In 1927, Ikeda Kikan set the tone for decades of subsequent research on Ben no Naishi Nikki (Poetic Memoirs of Ben no Naishi, 1246-52) by stating that this memoir was the cheerful account of a carefree, young girl who focused only on amusing aspects of court life in the shortest of eight chapters in Kyûtei JoryuNikki Bungaku (Literary Diaries by Women at Court). As a result, many scholars viewed this memoir as a work of negligible literary merit composed of a series of short, episodic entries without a unifying theme or purpose. His pronouncement held sway until 1964, when Ôuchi Mayako published the first original research on Ben no Naishi’s memoir in four decades, introducing several new ideas, the most important of which follows: she discussed the author’s conscious adoption of a formal, public stance that dictated the exclusion of events of a private nature from the nikki, leading Ôuchi to compare Ben no Naishi Nikki to Oyudono no Ue no Nikki (Journal of the Upper Hot Water Room, 1477-1826), an official journal compiled by women who served in the Back Palace (Kôkyû) in an unadorned style reminiscent of male-authored diaries written in Chinese (kanbun nikki); she analyzed Ben no Naishi’s use of poetic imagery; she introduced the role the author played as a noted renga poet (linked verse) in the mid-thirteenth century; she used internal evidence to prove that it was common knowledge that the author kept a written record of her court service; and she also traced relationships between Ben no Naishi and her female colleagues, drawing parallels with Murasaki Shikibu’s critique in the Heian-period memoir. Ôuchi’s publication produced little effect for twenty years, until Iwasa Miyoko and Imazeki Toshiko advanced the study of the memoir in the 1980s and 1990s.

    The text of Ben no Naishi Nikki is incomplete: entries from the remaining six years of Go-Fukakusa’s reign (1243-1304; r. 1246-59) are no longer extant. But a near-contemporary source preserves entries from the non-extant portion, indicating that the original work covered events from the entire thirteen-year reign of Go-Fukakusa. In a chapter entitled "Descending Clouds" ("Oriiru Kumo") in The Clear Mirror (Masukagami, ca. 1376), there are two entries that were most likely modeled on the final entries of the original memoir, one of which describes the forced abdication of the seventeen-year old monarch. Ben no Naishi Nikki begins with an entry announcing the abdication of Go-Saga (1222-72; r. 1242-46) that optimistically anticipates the accession of the three-year old Go-Fukakusa in the next entry. Images of the sun and moon in the celestial sky impart a cosmological tone that is sustained in following entries. The format of these entries, a prose introduction followed by a poem highlighting the emotional response to events described in the entry, indicates that the compiler of The Clear Mirror had direct access to the then-complete text of the memoir. The first of the two entries dated 1259 records the coming-of-age ceremony (Genpuku) performed by the sovereign’s younger brother, Kameyama (1249-1305; r. 1259-74), in preparation for his upcoming accession as the 90^th sovereign. The final entry describes Ben no Naishi’s sadness as Go-Fukakusa prepares to transfer the royal regalia at the abdication ceremony. The structure of the memoir, beginning with an entry describing the abdication of Go-Saga and ending with the abdication of Go-Fukakusa, completes the picture of an account focused on the author’s service to the sovereign she served from start to finish. Ben no Naishi was concerned about providing a complete coverage of his reign since her first sobriquet, "Tôgu no Ben" (Crown Prince-Controller), indicates that she began serving the heir apparent when he was two-months old after perhaps beginning court service with his mother, Ômiya’in (1225-92). Because her final sobriquet of Go-Fukakusa’in Ben no Naishi (Retired Sovereign Go-Fukakusa’s Ben no Naishi) was the name by which her final compositions are attributed to her hand, it seems likely that Go-Saga’in and Ômiya’in asked her to keep a poetic record of her service to their son, accounting for the formal, public stance adopted in the memoir. Thus Ben no Naishi’s career was dedicated to the sovereign she served throughout her life.

