Yuago From the Tale of Essay

(108-109) This would seem to indicate that when it came to older women, particularly family or other close personal acquaintances, it was proper to show respect, and even emotions for such persons regardless of their social class.

Heian society was highly regulated and hierarchical, and from this it can be concluded that the government was highly regulated and hierarchical. It is clear from the text that the Heian Japan was ruled by an Imperial government with an Emperor at the head. It would also seem clear that many of the official posts of the government are filled with aristocratic men. Prince Genji himself, the son of the Emperor by a lower concubine, held a government post. It is also clear that Heian Japan's dominant religious belief was Buddhism. There are many examples of Buddhist rites and traditions throughout the text. For example, it was described that in the depths of his grief, Genji prayed "…inwardly to the Buddha," (132) and later when the Emperor mistakenly thought Genji ill, the Emperor ordered "…continual prayers to be said for him in all the major temples." The Emperor appears to be following Buddhist religious practices, and if the Emperor was Buddhist, then Buddhism must be the dominant religion.One of the most striking aspect of this story is the amount of time given over to describing the aesthetics of everything. Descriptions of landscapes, clothing, houses, rooms, and how things were presented, arranged, placed filled the tale. Parks were described as "handsome and well kept," (110) while the chapter even began with a complete description of the street and houses around the home of his former nurse. (106-107) and there was a striking contrast to the descriptions of these places, with the upper class residences much more neat and orderly than the disheveled hovels of the poor. It can be concluded that aesthetics were very important to Heian society and the Royal Court. The upper class residences were better organized and maintained while the lower classes simply used what they had as best they could. Buddhism stressed maintaining order in society, government, family and the aesthetics of a the Royal Palace were an advertisement of that order. The Emperor was the ultimate human authority charged with maintaining social order and as such had to maintain strict order around himself as a public demonstration that he was the ultimate human authority.

Works Cited

Keene, Donald. Anthology of Japanese Literature, from the Earliest Era to the.....