Saeko Kimura 26/nov/2009 Universit de Toulouse - Le Mirail intervention l'UE 41, ethnologie du Japon, 14h-16h

The Politics of Desire: Gender, Sexuality and Power in Pre-modern Japan Kimura Saeko (Tsuda University) Intruduction Today I would like to address the politics of desire in pre-modern Japan, focusing on the court of the Heian period (794-1184), the time of The Tale of Genji (Le Dit du Genji). By examining the structure of sexual desire, I hope to shed light on how the system of sexuality was constructed. Some of the questions I will consider over todays talk are: How does marriage function within the system of sexuality at the Heian court? How did homo and heterosexual sexual relations take place? What were accepted pairings in terms of sexual intercourse? These issues are at the core of my two recently books, Homosexuality and Love Tales: Court Society and Authority (2008), and Breasts for Whom?: Sexuality and Authority in Japanese Medieval Tales (2009). These works follow roughly the approach of the famed anthropologist Claude Lvi-Strauss (1908-2009). Claude Lvi-Strauss took up The Tale of Genji and analyzed the kinship of protagonists in Cross-Readings or Lectures croises (1982). In it, he argues that the cross-cousin marriage is preferred within the tale. The love stories within this tale portray the protagonist Genji as a Don Juan who carries out numerous affairs with women. Lvi-Strauss analyzed these complex relations and used them to sketch the rules of marriage. His work was paralleled by the Japanese scholar Sadakazu Fujii (1942-) who was influenced by Elementary Structures of Kinship or Les structures lmentaires de la parent, (1949). In 1985 Fujii published The Marriage of Court Tales or Monogatari no Kekkon, which analyzes kinship within The Tale of Genji along lines similar to the work of Lvi-Strauss. The Japanese translation for The View from Afar or Le Regard eloigne was published one year after Fujii so it appears that rather than any mutual influence between Fujii and Lvi-Strauss, it was simply a convergence of spontaneous worldwide interest. I have used the work of both scholars as a springboard for my own research on the system of sexuality of Heian court. Both Fujii and Lvi-Strauss can be categorized as the first authors of sexuality studies on The Tale of Genji. Of course, the work of Lvi-Strauss impacted not only scholars of The Tale Genji, but influenced researchers in various fields, including those working on gender, sexuality, and queer studies. In todays paper I will sketch out the inception of gender studies or queer studies before entering todays topic. The study of gender and sexuality was greatly

Saeko Kimura 26/nov/2009 Universit de Toulouse - Le Mirail intervention l'UE 41, ethnologie du Japon, 14h-16h

influenced by the structural anthropology of Claude Lvi-Strauss and later the philosophy of structuralism by those such as Michel Foucault and his The History of Sexuality (Histoire de la sexualit). Lvi-Strauss revealed that kinship or incest is only a rule constructed by social needs and not inherent in human nature itself. Foucault demonstrated how that the prohibition functioned as a locus of power in producing sexuality. He also showed how sex and sexual activities were linked to identity during the course of the eighteenth century in Europe. Foucault reveals that the category of sex became an object to control, which was used in the justification of productive power regimes. The aims of power shifted from control through the act of killing to control over the objects of maintaining life. The followers of Lvi-Strauss and Foucault continued the argument as that, in short, compulsory heterosexual monogamy is needed in modern, industrial, patriarchal society. Gender studies gradually turned to address issues of sexuality and to focus on the previously ignored field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and queer studies. In the Japanese literary sphere, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and Judith Butler came to occupy prominent positions of influence. Both scholars can be seen as followers of Lvi-Strauss and Foucault. Eve K. Sedgwick argued in her well-known book, Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire that the modern industrial patriarchal society could be viewed as homosocial in its misogynistic structure by and for men. Viewed in reverse, this was supported by male homosociality, within which was homoerotic desire. However, this continuum of homosexuality was abandoned due to homophobia. As a scholar of English literature, Sedgwick focused on the history of English literature from The Sonnets of William Shakespeare to mid 19th century novels, and showed that homophobia first became visible in the gothic novel around the 18th to 19th century, the beginning of the modern industrial patriarchal society. Judith Butler argued in her most influential work, Gender Trouble: Feminism And the Subversion of Identity that sex does not determine gender but that gender determines sex. This discursive notion of sex is reinforced by the performance of words or deed. Gender trouble implies to take issue with gender and to rewrite the border of gender and sex, thus destabilizing these categories. In short, the aim of social constructivism is to reveal the demands of society to organize a system of sexuality. How did Japanese society accepted and adopted this constructivist view? The constructivist approach first took hold in the studies of Japanese modern society and modern literature. The first remarkable achievement was pointing out the drastic change in the process of modernization in 19th-century Japan. Departing from feudal samurai society, in the Meiji era (1868-1912), Japan became