    The structure of the nikki beginning and ending with entries of abdication and accession implies the importance of the enthronement ceremony (Daijôsai, Ôhonihe no Matsuri) of monarchs in which naishi played vital roles. Iwasa Miyoko attributes the tight organization of the nikki to extensive revisions that transformed a less-structured diary into a finely honed tribute to the monarch and the court the author served diligently for almost seventeen years (personal communication 1996). Since ancient enthronement ceremonies were conducted only at night, the author’s choice of the moon as the dominant image seems particularly apt for the cosmological associations of specific court ceremonies. The concept of the eternal return or the circular notion of sacred time is emphasized by the cyclical nature of the moon. Just as the moon appears and disappears as it waxes and wanes, the structure of the memoir itself mimics a circle to suggest the eternal return in sacred time by returning to the topic with which it began.

    I examine the concept of sacred time in Ben no Naishi Nikki, the function of the moon in religious studies, and its significance in ancient Japanese myths and rituals toward a discussion of the role the Nakatomi and their Fujiwara descendants played in the enthronement ceremonies of sovereigns. Toward this end, I consult ancient norito (ancient Shintô prayers) and yogoto (congratulatory words) that the Nakatomi voiced at the enthronement ceremonies of sovereigns. As a member of the Fujiwara family descended from the Nakatomi, who as hereditary ritualists performed crucial roles at accession and enthronement ceremonies of sovereigns, Ben no Naishi inherited the right to occupy a position that was partially based on her clan’s traditional role in court ritual and partly on her family’s more recent one as court poets. She most likely obtained her post at court as a naishi thanks to the efforts of her father Fujiwara Nobuzane (ca. 1177-1270), who introduced his progeny to influential nobles who patronized the literary arts, but it was her lineage as a descendant of the Nakatomi that enabled her to take part in the sacred rituals that legitimized the rule of sovereigns.

    In this paper, I propose that there are two diametrically opposed notions of time in Ben no Naishi Nikki. On one hand, Ben no Naishi wrote the memoir to perpetuate the tradition of writing her family was known for, thereby making a literary contribution to be remembered in historical or profane time. On the other hand, Ben no Naishi’s job as a naishi (female courtier), who assisted sovereigns in the performance of cosmological rites, was intricately related to ceremonies that effected a return in illo tempore, to the sacred beginning of time. The tension is thus between linear or profane time and circular or sacred time. To explore the notion of sacred time, I refer to Mircea Eliade’s research on myth, studies of the sokui-rei (accession ceremony), the Niinamesai or Nihiname no Matsuri (first fruits festival), and the Daijôsai (enthronement or great thanksgiving ceremony)¹ by Robert S. Ellwood and Clarence D. Holtom, and the publications of Iwasa Miyoko and Imazaki Toshiko, to argue for a reassessment of Ikeda’s pronouncement. I argue that Ben no Naishi’s memoir is highly organized toward the goal of emphasizing the sacred nature of her job as a naishi to accentuate the circular notion of sacred time even as she sought to add luster to the achievements of her literary family by recording her experiences at court in historical time. The tension that results from the clash of profane and sacred conceptions of time creates an opportunity for investigation.

The enthronement ceremonies of kings, royal initiation rites, and the moon overlap in several areas. A ritual death followed by a subsequent resurrection form the essential part of royal initiation rites. The death of a king followed by the installation of a new sovereign, however "insignificant" he may be, hails the beginning of a "new era." Eliade holds:

    Enthronement ceremonies and initiation rites share characteristics with those of the new year because they serve the function of a ‘collective regeneration’ in society (Eliade, Cosmos & History, 75).

    The connection between the moon and enthronement and initiation rites rests on the figurative death and subsequent rebirth of the new moon. In the past, the moon represented a ‘measure’ of time and the phases of the moon determined the length of the lunar month by which ancients kept track of the passage of profane time. But the moon also symbolizes the idea of the eternal return by the cyclical nature of its appearance. The phases of the moon?its appearance, waxing, waning, and disappearance, followed by its reappearance after three nights of darkness?play an important role as the concrete expression of the ‘eternal return’ that embodies the circular notion of sacred time (Eliade, Cosmos & History, 86-87). Eliade implies that:

    The Niinamesaiand Daijôsai ceremonies share striking similarities as two of the most important and ancient ceremonies of Shintô. The former is held each year to celebrate the fall harvest:

