is the twelfth-century Japanese tale of one who defies

social convention A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated, or generally accepted standards, norms, social norms, or criteria, often taking the form of a custom. In a social context, a convention may retain the character of an "unwritten law" of custom (for ex ...

and breaches the

decorum Decorum (from the Latin: "right, proper") was a principle of classical rhetoric, poetry and theatrical theory concerning the fitness or otherwise of a style to a theatrical subject. The concept of ''decorum'' is also applied to prescribed limit ...

expected of a Heian court lady. It is one of ten short stories in the collection ''

Tsutsumi Chūnagon Monogatari is a post late-Heian period Japanese collection of short stories. Authorship With the exception of one story, the authorship is unknown. It is likely each story was written by different authors at various times and later collected together into ...

''.

Story

The protagonist befriends insects, names her attendants after them, and engages in poetic exchanges involving furry caterpillars, leading to laughter on the part of others. Portrayed as even more eccentric is her disregard for her physical appearance: she leaves her hair untrimmed; has unplucked eyebrows; neglects to blacken her teeth; and allows herself to be seen by men. 'Oh, how regrettable! Why does she have such a weird mind'. When an incipient love affair comes to an end along with the tale it is of little surprise to any of the observers.

Interpretation

Donald Keene Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japane ...

has suggested that, while the

reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

may be attracted by her independence of mind, the author was probably trying to satirize those with eccentric behaviour and unconventional tastes. Robert Backus argues that the modern reader may prefer her independence and naturalness to the "excessive artificiality of the Heian conception of feminine beauty". He also draws parallels with the vernacular

setsuwa Setsuwa (, ja, 説話, setsu wa) is an East Asian literary genre. It consists of myths, legends, folktales, and anecdotes. ''Setsuwa'' means "spoken story". As one of the vaguest forms of literature, setsuwa is believed to have been passed down ...

tradition and anecdotes told of Fujiwara Munesuke, the bee-keeping minister, who gave his favourites names such as , , and . Michele Marra also refers to Fujiwara Munesuke, again links the tale with setsuwa that similarly challenge

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

orthodoxy, and suggests that the story may see Buddhist truth preferred to the values of the Fujiwara aristocracy at the end of the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

References

External links

Text in translation by Backus

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lady who Loved Insects Japanese short stories Japanese aesthetics Entomological literature Monogatari 12th-century Japanese literature Heian period in literature Insects in culture Fiction about insects

Story

Interpretation

See also

References

External links