Updated 06-27-10
Sei Shonagon (c.966-aft.
c.1017)
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"EVERYTHING THAT I HAVE SEEN AND FELT IS INCLUDED."
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Sei Shonagon's family was literarily but not politically influential.
Except for her period at the Japanese court, we know nothing
about her life. She may have been married before she became a
court attendant; she may have had a son. Her name, "Shonagon"
refers to the position she held at court (Minor Counselor); "Sei"
is the name of her family.
In 990 she became an attendant to Empress Sadako /Teshi, the
daughter of Fujiwara Michitaka. For five years, Sadako's apartments
were the center of the court's cultural activity. However, in
995, Michitaka died, and his position as the power behind the
throne was taken by his brother, Michinaga, who had brought his
own daughter, Shoshi /Akiko, to the Emperor's attention. From
then on, Sadako's position became increasingly insecure, but
Shonagon remained with her until Sadako's death in childbirth
at the end of 1000.
We have no details of Shonagon's life after 1001: it appears
that she began Makura no soshi at court and finished it
after Sadako's death, possibly as a gift for Sadako's daughter.
Makura no soshi (Pillow book) is made up of about 320
separate sections: reminiscences; opinions and imaginative sketches;
and lists, some with comments, others merely lists of words.
The datable sections are not in chronological order, and since
the earliest extant manuscript dates from the 1200s, we have
no way of knowing if the current order of the sections represents
Shonagon's plan.
The work has always been highly regarded by Japanese readers,
and scholars see it as a model of linguistic purity because it
uses few Chinese words. Some think it is a greater work than
Murasaki Shikibu's Genji monogatari,
due to its variety and its compressed language. In any
case, it is delightful to read, even in translation, and in it
we can hear Shonagon's distinctive voice.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from translations in print.
Information about secondary sources.
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Online
1. Excerpts from Makura no soshi (unless noted, all
of the sections linked are complete; also, unless noted, the
translation is by Ivan Morris):
(a) After some introductory notes, seven
sections, translated by Kenneth L. Richard; all but one ("Hateful
things") are complete.
(b) Under "Primary sources," four
links to seven excerpts; of these seven, four are complete.
(c) After an introduction, a third version
of the first section (also given at the two sites above),
here translated by Mark Jewel, with the passage also given in
Japanese script.
(d) And yet another version of the book's opening, "In
spring, the dawn---," translated by Meredith McKinney.
(e) More from McKinney: five
sections (all but one complete); and at another page of the
same site, another
five (three complete).
(f) The end of a section
on a good lover. And at the same site, on
surprising and distressing things, and on receiving and sending
letters.
(g) Three sections: on elegant
things; on things that fall from the sky; and on the season to
meet a lover.
(h) Parts of four sections, the last translated by Donald Keene:
"One
has been expecting someone, and...."
(i) Arthur Waley's translation of the opening of a section on
listening
for visitors to the women's court apartments. The illustration
is an 1800s woodblock print representing Shonagon.
(j) On two pages, Waley's
translation of two sections: on the difficulties involved
in trying to avoid courtiers' visits, and on a retreat made at
a temple near Kyoto. Waley's notes are included (for information
on Waley's book, see "In print").
(k) At the end of a brief essay by Zoe Proudlove on Morris' translation,
a passage on Shonagon's
revealing her knowledge of Chinese (and insulting a high-ranking
courtier who was a cousin of Muraßsaki Shikibu).
(l) Near the bottom of the page, Helen Craig McCullough's version
of a 998 incident, when during the night of a heavy snowfall,
Sadako's is brought a
poem from Senshi, the Kamo priestess (hare sticks were auspicious
New Year gifts).
(m) A verse translation, by Tsuge Gen'ichi, "All
through the night," from a 1939 musical setting of the
passage.
(n) Finally, Simon Cozens' translation of fourteen
entries into colloquial English (one is titled "Things
that really piss me off").
2. Versions of a poem by Sei Shonagon which was included in
an important 1200s anthology, Hyakunin Isshu:
(a) "The
rooster's crowing," by Clay MacCauley (but "modernized");
The original is also given, in script and romanized form.
(b) "Though
you can tell me," by Kenneth Rexroth; Shonagon is the
third poet listed.
(c) "Too
long to-night you've lingered here," by William N. Porter,
with the romanized original and a 1700s woodcut.
3. Essays, etc.:
(a) "The
Lists of a Lady-in-Waiting: A Portrait of the Author of the Pillow
Book" (2000), by David Greer, which quotes extensively
from Makura no soshi, in Greer's own translation.
