The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan

The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan

by Ivan Morris
The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan

The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan

by Ivan Morris

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Overview

Ivan Morris’s definitive and widely acclaimed portrait of the ceremonious and melancholy world of ancient Japan.

Using The Tale of Genji and other major literary works from Japan’s Heian period as a frame of reference, The World of the Shining Prince recreates an era when women set the cultural tone. Focusing on the world of the emperor’s court—a world deeply admired by Virginia Woolf, among others—renowned scholar of Japanese history and literature Ivan Morris explores the politics, society, religious life, and superstitions of the period.

Offering readers detailed portrayals of the daily lives of courtiers, the cult of beauty they espoused, and the intricate relations between the men and women of the age, The World of the Shining Prince has been a cornerstone text on ancient Japan for half a century

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780345803917
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date: 05/21/2013
Sold by: Random House
Format: eBook
Pages: 368
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Ivan Morris studied Japanese language and culture at Harvard University while serving in the Intelligence Section of the U.S. Navy Reserves. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of London in 1951, he worked for the Far East Section of the BBC as well as for the Japan and Pacific departments of the British Foreign Office. He lived in Tokyo for several years, writing, lecturing, and teaching. In 1960 he joined what would later be renamed the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University, where he served as department chair. He was elected a Fellow of St. Anthony’s College at Oxford in 1966. Morris published numerous books on Japanese history, literature, and politics and produced distinguished translations of classical and contemporary Japanese works. He died in 1976.

Table of Contents

Introduction Barbara Ruch ix

Preface xxi

Introduction by the Author xxiii

I The Heian Period 1

II The Setting 15

III Politics and Society 41

A The Emperors 41

B The Fujiwaras 47

C Society 63

D Administration 69

E Economy 72

F Provincials and the Lesser Breeds 79

IV Religions 89

V Superstitions 123

VI The 'Good People' and their Lives 141

VII The Cult of Beauty 170

VIII The Women of Heian and their Relations with Men 199

IX Murasaki Shikibu 251

X Aspects of 'the tale of genji' 265

Appendixes

1 Periods of Far Eastern History, and Rulers in Japan during the Heian Period 291

2 A Note on the Tenth Century 293

3 Is The Tale of Genji Complete? 298

4 Genealogical Tables 302

5 Murasaki on the Art of Fiction 308

6 Glossary 311

Bibliography 321

Index 325

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