A Tale Unasked

Lady Nijo

ISBN 10: 0241562465 / ISBN 13: 9780241562468

Published by Penguin Books Ltd, GB, 2025

About this Item

A new translation of one of classical Japan's greatest literary works'It is from a desire not to let this impulse count for nothing that I have written this foolish tale of mine. I have no hope that it will remain for future generations to remember me by'Japanese noblewoman Lady Nijo was made the Emperor's concubine aged fourteen and then, after several illicit affairs, was expelled from the palace, becoming a nun and travelling the country in pilgrimage. A Tale Unasked is her extraordinary memoir of her eventful life, lost for centuries and discovered in the Imperial Library. Filled with startling revelations of the secret intrigues, splendour and sexual politics of courtly life, it is also a moving portrait of a woman of rich intelligence and sensitivity trying to survive in a difficult world. This new translation beautifully renders the sinuous elegance of a remarkable work of classical Japanese literature.Translated by Meredith McKinney.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780241562468

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Tale Unasked
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd, GB
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0241562465
• ISBN 13: 9780241562468
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 12.9W x 3.5H x 19.8D centimeters 12.9 centimeters width by 3.5 centimeters height by 19.8 centimeters depth
• Weight: 500 grams

About this title

Synopsis

A new translation of Lady Nijo’s diary—one of classical Japan’s greatest literary works

A Penguin Classic

Lady Nijo’s A Tale Unasked (Towazugatari) is the last, and arguably the finest, among classical Japanese literature’s famous "women’s diaries." Thought to have been completed around 1307, when the author was in her late forties, the first two-thirds of this autobiographical work document in rich and compelling detail the experiences of an imperial concubine whose time at court was ruled and finally ruined by her passionate and complicated love life. The final third of the work equally memorably describes her peripatetic life after the emperor expelled her from the court in her mid-twenties and she became a nun, wandering the roads of Japan as a form of Buddhist austerity. Meredith McKinney's superb translation breathes new life into Lady Nijo's fascinating diaries, which survived her era in a single copy and were rediscovered only in the 1940s.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

About the Author

Lady Nijo (1258–after 1307) was a Japanese noblewoman, poet, and author. She was raised in the court of Emperor Go-Fukakusa and became his concubine, before being expelled for her affairs with other men. She became a traveling Buddhist nun and eventually wrote a memoir, Towazugatari (A Tale Unasked). It survived in a single copy and remained hidden for years in the library of the imperial family household before being rediscovered in 1940.

Meredith McKinney (translator) is a translator of Japanese literature. She lived in Japan for twenty years and is Honorary Associate Professor at the Australian National University in Canberra. Her translations for Penguin Classics include The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon, Essays in Idleness and Hojoki by Kenko and Chomei, two novels by Natsume Soseki, and an anthology of classical Japanese travel writing, Travels with a Writing Brush.