"To the Shining You, Episode 28: One Emperor, Two Empresses" Synopsis & Whatever I Want to Say This Week
A battle between the wife and the concubine. Michinaga blurts out "Mahiro!" Is this a pincushion?

This week's M-man is here. The 28th episode is from the 2nd year of Choho, the year 1000 in the Gregorian calendar, the year of the millennium. Michinaga was 34 years old, approaching middle age, and not in good health. 34 years old at the time would be about 50 years old today. Rather than middle-aged, he could be called middle-aged.

A fierce battle between a wife and a concubine. Scary!

Michinaga collapsed twice. The second time was at Akiko's mansion. When Mahiro appeared to Michinaga while he was half asleep, he called out "Mahiro" without thinking, and suddenly he found Akiko right in front of him. It was scary.

It wasn't revealed in the drama, but Akiko must have heard about it.

Then Noriko comes in and says, "I wish you'd collapsed at my house." This is also pretty scary.

What struck me about this scene was that the uchikake kimonos they were wearing had almost the same pattern. Why?

When Akiko found out that Noriko was coming over, she put on the best uchikake from her wardrobe to show off, and then Noriko, being the legal wife, put on the best uchikake when she went over to Akiko's house. A battle between the legal wife and the mistress?

But does that mean that Michinaga ended up giving the same bolt of cloth to each of them?

After writing that, I looked it up on the internet and found out that it wasn't like that, but rather that the higher up the aristocracy, the wealthier the wife's family was, and sending a bolt of cloth to her was considered disrespectful. And, if you look closely, the woven patterns of the two uchikakes are different.

I don't understand that. Please don't make things confusing, NHK.

Monogamy, which has been firmly established as an institution, is slowly eroding.

Now, the title of this article is "One Emperor, Two Empresses." What I realized again is that even in the Heian period, which was a matrilineal system where people could have as many concubines as they wanted, the emperor in particular was institutionally only allowed to have one legal wife, or at least that's how it was intended to be seen.

So it's not polygamy, even if it is essentially something like polygamy.

Looking back, the trend of "one emperor, two empresses" began when his brother Michitaka forcibly assigned the position of empress to Sadashi, and Michinaga ended up doing the same thing.

In the drama, Abe Seimei was shown to have given him his wisdom, which toned down Michinaga's dirty side.

Abe Kiyoaki is becoming more and more of a villain, and his facial features are becoming more powerful. It's quite interesting!

The Fujiwara clan actually had deep intermarriage ties with the Minamoto clan.

Having written this far, I suddenly realized that both Michiko and Akiko have the surname "Minamoto."

After some research, it seems that Michinaga had two other concubines of the Minamoto clan besides Noriko and Akiko. So he wasn't entirely devoted to the Fujiwara clan.

Since the title "Minamoto" is given to the son or grandson of an emperor when he is demoted to commoner status, Michinaga may have been carefully planning to deepen his ties with the imperial family, even if it meant being demoted to commoner status, even before he began his own regent government.

Sadako-sama, you are so pitiful. I feel like crying.

But I feel so sorry for Lady Sadako. It brings me to tears.

According to one theory, Ise thought that Sadashi's death was also a curse from Michinaga's faction. This is why Ise held Sadashi's body in his arms and cried out his hatred towards Michinaga.

And it seems that in "The Pillow Book," which describes her days with Sadako, she makes no mention of her death at all. It must have been too sad for her to depict it.

I think the direction of the play, taking this into consideration, namely, the deliberate decision not to show Sadako taking her last breath and keeping it subdued in a sense, is quite wonderful.

It was also moving to see a death poem attached to the screen.

What makes me sad is that even though the song was briefly shown on the screen, I couldn't read it at all. After the show aired, I had to search the internet for various things before I finally understood what it meant, which made me even more sad. But I wonder if most people can't read it...

By the way, Ms. N watches the show while checking the real-time posts of "X". Apparently, "X" immediately posts a message saying "This is the song that was just played". That's amazing. But I don't have the energy to go that far... Is there any way to do this?

As expected of an NHK taiga drama. It must have cost a lot of money.

"The flute is something to be heard, not seen." Akiko let slip a remark that actually seemed wise.

I think this is really well done. I wonder how things will change in the future with Mahiro as his wife. I'm looking forward to it.

Even so, the scene of Akiko's enthronement ceremony was amazing. It wasn't on the level of the movie "The Last Emperor," but it had a very grand atmosphere.

Even in the scene where Michinaga returns shyly from Akiko's house after she collapsed to the main house, it was only a short cut, but they really spent a lot of money on it, showing a line of people in the main house, with Michiko at the center, shouting "Welcome home!" I thought, as expected from NHK.

Michinaga writes "Mido Kanpakuki." I am impressed by the detailed scenes.

What was interesting was the scene where Michinaga covered up the writing he had written with black ink.

As we have mentioned before, the Mido Kanpakuki left behind by Michinaga contains many sections in which the correct characters have been written over the mistakes, or have been blacked out with ink. If we use modern technology to decipher what was written there, we can get a glimpse into Michinaga's true intentions.

I was impressed by how well NHK showed us this detail.

The 8th cast has been announced! The adult daughter and Izumi Shikibu will also be appearing!

Mahiro's daughter, Kenko, is growing up healthily and seems very happy. It is moving to think that this daughter will one day be called Daini-sanmi (the third rank of Daini) and leave her name in the Hyakunin-Isshu (Poem of the Hyakunin).

There are still four more months until the show airs, so will we see a grown-up version of Kenko? If so, who will be playing her?

And, although it may seem repetitive, I am a masochist who can't help but think that after Sei Shonagon, Izumi Shikibu should also appear, preferably played by Yoshioka Riho.

Just as I was writing this, the cast for the 8th installment was announced! It seems that Sara Minami will play Kenko, and Rika Izumi will play Izumi Shikibu. And Prince Atsuyasu will be played by Sennosuke Kataoka, the grandson of Nizaemon. I've seen him perform on stage once, and he's just so handsome.

Prince Atsuyasu secretly began to love Shoshi, who had become his surrogate mother, and Shoshi, for her part, wanted Prince Atsuyasu to become the crown prince rather than her own son, which created friction between her and Michinaga. Who would have thought that the absent-minded Shoshi would rise up in rebellion against her father?

I was a little disappointed that Izumi Shikibu was not played by Yoshioka Riho, but I can't take my eyes off future developments.

What is the review of “To Shining You”?

"Premium Japan Literature Club" (exaggeration) was formed by people who love literature within the Premium Japan editorial department. For literature lovers, the 2024 taiga drama ``Hikaru Kimi e'' was a perfect opportunity to discuss this and that. Volunteers from the editorial department will continue to freely review articles. Editor S and Editor N reviewed the differences between historical facts and dramas, a deep dive into foreshadowing, and more!