A Tale of False Fortunes (6 page)

The empress was then between her sixteenth year and her early twenties. In those days a woman was considered in her prime at that age, both mentally and physically. To the youthful emperor, who was just beginning to awaken sexually, the appeal of the intelligent and beautiful empress as an older wife was in every way complete, and through her an image of ideal womanhood took form in his heart.

Now the empress’ mother, Kishi, had served as a court lady when she was young and was said to have composed Chinese poetry and prose before the emperor. Teishi inherited her mother’s cultivation and was gifted with literary ability. Among aristocrats of that period, it was considered shameful for a woman to look a man directly in the face, and women who served at court were therefore thought somewhat immodest. It was truly an exceptional case for Michitaka, legitimate heir of
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the Fujiwara clan, to take as his first wife the daughter of a provincial official. Did Michitaka simply have an eccentric personality? Or was Kishi an unusually aggressive woman who cleverly led him on? At any rate, the personality of his own daughter, the empress, was somehow different from what was conventional for noblewomen of the period. Perhaps it was because of that difference that she was able so adroitly to rein a restive horse like Sei Shònagon into a docile pony. In
The Pillow
Book
is a passage—here paraphrased—denouncing men who took a trifling view of women serving at court: There are men who think that women in service at court are generally shallow, but this is a mistaken view. What is wrong with court service, after all? Such women are of course granted audience with the sovereign of the whole realm, and do not hide their faces in shame no matter whom they meet, be it a noble, a courtier, or an official of the fourth or fifth rank. If a man installs such a woman as his full wife, some will dislike her lack of reserve. On the other hand, even after her marriage she will be referred to as “Assistant Handmaid,” and will be given access to court. She will be able to serve formally at the Kamo Festival, and will thus be a credit to her household. Moreover, if her daughters are chosen as dancers at the Gosechi Ceremonies, she will have the advantage of familiarity with the ways of the court and will not have to make hasty inquiries here and there.

Sei Shònagon no doubt knew that the empress’ mother had a background of court service, and this passage is possibly a calculated self-defense.

The author of
A Tale of Flowering Fortunes,
a lady-in-waiting to Michinaga’s wife, does not write favorably of the regent’s household. Even her use of such terms as “up-to-date,”

“in touch,” or “disliking the abstruse” to describe the palace of Empress Teishi is actually a euphemistic criticism of the empress’

lack of reserve and solemnity. It is hardly surprising, however, that the scintillating and witty atmosphere of Teishi’s court should sway the youthful and still-maturing sovereign more than the old-fashioned, ceremonious refinement of his mother
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and her ladies-in-waiting. The empress’ brothers, Korechika and Takaie, were always serving at the emperor’s side, lecturing to him on the Chinese classics or teaching him to play the
koto
and flute. This also added to the brilliance and gaiety of her salon.

With the backing of the regent, Teishi enjoyed great material abundance as well. Kureha, a mere girl suddenly transplanted from rusticity to the brilliance of the palace, was at first bewil-dered by its splendor and sophistication. It was not long, however, until her young mind and body eagerly drank in the atmosphere. She concealed the incorrigible wild streak inherited from her mother and blossomed into a comely young lady-in-waiting.

Empress Teishi managed to give each of her ladies-in-waiting the impression of being the sole recipient of her special favor; in reality, though, she preferred cheerful and open dispositions.

Compared to the citified, courtly, and excessively trim appearance of many serving in the palace, the innocence of Kureha’s peach-like cheeks, the boldly cheerful expression of her eyes, and the lucidity of her words and manners had special appeal to Teishi, who came to have the girl serve at her side constantly.

Whether at bath, at hairdressing, or even at night when she entered the bedchamber with the emperor, Teishi always had Kureha attending at her side, seeing to her every need. After three or four years, Kureha acquired a natural familiarity with the empress’ facial features, the length of her hair, the shape of her hands, feet, and shoulders, her breasts, the transparent whiteness of her skin, and even the inflections of her beautiful voice.

