*The following is the accompanying gallery paper for my month-long project of making my own pillow book, which can be found under the "Pillow Book" tab. The project was a creative assignment for my sophomore Asia in World History class, and I hope it has captured at least some of the more poignant (or amusing) moments of a month of my sophomore life.
“ ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ – that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
- from John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn”
The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon is a critically important text in our modern understanding of aristocratic culture during the Heian period, the golden age of Japanese history. The text chronicles the decade that Sei Shonagon spent as lady-in-waiting to Empress Teishi towards the end of the 10th century, and to the delight of the reader, this “haphazard arrangement”[1] of lists, gossip, lyrical prose, and stray impressions proves to be full of cutting wit at times and startlingly astute observations at others.
In appreciating the artistic value of Pillow Book, it is important to first concede that Shonagon’s writing is not unique in its nature. Many women and men during the Heian period “kept [a pillow book] near their sleeping place, possibly in the drawers of their wooden pillows, so that they might record stray impressions.”[2] The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, however, is the only text of its kind to survive into the modern era, making it an invaluable artifact of high Heian culture.
The text also provides an intimate look into the innermost thoughts of its author, a fascinating woman who displays a “pathological”[3] reverence towards the royal family in great contrast to her scorn for people of the lower orders. Sei Shonagon is often judgmental and condescending towards others, showcasing symptoms of a lack of tolerance that has earned her an evaluation as a “spiritual cripple”[4] from one bitter critic. But even today, “Japanese school-children are still introduced to [the text] as a model of linguistic purity,” as the Pillow Book contains “hardly a single Chinese word.”[5] The text has beauty in its simplicity and repetition, both of which allow Shonagon’s sentences to move with deliberation.
There are many elements of Sei Shonagon’s writing that have inspired me as a writer. As I believe that the Pillow Book is, first and foremost, a physical manifestation of Sei Shonagon’s psyche, my primary goal has been for my journal to capture the essence of "Garam.” For the past three weeks, I wrote before going to bed every night and immediately after waking up in the morning (the same times at which men and women in the Heian period would have written in their pillow books), and writing on such a regular basis helped me to incorporate almost all aspects of my daily life into my art. But in order to have a greater visual impact on my audience, I chose only to focus on one kind of the Pillow Book’s entries- lists. I admired how Sei Shonagon’s writing could find elegance in simplicity, a task that has proven difficult for me as a writer in the past. Writing in the form of lists has encouraged me to grapple with the challenge of writing both concisely and well. My fervent hope is that my readers will find that my lists not only have an underlying rhythm to them, but also are peppered with themes that speak of universality.
Works Cited
Greer, David. "The Lists of Lady-in-Waiting." Kyoto Journal 2000: n. pag. Perspectives from Asia, Kyoto Journal. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. <http://www.kyotojournal.org/kjselections/kjshonagon.html>.
Hall, John Whitney, et al., eds. Volume 2, Heian Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999. Print.
Shonagon, Sei. The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. Trans. Ivan Morris. Chichester: Columbia UP, 1991. Print.
[1] Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, trans. Ivan Morris, (Chichester: Columbia UP, 1991) 13.
[2] Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, trans. Ivan Morris, (Chichester: Columbia UP, 1991) 11.
[3] Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, trans. Ivan Morris, (Chichester: Columbia UP, 1991) 10.
[4] Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, trans. Ivan Morris, (Chichester: Columbia UP, 1991) 10.
[5] Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, trans. Ivan Morris, (Chichester: Columbia UP, 1991) 13.
“ ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ – that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
- from John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn”
The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon is a critically important text in our modern understanding of aristocratic culture during the Heian period, the golden age of Japanese history. The text chronicles the decade that Sei Shonagon spent as lady-in-waiting to Empress Teishi towards the end of the 10th century, and to the delight of the reader, this “haphazard arrangement”[1] of lists, gossip, lyrical prose, and stray impressions proves to be full of cutting wit at times and startlingly astute observations at others.
In appreciating the artistic value of Pillow Book, it is important to first concede that Shonagon’s writing is not unique in its nature. Many women and men during the Heian period “kept [a pillow book] near their sleeping place, possibly in the drawers of their wooden pillows, so that they might record stray impressions.”[2] The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, however, is the only text of its kind to survive into the modern era, making it an invaluable artifact of high Heian culture.
The text also provides an intimate look into the innermost thoughts of its author, a fascinating woman who displays a “pathological”[3] reverence towards the royal family in great contrast to her scorn for people of the lower orders. Sei Shonagon is often judgmental and condescending towards others, showcasing symptoms of a lack of tolerance that has earned her an evaluation as a “spiritual cripple”[4] from one bitter critic. But even today, “Japanese school-children are still introduced to [the text] as a model of linguistic purity,” as the Pillow Book contains “hardly a single Chinese word.”[5] The text has beauty in its simplicity and repetition, both of which allow Shonagon’s sentences to move with deliberation.
There are many elements of Sei Shonagon’s writing that have inspired me as a writer. As I believe that the Pillow Book is, first and foremost, a physical manifestation of Sei Shonagon’s psyche, my primary goal has been for my journal to capture the essence of "Garam.” For the past three weeks, I wrote before going to bed every night and immediately after waking up in the morning (the same times at which men and women in the Heian period would have written in their pillow books), and writing on such a regular basis helped me to incorporate almost all aspects of my daily life into my art. But in order to have a greater visual impact on my audience, I chose only to focus on one kind of the Pillow Book’s entries- lists. I admired how Sei Shonagon’s writing could find elegance in simplicity, a task that has proven difficult for me as a writer in the past. Writing in the form of lists has encouraged me to grapple with the challenge of writing both concisely and well. My fervent hope is that my readers will find that my lists not only have an underlying rhythm to them, but also are peppered with themes that speak of universality.
Works Cited
Greer, David. "The Lists of Lady-in-Waiting." Kyoto Journal 2000: n. pag. Perspectives from Asia, Kyoto Journal. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. <http://www.kyotojournal.org/kjselections/kjshonagon.html>.
Hall, John Whitney, et al., eds. Volume 2, Heian Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999. Print.
Shonagon, Sei. The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. Trans. Ivan Morris. Chichester: Columbia UP, 1991. Print.
[1] Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, trans. Ivan Morris, (Chichester: Columbia UP, 1991) 13.
[2] Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, trans. Ivan Morris, (Chichester: Columbia UP, 1991) 11.
[3] Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, trans. Ivan Morris, (Chichester: Columbia UP, 1991) 10.
[4] Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, trans. Ivan Morris, (Chichester: Columbia UP, 1991) 10.
[5] Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, trans. Ivan Morris, (Chichester: Columbia UP, 1991) 13.