Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
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Research Article

Women Characters in Eleventh and Eighteenth-century Japan: Attributions of Their Differences and Similarities— A Comparative Study on Female Characters in the Tale of Genji and Chūshingura

Zixiu ChenShanghai Pinghe School IBDP, Shanghai, 201206, China*

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the differences and similarities of fictional female characters in eleventh and eighteenth-century Japan. Namely, this work selects Yūgao in the Tale of Genji and Okaru in Chūshingura to represent the typical females in the eleventh and eighteenth century respectively. Through thoroughly examining their feminine personal distributions, suppressed sexuality, and the instrumental fashion in which males treat them, the traditional Japanese aesthetics and the historical trend of increasing female agency are concluded. By extending the observation made from the comparison between the two compositions to the modern period of Japanese history (1868-present), this research remarks the unchanging cultural aesthetics and improving female agency in gender relations.

Keywords: Aesthetics; Japanese studies; Gender relations; Literature
Published: May 17, 2023
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/4/20220359
Volume: CHR Vol.4
pp. 148-156
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