There was more to Kureha’s devoted service than just respect for the noble lady she served; the young girl had an almost erotic longing for the empress’ graceful charm and uncommonly attractive features.

Kureha had at an early age been separated from her mother by death and was now unable to meet her sister, though she lived nearby. In a sense her fate was not unlike that of a prisoner, and yet she did not feel the least sorry for herself. She was
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supremely happy just to be able to serve at the empress’ side, to perfume her gorgeous robes, and to massage her soft back and hips.

As steward of the empress’ household, Michinaga occasionally went to the empress’ palace to inquire after her welfare.

Even if he saw Kureha on those occasions, he of course pretended not to know her, and even when he stayed with Shòshò, he made no particular inquiries about Kureha.

Shòshò herself generally broached the subject of Kureha during her bedtime talk. For about the first year, she praised the girl as a very perceptive junior lady-in-waiting, but after Kureha had obviously become the empress’ favorite, Shòshò began to view her jealously as a rival female and no longer spoke well of her.

“At your lordship’s request, I became a sort of ‘room mother’

to Kureha, but lately she has let the empress’ favor go to her head and she pays no regard to the likes of me. Even when it’s time to retire, she remains by her majesty’s bedchamber, and doesn’t come back to me.” Shòshò spoke in a tone that presumed upon Michinaga’s indulgence as she lay next to him, her head against the large sleeve of his robe.

“I wonder what it is about a countrified girl like that that appeals to her majesty.”

Michinaga laughed broadly, then asked: “What about when the emperor visits? . . . Does she attend by the empress’ side then, too?” As Michinaga spoke, he gently smoothed out Shò-

shò’s disheveled hair, but his downcast eyes were coldly alert.

“I don’t know what the empress is thinking in keeping an inexperienced girl like Kureha at her side even when his majesty visits. I have heard that his majesty’s nurse has been spreading gossip that this is not proper. . . . If this were ever reported to the emperor’s mother. . . . Even if she doesn’t hear about it, there are already many in the emperor’s household who criti-cize the empress’ palace as too modish and as lacking in refinement, and they would not think well of it. . . .”

“I’m sure you don’t have to worry about that. Even if someone were to tell the emperor’s mother about it, I assure you that she would not make an issue of it. . . . But if Kureha is present to witness his majesty’s intimacy with the empress, her own
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passions will no doubt be aroused. What a sinful thing.” Even as Michinaga spoke, his mouth broke into a lewd smile and he lightly shook Shòshò’s body in his embrace. “I have a request for you. How about it? . . . Will you ask Kureha what kind of intimacies are whispered between his majesty and the empress?”

“Well! Your lordship is perfectly awful!” Shòshò lifted her face from Michinaga’s chest, her eyes brimming with coquetry.

“His majesty is still young, after all. . . . Even if you heard, I’m sure there would be nothing of interest.”

“But I want to hear all the more for that very reason. Just how does an empress treat a young emperor. . . .”

“Why do you ask? Your lordship must have learned that sort of thing a long time ago. . . .”

“No. I’m embarrassed to say so, but when I was a youth I never touched an older woman, so I have absolutely no experience that could give me a clue. Or, Shòshò, if you have ever taken a fancy to a nice-looking youth and initiated him to manhood, perhaps you could tell me about it.”

“Well! What disgusting things you say! That sort of thing detracts from your character, you know. I grew up among many sisters, and I’m the first of us to have the kind of experience with a man that I’m having with you.” Shòshò spoke in an affected tone, not really believing what she had just said. Again, she nestled up against Michinaga’s chest.

When Michinaga visited Shòshò the next time, she was on leave at her parents’ house. Her eyes glistened as she spoke: “I haven’t felt well lately, so I’ve been on leave. The empress sent Kureha by with a sympathy gift of fruit and arrowroot. I thought I’d try to get out of her the information I had promised you, and gave her a long, narrow robe of pink color, the kind she especially likes. And then, I just casually asked about it.”

