The Heian period (794-1185), the so-called golden age of Japanese culture, produced some of the best works of Japanese literature.1 The best-known work of this period , the Genji Monogatari, is considered the “oldest novel still recognized today as a great masterpiece.”2 Genji Monogatari can also be said to be evidence of the ingenuity of the Japanese in assimilating Chinese culture and politics. Being a monogatari, a narrative style with poems interspersed within it, the characters and settings often allude to Chinese poems and stories. In addition to showing the poetic skill that the Japanese had achieved in this time period, Genji Monogatari also demonstrates how gender politics and ideals were adopted by the Chinese.` To analyze how gender ideals were formulated in Heian society and as they were expressed in Genji Monogatari, it is necessary to understand the Chinese society from which they derive. The Chinese works often alluded to in Genji Monogatari come primarily from the Tang Dynasty period in China (618-907 AD), which formed the basis of the flowering of Japanese culture during the Heian period.3 Therefore it is necessary to begin an analysis of Heian gender ideals from the Tang Dynasty court life culture. At the heart of Japanese and Chinese politics and gender roles lie the teachings of Confucius. The Five Relationships (五倫） of Confucius permeated the lives of everyone within Heian and Tang societies.4 However, the focus here will be on the lives of courtesans. The Genji Monogatari provides us with an unparalleled glimpse into the inner workings of courtesans). Confucianism and court life in the Heian period. Song Geng, in his speech on power and masculinity in Ch...... middle of paper ...... Utsusemi's aggressive grip Therefore, the feminine ideal is that of resignation and fake shyness. The entire courtship process is basically a superficial coating of the male-dominated view of women as sexual objects. Therefore, the feminine ideal during the Heian period is mainly based on the male objectification of women in that period. The society of the Heian and Tang periods led to the creation of partial ideals of men and women. Although the author of Genji Monogatari, Murasaki Shikibu, were a woman, her perception of masculine and feminine ideals was also influenced by centuries of male-dominated thought. as transmitted through the vast amount of Chinese culture that permeated the society of which he was a part. Thus, one can read Genji Monogatari as an example of gender ideals in Heian Japan and its Chinese predecessor, the Tang dynasty..