[1] _Makura no Sōshi_, this being a name given at the time to notebooks
in which stray impressions were recorded.
[2] Since this was written there has appeared _Les Notes del’Oreiller_,
by K. Matsuo and Steinilber-Oberlin, containing extracts which amount,
like mine, to about a quarter of the original. My selection was,
however, made from a very different point of view and coincides with
theirs only to the extent of a few pages. The two books are therefore
complementary.
[3] Often referred to as Kyōto, i.e. the Capital.
[4] E.g. Taira no Koremochi and Minamoto no Mitsunaka. But the point
should not be pressed; for Eshin was also patronized by the Emperor’s
mother, who was a Fujiwara.
[5] See _A Wreath of Cloud_ (_Genji_, part iii), p. 22.
[6] In _Court Ladies of Old Japan_ (Constable, 1921) two diaries of
the period, as well as that of Murasaki, are translated. Of these,
the ‘Diary of Izumi Shikibu’ is not a genuine document, but a romance
written round the well-known story of Izumi’s love-affairs; the
_Sarashina Diary_ is a much worked-up and highly literary production.
For the _Kagerō nikki_, ‘Gossamer Diary,’ see introduction to _The Tale
of Genji_, vol. ii.
[7] Finished in A.D. 720. Translated by W. G. Aston.
[8] He also organized the building of the great harbour at Uozumi.
[9] Only 26 pages long. It is contained in the _T’ang Tai Ts’ung Shu_,
or Minor Works of the T’ang dynasty.
[10] Buddhists being forbidden to kill.
[11] Who is so unhappy about his appearance that he hides all day and
only comes out at night.
[12] For Buddhist observances.
[13] In allusion to the poem: ‘In this mountain village, after the
snow-storm, no roads are left; and my heart is full of pity for him who
I know will come.’ Taira no Kanemori, the author of this poem, had died
a few months before.
[14] Another Fujiwara grandee, a distant cousin of their host.
[15] Twenty-one of them were led in procession.
[16] The first poem that children learned to write.
[17] Probably in 984.
[18] Of the year 995.
[19] Instead of walking to the Eastern Gate, the only one which the
Palace staff was supposed to use.
[20] The Kamo festival, in the fourth month.
[21] The Empress’s maternal uncle. The Empress’s mother came of a
comparatively humble family.
[22] Fujiwara no Kiminobu, aged eighteen; cousin of the Empress.
[23] A soft, high-crowned cap.
[24] The bulls that drew it had to be unyoked at the Palace gate.
[25] See _The Sacred Tree_, p. 89.
[26] Then a child of four. His mother was Kane-iye’s daughter.
[27] Second daughter of Kane-iye’s brother, Tamemitsu.
[28] The year of the cuckoo-expedition that Shōnagon has just described.
[29] See above, p. 49.
[30] In allusion to the poem: ‘Like a river that has dived into the
earth, but is flowing all the while; so my heart, long silent, leaps up
replenished in its love.’
Moreover, the azalea signifies silence because it is of the shade of
yellow known as _kuchinashi_ and _kuchi nashi_ means ‘mouthless,’
‘dumb.’
[31] 998, third month. Yukinari was then twenty-six. He died at the age
of fifty-five, in 1027. Often called Kōzei.
[32] This gentleman was evidently carrying on an affair with Ben no
Naishi. There was a Clerk of the Left and a Clerk of the Right. The
person referred to is either Minamoto no Yoriyoshi or Fujiwara no
Tadasuke.
[33] A few years later Yukinari became known as the greatest
calligrapher of his time.
[34] For the Empress.
[35] To the Analects of Confucius: ‘If you are wrong, don’t stand on
ceremony with yourself, but change!’ Yukinari thinks that Shōnagon is
inviting him to take liberties with her.
[36] Brother-in-law of Murasaki, authoress of _The Tale of Genji_.
[37] Presumably Noritaka was closely related to Shōnagon’s companion.
[38] The ladies were dressing in an alcove curtained off from the rest
of the room.
[39] Minamoto no Tsunefusa, 969–1023.
[40] Minamoto no Narimasa. This gentleman, together with Tsunefusa
and Tadanobu, reappears in Murasaki’s _Diary_. The three make music
together at the time of the Empress Akiko’s confinement (A.D. 1008);
‘but not a regular concert, for fear of disturbing the Prime Minister.’