(b) "Things
and people, charming and splendid," (2003), by Jonathon
Delacour, with passages from Morris. And for Murasaki Shikibu's
view of Shonagon (translated by Morris), see the start of another
essay by Delacour, "Ladies
in Rivalry" (2002).
(c) "Teaching
The Pillow Book" (2002), by Lynne K. Miyake,
which includes observations on the differences between Shonagon
and Murasaki, and between their respective empresses.
(d) A 2010 essay by Sady Doyle on
Shonagon as a blogger; translated passages are from Morris.
(e) "Sei
Shonagon" (2001), by Christopher Cokinos, which includes
brief quotations from Morris' translation.
4. A 1600s
scroll by a woman artist, Kiyohara Yukinobu (1643-1682),
illustrating a well-known section of Makura no soshi; click
on the image to enlarge it. (See the passage under "In print":
"One day, when the snow lay thick on the ground.")
5. Reviews (for excerpts from the translations, see "In
print"; for information on Keene's treatment of Makura
no soshi, see "Secondary sources").
(a) Michael Dirda on Meredith McKinney's 2006 translation,
The
Pillow Book; elsewhere, another
review, this by Michelle White.
(b) John Stone on the abridged 1991 edition of Morris' 1967 translation,
The
Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon.
(c) Mark Morris on Donald Keene's 1993 history, Seeds
in the Heart: Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to the
Late Sixteenth Century
6. For historical background, a detailed essay by Gregory
Smits, "The
Heian Period Aristocrats," with links to other relevant
infomation; several passages from Makura no soshi are
given. Much of the essay is based on Morris' 1964 study, The
World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan (for
information on that book, see "Secondary sources").
[Meredith McKinney's is the most recent translation of
the complete Makura no soshi; It is based on a different
edition than was used by Ivan Morris in his 1967 translation
(below) and so the order of the entries is different. McKinney's
introduction and notes are useful, as are several glossaries;
most valuable is one on the most frequently named characters,
which acts as an index:]
The pillow book / Sei Shonagon; translated with notes by Meredith
McKinney (Penguin classics). London; New York: Penguin, 2006.
(xxxvi, 364 p.: ill.)
LC#: PL788.6.M3 E54 2006; ISBN: 0140448063
Includes bibliographical references (p. [xxxi]-xxxii)
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[Ivan Morris' 1967 complete translation, in two volumes,
has until recently been the standard version. Morris' 1991 abridged
version has been more frequently used, but the lists that the
abridgement excludes are often fun to look at, and revealing
of Shonagon's interests:]
The pillow book of Sei Shonagon (Records of civilization:
sources and studies, no.77 / UNESCO collection of representative
works: Japanese series). Translated and edited by Ivan Morris.
New York, Columbia University Press, 1967. (2 v. illus., geneal.
tables, maps, plans)
LC#: PL788.6.M3 E56 1967b
Bibliography: v. 2, p. 268-269.
[Also published by Oxford University Press, 1967]
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[This is Morris' abridged version. "Most of the cuts
are lists" (p.16); these lists make up over one-third of
the whole. This 1991 version keeps the helpful notes and appendices
of the original; especially valuable is the chronological list
of datable sections. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
The pillow book of Sei Shonagon / translated and edited by
Ivan Morris (Translations from the Asian classics / Columbia
Asian studies series). New York: Columbia University Press, c1991.
(419 p.: ill., maps)
LC#: PL788.6.M3 E56 1991; ISBN: 0231073364, 0231073372
Includes bibliographical references (p. 411).
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"I did not understand how a being like this could possibly
exist in our world."
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[Shonagon describes the start of her ten years at court, when
Empress Sadako was 14 years old and Shonagon in her early 20s.
The tone of some of the reminiscent passages suggests that they
were written after Sadako's death:]
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. [Morris,
1991; p.186]
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"He fills you with awe and envy."
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[From a list of "splendid things":]
A man of scholarly accomplishment is inexpressibly splendid.
Though he may be of dreadfully low rank and no joy to look at,
he fills you with awe and envy at the way he can spend time in
the presence of those at the very highest levels, as their tutor,
and be called on by them for scholarly consultations. It's also
splendid to see him praised for his dedicatory prayer, or a memorial
presented to the throne, or some preface to poetry. [McKinney,
p.86]
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"...manage to remain on good terms to the end."
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[Part of a list of "rare things":]
A son-in-law who's praised by his wife's father; likewise,
a wife who's loved by her mother-in-law....