    Even when the two ceremonies were not distinguished, the Nakatomi were key players at both rites: reciting yogoto and norito and providing sacred water for the monarch’s use. Yogoto, which like norito belong to the Shintô liturgical canon, is activated through speaking formulaic words in the Yamato language to invoke either auspicious or calamitous results. Thus, there seems to be a connection with the archaic belief in kotodama (word spirit) where the human breath forms a vital part of Yamato verse and ritual.⁵ There are some norito and yogoto that are specifically linked to the Nakatomi family role as procurers of sacred water during the enthronement ceremonies of sovereigns. In Nakatomi no Yogoto (Congratulatory Words of the Nakatomi) performed at the enthronement ceremony of Konoe Tennô in 1142 and recorded in the Taiki, the diary of Fujiwara no Yorinaga (1120-1156), there is a mythological account of divine instructions for the Nakatomi to obtain sacred water for the sovereign’s meals at the Daijôsai.⁶ Following is an excerpt from the relevant portion of this yogoto:⁷

After this, Ame-no-ko-yane-no mikoto,

The distant ancestor of the Nakatomi,

Served before the Sovereign Grandchild,

    The mythic contents of the yogoto intoned by the Nakatomi clan at the enthronement ceremony tell quite a different story from standard versions of the Japanese myth preserved in the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters, ca. 712) and Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan, ca. 720) (Ellwood, 56-65). In the standard version of the creation myth, Amaterasu Ômikami plays her most active role as the sun goddess in the cave scenario when she is lured outside by the ecstatic dancing of Ame no Uzume no Mikoto and the laughter of the assembled kami. Although Amaterasu is supposedly the sun goddess, her attributes are more like a heavenly model of an earth kami rather than a sky deity proper. For example, she is conspicuously absent from the Daijôsai. Furthermore, the sun goddess’ actions in heaven?celebrating the Niinamesai, planting fields, hiding in a rock cave?are associated more closely with earth mother rites rather than those performed by a celestial deity?sending rain, funcundating the crops, mysteriously visiting the Niinamesai, and so on (Ellwood, 66). In archaic times, the day ruled by the sun was considered one with the fields and the labors of man, but "it was the moon and night which were on the other side, strange and numinous, and hence the source of rain and the alien fecundating power necessary to bring the works of man to harvest" (66-67).

    The myth in the "Nakatomi no Yogoto" speaks to the integral relationship between the Nakatomi and the sovereign in rituals that enacted sacred time. Three actions are identified by Ellwood in the mythological narrative:

    Bathing in sacred springs, both hot and cold, or wells thought to originate in realms of the Other, yomi (‘underworld’) or tokoyo (‘other world’), suggest further mysterious connections with the moon and those who bear sacred water to sovereigns. The monarch’s hot water bath at the Daijôsai must be related to the practice of bathing tennô at birth, as when Tenchi, Tenmu, and Jitô, were bathed in the sacred well at Ôtsu (Ellwood, 54-55). Similarly during the Daijôsai, the monarch bathes in heavenly hot water brought to him by the Fujiwara, descendants of the Nakatomi, that takes the place of the hot springs in which earlier monarchs were bathed. Later still the monarch receives ablutions of sacred water from maidens described as "daughters of the Nakatomi," and which was later bequeathed to female descendants of the Nakatomi, such as Ben no Naishi (Ellwood, 56). After bathing, the sovereign donned a garment known as hagoromo (feathered-robe or wing-robe), linked to hagoromo worn by tennyo (heavenly maidens serving the moon deity). The Nô play "Hagoromo" features a fisherman who finds a feathered-robe that belongs to a heavenly maiden who disrobed to bathe in the waters off the shore of Miho and witnesses a divine dance by the heavenly maiden as payment for the return of the feathered-robe without which she could not return to the moon (Tyler, 104; Waley, 222). Kaguyahime, the heroine of the Bamboo Cutter (TaketoriMonogatari), also dons a heavenly feathered-robe before she returns to the moon with her celestial escort (McCullough, 36). Thus, the maidens who assisted the tennô (monarchs) with the bathing rites at the enthronement ceremony are the earthly equivalents of the tennyo (moon maidens). The Nakatomi/Fujiwara young women continued to serve sovereigns the sacred waters their clan had begun in the mythological beginning of the rite.

