At fourteen, Lady Nijō has become the most prized jewel of the court. Her dazzling beauty, indomitable spirit, and poetic talent have sealed her fate, making her, against her will, the object of the emperor's desire, his favorite. In the small universe of a palace teeming with intrigue, passion, and secrets, Nijō will live subject to the amorous whims of the nobles, the envy of her peers, and the obligation to safeguard the family's honor. And yet, fueled by her desperate desire for freedom, Nijō will find her way on the paths of pilgrimage and poetry.

Confessions of Lady Nijō is the autobiography of a fascinating woman and one of the most extraordinary books of all time. Unjustly lost for centuries and first published in Japan in 1950, this work, comparable in intimacy and beauty to The Pillow Book and in passion and splendor to The Tale of Genji, is unique for the exquisite sensitivity of its protagonist, a woman ahead of her time who refused to accept her role as a beautiful doll and sought freedom through renunciation of worldly things and the cultivation of poetry.

"First I had obeyed my father, and then I had served my lord, and I had taken neither of those paths of my own free will."

Nijō