Makura no Soshi (The Pillow Book)

Written in the mid-Heian era between the years 996 and 1008, Makura no Soshi (The Pillow Book) is Japan’s first example of essay literature. The author, Sei Shonagon, was a court lady who served Empress Teishi, the daughter of regent Fujiwara no Michitaka and consort of the Emperor Ichijo. Sei Shonagon’s father was the well-known poet and scholar Kiyohara no Motosuke. She first began writing during a long period of leave from the court. Teishi gifted Sei Shonagon with writing paper, and she soon started filling the space with the names of wildlife or utamakura (poetic terms, often the names of places) — anything she could think of. Later, she began writing about things she overheard, the events that happened around her, and what she felt in her daily life. The completed work consists of nearly 300 passages, divided into categories such as: Monohazuke (also called Ruiju-teki), essays on specific subjects; the freely written Zuiso-teki essays detailing her thoughts on nature, her views on humanity, and her lifestyle; and the diary-style Nikki-teki passages, in which she writes about her experiences in the court. Her keen criticism and opinions of the people of the court and nature are often a point of interest.

Although the exact details of Sei Shonagon’s life are unknown, it is speculated that she was born around 966 and lived until around 1021-1028. In 981, she married Tachibana no Norimitsu but would later divorce him. She began serving in Empress Teishi’s inner court in the year 993, and left in 1000 when Teishi passed away. The beautiful image of Empress Teishi detailed in Makura no Soshi was not only a song of admiration, but an elegy as well. Around that time she was remarried to Fujiwara no Muneyo (the governor of Settsu Province), however, they had fallen on hard times in their later years. In the Kamakura era review essay Mumyo Zoshi, Makura no Soshi is described as an expression of Sei Shonagon’s emotions and “extremely interesting.” Sei Shonagon is one of the Chuko Sanjurokkasen, thirty-six exceptional poets of waka.