Japan’s Court Ladies, Warrior Women and Courtesans: In Historia Magazine

Lesley Downer, the author of The Shortest History of Japan, looks at different roles taken by women during that country’s long history: court ladies, warrior women and courtesans. She shows how, through the ages, they have found ways to use their skills to make their voices heard.

Court ladies

More than a thousand years ago, in distant Japan, a court lady ground some ink, dipped her brush in it and began to write a story. Like Scheherazade, she wrote it episode by episode to entertain her mistress, one of the two empresses.

It was 1006. In England the Anglo-Saxons were fighting the Vikings, bards were celebrating the exploits of Beowulf and the Norman Conquest was still to come. Meanwhile Japan was enjoying a 400-year golden age of courtly culture, largely created by women. […]

From Historia Magazine, first published on 8 September, 2024.

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