This paper outlines Terry Kawashima's theory of discursive marginalization of women with regard to the female poet, Ono no Komachi. It compares her argument with the ways that Sarah M. Strong, B. Faure, and Michael Marra explicate the relationship of the image of female poets such as Komachi and Izumi Shikibu to the historical situation of women in medieval Japan.
Scholars and historians agree that Ono no Komachi was a poet in Japan sometime during the middle of the ninth century. The dates of her birth and death are not known, and most of the details of her life cannot be confirmed by any historical records. While historians believe that she served at court, they do not agree in what capacity. Of the six poets selected to represent the ninth century in an anthology commissioned by the emperor around 905, she is the only woman included. A little more than a hundred years later, she was included in the list of six rokkasen, a list of classic poetic genius/immortals.
By medieval times, she had become best known as the subject of a number of Noh plays. Strong ( ) observes, "The noh version of a particular famous character is often the one that has mattered most over the centuries, supplying the defining characteristics and preoccupations by which the character has been understood and know" (p. 391). The Komachi of these plays is a strong woman who has, in old age, lost both her beauty and her wealth. Yet how much of this characterization is based in fact cannot be known.
Kawashima ( ) argues that this is because Komachi was intentionally marginalized by "the agendas and strategies of later generations," principally men (p. 123). She ( ) contends, "Discursive constructions, when utilized by those with specific powers - such as poetry anthology compilers - can have a cumulative and lasting impact on not only the understanding of the marginalized figure by later generations but also the canon of premodern literature its...