I started reading Sei Shōnagon’s classic ‘The Pillow Book‘. Wanted to share some of my favourite excerpts from the little I read. They are so charming that I couldn’t resist 😊
Sei Shōnagon includes descriptive lists in her book.
Under ‘Infuriating Things’, she includes these –
• A guest who arrives when you have something urgent to do, and stays talking for ages. If it’s someone you don’t have much respect for, you can simply send them away and tell them to come back later, but if it’s a person with whom you feel you must stand on ceremony, it’s an infuriating situation.
• You’ve just settled sleepily into bed when a mosquito announces itself with that thin little wail, and starts flying around your face. It’s horrible how you can feel the soft wind of its tiny wings.
• Someone who butts in when you’re talking and smugly provides the ending herself.
• I hate it when, either at home or at the palace, someone comes calling whom you’d rather not see and you pretend to be asleep, but then a well-meaning member of the household comes along and shakes you awake with a look of disapproval at how you’ve dozed off.
• And I hate people who don’t close a door that they’ve opened to go in or out.
This made me laugh 😁
Under ‘Things that make your heart beat fast’, she includes this –
• To wash your hair, apply your makeup and put on clothes that are well scented with incense. Even if you’re somewhere where no one special will see you, you still feel a heady sense of pleasure inside.
In ‘Things that make me feel nostalgic’, she includes these –
• Coming across a torn scrap of lavender- or grape-coloured fabric crumpled between the pages of a bound book.
• On a rainy day when time hangs heavy, searching out an old letter that touched you deeply at the time you received it.
I found the last one very beautiful.
Loving these lists!
Did you like them?
Vishy's Blog 
Di Nguyen from Twitter hectored me relentlessly to read this (as well as Genji). It’s amazing how relatable is it 1000 years later. 1000 years!
Yes, I remember Di gushing about it 🙂 Hope you get to read this one and like it. I am just 30 pages in and it is wonderful so far. It is so relatable, isn’t it? It is so amazing that it doesn’t feel 1000 years old but very contemporary and modern. Happy reading!
Haha I see that I’m mentioned.
My view of Sei Shonagon became more complicated later on, so let’s see what you’ll think, but the book is definitely relatable. It’s amazing.
I remember you tweeting about it, Di, about the Sei Shōnagon Vs Murasaki Shikibu thing 😊 I read somewhere that Murasaki Shikibu criticized her. In ‘The Pillow Book’, Sei Shōnagon mentions Shikibu a couple of times, but I’m not sure whether she means Murasaki Shikibu or Izumi Shikibu.
Meredith McKinney’s introduction mentions Murasaki’s criticism of Sei Shonagon.
I myself am entirely on Murasaki’s side lol.
Shikibu is only the title, not the name, I’m pretty sure that Sei Shonagon never mentions Murasaki Shikibu in “The Pillow Book”.
Yes, McKinney’s introduction mentions that. I found two mentions of Shikibu in ‘The Pillow Book’ till now. Interesting to know that Shikibu is not a name but a title. Thanks for telling me about it.
Yeah, neither Murasaki Shikibu nor Sei Shonagon are real names.
That Shikibu must be a daughter of a man who held that kind of position in the Heian court.
It feels very contemporary Vishy, the quotes and the way they’re expressed certainly relatable. Enjoy the rest!
They feel very contemporary, don’t they? I can’t believe she wrote them all those years back. Glad you liked them, Claire 🙂
Gorgeous. I’ve been meaning to read this one for ages:)
Glad you liked the excerpts, Lisa 🙂 Hope you enjoy reading this book. It is wonderful! Happy reading!
Lovely quotes Vishy – thank you!
Glad you liked them, Kaggsy 🙂
[…] You can find more of these charming images in my previous post here. […]