Letters by Midnight - Japan, 11th Century

The Cloak and Dagger Podcast · Aug 12, 2025 · 1h 31m

In the elite world of 11th-century Japan, matters of the heart unfold alongside matters of state. Where the ability to compose poetry and display quick wit counted for more than brute strength and male dominance.

At the heart of the imperial court, two women (Sei Shonagon and Murasaki Shikibu) from rival factions kept diaries and penned extraordinary works of fiction making them the Japanese counterparts to William Shakespeare.

But whilst these women are diametrically opposed to one another, they may have shared an unspoken bond of queer identity. Hitherto dismissed by traditional historians…