Women in Classical Japanese Literature

Classical Japan was scene of a great cultural flourishing, an era of literary and artistic output unrivalled anywhere in the world. Women, though living in an otherwise highly oppressive patriarchal society, were just as significant in this literary environment. In this webinar we will explore this extraordinary era of women’s writing with reference to the seminal works of Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shōnagon: Professor Haruo Shirane posed the question “Why did a woman write the Tale of Genji in the 11th century?”, while Dr Jennifer Guest discussed literary education for women, including how early women writers interacted with Chinese texts, using the Pillow Book as her main example. Find out more: Thumbnail image: Murasaki Shikibu at her desk. Woodblock print, 1858, Utagawa Kunisada. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Music: ’Geisha Beat’ by Junichi Usui (