Saeko Kimura 26/nov/2009 Universit de Toulouse - Le Mirail intervention l'UE 41, ethnologie du Japon, 14h-16h

civilized along European lines and shifted to a capitalist country. At this point in history, the system of sexuality was reset along European notions; thus accepting European ideology of love found in Christianity, including compulsory heterosexual and monogamous marriage. In the process of modernizing of the late 19th century, sexual relations became restricted (at least in theory) to married couples, and sexuality was posited as genital reproduction. Japanese traditions were abandoned during this process of modernization, including male-male homosexuality. As is well known, the Edo era (1603-1867) saw the rise of literature and pornographic arts depicting homosexual relations. Based on these depictions, men were encouraged to devote to homosexual relations and still have sexual interests in women as well. For example, in the novel Vita Sexualis (1909) of Mori gai (1862-1922), the narrator notes that this tendency continued in early Meiji within school dormitories. Because historiography focused largely on the drastic change of modernization, there was little interest in the structure of Japanese pre-modern society. In contrast to the modern era, scholars portrayed pre-modern Japanese society as extremely tolerant towards homosexuality. Yet, as Foucault has noted, there is a danger in assuming sexuality was an issue of identity within pre-modern society. We must avoid equating pre-modern practices with contemporary notions of homosexuality and heterosexuality. Rather, we should make clear how the system of sexuality was constructed in a society which appears at ease with homosexuality. Shifting back 1000 years to the Heian era, the exclusive court system was dominated by the regency, a system very different from the feudal society of the Edo period. The numerous love stories written by women of the court salons during the Heian period reveal the system of sexuality and how it affected women. Since little is difficult to cobble information together regarding womens lives or even to ascertain their names, unless they were mothers of emperors, Heian court literature offers a rare opportunity to view a female-centered world. The main question I will take up today is: Why were so many stories of homosexual relations circulated at court, despite the regency system relying on heterosexual relations? How and in what way could homosexuality function within the court system of sexuality? I would like to explain the how homosexuality functioned within this system without relying on the notion of so-called social tolerance.

The system of sexuality in Heian court : Reading The Changelings I will draw from the late Heian story called The Changelings (trans. Rosette F.

Saeko Kimura 26/nov/2009 Universit de Toulouse - Le Mirail intervention l'UE 41, ethnologie du Japon, 14h-16h

