Sei Sh¯onagon lived during the early medieval period
in the HEIAN dynasty in Japan, an era that witnessed
an extraordinary production of literary works. For
instance Sei’s contemporaries include MURASAKI
SHIKIBU, author of The TALE OF GENJI, the greatest
Japanese masterpiece. Sei’s own contributions are
waka (native Japanese) poetry and, most significantly,
The PILLOW BOOK (Makura no S¯oshi).
Since custom prevented revealing in public the
private given names of women, we do not know
her true name. “Sei” derives from the first letter of
her family name, and “Sh¯onagon” refers to her position,
a middle rank known for its learning. Her
father was a Chinese scholar, and she appears to
have been one as well. She married in 983, but little
is known about her marriage. About that time
she entered the court service of Teishi, a consort of
the emperor.When her patron died in 1000, she
left court and apparently remarried.
The most famous observation about Sei comes
from Murasaki Shikibu, her rival at the court of
Empress Sh¯oshi: “She thought herself so clever, and
littered her writings with Chinese characters, but if
you examined them closely, they left a great deal
to be desired” (Bowring 1982, 131). It confirms the
impression that Sei creates in The Pillow Book of
herself as an author who can write in Chinese as
well as in Japanese. Though women dominate the
canon of Heian Japanese literature, in general it
was men who studied and wrote in the official
Chinese (a language that has its counterpart in
Latin in the medieval West).
Most of the knowledge and impressions we have
of Sei come from the persona she creates for herself
in The Pillow Book. The work—and by extension its
author—are unique. This original collection of personal
observations and memoirs, interspersed with
poems, is made up of pieces presumably written at
night and placed in the drawers of wooden pillows—
hence the name “pillow book.”
Sei created the genre for The Pillow Book, a genre
later called zuihitsu—often translated as “prose miscellany.”
Much discussion has centered upon how
Sei invented her unique masterpiece. Since it is autobiographical,
it shares characteristics of the Heian
diary (nikki). Yet it is more than a memoir; it includes
164 lists and poetry. Its textual history is
complex. Although Sei focuses upon her life at the
court of Empress Teishi and she began the work
while at court, she completed it after Teishi’s death
and her own subsequent departure from court. Furthermore
there is disagreement over the original
order Sei imposed upon her text.
Sei’s persona and writing style often provide
ironic contrasts to major Heian literary conventions.
Instead of the Buddhist theme about the
tragic ephemeral nature of this world, her work is
witty and lighthearted. For instance she tells anecdotes
about the empress’s pet cat and dog. Under
her list of “hateful things,” she complains of clumsy
lovers who stumble as they get out of bed and fumble
getting dressed the next morning. Also Sei describes
herself as the antithesis of the ideal Heian
court lady: She claims that she is unattractive and
writes poor poetry. And, as Murasaki’s comment
attests, Sei flaunts her Chinese frequently, something
proper modest women would never do.
But even through careful omission and a light
tone, Sei cannot fully disguise the fact that Teishi’s
court was in disarray as the emperor Ichij¯o more
and more favored his other wife, Sh¯oshi (Murasaki’s
patron). Eventually Teishi died in childbirth, and Sei
departed from the court. Little is known about the
final years of Sei’s life, but later strict Buddhists
claim that she died impoverished and alone, punishment
for the “sins” revealed in The Pillow Book.
The Pillow Book is recognized as a great masterpiece
because of its wit and originality, its clear insights
into life in Heian Japan, and its “linguistic purity”
(Morris 1971, 13).
Bibliography
Bowring, Richard, trans.Murasaki Shikibu: Her Diary
and Poetic Memoirs. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1982.
Miner, Earl, Hiroko Odagiri, and Robert E. Morrell.
The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 1985.
Sei Sh¯onagon. The Pillow Book of Sei Sh¯onagon.
Translated by Ivan Morris. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1971.
Barbara Stevenson