Two women, let alone a man and a woman, who vow themselves
to each other forever, and actually manage to remain on good
terms to the end. [McKinney,
pp. 61-62]
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"...even though you know this is wicked of you."
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[From a list of "things that give you pleasure":]
You've read the first volume of a tale you hadn't come across
before, and are longing to go on with it --- then you find the
other volume. The rest of it can sometimes turn out to be disappointing,
however....
It's also wonderfully pleasing when you're in a large company
of people in the presence of someone great, and she's talking,
either about something in the past or on a matter she's only
just heard about, some topic of the moment, and as she speaks,
it's you she singles out to look at.....
When a poem that you've composed for some event, or in a exchange
of poems, is talked of by everyone and noted down when they hear
it. This hasn't happened to me personally, but I can imagine
how it would feel....
When someone you don't like meets with some misfortune, you're
pleased even though you know this is wicked of you. [McKinney,
pp. 210-12]
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"Women at Court... walk about, looking openly at people
they chance to meet."
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When I make myself imagine what it is like to be one of those
women who live at home, faithfully serving their husbands ---
women who have not a single exciting prospect in life yet who
believe they are perfectly happy --- I am filled with scorn.
Often they are of quite good birth, yet have no opportunity to
find out what the world is like....
I cannot bear men who believe that women serving in the Palace
are bound to be frivolous and wicked. Yet I suppose their prejudice
is understandable. After all, women at Court do not spend their
time hiding modestly behind fans and screens, but walk about,
looking openly at people they chance to meet....
[Morris, 1991; p.39]
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"...but at my present stage of life, I should be less flippant."
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A preacher ought to be good-looking. For, if we are properly
to understand his worthy sentiments, we must keep our eyes on
him when he speaks; should we look away, we may forget to listen.
Accordingly an ugly preacher may well be the source of sin---
But I really must stop writing this kind of thing. If I were
still young enough, I might risk the consequence of putting down
such impieties, but at my present stage of life, I should be
less flippant. [Morris, 1991;
p.53]
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"One would imagine that he could do without a stick."
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[A reminder of the continuing importance of Chinese writing
in Japan:]
Words That Look Commonplace but That Become Impressive When
Written in Chinese Characters:
Strawberries
A dew-plant
A prickly water-lily
A walnut
A Doctor of Literature
A Provisional Senior Steward in the Office of the Emperor's Household
Red myrtle
Knotweed is a particularly striking example, since it is written
with the characters for "tiger's stick." From the look
on a tiger's face one would imagine that he could do without
a stick. [Morris, 1967;
p.159]
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"She was born to serve an Empress like ours."
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[When Sadako quotes a well-known Chinese poem that describes
the poet pushing aside a blind to look at the snow, it is Shonagon
who not only recognizes the poem but acts out its meaning. (Critics
have seen this passage as self-praise on Shonagon's part, but
surely it is also a description of the perfect fit between her
and her beloved Sadako.):]
One day, when the snow lay thick on the ground and it was
so cold that the lattices had all been closed, I and the other
ladies were sitting with Her majesty, chatting and poking the
embers in the brazier.
"Tell me, Shonagon," said the Empress, "how
is the snow on Hsiang-lu peak?"
I told the maid to raise one of the lattices and then rolled
up the blind all the way. Her Majesty smiled. I was not alone
in recognizing the Chinese poem she had quoted; in fact all the
ladies knew the lines had even rewritten them in Japanese. Yet
no one but me had managed to think of it instantly.
"Yes, indeed," people said when they heard the story.
"She was born to serve an Empress like ours." [Morris,
1991; pp.241-42]
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"But I suppose this dream of mine is rather absurd."
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[On the ideal life after court service had been completed:]
I should like to live in a large, attractive house. My family
would of course be staying with me; and in one of the wings I
should have a friend, an elegant lady-in-waiting from the Palace,
with whom I could converse.
Whenever we wished, we should meet to discuss recent poems
and other things of interest. When my friend received a letter,
we should read it together and write our answer. If someone came
to pay my friend a visit, I should receive him in one of our
beautifully decorated rooms, and if he was prevented from leaving
by a rain-storm or something of the sort, I should warmly invite
him to stay. Whenever my friend went to the Palace, I should
help her with her preparations and see that she had what was
needed during her stay at Court. For everything about well-born
people delights me.
But I suppose this dream of mine is rather absurd. [Morris,
1991; p.245-246]
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"You and you alone can see what feelings hide within my
heart."