Willig, 1983) or Torikaebaya monogatari here. Textual study of The Changelings reveals that there were two different versions of the work, the first written between 1080 and 1100, or possibly 1105, and the revised version written in either 1100, or sometime between 1105 and 1170. Only the revised version is extant. In sum, The Changelings is the story of two cross-dressed protagonists, a boy and a girl. Their natural inclinations lead them to live as members of the opposite sex. Their father, the Minister of the Left (Sadaijin) decides to let them change their gender through cross-dressing, causing an array of problems related to gender and sexuality within the court. A girl in male dress marries the daughter of the Minister of the Right. And a boy in female dress serves as lady attendant for crown princess as an heir to the throne. This gender crossing causes sexuality mixture as making marriage bed where should be heterosexual to be homosexual, or making homosocial place to be heterosexual. (Actually, crown princess gets pregnant and has a secret baby.) In terms of plot, the imperial house is in a state of deadlock over succession, and thus chooses to designate a woman as the next sovereign. This is the moment the two protagonists have been awaiting. The Changelings can thus be read as a story that depicts the system of sexuality at court and particularly how it runs smoothly and where difficulties arise. I will focus on The Changelings as a means of understanding how the system of sexuality works at court. In the first chapter of The Changelings, we see that the Minister of the Left (Sadaijin) has two wives, neither of which satisfy him. A brief survey of Heian court literature shows numerous examples of court culture being based on polygamous relations. However, debate continues among scholars over whether it was indeed a polygamous or monogamous society. Scholars who claim it was a monogamous society base this on the system of laws and codes (ritsury) in place that dictated monogamous marriage. Yet we know that Emperor Ichij had two empresses, Sadako and Akiko. The polygamous situation emerged under the regency system led by the Fujiwara clan, who adapted practices to suit their needs. It is said that The Tale of Genji was written in the salon of Akiko, consort to Emperor Ichij, in order to attract his attentions. Thus the blossoming of court culture is inextricable tied to the flourishing of salon culture at a time of competing salons. It was Akikos father, Michinaga, who became the symbol of success as a regent patriarch, a position of power he secured through his daughters birth of a prince to Ichij. In order to understand how the system of polygamy functioned, we must take into account of all the sexual relations, regardless of whether they took place within an officially sanctioned marriage. Unfortunately, it is difficult to track relations other than

Saeko Kimura 26/nov/2009 Universit de Toulouse - Le Mirail intervention l'UE 41, ethnologie du Japon, 14h-16h

those with legitimate wives, since they are rarely documented within historical materials. Court stories are perhaps the most accessible sources for understanding the system of sexuality. In The Changelings, the Minister of the Left has two wives, one of the Minamoto clan, and the other of the Fujiwara. At the beginning of the story, they live separately, with the Minister of the Left visiting their houses. This practice is known as wife visiting or kayoikon. The work notes that neither wife was particularly charming (13). This being the case, why didnt the Minister of the Left abandon his wives? We can assume this was because both wives bore beautiful children, whom he was reticent to abandon. It is the relationship with the children, rather than the wives, that takes precedence here. Eventually the Minister of the Left decides to invite his wives into his own residence. He lives within the main hall of the residence and lodges the women in the western and eastern pavilion. As The Tale of Genji shows, most aristocratic homes had several pavilions so that women could be lodged separately and visited by the man, much in the mode of wife visiting practices. While not depicted in the tale, it is possible that the Minister of the Left may have had other wives who are still living away at their own residences. It was common for a man to frequent various women in his youth, then select one or more as a legitimate wife who would resettle at his residence. The system of polygamous marriage can thus be represented in the following manner: legitimate wife or wives (living together)/wives (living away)/ attendants (living together or not) A womens rank within these three levels would be determined primarily by the social status of her father. Women were also are ranked according to whether they bore children who would contribute to patriarchal succession within the lineage. In The Changelings, the Minister of the Lefts wives from the Minamoto and Fujiwara clans are appropriate wifely material based on the status of their fathers. Moreover, both bore childrena boy to continue the lineage, and a girl who could be sent to court. The daughter of a regent who bore a legitimate child to the Emperor would also ensure the power of her father through his protector status toward the young emperor-to-be. The regent would eventually wield authority in place of the emperor who was too young to rule. For this to take place, the regent needed the former emperor

Saeko Kimura 26/nov/2009 Universit de Toulouse - Le Mirail intervention l'UE 41, ethnologie du Japon, 14h-16h

