Friday 8 August 2008

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon

Makurano Sohshi, the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, is one of the oldest essays in Japan. It was written by MS. Sei Shonagon around the beginning of 11th century. She was one of ladies in the palace. She wrote down her way of thinking and feeling,
like "insects are ----", "what are terrible are ----", "what are beautiful are ----", etc. The readers feel sympathy or antipathy for her sense, which might be a fun, and one of origins of essay and blog. I will follow her style in this blog, too.
You can read the translation, thanks to Dr. Arthur David Waley's tough work (UK 1889- 1966).

1 comment:

Andy Jarrett said...

Dr. Arthur David Waley is correct spelling, sorry.