Women, Travel, And Cultural Production In Kamakura Japan : A Socio-literary Ananlysis Of Izayoi Nikki And Towazugatari

This dissertation examines the relationship among physical mobility, socio-cultural conditions, and women's self-representations, using the travel diaries of two Kamakura-period court women. It shows how women such as Nun Abutsu (1222-1283) and Lady Nijo (b. 1258) were adopting the format of a travel diary as a source of cultural authority in order to achieve specific personal, political, or religious objectives.

From the late-Heian (794-1185) to mid-Kamakura (1185-1333) periods, travel within Japan increased at all levels of society and women experienced greater physical mobility. At the same time, women were losing their influence as court attendants and wives because of economic changes and the adoption of patriarchal property, marriage, and inheritance practices. The dissertation argues that the marginalization of women in Kamakura-period court society encouraged them to take the tonsure, to travel, and to produce diaries based on their journeys.

The focus of the dissertation is on two works, The Diary of the Sixteenth Night (Izayoi nikki, 1283) and The Unrequested Tale (Towazugatari, ca. 1310), each of which was written by a woman who lived at the turn of the fourteenth century. In The Diary of the Sixteenth Night, Nun Abutsu records her journey from the capital to Kamakura and argues that she is the rightful owner of an estate and the true heir to her husband's poetic legacy. In The Unrequested Tale, Lady Nijo writes first of her life at court and then of her exile as an itinerant nun. Through her diary, Nijo transforms her failed career as a consort into a tale of religious awakening and enduring love for her patron GoFukakusa (1243-1304). My examination of the diaries of these two women, Abutsu and Nijo, illuminates a range of literary, legal, and religious stimuli that motivated noblewomen to travel in the Kamakura period; identifies the incentives motivating these women to record their journeys; and highlights the transformative effect that narrative had on their lives.