The image of famous courtesans in“ Shikidookagami” and “Hankyozakki” The contraction of Yoshino and Li Xiang Jun －
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Chen, Yi-Shiu
Abstract
Although Yoshino and Li Xiang Jun lived in the same 17th century, they were brought up into two different countries, Japan and China, lived in two different backgrounds of the Japanese Edo period and at the turn of the Chinese Ming and Qing periods, and therefore also the expectations of the contemporary men of culture towards them as famous courtesans were entirely different. Characteristic features of the two ourtesans were “benevolence” and “chivalry”, but why has these two features taken the main place in the aesthetics of that time? At the beginning of the Edo period people were absorbed in the idea of the Heian court culture and they frequented the pleasure quarters created on the basis of the courtly sense of beauty. In the Heian period, love was a kind of a pleasant play and so being passionate and falling in love with many people was being considered as refined. Thus, it is possible that longing for the “benevolence” as seen in the early Edo period may be the influence of the Court period. In the same manner, at the end of the Ming period when the possibility passing examinations for the imperial clerks was declining, the literati of that time, starting from the wreckage, they were running away from anguish and restraints of the Confucian society and longing for the culture of gallantry. This longing has led them to the gorgeous and luxurious pleasure quarters, which have become one of the main stages of the pursue for the chivalry and gallantry. Chivalry was popular among eople in China from the ancient times and was worshiped as a hero. It is possible that the literati were trying to cheer themselves from the disappointment of the imperial clerk examinations by becoming chivalrous men. Therefore, the reason why Yoshino and Li Xiang Jun were praised by the men of culture was nothing else but the fact that they were famous courtesans and that they possessed both the “benevolence” and the “chivalry” which were the dream and ideal of the literati.he goal of my thesis is to present the aesthetics and the cultural sense of values in China and Japan of the 17th century by comparing the two courtesans. By completing my thesis I would like to put more light on the cultural sense of beauty in both countries in the 17th century.
Subjects
Early Edo Period
Late Ming Period
Yoshino
Li Xiang Jun,
benevolence
chivalry
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