In the Heian period society shielded women in the nobility from the male gaze. The 'Tale of Genji' describes, how, in the case of the Shining Prince and his contemporaries this only added to the allure of the mysterious women cloistered away beyond their reach. Glimpses of clothing led to surmises about the type of woman who might be wearing such fine clothes. Then there was her performance on the koto which might lead to all sorts of conjectures about the performer based on the feelings she expressed. Then there were the perfumes she chose to wear. This spoke volumes about refinement and a sense of culture.
These women without faces excited the desires of the Shining Prince in a tale that is over a thousand years ago. Penned by a woman and written in hiragana, a woman's script, it continues to fascinate readers in an era where women are prisoners of their faces, endlessly judged by their appearance. This story about women without faces therefore has a new relevance. Especially in regard to the on going debate about the hijab and the niqab and whether these represent the suppression of women in Islamic culture.
After reading 'Genji Monogatari' there is a sense of the irrepressibility of human nature. Whilst there will always be rules there will also always be individuals who refuse to be bound by those rules. And, through the strength of their imaginations, they find a way to express not only their own desires but also the desires of others. With or without faces these women loom larger than society might otherwise have allowed, undiminished and reclaimed by either reductive obscurity or oppressive scrutiny.
