The Masuda Affair

HISTORICAL NOTE

Kyoto was founded in 794 A.D. as Heian-Kyo (Capital of Peace and Tranquility) and laid out on the pattern of the Chinese city of Ch’ang-An. Thus, its major and minor streets formed a grid-pattern along a north-south axis, with the walled Greater Imperial Palace (Daidairi) occupying the northern center. The Greater Imperial Palace encompassed the emperor’s and crown prince’s palaces, as well as the government buildings, imperial treasury, and guards’ headquarters. The villas and mansions of the nobles and of members of the imperial family clustered around, while the rest of the population of about 200,000 – government officials, civil servants, craftsmen, merchants, laborers and entertainers – occupied the remaining two-thirds of the city. The city was divided into a right and left administration. Such divisions into right and left were common in the government structure and extended even to games and contests. Suzaku Avenue, a broad, willow-lined thoroughfare, formed the dividing line and led straight from the southernmost city gate (Rashomon) to the main gate of the Greater Imperial Palace (Suzakumon). The city is said to have been beautiful, with its broad avenues, its rivers and canals, its palaces and parks; and originally it probably contained some 80,000 dwellings, but by the eleventh century parts of it, notably the western and southern quarters, had begun to deteriorate and the population had shrunk. Among the disasters that preyed on the city and caused its decline were frequent earthquakes, fires, storms, and epidemics (from 806-1073 A.D. there were 653 earthquakes, 134 great fires, and 91 epidemics recorded.) A certain amount of lawlessness accompanied disasters and further drove people to resettle elsewhere.

Heian-Kyo was carefully located to be protected from evil influences – in the north by mountains, in the east and west by the Kamo and Oi Rivers, and in the south by the confluence of these rivers and other rivers in the Ogura swamp. Major highways led south and west to the old capital of Nara and to the Inland Sea and the western provinces, and east to Lake Biwa, and from there to the Northern and Eastern provinces. In addition, there was much travel by water on the major rivers and on Lake Biwa. The foothills around the capital, the shores of Lake Biwa, and Uji (a picturesque setting on the Uji River southeast of the capital) were favored by the nobles for their country retreats or retirement temples. Uji is the famous setting in the final chapters of the eleventh-century novel Genji by Lady Murasaki.

Two state religions, Shinto (a native faith that venerates deities of agriculture) and Buddhism (imported from China via Korea and embraced by the court) coexisted peaceably. The fox shrine mentioned in this novel is a Shinto shrine, while the mysterious monk is a practicing Buddhist priest. The emperor, as a descendant of the native gods, celebrated Shinto rites during his tenure, but often took the tonsure as a Buddhist priest upon retirement or serious illness. A number of annual festivals have quasi-religious significance, among them the three day O-bon (or urabon) celebration, honoring the dead, who are thought to return briefly for a visit to their homes. This celebration has its origin in Chinese ancestral worship and Buddhism.

The government in eleventh-century Japan was also derived from the Chinese model, which was based on education and excellence, but by the eleventh century it had deteriorated into rule by the sons of a few noble families, primarily the large Fujiwara clan. Centrally located in Heian-Kyo, the government controlled, at least nominally, the rest of the country by imperially appointed governors. Akitada, who is essentially a civil servant, currently serves as senior secretary in the Ministry of Justice headed by a Fujiwara minister. Civil servants drew salaries commensurate with their rank and office. Law enforcement was in the hands of a police force and of local wardens, who were responsible for their district and reported serious crimes to the police. Judges worked as adjuncts to the police departments. Because of the Buddhist injunction against taking life, there were few executions. Prison terms were common, though often cut short by frequent imperial pardons, and exile was the preferred punishment for serious crimes.

Relations between men and women in Heian Japan were both more casual and more formal than in western societies. Husbands and wives observed proper courtesies towards each other, but polygamy was permitted, probably because of high child mortality. It was generally practiced only by those who could afford to support large households. A gentleman might have several wives, ranked by importance, as well as several concubines, who might or might not live in the same household. Generally, customs favored males unless a wife had powerful parents. Wives could be divorced or deserted at the whim of the husband – in which case they returned to their families, or he moved out, because bridegrooms often took up residence in the house of the bride. Casual affairs were common for both sexes. Though there is no record of a ‘Willow Quarter’ in Heian-Kyo during the eleventh century, such places existed, most notably along the Yodo River, a mere river pleasure cruise away from the city.

Medicine, as practiced in eleventh-century Japan, was based on Chinese herbal treatises, acupuncture, moxibustion, and a good deal of superstition. Practitioners ranged from university-trained physicians to Buddhist monks and local pharmacists. The medicines mentioned in the novel were all available at the time.

Finally, the psychological concept called ‘the darkness of the heart’ serves to some extent as the theme of this novel. Almost a commonplace in the literature of the period, which made much of human emotions, it refers to the dilemma faced by parents who lose a child. Although Buddhist doctrine insists on denial of all worldly attachments, a parent’s love for and the bitter grief attendant on the loss of a child cannot be denied. The term is found in both poetry and prose fiction of the time, for example in the Tosa Diary and Lady Murasaki’s Genji.