Sei Shonagon

Yuko Otomo
February 2014

Makura no Soshi (The Pillow Book)

A Note on The Pillow Book

It was like a Big Bang. My head exploded in such a way. It took place in the Japanese Classics course in my high school freshman class. When a teacher read the first line of the first segment of The Pillow Book – “Haru wa akebono. Yo-u yo-u shiroku nariyuku yamagiwa sukoshi akarite …”, the graciously slow moving tone of the lines and the images they provoked were just so intoxicating that I was transported into an another zone. In the following physics class, I was still floating in the world of Sei Shōnagon, and I stayed there all day long.

It always amazes me to remember that Sei Shōnagon wrote and compiled (not published) this Makura no Soshi (The Pillow Book) more than one thousand years ago in the very early 11th Century (1001 or 1002). The copies of the original writing survived through centuries; and finally, it got published in the 17^th Century to have a wider audience. She wrote vivid and intelligent observations of everything around her, whether it’s nature, court life or various other subjects. The spirit of her writing is crisp, direct, idiosyncratic and so modern that I forget there is a huge gap of ten centuries, between her time & mine.

The Pillow Book is considered to be the first essay literature done in world literary history as The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, which was written around the same time, is considered to be the first novel form writing ever done. I am fascinated by the fact that two Japanese female writers invented these new forms of writing in similar circumstances: court life. Interestingly, they were sort of rivals to each other in actual court life. Murasaki Shikubu even wrote a scathing critical note on Sei Shōnagon’s personality in one of her writings, saying something like “She acts as if she knows everything, but she doesn’t.”…

The Hei-An (Peaceful & Sound) period spans the 9^th to the 12^th Century. This was the era when Buddhism, transported via China, developed into different sects and firmly took root in Japan. The new spirituality merging with Shinto, the original primitive animist religion of Japan, gave birth to a fundamental Japanese-ness, psychically and socially. These two different kinds of spirituality, one domestic and another imported, mergedinto one to form the basic “Japanese quality” which is still present in every aspect of life in Japan even today.

In the midst of such a new cultural and spiritual shift, the foundation of Japanese literature also blossomed. One of the three most important Japanese poetry anthologies: Ko-Kin-Waka-Shu (The Anthology of Old & New Waka) was compiled in this era following the earlier 8^th Century Man-Yoo-Shu (The Anthology of Ten-Thousand Leaves) and the 13^th Century Shin-Ko-Kin-Waka-Shu (The New Anthology of Old & New Waka) as various other important classical writings were emerging. What an astonishing thing it is to know that there was a “Department of Poetry” in the structure of government then! During this time, with the invention of the Kana-Moji (Japanese alphabet), created from the imported Chinese characters to depict the phonetic quality, the Japanese language had developed into the basic form we have now. In the previous Nara period, to be able to write and read Chinese letters was essential in order to be cultured intellectuals. The Chinese letters were considered “a Masculine Language.” In the era of Sei Shōnagon & Murasaki Shikibu, a Kana-moji: a newly invented Feminine language took over the stage and the new trend of a “Feminine language literature” started to prevail. The male writers even started to emulate the female writing style. Eventually this new style became the foundation of Japanese literature and has continued into our time. In this environment, Sei Shōnagon wrote her thoughts down without any restrictions or rules, using her Feminine language in a full scale. Her free wheeling style of writing and its spirit, as a result, created this first Zuihitsu Bungaku (Essay Literature).

Poetry was one of the most important elements in the society then. Especially when a courtship took place, the first step of a love affair was to exchange poems to find the level of empathetic kinship of their souls. Kyoto, as the capital of the Hei-An era, became the Mecca of creative life. Sei Shōnagon, born into the literal and cultural family and its lineage, wrote this book at the height of this Hei-An cultural flowering. It is said that she was a divorcee in her mid to late 20s when she entered the court life. How fascinating it is to witness that there was a clear sense of new equality between genders (Male/Female) in court cultural life because of the upsurge of the Kana-moji culture! She was well aware of this freedom. Her keen sense and ability to depict things she encountered in her life is just astonishing. Her descriptions of colors, forms, shapes of things and sounds bring us back to the vivid images of the era and its life style.