“You went to a lot of trouble. But I suppose she was shy and didn’t say anything.”

“Oh, no, quite the contrary. She smiled and then proceeded to talk without a trace of reservation.” At this point, there is an abrupt shift of style in the account.

Direct description of intimacy between the emperor and empress
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is avoided, and Kureha’s narrative gives way to a discussion of the tender ages at which aristocrats married in those times, of circumstances under which men were seduced by older women, and so forth.

There is no doubt, however, that Michinaga was able to gain from all this a general knowledge of the imperial couple’s sexual play. He was both excited and satisfied to ascertain even the one fact that the empress’ voice—usually quiet and veiled, like flowing water hidden behind tall grass—changed in the bedchamber into an animated, ebullient voice, like the full-throated song of a bush warbler.
A Tale of False Fortunes
describes Michinaga’s view of the empress in the following terms:
For all her seeming propriety and loftiness of purpose, she
displayed a boundless capacity for treating someone in an
endearing, charming, and coquettish manner. He thought
it little wonder that those who served other noble ladies
felt neglected by comparison.

Michinaga naturally wanted to know everything about the empress in order to raise his own eldest daughter, Shòshi, into a perfect candidate for imperial consort, and he used Kureha to obtain a detailed knowledge of as many of Teishi’s daily rou-tines as possible.

Once or twice a year Kureha visited the old nun who had been Michinaga’s nurse. After reverently leading the girl before the Buddha and having her worship, the old woman always admonished her: “You must never forget that it is through his lordship’s kindness that you are in service to the empress. He wishes to make the empress his model for the upbringing of his own eldest daughter. You don’t have to say anything now, but when his lordship has need for you to speak, you are to tell him all you know.”

Kureha always felt strangely oppressed when she was with the old nun, but would respectfully promise before parting, “I shall do as you say.”

She did feel it somehow underhanded that her having entered the empress’ service through Michinaga’s connections was kept
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secret from everyone, but young Kureha had absolutely no way of guessing what lay at the bottom of his scheme. Thus between ages fifteen and eighteen she remained in the service of Empress Teishi, in a world of splendor and opulence.

We read also in
The Pillow Book
that Regent Michitaka, on the twenty-first day of the second month of Shòryaku 5 (994), ordered a memorial service to offer a complete set of sutras to the Sakuzen Temple at Hòkòin. The empress was present at that event, and Kureha was in attendance behind her, dressed in a five-layered, long-sleeved robe. That was no doubt the grand-est day in the young woman’s life. And yet, though the splendor of the regent’s household seemed then like a blossom whose petals would never scatter, the services at the Sakuzen Temple were to be its last evening glow. After that, cruel blasts of wind would be the beginning of a long winter.

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Chapter Two
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Emperor Ichijò’s mother, Senshi, was Michitaka’s and Michinaga’s sister by the same mother. She was known as the Higashisanjò Empress, and later, after taking the tonsure, as the empress dowager. It was through her influence that her father Kaneie became head of the Fujiwara clan and had the way open to hold sway over the entire country as regent; thus neither of her brothers would be outdone by the other in carefully attending to her wishes. From her childhood, however, Senshi had had a particular fondness for the youngest, Michinaga, believing that he possessed talents superior to those of his elder brothers.

She secretly hoped, therefore, that Michinaga might be an advisor to her own son, Emperor Ichijò, but she was only too well aware through the history of her own ancestors that, blood relationships notwithstanding, struggles for political power could give rise to vicious feuds. For that reason, she was careful to betray no partiality toward Michinaga now that Michitaka had assumed the regency.

There was no doubt in Michitaka’s mind that his political position was Senshi’s sole stay of support, but in reality she harbored a constant and deepening anxiety of which only her youngest brother Michinaga was actually aware.

The emperor was of course her dearest son, but he had been at a tender age when he was elevated from crown prince to the throne, and the empress dowager could not help feeling that, as he increasingly assumed a public persona, the loyal affection he ought to have had for his mother alone was being diluted by his love for the new empress.