Nijo, ___ 1258-1306g ___ Japanese ___ n/a

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Nijo, a pen-name, was born into a well-connected family and appears to have been fostered by the Prime Minister and Lady Kitayama (who was the mother and grandmother of emperors). When still young she became a courtesan of the ex-emperor Gofukakusa. However, she seems to have had other lovers. By the age of 25 she had four children, only one by Gofukakusa. Eventually, she left, or was expelled from, the palace and became a wandering Buddhist nun. Her diary, more a memoir in fact ('Towazugatari' translated as 'an unsolicited tale') published in English with the title 'The Confessions of Lady Nijo', covers about 30 years. It provides an intimate portrait of herself as a lover, of the ex-emperor, and of her travels.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1271-1306g ___ religious travel love/sex self royalty

WEB TEXT LINKS
good extracts
an essay on rape

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
 

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Confessions of Lady Nijo
 

May 2005, June 2008
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.