Classical Japan
Web Resources related to this lesson
Lewis Clark "Introduction"
(Virginia E-text Initiative)Kokinwakashû (Virginia E-text Initiative)
Two poems from the Kokinwakashû Mark Jewel, Waseda University
(romanized text, English translation, with commentary)Steven D. Carter "The New Kokinshû (1205)"
(UC Irvine)
Teaching The Pillow Book
Lynne
K. Miyake
Pomona College
Composed by, in contemporary lingo, "one spunky lady"--or so it seems in comparison to other female protagonists from the Heian period--The Pillow Book (996) is the earliest example we have of a zuihitsu or miscellany, an eclectic collection of anecdotal, diary-like short entries and lists of what the author considers to be frightening or splendid or just a listing of her favorite (?) or perhaps representative mountains, flowering shrubs, and the like. The author Sei Shônagon was a lady-in-waiting in the salon of Empress Sadako from about 993-1000, while Murasaki Shikibu, the author of The Tale of Genji, served Fujiwara no Michinaga's daughter, Empress Akiko, in a similar capacity from 1005-1013. In most studies they are considered contemporaries and the two greatest women writers of the period. They are also often stylized as opposites: Shikibu, famous for her introverted, darker, more ironic view of life, while the extroverted, feistier Shônagon, known for her brilliant, flashy exchanges and readiness to do one-upsmanship battle with all comers.
In actuality one Japanese scholar does not consider them contemporaries and suggests that the difference in the two personalities and the works they produced had as much to do with a change in the climate at court in the ten years that separated their works and, most importantly, the kind of relationship which developed between empress and lady-in-waiting because of the changes. Iwasa Miyoko is speaking about The Pillow Book and Shikibu's diary (The Diary of Murasaki Shikibu, 1008-110), but a similar tonal difference is evident between The Tale of Genji and The Pillow Book as well. As Iwasa explains it, a more relaxed, lasissez-faire approach was in force during Sadako's time and enabled her to establish a vibrant, "flashy" salon and supportive, stimulating relationships with their ladies. Ten years later a much more stringent and oppressive climate (micro-managed by Akiko's powerful father) caused the younger, much gentler Akiko to take the safer, less conspicuous route both in terms of her salon and in their relationships with her lady. (See Lynne Miyake, "Through the Eyes of a Twentieth Century Court Lady?: Gender, Class, and the Challenge to the Field of Classical Japanese Literature" for further information.)
Ivan Morris has translated The Pillow Book. Page number references in the following discussion are to this translation.
Sei Shônagon, arbiter of good taste
Noted for her straightforward and almost arrogant demeanor, Sei Shônagon does not mince any words in evaluating her male courtiers or in making pronouncements about what she considers elegant or inelegant behavior. (See Edith Sarra's discussion of Sei Shônagon in Fictions of Femininity as the most successful alternative to the socially and culturally sanctioned model of ideal wifely and poetic behavior.) Shônagon sets herself up as a kind of arbiter of good taste. In "Adorable Things" and "Elegant Things" she outlines what is attractive and beautiful. A careless lover who bangs into things (p. 26) or a man who has nothing to say but "discusses all sorts of subjects at random as though he knew everything" (p. 25) invite her scorn in "Hateful Things" (pp. 25-30). Sometimes Shônagon borders on meanness as in her description of the elderly as full of wrinkles and "shameful" (p. 25). Still life at court is thrilling and she captures that excitement in such entries as "Things That Make One's Heart Beat Faster" (p. 31) and in her longer anecdotal entry where she makes a bet with the empress that a mountain of snow on the palace grounds will last well into the new year (pp. 83-90).
Sei Shônagon, on nature
If the beauty of her language is not readily evident in the lists and the anecdote selection, it is certainly prominent in the opening passage of The Pillow Book. Here Shônagon successfully captures the essence of each season of the year. In Japanese the passage is exquisite, the cadence modulating in the 5, 7, 5, 7 tempo so beloved by the Heian Japanese. The beauty of each season is captured with snapshot/painting brilliance and can be successfully compared with many of the poems especially in the spring sequence from the Kokinshû anthology. Asking students to pay careful attention to the visuality present in the passage may help them capture the beauty of the passage. The instructor might even ask students to take one of seasons and draw what they see from the word-picture descriptions.
Actitivities and Discussion Questions
1) Ask students to draw one of the scenes described in the opening passage of The Pillow Book.
2) Examining the lists of "Adorable Things", "Elegant Things" or "Things That Make One's Heart Beat", what kind of objects, situations, events do you feel Shônagon considers significant or beautiful?
3) Looking at "Hateful Things," what things, events, situations do you think she considers to be not good or proper? Is her evaluation based on moral reasons or not? What is the basis of her evaluation? (aesthetic, pragmatic, social, or ?)
4) From Shônagon's list of "Hateful Things" can you deduce what she would considers good or praise worthy?
5) In reading the "Snow Mountain" episode, how would you describe life at court? How does it differ from the glimpses you got from "Yûgao" and the Koh manga version?
6) From what you know of Heian life from your other readings, would you say that Shônagon was in step or out of step with what her contemporaries would consider elegant, adorable, or hateful?
7) Is there a gender bias in Shônagon evaluation of people? If so, can you account for it?
Print Resources
Miyake, Lynne. "Through the Eyes of a Twentieth Century Court Lady?: Gender, Class, and the Challenge to the Field of Classical Japanese Literature," U.S.-Japan Women's Journal, English Supplement, 18: 27-57, 2000.
Morris, Ivan. The Pillow Book of Sei Shônagon. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967.
Sarra, Edith. Fictions of Femininity: Literary Inventions of Gender in Japanese Court Womens Memoirs. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999.
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