It’s interesting to mention that not only The Pillow Book, but also any writing from this era is supposed to be read very slowly; at least three times, or more, slower than the usual tempo of our “reading and talking.” I once heard the audio recording of the manuscript read in the way it was supposed to be read. I was totally taken in by the almost eerily slowness of the tempo. This was the time people listened to the sounds of their silk layers rubbing against each other as they walked. “Slowness” was one of the major qualities of being elegant and graceful. Very modern and very classical, The Pillow Book invites us for the excursion through its amazingly poetic field that opens in many directions. When she was asked about the most important things in life, Sei Shōnagon answered, “the flesh and the literature.” Love and Writing. I enjoy the vivid spirit of a female psyche in a free wheeling writing style; so unique, so real and oftentimes very funny.

I translated some segments from the original into English. I chose only the short ones. Many different styles of writing such as list-poems, prose poems, short stories, social critical writing and journal writing are incorporated in this book, but unlike The Tale of Genji, not so many Waka were written in it. Every segment is simply numbered as it was written. How thrilling it is for us with a 21st Century awareness to tap into her world of over a thousand years ago! You’ll be surprised that not too much has changed as far as human emotions & psychology are concerned.

***

1.

In spring, a dawn. The edges of the mountains, becoming pale slowly & gradually, get slightly reddish, & then the purplish thin clouds start to linger around them.

In summer, a night. If there is a moon, it’s better. In darkness, fireflies, many of them, crisscross. Or, seeing one or two, faintly passing lighting, is also very moving.

In autumn, an evening. With the setting sun shining on them, as the ends of the mountains look nearer than they really are, crows, three or four, two or three, fly, rushing back to their nest. That is inexpressibly and mournfully beautiful. More over, it is also so beautiful to see geese flying in an extremely small line formation. Following the sunset, the sound of the wind; sounds of crickets… you don’t have to explain about them in words any more.

In winter, an early morning. There is no need to talk of the splendor of a morning when it snows. Even without whitening frost or snow, it is so becoming to see attendants carrying charcoal in the corridor after quickly making it hot on a very cold morning. As the coldness loosened a bit in the afternoon, it is not nice to see the once burning fire change into white ashes in the fire pot.

27.

Things that make my heart pound. To take care of tiny sparrow chicks. Passing a toddler playing on the ground when I am in a moving wagon. Lying down all by myself with the fragrant incense burning. Finding a Chinese mirror look slightly clouded. To see a handsome man, stopping his wagon, making the servant ask of the direction.

To wash my hair, putting some make up on and to dress up in silk full of the fragrant incense smell. Even if nobody sees me, my heart enjoys it.

Some night when I am waiting for someone, hearing the sound of rain and wind tapping on the door makes my heart jump.

40.

Elegant and beautiful things. A pale sheer layer put on some light violet color wear. Goose eggs. Singing cicada. Shaved ice with a sweet syrup on it served in a new metal bowl. Crystal Juju beads for the prayers. Wisteria flower. Snow falling on plum flowers. An extremely adorable child eating a strawberry.

71.

Rare things. A son-in-law who gets praises from the father-in-law. A daughter-in-law who gets adored by the mother-in-law. A silver tweezers that works well. A servant who doesn’t talk ill of the master. Flawless styles, personalities and some beautiful looking things stay flawless as they go through life and time. To see people, living in the same area, trying to have respects, not showing their shortcoming to each other, to keep maintaining that attitude completely and impeccably.

Not to make an ink stain when you copy stories and anthologies. Especially with a good book, you try so hard not to make a mess, but it is impossible, it always become dirty.

Not just between a man and a woman, but also among women, it is very rare to see the promises and a deep friendship being kept long and forever.

112.

Things that don’t look good when they are painted. Pink. Irises. Cherry Blossoms. Images of a man and a woman depicted so well in a story.

113.

Things that look good when they are painted. A pine tree. An autumn field. A mountain village. A mountain path.

-translations by Yuko Otomo, 2014

***

There are some notable translations of The Pillow Book in English. One by Arthur Waley done in 1928; another by Ivan Morris in 1967 & the latest is by Meredith Mckinney in 2006. For some reasons, all of them could not capture the internal music of her writing fully although the descriptive quaities are well served. Sei Shōnagon has a particular, almost percussive rhythms which makes her writing very modern. A lot like Gertrude Stein, her writing breathes its own internal pulse because of her fragmental abruptness and that’s what made me fall in love when I first heard her writing read. I prefer Ivan Morris’s translation the best because he maintained her minimalistic percussive breath the most out of the three.

