Palace Women and their Entourage

[Noriko]

So, I've been having a few thoughts bouncing around my head when I flipped through Genji the other day for some data. I was wondering about the structure of palace women and the people around them and I think most of my questions revolve around some translation glosses- mostly in terms of women being "servants", "attendants" and "ladies-in-waiting"... Some media treat these words as distinct while others seem to treat them as being the same- i.e. Murasaki Shikibu was a servant of the Empress.
I imagine an "entourage" as thus:
There is the lady we are speaking about- a high-born, high-ranking lady, perhaps a princess, who would have worn the juni-hitoe and all the accoutrements. She had very little she had to do.
Next would be her ladies-in-waiting (though often glosses as attendants or servants) who would be other high-born though perhaps lower ranking ladies. Their duties were to entertain our princess, comb her hair, help her write letters and so on. They were educated, well-spoken etc.
Followed by that were the house-maids. They fetched and carried a lady's things, washed her hair, sewed her clothing, looked after children, and were messengers in carrying letters.
I assume these women were not nobles of any sort but might have been from serving families (i.e. dad serves the master of the house). I also assume these were the women who wore kosode and a wrap skirt, which, while rather nice looking and designed, might reflect on the fact that in such an aestheticised world, even the help has to look nice.
I wonder if these women were the Jijus, Bens and Chujos of Genji or would they have been the women described above. Passages do have Jijus etc. sewing and dyeing but on the other hand, it may be a case of synecdoche (Lady Naninani is said to be dyeing clothing but it is really her servants but why mention *them*?)
And I assume there was also a scullery maid of sorts- the people who did the really dirty work (that is, anything where you could actually get really filthy).
Granted, I'm writing this late at night and with no references, just some thoughts.[1]

So, thoughts? (;



[1]Well, some googling did lead to some interesting notes on palace women in medieval Korea. And I also thought back to a really awesome book I read about Versailles.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Get your hands on a copy of Sacred Rites in Moonlight: Ben No Naishi Nikki, translated by S. Yumiko Hulvey. There's a section in the introduction which summarizes the duties of women at court by rank.

(It's way too long for me to attempt to transcribe here and it's taken from something called A Newly Revised Commentary On Female Officials by Asai Torao, which, since I can't seem to find by Googling, I assume is in Japanese.)

However, as a quick example, sewing duties were accorded women of fourth through eight rank as part of the Sewing Office. (Which makes the construction of clothing an appropriate duty for me as a member of the seventh rank.)
Nyoju (attendants) and ueneme (gift maidens) might assist higher ranking female officials with things like the distribution of brazier fuel, lamp oil or water.

Then read the whole thing - it's an interesting diary.

[Noriko]

Ah, thanks. Looks like they have a copy at the university I work at so I can go after work to read it (their stacks are open to anyone). As for your sewing, I think some of my surfing showed that women of that type in other time periods did sewing and embroidery- it seems like the only "work" suitable of a noble lady of any sort.
A lot of my questions tie into my ongoing mobakama project which I've already bugged the heck out of everyone about (; that is, what did a retainer do, as opposed to a lady-in-waiting.

I'll.... go look at the book...

[Noriko]

I got the book and I think I "get it"- the nyojo and uneme- these are probably our mobakama girls. Lady Naninani might have been in charge of oil and firewood, in that she was the go-to girl for requests and the coordination behind obtaining it, but damned if she's going to carry it, except in a ceremonial context.
I think a bit of my confusion also comes from this website (and scroll down a bit)[1] that uses "shipira" and "mo" interchangeably, even though they are different and the illustration is that of a peasant. I think Jiju's "rude apron" would have been a mo since "Jiju" would have been the title of her husband or father and that's a rather high rank. And the text is vague- it says she "gives it up" to Ukifune.

[1]http://www.sonic.net/~tabine/genji/reading_companion_2004.html#anchor_chapt51