was a Japanese writer, poet, and commentator during the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

. She is best known for '' Kaokushō'' and '' Gyokueishū'', her commentaries on the ''

Tale of Genji Tale may refer to: * Narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional ( fairy tale, fable, ...

''. She was the daughter of

Konoe Taneie , son of Hisamichi, was a ''kugyō'' or Japanese court noble of the late Muromachi period (1336–1573). He held a regent position kampaku from 1525 to 1533 and from 1536 to 1542. Sakihisa was his son. He had a daughter, Keifukuin Kaoku Gyokue ...

, a nobleman and poet.

Early life

Gyokuei was born in 1526, a daughter of Konoe Taneie. The Konoe family trafficked in manuscripts and her father was known to host

renga ''Renga'' (, ''linked verse'') is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry in which alternating stanzas, or ''ku (''句), of 5-7-5 and 7-7 mora (sound units, not to be confused with syllables) per line are linked in succession by multiple poets. ...

parties. Because of the literary culture of her family, she was likely exposed to such works as the ''Tale of Genji''. It is uncertain whether she was the daughter of Konoe Taneie who was married to the shogun

Ashikaga Yoshiteru , also known as Yoshifushi or Yoshifuji, was the 13th '' shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1546 to 1565 during the late Muromachi period of Japan. He was the eldest son of the 12th ''shōgun'', Ashikaga Yoshiharu, and his mot ...

in 1558.

Works

Gyokuei authored four main works in her lifetime: * An

emaki or is an illustrated horizontal narration system of painted handscrolls that dates back to Nara-period (710–794 CE) Japan. Initially copying their much older Chinese counterparts in style, during the succeeding Heian (794–1185) and Kamak ...

of the ''Tale of Genji'' (1554) * A collection of 54 poems inspired by the chapters of the ''Tale of Genji'' (1589) * ''Kaokushō'', a four-volume commentary on the ''Tale of Genji'' (1594) * ''Gyokueishū'', a one-volume commentary on the ''Tale of Genji'' (1602) Her commentaries on the ''Tale of Genji'', which were aimed at fellow aristocratic women, differed from her contemporaries by telling readers to read ''Genji'' for pleasure. She also does not rely on quotations from Chinese classics, and writes mainly in

hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...

(as opposed to

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

), suggesting that she wanted her work to be accessible to female readers. She wrote a "short text", ''Genji monogatari no okori'', which she gave to her niece,

Lady Chaa (d. July 30, 1621) was a Japanese noble woman and concubine of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan. She lived in Tōtōmi Province. She is said to be the daughter of a foundryman. When the ''daikan'' (a local official) ...

. This same text was also copied by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

while he was studying the ''Tale of Genji''. Her commentaries on the ''Tale of Genji'' were read by many other aristocratic women and remained in circulation as manuscripts until the 20th century.

References

{{reflist Year of death uncertain 16th-century Japanese poets 16th-century Japanese writers 17th-century Japanese writers 17th-century Japanese poets Japanese women poets

Early life

Works

Further reading

References