The Pillow Book

The Pillow Book (枕草子, Makura no Sōshi^?) is a book of observations and musings recorded by Sei Shōnagon during her time as court lady to Empress Consort Teishi (定子) during the 990s and early 1000s in Heian Japan. The book was completed in the year 1002.

In it she included lists of all kinds, personal thoughts, interesting events in court, poetry, and some opinions on her contemporaries. While it is mostly a personal work, Shōnagon's writing and poetic skill makes it interesting as a work of literature, and it is valuable as a historical document. Part of it was revealed to the Court by accident during Shōnagon's life. The book was first translated into English in 1889 by T. Purcell and W. G. Aston. Other notable English translations were by Arthur Waley in 1928, Ivan Morris in 1967, and Meredith McKinney in 2006.

Starting with the "exhaustiveness" of the "collection of similar things" and how it is represented by "as for worms", "as for the flowers of trees", "hateful things", and "things of beauty" – which have been described as "Borgesian lists" – author Sei Shōnagon’s "Ramblings" observed the nature of everyday life and the four seasons, and described in diverse sentences "her recollections" (her diary) that look back at the society of the imperial court surrounding Empress Teishi whom she served, among other things.

Three types of classification were proposed by Kikan Ikeda. However, there are sections that are rather ambiguous and are difficult to classify (e.g., in the first paragraph of her ramblings, "As for Spring, (it is) the dawn [that is lovely]", there are objections to common opinions of what is actually meant here).

It is composed primarily in Japanese hiragana, and generally many of her short stories were written in a witty literary style. Confessions of her personal feelings are mixed into her writing with occasionally subtle sentimentality that reflects the downfall of the emperor’s adviser, Fujiwara no Michitaka (her biological father), as well as the misfortune of both Emperor and Empress Teishi.

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