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[Describing an incident in 1000; Sei's empress, Sadako,
had been replaced in the emperor's affections by Michinaga's
daughter Shoshi (who would later be served by Murasaki Shikibu).
Sadako would die seven months after this scene:]
When the Empress was staying in the Third Ward, a palanquin
arrived full of irises for the Festival of the Fifth Day and
Her Majesty was presented with herbal balls from the Palace....
Then other very pretty herbal balls arrived from other palaces.
Someone also brought a green-wheat cake; I presented it to Her
Majesty on the elegant lid of an inkstone on which I had first
spread a sheet of thin green paper carrying the words, "This
has come from across the fence."
[The last phrase is from a well-known poem: "Stretching
his neck across the fence, /The little colt can scarcely reach
the wheat. /So I myself cannot attain /The object of my love."]
The Empress tore off a piece of the paper and wrote the following
splendid poem:
Even on this festive day,
When all are seeking butterflies and flowers,
You and you alone can see
What feelings hide within my heart. [Morris,
1991; p.204]
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"I never intended this book to be seen by others, so...."
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["Worthless things":]
Someone who'd both ugly and unpleasant.
Clothing starch that's gone bad --- I know an awful lot of people
hate this, but that's no reason why I shouldn't note it here.
And why should I avoid mentioning here the fire tongs that are
burnt in the post-funeral fire? After all, these are things that
exist in the world. I never intended this book to be seen by
others, so I've written whatever came into my mind, without worrying
about whether people would find it strange or unpleasant. [McKinney,
p.140]
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"Now one can tell what she is really like."
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[Describing the origin of her book (Shonagon would surely
have been amused that "pillow book" came in later years
to refer to an erotic book left by a bride's pillow to tell her
what to expect):]
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." [Morris, 1991;
p.263-264]
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[Caution: Arthur Waley's 1928 translation is a extremely
abridged version: it contains only about 1/4 of the whole:]
The pillow-book of Sei Shonagon. Translated by Arthur Waley.
London, G. Allen and Unwin [1957] (162 p.)
LC#: PL788.6.M3 E58 195
[Also published: Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1929]
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Secondary sources
[For a c.1200 Japanese woman's view of Sei Shonagon, see
Michelle Marra's translation of Shunzei
kyo no musume's Mumyozoshi, p. 424. The periodical
is available at many university libraries, so you can get the
pages you want through interlibrary loan:]
Marra, Michele, tr. Mumyozoshi. Monumenta Nipponica, 39:
2-4 (1984),115-145, 281-305, 409-434.
LC#: DS821.A1 M6; ISSN: 0027-0741
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[Despite its title, Mark Morris' article deals with more
than the lists; it is a good study of Shonagon's contribution
to Japanese prose style. (See
the issue's table of contents online.):]
Morris, Mark. Sei Shonagon's poetic catalogues. Harvard
Journal of Asiatic Studies, 40:1 (Spring 1980), 5-54.
LC#: DS501 .H3; ISSN: 0073-0548
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[Naomi Fukimori's article discusses the ways in which Shonagon
and Murasaki each dealt with their contemporaries' suspicion
of women who wrote in Chinese by demonstrating that their skill
could be made acceptable to those in power. (See
the issue's table of contents online.):]
Fukimori, Naomi. Chinese learning as performative power in
Makura no soshi and Murasaki Shikibu nikki. Proceedings
of the Association for Japanese Literary Studies: PAJLS.
2 (Summer 2001), 101-119.
LC#: PL700 .P762; ISSN:1531-5533
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[Donald Keene's literary history includes a chapter, "The
Pillow Book"; he also gives an excellent overview of the
literature of the period, and his bibliographies are thorough. (See the book's
table of contents online.):]
Keene, Donald. Seeds in the heart: Japanese literature from
earliest times to the late sixteenth century. New York: Henry
Holt & Co., 1993. (xiv, 1265 p.).
LC#: PL726.115 .K44 1993; ISBN: 0805019995
Includes bibliographical references and index.
------------------
[Ivan Morris' 1964 book is probably still the best single
introduction to Japanese court society in the 900s and 1000s:]
Morris, Ivan I. The world of the shining prince: court life
in ancient Japan; with a new introduction by Barbara Ruch (Kodansha
globe). New York: Kodansha International, 1994. (xxvii, 336 p.:
ill.)
LC#: DS824 .M6 1994; ISBN: 1568360290.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [321]-324) and index.
[Also published: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England; New York,
N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, 1969, c1964 (1985 printing).
ISBN: 0140550836]
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Updated 06-27-10
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