The Gossamer Years is divided into three sections, two of which are really more memoir than diary as they were written well after the events recorded. As I was reading the book, I could not help but think that this account is the flip side of The Tale of Genji. Here we have a noblewoman who, according to translator Seidensticker's research, was a notable beauty of her time and ardently wooed by the Prince. Although her marriage to the Prince would have been considered a fortuitous alliance and he looked after her welfare, she was made miserable by his philandering.

Throughout the first two books the writer is consumed by jealousy -- or at least her jealousy and the Prince's slights are all that make it into this account of her life. She does recount how she turns to pilgrimage and Buddhist prayer, but neither seems to give her much solace or comfort -- nor does her son or other companions.

In the diary of the third section, however, her ardor seems to have cooled considerably, and she becomes interested in her son's courtships and actually adopts one of the Prince's daughters from a discarded lover. I found this book interesting as a counterpoint to other Heian diaries I have read and especially to The Tale of Genji, but I did find commiserating with the author a bit tedious. ( )

One of the most powerful and appalling accounts of jealousy ever written. The author was actually only one of
the concubines of a Fujiwara official, not his titular wife, but she was intensely possessive and made herself and her husband miserable with it. This is a valuable corrective to some writers who suggest that all Heian aristocrats were cheerfully promiscuous. Her husband may have been promiscuous, but the author certainly wasn't cheerful about it. ( )

A moving diary of a noble woman living in Heian Japan. It chronicles the daily lives of such women in their households. One scene depicting a fire is especially moving