Book Subject Tag: Court and courtiers
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The pillow book of Sei Shonagon : the diary of a courtesan in tenth century Japan
Japan in the 10th century stood physically and culturally isolated from the rest of the world. Inside this bubble, a subtle and beautiful world was in operation, and its inhabitants were tied to the moment, having no interest in the future and disdain for the past. In a small diary, a young courtesan of the…
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A literary lady of old Japan.
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The pillow book of Sei Shonagon
Written by the court gentlewoman Sei Shonagon, ostensibly for her own amusement, The Pillow Book offers a fascinating exploration of life among the nobility at the height of the Heian period, describing the exquisite pleasures of a confined world in which poetry, love, fashion, and whim dominated, while harsh reality was kept firmly at a…
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The pillow book
A translation of the idiosyncratic diary of a C10 court lady in Heian Japan. Along with the Tale of Genji, it is one of the major Japanese classics.
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As I crossed a bridge of dreams : recollections of a woman in eleventh-century Japan
A Lady-in-waiting at a Heian court in medieval Japan records her personal feelings and reactions to social standards. Its shy and vulnerable author found happiness neither in her work at court nor with her family, and projected into her writing veiled longings that are both timeless and poignant.
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The Sarashina diary
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The gossamer years : the diary of a noblewoman of Heian Japan
Kagero Nikki, translated here as The Gossamer Years, belongs to the same period as the celebrated Tale of Genji. This frank autobiography diary reveals two tempestuous decades of the author’s unhappy marriage and her growing indignation at rival wives and mistresses. To impetuous to be satisfied as a subsidiary wife, this beautiful noblewoman of the…