THE HEIAN EPOCH
The æsthetic enthusiasm and voluptuous delirium of the era created an atmosphere in which polite accomplishments could eclipse any environment, and ministers to pleasure had honour irrespective of their methods. In this respect the morality of the era resembled that of Greece in the days when Praxiteles carved a statue of Phryne and Apelles painted Lais. There did not indeed exist a social vacancy which the Yujo[1] could fill, such as was created in Athens by the seclusion and ignorance to which wives were condemned. The Japanese wife took her due place in society, and owed as much to her literary attainments as to her beauty and tact. But the marital tie did not possess, even approximately, the value attached to it in Christian communities. A woman might occupy the leading place in a household and be the principal star in any social galaxy from that of the Imperial Court downward, without having the status of a lawful spouse. Students of Japanese history, when they observe the great part played by females in the politics and Court life of the Heian epoch, cannot fail to observe also that the ethical rule applied to women's conduct was almost as lax as that applied to men's.[2] The beautiful Aki, with hair that exceeded her stature by ten feet, who bewitched the Emperor Ichijo; the fair danseuse Tamabuchi, whom the staid Emperor Uda loved; the female augurs who held the threads of the Fujiwara intrigues; the group of
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