The Change of Lady Nijo

Lady Nijo entered into the scene of historical Japanese literature as the author of a diary called Towazugatari or The Confessions of Lady Nijo . Lady Nijo’s diary depicts life in a world with a strong focus on material possessions and outward appearance. Despite growing up with a high social standing, plenty of extravagant possessions, and becoming a lover of an emperor, Nijo faces many issues and troubles in her life. Many of these issues come about because of her immaturity and focus on outward appearance. Through these troubles, Nijo matures and discovers who she really is.

Nijo became accustom to the life of a high social class at a young age. Her father was a major counselor and her family was high in the social ranks . Nijo gained the attention of Emperor GoFukakusa. GoFukakusa picked her over many other girls to be his lover, and this only fed her ego. She moved to the palace and her life of luxury continued. She had fancy gowns, a palace for a home, and the love of an emperor. At the age of 14, Nijo’s outward appearance and social standing were sky high. She seemed to have it all.

Nijo is excited with the possibility of becoming GoFukakusa’s wife. She receives a grown that GoFukakusa wants her to wear which makes her happy and feel important. She feels this way because it improves her image and appearance. Unfortunately, this was not a good thing at all. This was the beginning of GoFukakusa controlling and forming her into the person he wants her to be. This is when things start to turn south for Nijo.

GoFukakusa and Nijo spent many nights together, but Nijo was unhappy. During some of these nights, she lay awake, sometimes crying, thinking about her situation. Nijo was still very young and immature. So, she became very overwhelmed. She decided to return home and pretend she was ill to get a break from her new life . GoFukakusa wrote her a letter begging her to come back immediately . But this is another sign of GoFukakusa controlling Nijo.

With this trouble in Nijo’s life, there was one ray of hope. She was pregnant with Gofukakusa’s child. But, during the pregnancy, Gofukakusa’s father Gosaga died. Gosaga’s death deeply saddened Nijo’s father, Koga Masatada, because they were great friends. Koga Masatada said that he wanted to retire from the world after the loss of his friend and Nijo feared the worst. Not long after, her fears became reality and her father died . After the death of her father, Nijo lacked a male presence in her life. She turned to GoFukakusa to fill that hole.

Unfortunately, just like most things in her life, the situation turned for the worst. Nijo gave birth to her first child, but GoFukakusa was not even present for the birth . This is just one example of how Gofukakusa was failing to fill that hole Nijo had after her father’s death. Nijo needed to fill that hole, so she had sought out someone to fill it. Just before the birth of her child, she started