    One of the most intriguing ideas proposed by Ellwood is that sovereigns were believed to have been descended from the moon rather than the sun. A male moon god who "is the husband of all women, the controller of woman’s mysteries who waxes and wanes in imitation of pregnancy, and the giver of rain and harvests, and who goes through benevolent and destructive moods in accordance with the phases" has been suggested as belonging to a widespread typology by scholars of myth (60). Supportive evidence is drawn from the fact that the moon has important links with the development of human culture: as a time keeper dictating the agricultural cycle and as a method of counting toward the harvest. Kings take responsibility for disasters, for announcing the time to harvest, that culminates in his role enacting the ritual marriage of heaven and earth at harvest or the new year (61). Since this is exactly what occurs in Japan during the Daijôsai, it is hard to explain why this rite takes place at night from sunset to sunrise, if the rite is supposed to be expression of solar descent and sovereignty. But since the enthronement takes place in the middle of the night, on the day of the hare (an animal related to the moon), and is filled with images of opposition that reflects the lunar cycle of appearance and disappearance such as black and white wine, using smooth and rough cloth, and so on, associations between the moon and the Daijôsai is indisputable. Therefore, the proposition that the moon rather than the sun is the source of the royal line seems most plausible.

    There are strong connections between the moon, bamboo, and water. In "Nakatomi no Yogoto," water was poured on bamboo shoots at night under the light of the moon. Tamagushi (a sacred branch of sasaki adorned with white strips of cloth or paper) was to be set up from sunset to sunrise, thus evoking the strange and the mysterious at night that could not be conjured up during the day. As mentioned earlier, Kaguyahime, the moon maiden, was found inside a stalk of bamboo by an old man, providing another literary evidence for the link between bamboo and the moon. Water which was held by Tsukiyomi, the moon, was known to rejuvenate. "The final line of the yogoto concerning heavenly underground springs makes no sense except in connection with an implicit lunar symbolism. Water and the sun could only be polarities, but the moon is everywhere the custodian and giver of water" (Ellwood, 62). Ellwood continues:

    The tone of the norito and yogoto finds resonance in the poetry composed by Ben no Naishi. The elevated tone of praise, gazing upward with awe at the heavens, and praying for the longevity and prosperity of the royal family are found in both the Shintô prayers and Ben no Naishi’s poetic entreaties for an auspicious reign for her sovereign. That Ben no Naishi chose the moon as the dominant imagery for her memoir was not only prophetic, it was also the perfect celestial image for the nocturnal aspects of her sacred duties and for suggesting the circular nature of sacred time the rituals enacted. After explaining the significance of Ben no Naishi’s participation in sacred rituals like the enthronement ceremony that reinforced the concept of cyclical time through the image of the moon, I would now like to turn to Ben no Naishi Nikki for a look at the two opposing notions of time that runs throughout the memoir. I propose that the prose sections of Ben no Naishi Nikki represent linear or profane time while the poems allude to circular or sacred time. These two threads are entwined throughout the memoir to maintain its dual-purposed nature: to record her court service to Go-Fukakusa in historical time and to praise the sovereign and the court following the tradition of the Nakatomi/Fujiwara from time immemorial as they served the royal family in sacred rituals. I look at the first fifteen entries of the poetic memoir as an example of my reading of circular and linear time, paying special attention to ritual, diction, poetic tone, and imagery.

    Ben no Naishi never directly mentions the role she played in sacred ceremonies in which she as a naishi participated, but the fact that her official duties at court revolved around the performance of royal rituals must have influenced her literary expression and sensibilities. Not only does her poetry reflect the sacred nature of her office, the images she chose to guide her memoir indicate her awareness of the sacred character of her position. Although the branch of the Fujiwara to which she belonged was known for their poetic talent rather than as ritualists, as a descendant of the Nakatomi she must have been trained in the proper performance of her duties at sacred rituals. These probably exacerbated her sense of duty to record as accurately as possible the events that occurred during the reign of her sovereign whom she had served almost from his birth. That she doesn’t include the details of the role she played in ceremonies and rituals is probably due to a reticence to reveal the mysterious nature of ceremonies performed during the numinous night.

