1. I have here translated about a quarter of the _Pillow-Book_.[1]
Omissions have been made only where the original was dull,
unintelligible, repetitive, or so packed with allusion that it required
an impracticable amount of commentary.
2. Short extracts from the _Pillow-Book_ will be found in Aston’s
_Japanese Literature_ (1899), Florenz’s _Geschichte der Jap.
Litteratur_ (1906), and Revon’s _Anthologie de la Littérature
Japonaise_ (1910). Save for a line or two here and there, and two
anecdotes (pp. 78 and 113), parts of which are translated by Aston
and Revon, I have avoided what has been translated before, not on
principle, but because it seemed to me that, on the whole, the least
interesting passages had been chosen.[2]
3. The text I have used is that of the _Makura no Sōshi Hyōshaku_
(first published, 1924; 2nd edition in one volume, 1926), by Kaneko
Moto-omi, to whose commentary I am greatly indebted. The proofs have
been read by Miss Sybil Pye and Mr. Tadao Doi, to both of whom I am
very grateful.
THE PILLOW-BOOK OF SEI
SHŌNAGON