The Pillow-Book of Sei Shōnagon

Summary

The Pillow Book is a collection of notes, lists, anecdotes and reflections written around the year 1000 by Sei Shōnagon, a lady-in-waiting to the Empress Sadako at the Heian court in Kyoto. Together with Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji, it is one of the two great prose works of Japan's classical age. This text is Arthur Waley's translation of 1928, which, as he explains in his preliminary notes, gives about a quarter of the original, omitting passages that were dull, repetitive or too full of allusion. Waley adds an introduction on Japan in the tenth century, describing the court, the powerful Fujiwara family and the rivalry of the empresses. Sei Shōnagon writes with sharp wit and strong opinions. Many passages are lists under headings such as Annoying Things, Very Tiresome Things, Pretty Things, and Things that make one Happy: among the last she names getting hold of a lot of stories one has not read and piecing together a torn-up letter. Other passages are scenes from court life: the Empress's elegant conversation, poetry contests, festivals and processions, the visits of gentlemen at dawn, and the exchange of poems that was the essential art of courtship and friendship. She describes clever answers she gave to courtiers such as Tadanobu and Yukinari, the Empress's brother Korechika, and the fall of the Empress's family after her father's death. She records her pleasures and dislikes in nature, clothing, manners and people, often laughing at bad taste, clumsy servants or awkward lovers, and she is not shy about her own cleverness. The book gives an intimate picture of a refined, enclosed world in which beauty, taste and wit were valued above almost everything. Waley's graceful translation introduced Sei Shōnagon to English readers and remains a classic of English prose in its own right, still read for its charm and clarity.

Top Lessons

• The art of the list

  Sei Shōnagon's lists reveal her personality through what she notices.

• Court culture

  The book shows a world where poetry and taste governed social life.

• Translation

  Waley chose and shaped what English readers see.

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