Here are some samplings of their translations.

It is getting so dark that I can scarcely go on writing; and my brush is all worn out. Yet I should like to add a few things before I end.

I wrote these notes at home, when I had a good deal of time to myself and thought no one would notice what I was doing. Everything that I have seen and felt is included. Since much of it might appear malicious and even harmful to other people, I was careful to keep my book hidden. But now it has become public, which is the last thing I expected.

One day [c.994] Lord Korechika, the Minister of the Centre, brought the Empress a bundle of notebooks. “What shall we do with them?” Her Majesty asked me. “The Emperor has already made arrangements for copying the Records of the Historian” [the Chinese work, Shih chi]

“Let me make them into a pillow,” I said.

“Very well,” said Her Majesty. “You may have them.”

I now had a vast quantity of paper at my disposal, and I set about filling the notebooks with odd facts, stories from the past, and all sorts of other things, often including the most trivial material….

I was sure that when people saw my book they would say, “It’s even worse that I expected. Now one can tell what she is really like.”

*

When I first went into waiting at Her Majesty’s Court, so many different things embarrassed me that I could not even reckon them up and I was always on the verge of tears. As a result, I tried to avoid appearing before the Empress except at night, and even then I stayed behind a three-foot curtain of state.

On one occasion Her Majesty brought out some pictures and showed them to me, but I was so ill at ease that I could hardly stretch out my hand to take them. She pointed to one picture after another, explaining what each represented….

It was a very cold time of the year and when Her Majesty gave me the paintings I could hardly see her hands, but, from what I made out, they were of a light pink hue that I found extraordinarily attractive. I gazed at the Empress with amazement. Simple as I was and unaccustomed to such wonderful sights, I did not understand how a being like this could possibly exist in our world.

-translations by Arthur Waley, 1928

* * *

11.

The Sliding Screen in the Back of the Hall

Next he folded a piece of white paper. ‘I should like each of you,’ he said, ‘to copy down
on this paper the first ancient poem that comes into your head.’

‘‘How am I going to manage this?’ I asked Korechika, who was still out on the veranda.

‘Write your poem quickly,’ he said, ‘and show it to His Majesty. We men must not interfere in this.’

13.

On Depressing Things

One has sent a friend a verse that turned out fairly well. How depressing when there is no reply-poem! Even in the case of love poems, people should at least answer that they were moved at receiving the message, or something of the sort; otherwise they will cause the keenest disappointment.

One needs a particularly beautiful fan for some special occasion and instructs an artist, in whose talents one has full confidence, to decorate one with an appropriate painting. When the day comes and the fan is delivered, one is shocked to see how badly it has been painted. How depressing!

14.

On Hateful things

A lover who is leaving at dawn announces that he has to find his fan and his paper. ‘I know I put them somewhere last night,’ he says. Since it is pitch dark, he gropes about the room, bumping into the furniture and muttering, ‘Strange! Where on earth can they be?’ Finally he discovers the objects. He thrusts the paper into the breast of his robe with a great rustling sound; then he snaps open his fan and busily fans away with it. Only now is he ready to take leave. What charmless behaviour! ‘Hateful’ is an understatement.

A circle of crows circle with loud caws.

16.

On Things that Make One’s Heart Beat Faster

It is night and one is expecting a visitor. Suddenly one is startled by the sound of rain-drops, which the wind blows against the shutters.

148.

Pleasing Things

Someone has torn up a letter and thrown it away. Picking up the pieces, one finds that many of them can be fitted together.

One has had an upsetting dream and wonders what it can mean. In great anxiety one consults a dream-interpreter, who informs one that it has no special significance.

Entering the Empress’s room and finding that ladies-in-waiting are crowded round her in a tight group, I go next to a pillar which is some distance from where she is sitting. What a delight it is when Her Majesty summons me to her side so that all the others have to make way!

165.

Once I wrote down a Poem

Once I wrote down in my notebook a poem that had greatly appealed to me. Unfortunately on of the maids saw it and recited the lines clumsily. It really is awful when someone rattles off a poem without any proper feeling.

-translations by Ivan Morris, 1991