Seeing the World Through Sei Shonagon’s Eyes

¶ … Sei Shonagon's Eyes

The world through Sei Shonagon's eyes

THE WORLD THROUGH SEI SHONAGON'S EYES

The world through Sei Shonagon's eyes

As a lady-in-waiting, Sei Shonagon (966-1017) was privy to all the happenings of court life. She came from a prominent family, her father being a provincial governor as well as a poet of repute. She came to court after her marriage failed. She served Teishi who was the Emperor Ichijo's consort. (Ivan, Morris, 1971) She was quite accomplished for her day being familiar with Chinese classics. She was witty and had a sunny disposition. After the death of her lady, she left the court and lived in solitude in her last years (Foley, 2006).

The year 996 saw the initial drafting of the Pillow Book. Lists, diary entries and personal reflections form the three broad categories into which the over three hundred sections can be grouped. The term pillow book is drawn from the fact that the writer creates it when they have retired to their bed chamber and the book may refer to a book that is stored near a pillow, or one that is used as a pillow or the pillow itself. It is the record of someone's life. Shonagon uses her pillow book to reveal what life in the Heian period was like for the upper class. It was confined yet pleasure-seeking and a lot of time was spent reading, writing and gossiping. Through the pillow book, Sei's keen observation, intelligence, and love of her noble lifestyle is revealed (Vickers, 2008).

She comes out as very poetic, artistic and gives clear descriptions of the things around her including nature and other things of interest. She leads the reader through the temperatures, the textures, colors and lighting ( Primary source packet -The Pillow Book, n.d).

She displays the vivid descriptions in various lines. " ... the willows too are particularly lovely at this time. Its charming to see the buds still cocooned in their sheaths like silkworms ... " (Shonagon, p.6). Feeling is conveyed in her use of the words "lovely" and "charming." "

She goes on to display her artistic tendencies when she says, "If you break off a branch of a splendidly flowering cherry and arrange it in a flower vase, the effect is delightful," (Shonagon, p.6). One can visualize the flowering cherry sitting beautifully in a flower vase.

Description of the weather and its effects on the temperament are also provided in the Pillow Book. "The leaves of the trees have not yet reached their full summer abundance but are still a fresh young green and the sky's clarity untouched by either the mists of spring or the autumn's fogs, fills you with inexplicable pleasure. And when it clouds a little in the evening or at night, how unbearably lovely ... " (Shonagon, p.6). It leads the reader to experience what the writer was feeling at the moment that she wrote this.

She further describes the sound of the flute as though it is animated when the player draws closer and closer. "The transverse flute is utterly delightful. It is lovely when you hear it playing from a distance and the sound gradually approaches. Also when the sound begins nearby and then moves into the far distance becoming very faint." (Shonagon, p.186). She poetically describes the sound of the flute enabling the reader to picture the sound gradually increasing in pitch as the player approaches.

The system of male dominance was making its way into society during the Heian period pushing back the gender equality that had been there before. Females were kept out of offices and ranks that came up as a result of the coming of the Chinese bureaucratic system as all these were taken up by males. All that the women could have were the palace roles of handmaids. This was an affront to women with high aspirations such as Sei Shonagon who watched with envy as the men took up positions of respect and honor as they rose through the chain of command (Primary source packet -The Pillow Book, n.d).

Sei could see what was happening in her society and expressed this with a lot of passion in her writing. There is a tone of criticism as she describes how men were honored in their ranks as they rose to higher positions. She decried the fate of women whose only honor came from being married to someone of substance such as the governor or the emperor. She even highlighted the irony of a woman being named a high gentlewoman when she was "past her best" making the position unsatisfying at that point in her life.

"How different a man is when he is called Commissioner or Adviser and can be snubbed with impunity from the same man ones he's become Counselor, Grand Counselor, or Minister, when he's held in awe and can throw his weight around. . . . Women on the other hand are much less impressive. Certainly, an imperial nurse who attains third rank or the title High Gentlewoman is of considerable importance, but she is already past her best, and what is so good about it after all? And most women never even get so far. It seems that a lady who goes unto the provinces as a Governor's wife is envied as having achieved the epitome of prestige by normal standards. But surely more impressive is someone from an average family who becomes the wife of a court noble, or a court noble's daughter who becomes an empress" (Shonagon, p.174).