An Imperial Concubine’s Tale: Scandal, Shipwreck, and Salvation in Seventeenth-Century Japan by G. G. Rowley (review)

An Imperial Concubine’s Tale is a biography of Nakanoin Nakako (1591?–1671), who, in early seventeenth-century Japan, went from privileged imperial concubine, to disgraced exile, to Buddhist nun. Because official records hardly touch on the lives of the women of this era, and because not a word written by Nakako survives, author Gaye Rowley relies on a range of alternative sources. These sources include oral histories, family archives, poetry, visits to historical sites, convent records, and even fictionalized narratives.

Each of the book’s eight chapters opens with an epigraph resonating with the chapter’s theme or contents. Three are poems composed by important women in the book; the other five are quotes culled from Jane Austen novels, underscoring Rowley’s premise that elements of fiction can be useful for gaining insight, however speculative, into what motives may have been behind certain actions taken by some of the “characters” who appear in the book under review. Much detail of this sort is missing from the primary material used for Rowley’s research. Even the bibliography, which lists a wealth of source material reflective of Rowley’s expertise, is headed by a Jane Austen quote that points to the inadequacies of conventional records for a project such as this.

Some may criticize the author for having crafted a biography of a historical figure that elevates the role of fiction to the degree that Rowley has done. To be sure, this approach is evident not only in her use of epigraphs, but elsewhere as well. But I see this as an effective part of Rowley’s voice, a voice that I find perceptive, sometimes conversational, usually cogent, and always authoritative. Ultimately, her sensitivity toward the diverse array of sources results in a thought-provoking reconstruction of a fascinating individual whose life, until now, has been entirely obscured from the view of the modern reader.

The book’s introduction provides a synopsis of the events detailed in the chapters that follow. Kyoto is depicted as a place of contrasts, where violence broke out regularly on the streets, while parties with music, dance, and sake were standard fare at the imperial palace. These formally sponsored events, in which Nakako openly participated as an imperial concubine, are presented as gateway activities that led to secret open-air parties, held by the palace attendants and courtiers, outside the palace walls. Upon discovery, the women were dismissed from palace duties and eventually banished to a distant island. Two of the men were eventually executed. Referred to as the “dragon-scale scandal,” the incident and its aftermath are central to Nakako’s identity in the book. Chapters leading up to this episode prepare the reader for Nakako’s banishment, while events thereafter are understood in terms of those early years. As it turns out, the boat taking Nakako to exile was blown off course by a typhoon, and she somehow landed on the tip of the Izu peninsula, where she was rescued. For the next fourteen years she owed her well-being to the family of a local village headman. Events took a turn for the better in 1623, when Nakako received an imperial pardon that allowed her to return to the capital. Eighteen years after her return, at about fifty years old, she became a Buddhist nun and joined the Hōji’in convent, where she eventually became an abbess. She died in 1671, at the age of about eighty.

In chapter 1, Rowley contextualizes Nakako’s sociocultural identity by way of a biographical sketch of her father, Nakanoin Michikatsu (1556–1610). In contrast to the dearth of material focusing on her, there is an abundance of material related to him due to his importance as a court poet and premier scholar of The Tale of Genji.

In 1580, Michikatsu was imperially censured and banished from court. He left the capital of...