    Like formulaic portions of norito and yogoto, the opening entries of Ben no Naishi Nikki contain words that set a reverent tone for the ensuing entries of the memoir. In the first entry, celestial images of the sky (sora), moon (tsuki), and sun (hi), and the act of gazing upward to the heavens (aogu), prepare us for the accession of the child monarch in the second entry.⁹ Typical norito begin with formulaic words humbly praising specific kami, heavenly and earthly shrines, and the sun as it rises in resplendent glory. The poem in the second entry concentrates on the novelty of seeing people dressed in fine brocades at the accession ceremony, calling to mind "garments of colored cloth, radiant cloth, plain cloth and coarse cloth," that form a part of many norito. Also in the second poem, the poet chooses auspicious words such as "a thousand-year reign" (chitose) that is similar to the careful language in norito that only allows the use of ritually pure words without any hint of kegare (pollutants). Tamayura (which with the particle ni means "briefly," but which also suggests "jewels," especially a jeweled strand worn around the waist by naishi on this important occasion) is another word that holds good connotations. Not only are jewels precious, they are also one of the royal regalia, which like the strand worn as a belt by naishi is made into a necklace for sovereigns. In the third and fourth entries, more auspicious words such as "the mighty gods" (chihayaburu), "myriad years" (yorozuyo), "pray" (inoru), "gods" (kami), and two shrine names (Hirano and Matsunoo) are included, sustaining the reverent tone of the opening poems. The poet implores the gods to make the sovereign’s reign as long-lasting as the pines at Hirano Shrine, symbolizing longevity. Then in the fifth entry, the image of the clear mirror and the celestial image of the full moon that echoes the circular shape of the mirror combine to form metaphors wishing for an unblemished reign for the monarch. That the mirror is another of the three royal regalia further elevates the tone of the entries. Thus, whether consciously or unconsciously, Ben no Naishi’s poetry captures the awe-inspired spirit of norito and yogoto that were voiced by her ancestors during ancient rites and ceremonies.

    The image of the moon and the gaze toward the heavens continue in the next series of entries. In the seventh entry the moon shines brightly over a small group of poets composing linked verse, prompting Ben no Naishi and her sister to capture the moment in waka. Although the tone is not as reverent as the poems in the opening section, the gaze upward noted in the initial entry continues here with eyes fixed on the moon. Further, Ben no Naishi’s poem focuses on remembering the past as she looks at the moon, while her sister’s poem cleverly turns this around by stating that she misses it now (present), anticipating the future when the moon will have already set. Thus in evoking the image of the moon and playing with flexible concepts of time, the circular aspect of time is continued in the poetry. The eighth section sustains the gaze toward the heavens and the stars Vega and Altair during their annual meeting on the seventh night of the seventh month, but this time since clouds obscure the view, the sisters’ composition speculate on the possibility of crossing the Milky Way (the Heavenly Stream) and implore the clouds to lift to reveal the light of the stars. The celestial imagery continues in the ninth entry during which the sisters again exchange compositions laden with worries about seeing the moon. Since the author equated a clearly visible moon with auspicious occasions, a clouded or obscured moon usually signified an inauspicious event. For example, in Section 34, the regent Ichijô Sanetsune is placed under house arrest because his brother had been implicated in a plot to assassinate the Hôjô regent in Kamakura. In other cases, the sad occasions such as someone taking the tonsure, or someone passing away, are symbolized by a blemished view of the moon. Here in the ninth entry however, there seems to be no allusion to an inauspicious event. On the contrary, there is a longing for the past and a suggestion that the full moon of the sixteenth is unclouded, like the clear mirror mentioned in an earlier entry. Shôshô no Naishi’s composition turns Ben no Naishi’s message around by suggesting the impossibility of an obstructed view of the moon since the palace is supposedly located "above the clouds" (kumoi no ue ni).

