The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon

[pegkerr]

I asked kijjohnson what I should read for a good introduction to Heian Japan (she's the go-to girl for answering questions like these) and she answered The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. AND sent me a copy (it's thoughtfulness like this that makes me love her so). How did I get through forty-five years without reading The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon? I am immediately seized by a compulsion to make lists:

Hateful Things
Badly trained dogs which jump up at one when one comes for a visit. How inconsiderate their owners are, who have inflicted such ill-trained rudeness on a guest!
Very hateful is a mouse that scurries all over the place [on this one agrees with Sei Shonagon]
Bats flying around one's room at night when when is trying to sleep--how hateful!
Discarded cigarette butts in dirty snowbanks
Persons who leave wet towels on the floor
Persons who cough continually during a music concert, who do not leave or attempt to stop themselves by sucking on a cough drop, very inconsiderate

Adorable Things
Young children sleeping
Pansies
A boy tossing sticks for a dog to fetch
A baby eating a first birthday cake, smearing frosting on its face

Things That Give A Clean Feeling
Lavender
Bars of new soap, wrapped in paper
New shelf paper
Pine needles
Cedar balls tucked into a drawer

Edited to add: Kij, take note: Here's The Pillow Book written in blogspeak! Thanks, whumpdotcom for the link!

Comments

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Me too.

Well, actually, no, Waley's the one I read first, on my own, but Seidensticker was the first one I did in a class, so the feels like the first time I really *read* it.