(i.e., the husband of his daughter) to give up the throne. The retired emperor would then be divested of his heterosexuality by being made a monk. This would effectively prevent the retired emperor from producing another heir who might usurp the position of the regents grandchild, the crown prince. The retired emperor would shift residences to a monastery that excluded women. In short, the regency is a system based on heterosexuality, but arranged differently from patriarchal capitalist society. According to Marxist economists, capitalist society relies on a nuclear family constructed by a heterosexual couple who reproduce labor power as an exchange value. Within the monogamous practices of the capitalist system of sexuality, all women are regarded as procreative in bearing children as sources of new labor. Unlike the capitalist system, the system of sexuality of the court regency aimed at the production of power rather than simply children, with women arranged hierarchically within polygamous marital practices. It was not all women but only women of high birth who were expected to bear children. Women were divided into two categories: those who carried out productive sex and those who carried out non-productive sex. Productive sex was appropriate for the legitimate wives, who could reproduce not only children but also the political power of their father through the children. I use the term productive/non-productive sex to refer to the distinction based on the production of political power. Interestingly, the system of sexuality does not relinquish those of the non-productive sex but maintains them within the system. To consolidate a lineage and limit its legitimate heirs, all other illegitimate relations were categorized as non-productive. In a sense, non-productive relations can be seen as overlapping with homosexual relations. An example of this is the case of the retired emperor, who was shifted out of power and away from sexual reproduction to avoid producing further heirs. Whether he had homosexual ties to other monks within the monastery or heterosexual affairs with female attendants, these were both positioned as acts of non-productive sex. Women were thus divided into those who took part in productive sex and those who were relegated to non-productive sex, regardless of their procreativity. It was possible, however, for some women of lower rank to eventually break into the legitimate lineage by virtue of their procreativity. In this sense, productive versus non-productive was an arbitrarily divide aimed at consolidating a lineage. Similarly, homosexual relations could be seen as productive without being procreative. In this sense, we could say that The Changelings reveals the delusive of being

Saeko Kimura 26/nov/2009 Universit de Toulouse - Le Mirail intervention l'UE 41, ethnologie du Japon, 14h-16h

non-productive within the system of power reproduction. Thus, the answer to the first question of why so many stories of homosexual relations were circulated at court despite the regency system relying on heterosexual relations, is as follows. Patriarchal capitalist society requires compulsory heterosexuality, with homosexuality always already eliminated as the prime sexual desire. This prohibition is effective because sexuality is deeply linked to identity in such society. Yet in the court stories of the Heian and Kamakura period, sexual desire is not directly linked to sexual orientation and identity. Moreover, the system of sexuality of the court is not based on the difference between heterosexual and homosexual orientation but rather productivity and non-productivity. Extant court stories narrate desire found outside the main means of power and reproduction. Tales of love concerning legitimate wives are rare while stories of forbidden love abound. Therefore, homosexual desire is accepted as a love story in the context of non-productive sex. Bodily Transformations: Reading The New Chamberlain Let us back to The Changelings. The character called Saish, also attracted to Chnagon, and known as a trickster, inadvertently supports the continuation of Chnagons homosexual marriage. Saish loves Chnagons sister (who is actually male) and Chnagons wife, Yon no Kimi. He also sees the similarity between Chnagon and his sister and is thus attracted to both. Saish commits adultery with Yon no Kimi and impregnates her, something Chnagon realizes based on the physical resemblance between the baby and Saish as well as other evidence. Saish attempts to access Naishi no Kami, the sister of Chnagon, but fails. Frustrated by his inability to see Naishi no Kami or Yon no Kimi, Saishs desire culminates in sexual relations with Chnagon, who he later discovers to be female. Saish notes Chnagons attractiveness on a hot summer day. Chnagon was wearing a white unlined summer silk kimono over red silk trousers. Relaxed, his face flushed with the heat, he looked even more handsome than usual. The shape of his hands, the fullness of his hips clearly visible under the trousers that encased them, his white skinit was as thought he had rolled about in snowwere unbelievably lovely. (82-83) And yet, Saish does not doubt Chnagon is a man. Is his desire is

Saeko Kimura 26/nov/2009 Universit de Toulouse - Le Mirail intervention l'UE 41, ethnologie du Japon, 14h-16h

