Black Hair and Red Trousers: Gendering the Flesh in Medieval Japan

Abstract

AT A TIME NOW PAST, Fujiwara Tamemoto was the governor of Shimotsuke Province. His house (in Kyoto, the capital) was located to the south of Third Street, to the west of the Western Palace. Around the end of the twelfth month (in about the year 1001), a thief entered this house. Because the neighbors shouted, the thief left without stealing much of anything. Fearing that he would be arrested, the thief abducted one of the ladies-in-waiting as a hostage. As he escaped from Third Street and headed west, he threw the woman on a horse and turned into Omiya Street. Then he thought someone was coming after him. So he stripped the outer clothes off the woman, and rode away. The lady-in-waiting, terrified and nearly naked, was in such a state of mind that she fell into the Omiya River. The water was freezing cold, and an icy wind was blowing. She managed to crawl back out of the water. She went up to a house and knocked on the gate, but no one heard her. She died that night. Dogs came and ate her body. The following morning, long black hair, a ruddy head, and scarlet undertrousers lay frozen in shreds ... The story continues with the description of an imperial decree that offers a reward for the thief. A policeman finally captures the suspect and receives the reward. The tale closes with the statement, Women must be extremely careful while sleeping. If not careful, a woman could be taken hostage. So the tale's been told, and so it's been handed down.' This is one of the thousand or so tales in the collection Konjaku monogatarishil,

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