000 03236cam a22003853u 4500
001 76016
003 UtSlPG
005 20260610134747.0
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040 _aUtSlPG
041 7 _aen
_2iso639-1
050 4 _aPL
100 1 _aSei Shōnagon,
_d967?-1025?
240 1 0 _aMakura no sōshi. Selections. English
245 1 4 _aThe pillow-book of Sei Shōnagon
264 1 _aSalt Lake City, UT :
_bProject Gutenberg,
_c2025
300 _a1 online resource :
_bmultiple file formats
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
500 _a"I have here translated about a quarter of the Pillow-book."--Preliminary notes.
500 _aWikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillow_Book
500 _aRelease date is 2025-05-05
508 _aCarla Foust, Robert Tonsing, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
520 _a"The Pillow-Book of Sei Shōnagon" is a collection of personal essays, memoirs, and observations written during the late 10th century in Japan. The work offers an intimate portrait of court life from the perspective of Sei Shōnagon, a lady-in-waiting to the Empress Sadako, showcasing her keen aesthetic sensibilities and acute social perceptions. The likely topic of the text is the daily customs, interpersonal relationships, and cultural practices at the Heian court, presented through lists, anecdotes, and reflective musings centered on Shōnagon’s own experiences and opinions. The opening of "The Pillow-Book of Sei Shōnagon" sets the historical and cultural context of the Heian period, emphasizing the court’s refined but insular civilization marked by a devotion to aesthetics, literature, and etiquette over intellectual or technological progress. Through the translator’s preface and the early passages, we are introduced to Shōnagon’s initial nervousness at court, her interactions with the Empress and fellow courtiers, and the subtle dynamics of courtly life—a world filled with poetry competitions, elegant outings, lively personalities, and social rivalries. Vivid anecdotes and detailed descriptions—such as the excitement of palace ceremonies, the role of poetry in daily life, and the nuanced etiquette of relationships—foreground the highly ritualized and emotionally intricate world of the Japanese aristocracy. This introduction immerses the reader in both the immediacy and the fragility of a vibrant court society seen through Shōnagon’s witty, sometimes candid, and often acutely observational lens. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
534 _pOriginally published:
_cLondon: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1928
653 _aJapan -- Court and courtiers
653 _aSei Shōnagon, approximately 967-
653 _aJapan -- Social life and customs -- 794-1185
700 1 _aWaley, Arthur,
_d1889-1966
856 4 _uhttps://archive.org/details/pillowbookofseis0000arth_v1i4/page/n1/mode/2up
856 4 0 _uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76016
999 _c116741
_d116741