heterosexual or homosexual? Clearly, it can be assigned solely to neither of these categories. After finding Chnagon to be a woman, Saish was amazed at what he had discovered (84) and this transforms him: The love he felt for Yon no Kimi and Naishi no Kami now combined into a single feeling of tenderness and pity for Chnagon (84). Chnagon becomes pregnant and struggles to continue living as a man, indicating that his gender preferences are not set, despite pregnancy. After the heroin dressed in male (Chnagon) bears a baby boy, she abandons him, along with her lover (Saish), and disappears. After switching identities with her brother, Naishi no Kami (now in male garb), they both return to court, each in the role of the his/her sibling. The lover (Saish) mistakes the heroin (New Chnagon) as his wife, who he has been seeking, and awaits an opportunity to speak with the heroin (New Chnagon) in private. Finally, at the end of The Changelings, The lover (Saish) meets the heroin (New Chnagon) and discovers that this individual is not the woman he impregnated. Though we have said that he was true only when one glimpsed him from a distance. However, when he spoke to Saish close up like this, he clearly looked like a man. In his amazement, Saish stood with Chnagons sleeve in his grasp. He had not seen Chnagon this clearly since they had parted at Uji; and since it had finally grown quite light and the sky was clear, Saish inspected him carefully. On his upper lip were the unexpected signs of a moustache. Oh, no! Who is this? And what has happened to the one who was Chnagon before? pondered Saish, baffled. He stood for a while staring at Chnagon. (215) Here, male bodily features are what represent the difference between Saishs wife and the New Chnagon. Does this mean that sexual difference takes priority above all? Does the story conclude that it is impossible to live in the opposite gender because gender cannot overcome natural sexual differences such as facial hair and pregnancy? While gender may change appearance, the body itself does not change. The New Chamberlain, or Shinkurdo monogatari, takes up these questions. Shinkurdo monogatari was written in the late Muromachi period, around the sixteenth century, as a short story in the small scroll format called ko-e. The scroll contains both a letter and a picture section. The picture section includes characters speech, similar to cartoon speech balloons, allowing us to hear the voice of each character. The story of

Saeko Kimura 26/nov/2009 Universit de Toulouse - Le Mirail intervention l'UE 41, ethnologie du Japon, 14h-16h

The New Chamberlain, which is clearly influenced by The Changelings, begins as follows. A minister has four children, one son and three daughters. He thinks it best that the children choose their own lives rather than following parental orders while betraying their hearts and minds (kokoro). He thus instructs his children to live as they like. The son serves at court as Chamberlain or Kurdo, takes a wife, and prefers sleeping with her to bedding with the Emperor, abandoning his post and no longer serving at court. The eldest daughter chooses to take the tonsure and live as a nun. She says: Everything is nothing. We wont live forever in this world. I want to pray for my afterlife so that I may become a Buddha. The second daughter aspires to be an empress. She says: I want to have a happy life because the life is so short. The third daughter, and the protagonist of the story, says: I want to run around as a man! The protagonists decision is thus to become a man, which is narrated as a career choice on par with those of her sisters who become a nun and an empress. Her father, the minister, accepts her wishes saying: At any rate, the heart decides all. I cannot help it. The protagonist looks at her sister the nun and declares: Shaved hair is hopeless! How depressing! I dont want to even see it. She will be a beggar. As for the second daughter, who bears the emperors child, the protagonist envies her. However, she does not want to serve at as a female court attendant which would be an inferior position to that of her elder sister. Instead, she conspires to enter the Emperors bedroom dressed as a man. She says to her father: I wont do the tedious work of an attendant. If I serve my sister, people will belittle me. I heard my brother does not serve at the Emperors night bed. Please let me become a man. Although I am a woman, I will serve as well as any man and attend to the night bed of the Emperor. Well, then, please do not say I am a girl. Her request seems one impossible to grant, yet her face and behavior do not reveal any signs of femininity and everybody who sees her assumes she is a chigo boy. Her father accepts her wish and she is dressed as a man and sent to court to serve as the New Chamberlain or Shinkurdo. While captivating the attentions of the Emperor, she becomes pregnant by him. Everybody believes the New Chamberlain to be a man and the pregnancy is kept secret, with the male child being given to her elder sister who is consort to the Emperor. The first child by the elder sister was considered of little use since it was a daughter and a male heir was required for the throne. Since there were numerous other wives who outranked the elder sister, the situation seemed hopeless. Yet the New

Saeko Kimura 26/nov/2009 Universit de Toulouse - Le Mirail intervention l'UE 41, ethnologie du Japon, 14h-16h

