Intertextual strategies in Abutsu ni's 'The Wet Nurse's Letter' and 'Precepts of Our House'

This dissertation provides a translation and analysis of two kyokun (moral instruction) manuscripts attributed to Abutsu ni (1222?-1283): Menoto no fumi (The Wet Nurse's Letter) and its variant, Niwa no oshie (Precepts of Our House). These texts take the form of a letter written by an aristocratic mother advising her daughter on ways to succeed in court service. This study examines how the texts' allusions and other intertextual strategies reveal the entwining of poetry and politics in mid-Kamakura (1186-1333). As the title Menoto no fumi suggests, Abutsu appropriates the voice of the court menoto (wet nurse), a serving woman of considerable stature and influence. In a discourse more aesthetic than didactic, Abutsu means to inspire her daughter to become intimate with the emperor, bear a child, and improve the standing of her family. References to heroines from Genji monogatari specify the exemplars that provide models for such an achievement. In addition to showing off Abutsu's erudition, the text's intertextual strategies underline Abutsu's association by marriage to the Mikohidari house of poetry, the proponent of the Genji at court. Abutsu contested her stepson's right to the Mikohidari literary inheritance and instigated a legal conflict that lasted several generations. The title Niwa no oshie alludes to a poem by Abutsu's late husband deploring the family struggle over its literary legacy. This dissertation makes the argument that Menoto is the primary document and Niwa a later effort likely edited by Abutsu's son. Appropriating the Niwa title, he attempted to strengthen the Mikohidari connection to his side of the house.