Makura no Soshi or Blog as Pillow Book

Sei Shōnagon (清少納言), 967-1010 Japanese author and Essayist, drawn by Kikuchi Yosa

One day Lord Korechika...brought the Empress a bundle of notebooks.

"What shall we do with them?" Her Majesty asked me...
"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. On the whole I concentrated on things and people that I found charming and splendid.... I was sure that when people saw my book they would say, "It's even worse than I expected. Now one can really tell what she is like." ... As will be gathered from these notes of mine I am the sort of person who approves of what others abhor and detests the things they like."

Sei Shonangon, The Pillow Book" c. 1000 A.D.

I read this and was ...amazed. Writing for its own sake- in your own voice, for pleasure. I am a mere 1007 years late to the party! The paragraph above made me look further- who was this person?

Sei Shonagon was born in 967, the daughter of a descendant of the Emperor Temmu. She lived in the Imperial Palace as a lady-in waiting in the service of Empress Sadako from 993 until Sadako's death in 1000. The Pillow Book (Makura no Soshi) was written about the year 1002, during the Heian period in Japanese history. The book is part diary and part essay.

Though Shonagon did not write down her ideas in The Pillow Book in any kind of connected style she did include 164 lists
like:

Splendid Things
Depressing Things
Things That Should Be Large
Things That Gain By Being Painted
Things That Make One's Heart Beat Faster
Things That Cannot Be Compared

It is my opinion that had Shonagon had a digital camera (and a computer and the internet and a keyboard- oh hell- it would have been a whole other book then wouldn't it?) The lists might have been easier shown as jpegs is all I'm saying.

I kept reading, and my admiration grew. The Japanese did not have a written language until the sixth century when they borrowed their characters from the Chinese. These bold ink characters became the province and tools of male poets. The female writers of the Heian period were expected to use a more abbreviated, lighter, more feminine alphabet. Shonagon wrote in the male form, shocking her contemporaries. She took lovers and wrote honestly when they thrilled or disappointed- she observed royalty and carpenters and wrote about each with equal enthusiasm, avidly describing the intimate details of their lives, as she observed them. She was amused and interested by the world around her regardless of class or culture- to her all life was set before her and the only thing that really mattered to her was her opinion of each- her unique point of view.

I realized as I read her words that my point of view here- is such a very small snapshot- but just as Shonagon's book gave the world a snapshot of a world long past, I felt vindicated- there have been other people who wrote because the world was flying past them- wonderful and unpredictable and because it is just the world going by MY ears and eyes and mind- it's a picture of these times unique in all the world. And I read on..

It is getting so dark that I can hardly go on writing and my brush is 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. Every thing that I have seen and felt is included."

According to the noted literary critic Donald Keene, The Pillow Book: "Is a work without precedent, filled with flashing impressions and delicate touches (even) if lacking in depth. "

Often lacking in depth... funny... highly personal at times and filled with visual lists. Me and Lady Shonagon (forgive my boldness, it comes from a reverent place)... we have a few things in common. And she inspires me. I love it when that happens. And I can share it with you.

:) X