Women and Women's Writings from Antiquity Through the Middle Ages | Izumi Shikibu (Diary Date C. Early 11Th Century)
IZUMI SHIKIBU (DIARY DATE C. EARLY 11TH CENTURY)
SOURCE: Izumi Shikibu. "The Diary of Izumi Shikibu." In Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan, translated by Anne Sheply Omori and Kochi Doi, pp. 147-96. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1920.
The following excerpt from the diary of Izumi Shikibu, a Japanese noblewoman of the early eleventh century, describes a clandestine love affair in the imperial court of Heian Japan.
Many months had passed in lamenting the World, more shadowy than a dream. Already the tenth day of the Deutzia month was over. A deeper shade lay under the trees and the grass on the embankment was greener. These changes, unnoticed by any, seemed beautiful to her, and while musing upon them a man stepped lightly along behind the hedge. She was idly curious, but when he came towards her she recognized the page of the late prince. He came at a sorrowful moment, so she said, "Is your coming not long...
[The entire page is 1972 words long]
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