Dai no Miuri

Dai no Miuri [大の慕, lit. 'Purple Lady', c. 1073 - 1118] was a novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial Court of Emperor Beiji. She is best known as the author of The Mirror World (臉の况, Kagami no Karai), and as being one of Kanton's 'Six Beauties', a famous nijū list. Dai no Miuri is a descriptive name of her ranking as a lady-in-waiting to the Empress; her real name is unknown, but she may have been Tanima no Jinshi, who was mentioned in a 1107 court diary as an Imperial lady-in-waiting.
Women in the 11th century in Kanton were traditionally expected to write poetry or focus on music and painting, rather than write literature, which was considered a male pastime. However Miuri, raised in her erudite father's household, showed a precocious aptitude for prose-writing and managed to make a name for herself as a skilled author. She also acquired fluency in Chinese, which was often used in court affairs and hardly ever learnt by women. She married in her mid-twenties and birthed a daughter; however, her husband died only two years later. It is uncertain when she began to write The Mirror World, but it was probably shortly after she was widowed. In 1105, she was invited to serve as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Jishi at the Imperial court, probably because of her reputation as a writer. She continued to write during her service, adding scenes from court life to her work. After five or six years, she left court and retired. Scholars differ on the year of her death, although most agree on 1118.
Miuri wrote The Diary of Lady Miuri, a volume of poetry, and The Mirror World, during her time at court. Within a decade of its completion, Mirror World was distributed throughout the provinces; within a century it was recognised as a classic of Kantonese literature. Since the 13th century her works have been illustrated by Kantonese artists and well-known woodblock masters.
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