Confessions of lady nijo paper The Confessions of Lady Nijo is much more than a memoir, it is a first personal account of a sacred journey. The society Lady Nijo lived in can be characterized as a patriarchal society. This is because of the many different men in positions of power and how they act with impunity. But more importantly, this patriarchal society can be seen in how Lady Nijo acts and also by comparing her life as a Buddhist nun to her time in the palace serving as a concubine to the emperor Gofukakusa. Throughout the book there are many different things that GoFukakusa says and does that hint at a patriarchal society, but to really understand how much this impacted Lady Nijo, Lady Nijo's was the daughter of a powerful court…show more content… For example, somedays the clothes she was suppose to wear were already laid out for her. She did not get any say in the matter. Lady Nijo recalls from the first night she met Gofukakusa that a three-layered white gown and deep maroon pleated trousers were laid out for [her] to wear.1 This might not seem like a very major problem, but limiting the freedoms someone has can go a long way in how they value themselves. It also goes to show how much influence Emperor Gofukakusa has over the life of Lady Nijo even before she became his concubine. Through out the book, Lady Nijo writes about how Emperor GoFukakusa could have any women he wanted. It did not matter what political role she played, Gofukakusa could have her. In chapter six, Emperor Gofukakusa meets the high priestess and falls in love with her. GoFukakusa sends Lady Nijo with a message to the high priestess professing his love for her. After coming back with the high priestesses answer, GoFukakusa simply says show me where she is sleeping. Take me there.2 Then Emperor Gofukakusa just stays the night with the high…show more content… While she was traveling, she also visited many shrines, her freedom to do such things demonstrates how much her life has changed. The contrast between her old life in the palace and her new life really shows how little control she actually had over her day to day life. During this time she also observes many different people, and spends time reflecting on herself.4 Compared to the portion of her life living in the palace, she has a lot of free time to do things she wants to do and live how she wants to