    The tone of reverence returns as Ben no Naishi and her colleagues get involved in preparations for the enthronement ceremony. In the tenth entry, a progress through the Suzaku Gate to conduct monthly purification rites at the end of the month inspires Ben no Naishi to announce the upcoming enthronement of a new sovereign at the ruins of the old Greater Royal Palace (Daidairi) enclosure. In the eleventh entry, the shift in imagery to chrysanthemum blossoms may seem a bit unusual, but when we recall that the dew collected from chrysanthemums was thought to ward off the effects of old age, the longevity-invoking tone of the poem is in keeping with others in this series. Using images such as the nine-fold palace (kokonoe) in combination with other alliterative "k" sounds such as kyô kokonuka no/kiku nareba/kokoro no mama ni/, the oral efficacy of the composition is emphasized, perhaps evocative of efficacy of the spoken word (kotodama). In the twelfth entry, the image of hailstones raining down from the heavens is interpreted as an answer to countless prayers (kazu mo miekeri), emphasizing the reverent tone of associating celestial imagery with sacred portents. In the thirteenth entry, another purification rite is featured utilizing concepts of time and countless grains of sand as a metaphor for the beginning of a long-enduring reign. The fourteenth entry is focused on"viewing the moon and the snow," inspiring a series of poems laden with images of the snow, the nine-fold palace (kokonoe), thousand-year paths (chitose no michi), accumulation (kasaneru), and the passage of time on righteous paths (chiyo no miyuki) In the fifteenth entry, preparations for the enthronement ceremonies continue with bustling activities in the Suki, Yuki, and Nyokudokoro, temporary buildings to house the sovereign during the rites. Although this entry contains no celestial imagery, the circular notion of time is evoked by citing a precedent from the past, creating a new precedent in the present for messengers to Yoshida Shrine to use in the future. Thus with the images of the nine-fold palace, countless numbers of hailstones (arare tama chiru) and myriad prayers (yaoyorozu), auspicious words (two of which are related to the possibly sacred number eight) are once again used to implore the gods for a long reign for the sovereign. While the poetry is infused with auspicious words and images to impart a sense of reverence for the rites she has taken part in, the prose portions are clearly tied to the historical or profane time.

    The entries in Ben no Naishi Nikki are almost as formulaic in composition and content as are the norito and yogoto intoned by the Nakatomi/Fujiwara at sacred ceremonies. Invariably, prose sections begin with a recording of the date, month, and year, the setting, and the occasion for which the poem was composed, clearly tied to profane time. Finally the poet’s name in the third person is recorded before the composition, so as to preserve the memory of the poet in historical time. As mentioned earlier, the subject matter of the first and second entries are the abdication and accession ceremonies of the old and new monarchs, respectively. The third and fourth entries center around Ben no Naishi’s and her younger sister, Shôshô no Naishi’s, first recorded duties as royal messengers to two important Shintô shrines on the outskirts of Kyoto. In the third entry, Ben no Naishi is given water with which to cleanse her hands as she sits in the carriage en route, performing the ritual ablutions required before entering the sacred space of shrines. At the same time her younger sister is en route to Matsunoo Shrine composing her poem on hearing the cuckoo for the first time that year. Not only is this the first instance of the shared perspective from which the nikki is narrated, but these two sections foreshadow the fact that this will be the technique by which the most comprehensive view of events at court will be presented in the memoir. In the fifth entry, Ben no Naishi is sent as a messenger to the Kashikodokoro (Awe-inspiring Place, also Naishidokoro or Unmeiden) where the sacred mirror is stored, when she sees the moon whose shape makes her recall the shape of the mirror at her intended destination and inspires the composition above.

    The next series of entries revolve around the celebration of some secular gatherings and festivals. In the sixth entry, the sweet flag festival of the fifth day of the fifth month proves to be an occasion for a poetic composition punning on a misunderstanding. Clever puns in the Kokinshû style still seems to have been in vogue for its preservation in the memoir attests to the value placed on the composition by the compiler. The seventh entry features a small linked verse composition gathering, the first of many included in the memoir, with the full moon providing not only inspiration, but causes a longing for the event to continue. Once again the witty repartee between the sisters is preserved to add a modicum of luster to their poetic heritage. The eighth entry centers on another festival featuring celestial imagery: the Tanabata festival on the seventh night of the seventh month was the annual meeting of the stars Vega (the Weaver Maid) and Altair (the Ox-Herd) usually separated by the Milky Way (the Heavenly Stream). The sisters add their compositions to countless others speculating on the success or failure of the heavenly couple’s annual rendezvous. The ninth entry presents an impromptu musical concert under what should have been a full moon on the sixteenth of the eighth month. The sisters again exchange witty compositions punning on why they cannot see the moon when the palace, located above the clouds (kumoi no ue ni), should provide a clear view of heavenly objects. The tenth entry begins in earnest to focus on the preparations for the enthronement ceremonies. Shôshô no Naishi had been assigned to work in the Nyokudokoro, a temporary department designed to assist in preparing items for the enthronement ceremony, but when she became ill, Ben no Naishi was sent in her stead. This is the first of many instances that suggest the rather frail health of Ben no Naishi’s younger sister because Ben no Naishi substituted for her several times due to illness. Thus this section records activities geared toward the enactment of the most sacred ritual: the enthronement ceremony of a new sovereign.

