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Literary History against the National Frame, or Gender and the Emergence of Heian Kana Writing

Literary History against the National Frame, or Gender and the Emergence of Heian Kana Writing positions 8:2 Fall 2000 Feminine Hand in Heian Literary History According to widely accepted historiography, the tenth century marks a critical juncture in the evolution not only of vernacular literature but also of the Japanese language and its writing system. The appearance and the rapid development of vernacular prose literature occurred at a time when Japanese poetry, which the popularity and prestige of Chinese poetry at the court in the early Heian period had virtually eclipsed, was gaining new legitimacy. A principal factor catalyzing the development of a native literature is said to have been the appearance of the new phonetic syllabary, kana. Particularly, a type of kana called the “feminine hand” (wonnade) (and considered the direct precursor of today’s hiragana) became the primary script for a reinvigorated native poetry and the newly emerging literary prose. The feminine hand is said to have developed out of an earlier form of inscription in which the Japanese—who did not have an indigenous writing system—adopted Chinese characters as phonetic scripts to write in their native language. Scholars have called such scripts man’y¯ gana after the first o Japanese poetic anthology compiled in the eighth century, Man’y¯ shu. Femo ¯ inine hand http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png positions asia critique Duke University Press

Literary History against the National Frame, or Gender and the Emergence of Heian Kana Writing

Yoda, Tomiko
positions asia critique , Volume 8 (2) – Sep 1, 2000
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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2000 by Duke University Press
ISSN
1067-9847
eISSN
1527-8271
DOI
10.1215/10679847-8-2-465
Publisher site
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Abstract

positions 8:2 Fall 2000 Feminine Hand in Heian Literary History According to widely accepted historiography, the tenth century marks a critical juncture in the evolution not only of vernacular literature but also of the Japanese language and its writing system. The appearance and the rapid development of vernacular prose literature occurred at a time when Japanese poetry, which the popularity and prestige of Chinese poetry at the court in the early Heian period had virtually eclipsed, was gaining new legitimacy. A principal factor catalyzing the development of a native literature is said to have been the appearance of the new phonetic syllabary, kana. Particularly, a type of kana called the “feminine hand” (wonnade) (and considered the direct precursor of today’s hiragana) became the primary script for a reinvigorated native poetry and the newly emerging literary prose. The feminine hand is said to have developed out of an earlier form of inscription in which the Japanese—who did not have an indigenous writing system—adopted Chinese characters as phonetic scripts to write in their native language. Scholars have called such scripts man’y¯ gana after the first o Japanese poetic anthology compiled in the eighth century, Man’y¯ shu. Femo ¯ inine hand

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positions asia critique – Duke University Press

Published: Sep 1, 2000

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