which lay outside Confucianism's purely social and
ethical interest.
2. What is the most flourished literary genre in the T’ang dynasty?
The most flourished literary genre in the T’ang dynasty was poetry. By the T’ang
dynasty lyric poems had come to be used in a wide range of situations in both
private and social life- in letters to friends, as contributions to a party, or as
commemorations of visits to famous places.
Japan’s “middle period” and Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji
1. In chapter 4 (“Evening Faces”) of Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji, when
Genji wants to know about the name of the anonymous woman during their
talk in the night, what name does she want him to call her? Why do they keep
their identity secret to each other? What happens with her during that night
after meeting and sleeping with him in the remote house?
In chapter 4 of Murasaki Shikibu’s The Take of Genji when Genji wants to know
about the mysterious woman's name, she offers him to call her the fisherman’s
daughter. They keep their identity secret to each other because Genji feels it
would be unkind to keep his name from her while she is just acting like a child.
However, after meeting and sleeping with him in the remote house, she was killed
by a jealous spirit.
2. How is the identity of that anonymous woman ultimately revealed? By
whom? Summarize her identity in a couple of sentences (no longer than 50
words)
After the women's death, Genji would summon Unko to his place on quiet
evening, and it is also Unko who reveals the women's identity.
The woman was a daughter of a guards captain, but their parents were all dead
while their career did not go well and their life came to n early and disappointing
end. She then knew a lieutenant- Lord To no Chujo but got a threat from his
father-in-law's house. So she ran off and hid from them.
Writing
Collect 4-5 journal articles on either Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji or a poet
of the T’ang dynasty, and then:
1/ Put them in APA format-based order.
2/ Write a literature review of about 250 words based on reading those articles
(either the case of Murasaki Shikibu’s or the T’ang dynasty poet)

Note: To write a good literature review, you need to collect the articles which are
focused on a certain theme. For example:
- Nature in Li Po’s poems
- Taoism in Wang Wei’s poems
- Women in Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji
- The politics of love in Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji
- etc.

Women in Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji

- Naito, S. (2014). Beyond The Tale of Genji: Murasaki Shikibu as Icon and
Exemplum in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Popular Japanese Texts
for Women. Early Modern Women, 9(1), 47–78.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/26431282
- Bargen, D. G. (1997). A woman's weapon: spirit possession in the tale of
Genji. University of Hawaii Press.
- Horton, H. M. (1993). They Also Serve: Ladies-in-Waiting in The Tale of
Genji. Approaches to Teaching Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji, 95-107.
- Miyake, L. (1989). Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji.

In The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu focus on the aristocratic women of

Japan’ s Heian era ( 794-1185) reflects this unique perpective. In early
Japanese history, women’s status was depicted as being equal to men: as a
companion to men and not as a servant. This essay is the interpretation and
agrument around women in Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji.
According to H. Mack Horton written in They Also Serve: Ladies-in-
Waiting in The Tale of Genji (1993) discusses that female counterparts and the
ladies- in- waiting sre two main groups of characters in The Tale of Genji.
Those women are members of the same aristocratic society, albeit of lower
degree and they are thus far above the common servants who also appear in
the work. Women chosen for service as ladies-in-waiting must be gifted at
poetry, calligraphy, music, and clever yet genteel conversation and,
furthermore, must possess physical beauty, bearing, and a highly developed
taste in the manners and dress. By serving as confidantes and by living in
residences where privacy is nearly nonexistent, the ladies-in-waiting hear a
great deal of privileged information.
Different from H. Mack Horton, Doris G. Bargen (1997) explores the role
of possessing spirits (mono no ke) from a female viewpoint. From this male-
centered perspective, female jealousy provides a convenient explanation for
the emergence of possessing spirits within the polygynous marital system of
the Heian aristocracy. Possessions become "performances" by women
attempting to redress the balance of power; they subtly subvert the structure
of domination and significantly alter the construction of gender. He also
suggests “ The possessed woman is not a passive victim but an active agent
who uses- subconsciously, surreptitiously, subversively- the charisma of others
in the guise of possessing spirits to empower herself.”
Throughout the above views, we have a conversation around the
historical background as well as the women in Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of
Genji. International studies and literature supported the arguments and
interpretation in this essay.