    The final series of entries focus still more on preparations for the enthronement ceremony. Secular customs in the autumn such as collecting dew from chrysanthemums to ward off the effects of old age show the involvement of Go-Fukakusa’s mother in the preparations for Go-Fukakusa’s enthronement. To record the flurry of activities in secular time seems to be one of the purposes of this entry. The twelfth entry combines the sacred with the secular in recording the annual prayers for a former sovereign and the like with the announcement of the appointment to offices for courtiers and senior nobles. The thirteenth entry charges into the heart of sacred ceremonies with the great purification ceremony along the shores of the Kamo River as a prelude the enthronement ceremony. The focus on the prose introduction on the refreshing setting reinforces the cleansing effects of the ceremonies at hand. The fourteenth entry presents a view of male and female courtiers performing secular night duty, guarding the monarch while he slept and entertaining each other to while away the time. The poetic exchanges on a snowy night even engages Shôshô no Naishi who was still ill, but who manages to come up with a composition. The fifteenth entry focuses attention on Ben no Naishi’s personality: she is clever enough to invent a precedent to get her way and then speculates that her request is likely to become a precedent in the future. The fact that she found it amusing was probably not shared by those who had to convey her carriage through deep snow drifts. The abbreviated nature of the prose introductions may be due to the thorough knowledge her reading audience possessed about court service: serving as messengers to shrines or as special messengers to diverse parts of the palace, thereby making details unnecessary, but perhaps also unwelcome (Konishi 2:299). Because we are not only removed in time and space, but also distant from the customs and conventions prevalent at court in the mid-Kamakura period, we can only imagine what an image or word might have conjured up for inhabitants of that world.

    In this paper, I have argued for a re-evaluation of the traditional assessment of Ben no Naishi Nikki. Contrary to Ikeda’s opinion that this poetic memoir focused only on quotidian aspects of court life, I have proposed that Ben no Naishi’s position at court as a naishi taught her the importance of participating in sacred rituals. Furthermore, her heredity as a Fujiwara descended from the Nakatomi who assisted sovereigns during enthronement ceremonies from time immemorial enabled her to participate in the most sacred and most indigenous ceremonies that enacted the cyclical concept of sacred time. It is no accident that her poems impart the same reverent tone as norito and yogoto for the great part of her career at court was spent assisting the sovereign in sacred rituals. But she was also motivated to preserve her literary creation to posterity to enhance the reputation of her family. Her attempt to memorialize her literary endeavor in historical time was a family tradition, but she broke with tradition because she was the first woman in her family to produce a work in prose. Though she was known as a poet to her contemporaries she is known to us today for the nikki she left to posterity. That she was able to preserve the notion of sacred time in her reverent poetry and profane time in the prose portions of her nikki speaks to her skill as a writer. Far from being the carefree, young girl who focused only on quotidian aspects of court life, Ben no Naishi polished her literary creation into a highly organized, thematically structured work that commemorated the reign of the sovereign she served from beginning to end. She invented many innovative techniques to accomplish her literary goal, the most important of which was threading two notions of time resulting from the sacred duties she performed at court and the traditional and literary place her family held at court.

Appendix 1: Excerpt from a translation of Ben no Naishi Nikki
Appendix 2: Norito: XXVIII Congratulatory Words of the Nakatomoi (Nakatomomi no yogoto), translation by Donald L. Philippi
References