For Kass, who wanted me to share....

[gurdymonkey]

The following is my response to an inquiry I received today via email.

The writer had found my website. Though her persona name is Arabic, she evidently receives inquiries on a variety of subjects and cultures through various forae.  Good question, gives me something to do while the laundry is whirring in circles downstairs:

She writes: "Recently, I was asked what the customs were in Japan for women in 
the Warring States Era, as regards their personal feminine time.  I know that 
there are thousands of superstitions around the world in every culture that 
seriously affected the behavior by and towards women during their monthly times, 
and during child baring and birthing.  Would you know of any resources or can you 
direct me to some suitable ones that my help me to further research this area of 
Japanese culture in history?  I understand if this is not possible, and appreciate
any information that you might be able to provide."

On the other hand, as a pre-menopausal single woman whose child bearing ship has sailed, I confess it's not one to which I have devoted a heck of a lot of thought to.

My response: 
I've got nothing. The reason why is that I'M still learning all this stuff myself. 

Well, almost nothing. Well, not very much. 

1. There is a passage in the diary of Murasaki Shikibu (which means it predates 
the Sengoku period by several centuries) describing the goings on surrounding the
birth of an Imperial prince. I don't have an exact citation handy for you at the 
moment, but it's from a POV of someone in the Empress' entourage along the
lines of "It was noisy, it was insanely crowded...."

2. I am also going to direct you to a picture scroll from the late 12th century. 
The gaki zoshi are people whose karmic behavior was so bad that it returns them 
to this plane of existence as hungry spirits. What are they hungry for? Excrement,
ear wax, afterbirth, corpse flesh. Not for the easily oogied, but fascinating if 
you can take it, it does include childbirth scene. The laboring mother is 
squatting over her freshly popped baby. She is surrounded by several other women 
(and an "invisible" gaki zoshi slavering in the foreground). A man peeps in at 
the door on the left, possibly the proud father. Outside the room at the right
another woman and a priest with prayer beads hear the happy news of the new 
arrival.   CLICK FOR LINK TO IMAGE.

3. Various Heian period sources mention the mother being presented with a special 
belt or sash when she discovers she is pregnant. When I tried to find out a bit 
more about this, I discovered this page:
http://www.geocities.jp/nakansuzu/maternity02-01.html
CLICK FOR ORIGINAL LINK.
CLICK FOR LINK RUN THROUGH GOOGLE TRANSLATE.
Heian writers were writing for an audience who would've known what a maternity obi
was, so there was no need for them to describe it or the attendant reasons for 
one, so I can't swear it's the same thing, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to 
correllate them as Heian writers were also familiar with the Chinese zodiac and
the auspicious qualities of The Dog's fertility. 

4. Abdominal binding during pregnancy is associated with the legendary Empress
Jingu. "Sorry, son, I have a war to conduct, you can't be born just yet." 
http://www.buddhistinformation.com/bodhisattva_hachiman.htm

5. Jingu and the kami Konohanasakuyahime are both invoked as Shinto patrons of 
easy childbirth. Konohanasakuyahime. The Kojiki and Nihongi sources mentioned in 
the link below are quite ancient:
http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=218

Both Shinto and Japanese Buddhism associate menstruation with impurity. 
Menstruating women were barred from shrines and in general women were not
permitted to visit some of the sacred mountains." 

I LOVE the Gaki-Zoshi scroll in the Tokyo National Museum Collection. Yes, the spirits are disturbing, as are their appetites, but if you can deal with that (and I admit there is a sort of horrid fascination to that aspect in and of itself,) the minutiae of certain bits of late Heian life are downright fascinating. A banquet scene where you can see the elegant table settings.  Common folk relieving themselves on a street corner. The aforementioned birth scene.  It's an amazing document.

Comments

[kass-rants.livejournal.com]

Sure... Blame it all on me... It *IS* all my fault, isn't it? LOL

You will, of course, add this to your website so I can send people to it, right? =)

I recall a reference somewhere that the new mother and those who surrounded her had to wear all white for the first... 10 days?... after the birth.

Of course this is a Heian-period reference. But if you want me to look it up, I shall.

Oh, goody, more homework.....

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Please do.

Re: Oh, goody, more homework.....

[kass-rants.livejournal.com]

Will do. I just dusted off my old books and rearranged my shelves. Things should be much easier to find now. I just need to remember what book it was in. I know there's a reference to the belly band in Confessions of Lady Nijo...