Sarashina Nikki

The Sarashina Diary (更級日記, Sarashina Nikki^?) is a memoir written by the daughter of Sugawara no Takasue, a lady-in-waiting of Heian-period Japan. Her work stands out for its descriptions of her travels and pilgrimages and is unique in the literature of the period, as well as one of the first in the genre of travel writing. Lady Sarashina was a niece on her mother's side of Michitsuna's Mother, author of another famous diary of the period, the Kagerō Nikki (whose personal name has also been lost).

Extracts from the work are part of Japanese high school students' classical Japanese studies.

The daughter of Sugawara Takasue (also known as Lady Sarashina) wrote her memoirs in her later years. She was born in 1008 CE and in her childhood traveled to the provinces with her father, an assistant governor, and back to the capital some years later. Her remembrances of the long journey back to the capital (three months) are unique in Heian literature, if terse and geographically inaccurate. Here she describes Mount Fuji, then an active volcano:

It has a most unusual shape and seems to have been painted deep blue; its thick cover of unmelting snow gives the impression that the mountain is wearing a white jacket over a dress of deep violet.

Her memoirs start with her childhood days, when she delighted in reading tales, and prayed to be able to read the Tale of Genji from beginning to end. She records her joy when presented with a complete copy, and how she dreamed of living a romance like those described in it. When her life does not turn out as well as she had hoped, she blames her addiction to tales, which made her live in a fantasy world and neglect her spiritual growth. These records are impressive memories of Lady Sarashina’s travel and dreams, and of her day-to-day life.

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