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Paper short abstract

This paper examines developments in time-recording practices in female diaries, with particular attention to Oyudono no ue no nikki. By tracing shifts from nominal and chrono-emotional to numerical and documentary modes of timekeeping, I highlight changing functions of diary writing and authorship.

Paper long abstract

From the tenth century onward, Japan saw the development of a rich tradition of vernacular diary writing by women. Although the intended audience and purpose of many of these diaries remain uncertain, evidence suggests that they circulated among court women. It is therefore reasonable to assume that they were, at least in part, written by women for women.

Viewed diachronically, works associated with this genre reveal a broad shift from a private and emotionally reflective mode—exemplified by the Kagerō nikki (The Gossamer Years, ca. 974)—to a more public and documentary style, as seen in journals such as the Takemukigaki (From the Bamboo-View Pavilion, ca. 1349). Wakita Haruko has argued that this transformation is linked to women’s increasing responsibility for official diary keeping in medieval Japan. As warfare contributed to the decline of male-authored official records, women assumed this role, while male diaries became more closely tied to the private interests of individual households. The culmination of female-authored official diary writing is arguably the Oyudono no ue no nikki (Daily Records of the Imperial Office of Housekeeping), a logbook produced collaboratively by high-ranking court women for the imperial household between 1477 and 1826. Despite its significance, this work has received limited attention in Western scholarship on Japanese literature, likely due in part to its sheer scale.

The broader shift from personal memoir to official record is also reflected in these diaries’ chronographic practices. Early examples employ dates sparingly and favor aesthetic, emotionally inflected and stylized modes of temporal representation. Later diaries, by contrast, are more systematically dated and display more uniform chronographic features closely aligned with those of Sinitic diary traditions, though individual variation remains evident.

In this paper, I trace these chronographic shifts over time. I begin with a brief historical overview of chronographic practices in women’s diaries, before turning to a closer examination of the Oyudono no ue no nikki. By analyzing changes in its chronography from its inception in 1477 to its conclusion in 1826, I aim to shed light on evolving modes of time reckoning and possible shifts in concepts of authorship across the work’s long history.