Dear Zen friend

1)    September Sesshin:   09/06, 09/07, 09/08. 

       October Sesshin:    10/11, 10/12, 10/13. 

2)      Trivia on Tale of Genji. 

There was (is in a special occasion)  a specific dance show in front of the emperor.  Four women danced for about 20 minutes. Each held a fan, moved slowly and orderly. Their movements were judged by noble people just like  a dancing show in an American TV. 

A YouTuber explained that woman’s clothing (Junihitoe) weighed about 40 pounds. During performance their arms were  up or at the level with their shoulders. Maintaining their postures needed hard work. Jumping and fast movements were impossible with a 40 pound weight.  

Junihitoe literally means twelve layers of kimono. It is art of clothing till nowadays.  I thought it really had 3 or 4 layers of clothing with colorful sleeves.  One YouTuber showed how to wear Junihitoe. She actually wore 12 layers of clothing using one thick string. Some wore more than 12 layers of clothing.  How to wear kimono is a technique which men usually do not know.

There are many pictures in which women in Tale of Genji were drawn. All the women were sitting. No one was standing or walking. It was explained that  Junihitoe was so heavy that women rather liked to sit still. Gravity matters. Also layers of  clothing became cushion, so sitting was easier than we imagine. 

The story was written on paper.  Paper was rare and pricy those days. Tale of Genji was a long novel. Author (Murasaki Shikibu) needed a lot of paper to keep writing. She was talented but did not have money. So a rich and powerful sponsor was a must to supply papers at least until the end of the novel. The highest ranked government officer really existed and helped her to write Tale of Genji. 

Tale of Genji was copied by servers for the empress as the editing was completed. Copying was done by hand brushing. Books were made from those copies and the best quality book was given for the emperor. Other books were delivered for various readers. Tale of Genji was a best seller and became a national project a thousand years ago in Kyoto. That is why everyone those days knew the story and talked about it. 

By the way, that empress died at 87 years of age. Her mother lived till 90 years old. Those who survived ten years of  young life could have had a long life.  

Men learned and used Chinese letters for making official reports, writing Chinese poems, and brushing calligraphies. Japanese letters were used for poems, diaries, and essays mostly  by women.  Language those days seemed to be not much different from modern Japanese. 

Regards. 

Eishin Ikeda

Valley Zendo