Tosa Nikki (The Tosa Diary)
Overview
On the 21st of the twelfth month of 934, Ki no Tsurayuki, his term as governor of Tosa over, left the provincial office with his party. The diary records, day by day, the fifty-five days until he reached his home in the capital on the 16th of the second month of the next year. The author wrote in kana, pretending to be a woman. Amid the fears of a sea voyage, terror of pirates, the boatmen's songs and exchanges with local people who come to see them off, he writes again and again of the little daughter he lost in the province.
Background
At the time, a male noble's diary was an official record written in classical Chinese. By posing as a woman writer, Tsurayuki opened a way to write private feelings freely in kana. When a governor's term ended, he usually returned to the capital to wait for his next post. Pirates haunted the Inland Sea, and the rebellion of Fujiwara no Sumitomo broke out at about the same time. A sea voyage risked one's life.
Highlights
- The opening line"I hear that men keep these things called diaries; I, a woman, mean to try one too." A bold device: the writer disguises their sex.Read “Tosa Provincial Office (Nankoku)” →
- Days of waiting for the windStuck for days at Murotsu. The boredom and impatience of the journey are set down just as they were.Read “Cape Muroto” →
- Fear of piratesTo avoid pirates, they row across the Awa straits by night.Read “Naruto Strait” →
- The ruined houseThe house in the capital, reached at last, has fallen into ruin. He writes poems for the daughter who should have come home with them, and the diary ends.Read “Heian-kyo, the Imperial Palace” →