Chamberlain relies on extreme tactics to change the course of history, throwing away her female gender and the hierarchy of womens rank in order to gain sexual access to the Emperor and monopolize his attentions through the male gender. This resulting shift makes for heterosexual relations within a homosexual social context. The son born of these relations must thus be ascribed to a different mother, with the New Chamberlains sexuality continuing to be disguised. The reassignment of the son is necessary for him to be regarded as legitimate within the sexual and political hierarchy of the court, and not the product of non-productive sex. This case hints at how homosexual relations could reproduce power in ways that exceeded and undermined the regency system. It also suggests the power of alternate non-productive relations, whether homosexual or not, and how these might impact the reproduction of power by shifting the hierarchical birthing practices. After the New Chamberlain bore a boy, he became overly confident in monopolizing the Emperors affection. Meanwhile, the Emperor gradually becomes bored with him. The New Chamberlain then decides to become a nun by living with the elder, tonsured sister. New Chamberlain shaved his hair. Considering gender difference is marked by hair style in the cross-dressing stories, New Chamberlains figure can not show the gender with shaved head. In the last part of this scroll, New Chamberlains elder sister is claiming him about his hair look so mannish because she is suspected living with a monk. Nun: Hey, people came here and laughed at me, saying: Is she a nun? She must be a monk invited here. New Chamberlain: Nuns and monks resemble each other. I dont want to hear about it. Let them say what they like. Elder sister nun: You, Monk, put the scarf on your head. They say things like that because of your hair. Your face is already like a monk and you leave your hair like a monk. I am worried that people might be whispering that I am living with a monk. New Chamberlain: Everything should depend on the truth. Nuns and monks look the same. I dont want to hear about it. People say when they die they are transformed into male bodies (henj nanshi), but I feel that Ive already completed my transformation into a female body (henj

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Saeko Kimura 26/nov/2009 Universit de Toulouse - Le Mirail intervention l'UE 41, ethnologie du Japon, 14h-16h

nyoshi) during this life. What differences exist in the hairstyles of monks and nuns? The sisters assertion is nonsense in that all indications of gender should be lost through tonsure. Despite this, the elder sister claims that the New Chamberlains face shows her male gender transgression into the male sphere. The New Chamberlains response is that she has in fact transformed from the male body into a female one. The New Chamberlain is a work that demonstrates the praxis of Judith Butlers assertions on how the genital body cannot determine the gender, but it is gender that determines sex. The New Chamberlains statement is a pun on the Buddhist notion of gender and Buddhahood. Within Buddhist rhetoric, the female body was thought to be an impediment to Buddhahood, which required transformation into a male body just after death. A well-known section of volume five of The Lotus Sutra (Hokkeky) describes the Dragon Girls ability to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land, and is thus regarded as an important indication of the possibility for womens salvation. The story can be summarized as follows. Manjushri relates how he preached the Lotus Sutra in the ocean and an eight-year-old Dragon Girl heeded his words and achieved enlightenment. Shariputra doubts this and questions how the Dragon Girl could attain Buddahood while in a female body. The female body was considered defiled and an unsuitable vessel for the Buddhist Law. Moreover, a woman was subject to the five obstacles that prevented her from becoming a Brahma heavenly king, the king Shakra, a devil king, a wheel-turning sage king, or a Buddha. In response, the Dragon Girl hands a jewel to Shariputra and asks him whether this exchange was quick or not. When he states it was quick, she offers to show him how she attained rebirth as a Buddha even more swiftly and instantly changes into a man, then attains impartial and correct enlightenment. The Sanskrit version describes the Dragon Girls transformation vividly in terms of how her female genitalia disappears, replaced by male genitals. If the transformation into male bodies (henj nanshi) means changing sex, the New Chamberlains statement that he transformed into a female body (henj nyoshi) in living life suggests he was in a male body disguised as female. The story of the New Chamberlain shows not only the clash of sex and gender but also the disconnect between sex inscribed in the body and sex as defined by genitalia. In this sense, The New Chamberlain had already realized what Judith Butler addressed in Gender Trouble, the disorganization of coherency of sex, gender and sexuality.

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