In an installation of 30,000 hanging Swarovski crystal beads akin to a forest of floating teardrops, Japanese artist, Yuca Ishizuka, has created a unique dedication to the almost extinct art of Nushu.

Literally meaning ‘women’s writing’, Nushu (noo-shoo), is a fascinating cultural insight into this inherent need women have to communicate with each other.

The secret script emerged centuries ago in the remote rural villages of Southern China, but its origins are as mysterious as the frail, gentle characters themselves. It is believed a young girl from Hunan Province, chosen to become the emperor’s concubine, invented the secret code as a means of sharing the truth, unfamiliarity and loneliness of her new life with her mother and sisters who she had left behind.

How the secret language spread from the emperor’s palace to uneducated, peasant women in rural Hunan Province is unknown. But like many remnants of matriarchal lineages, its survival was linked to the enduring power of ritual, tradition and story telling. In particular, the custom of ‘Jiebai Zimei’ (a lifelong bond of ‘sworn sisterhoods’) and the giving of San Chao Shu (‘third day missives’ – embroidered cloth booklets given to new brides on their marriage) fostered the passing down of female wisdom from one woman and generation to the next. Nushu works, including poems and verses, were hand-woven into belts and straps, or embroidered onto everyday items such as fans and clothing. These items served a practical means of communication between sworn sisters after both women married and left their family home for a new village and life. Nushu items were also buried with women to give them solace in the afterworld.

Very few examples of Nushu have survived the test of time. The script was suppressed by the Japanese in the 1930’s through fear it was a spy code. With the spread of Hanzi (Chinese characters) education and female literacy after the 1949 liberation, the Nushu script fell into disuse. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) many manuscripts were destroyed as part of the Red Guards’ mission to rid any remnants of Chinese feudalism.

Nushu was ‘rediscovered’ only as late as 1983 but was officially declared extinct in 2004 with the death of Yang Huanyi, the last woman in an unbroken lineage of the script. Fortunately, through the work of artists like Ishizuka and government programs to preserve the cultural heritage of Nushu, it has survived as enduring proof of the universal female urge to share our experiences, disappointments, joys and deepest longings with other women. 

For more information visit the World of Nushu.  

www.ancientscripts.com/nushu.html (has a comparison of NuShu with Chinese writing)

This article first appeared in dumbo feather … pass it on