[41] In early Japanese poetry ‘sister’ means beloved. But at this
period it indicated a platonic relationship and is often contrasted
with words implying greater intimacy. Tachibana no Norimitsu was famous
for his courage; he once coped single-handed with a band of robbers
that had entered Tadanobu’s house.
[42] Meaning ‘If you are tempted to speak, stuff cloth in your mouth as
you did last time.’
[43] An acrostic. There is a series of ingenious puns; for example,
_me-kuwase_ = ‘to hint with a wink,’ but also ‘to cause to eat rag.’
[44] Shōnagon’s father died before she went to Court.
[45] The adverb he uses (_raisō to_), evidently a very emphatic one,
was a slang expression of the time, the exact meaning of which is
uncertain.
[46] Out to the front of the house.
[47] A courtier not admitted on to the Imperial dais.
[48] Mikasa means ‘Three Umbrellas.’
[49] A member of the Minamoto clan; afterwards Governor of Awa.
[50] For ‘five limbs’ the speaker uses a pedantic Chinese expression,
corresponding to a Latinism in English.
[51] When the New Year appointments were announced.
[52] Cloth soaked in sticky oil.
[53] As opposed to the barrack roll-calls.
[54] The ladies-in-waiting’s quarters in the Empress’s apartments, as
opposed to their rooms in the less prominent parts of the Palace.
[55] A movable partition which concealed the washing-place. On the
inside was painted a cat; on the outside, sparrows and bamboos.
[56] Summer, 998 (?).
[57] In 996.
[58] The Minami no In, the palace of Michitaka, the Empress’s father.
This episode must have taken place in the twelfth month of 992.
[59] I.e. two hours, the Japanese hour being twice ours.
[60] Reading _hiraginu_.
[61] Lespedeza bicolor.
[62] Eularia japonica.
[63] Which would be in Chinese, as these magicians worked according to
a method deduced from the Chinese _Book of Changes_.
[64] Minamoto no Narinobu (born A.D. 972) was a son of Prince Okihira
(953–1041).
[65] Temple of Kwannon, near Kyōto.
[66] Translated by de la Vallée Poussin, Geuthner, 1923 _seq._; a
treatise by Vasubandhu, expounding the philosophy of the Sarvāstivādins.
[67] Slipped on over one’s outdoor boots, like the slippers worn in a
mosque.
[68] Literally, the low rails in front of the altar.
[69] The priests were employed to make dedications on behalf of their
patrons.
[70] Used in the decoration of Buddhist altars.
[71] Allusion not identified. Must be to a poem such as: ‘In this
mountain temple at evening when the bell sounds, to know that it is
ringing for our good, how comforting the thought!’
[72] When the great scholar Moto-ori visited this temple in 1772 he
was startled by the sudden noise of the conch-horn, blown at the hour
of the Serpent (9 a.m.). At once there came into his mind this passage
from _The Pillow-Book_ and ‘the figure of Shōnagon seemed to rise up
before me’ (_Sugagasa Nikki_, third month, seventh day). It is in this
same temple that, in _The Tale of Genji_, Murasaki lays the scene of
the meeting between Ukon and the long-lost Tamakatsura. The local
people (Moto-ori tells us) had no idea that the characters in _Genji_
were imaginary, and pointed out to him ‘the tomb of Tamakatsura.’
[73] A note folded up and twisted into an elaborate knot. In this case
it would contain instructions for special services or prayers.
[74] A _kyōge_ or ritual for ‘instruction and transformation’ of evil
influences.
[75] The early service, at about 3 a.m.
[76] I.e. Kwannon, whose _sūtra_ forms the 25th chapter of the
_Hokkekyō_.
[77] A Chinese who became so completely absorbed in the _Tao Tē
Ching_ of Lao Tzu that he sat reading it on the edge of a river until
(according to one version of the story) the spring floods carried him
away.
[78] Of the Scriptures.
[79] _Yoroshi_, ‘good,’ is used by Shōnagon just as we use the word
‘good’ in such expressions as ‘a good while ago,’ etc. Aston (p. 116)
did not understand this and completely mistranslates the sentence.
[80] It was the anniversary of his father’s death, or the like, and he
should have remained strictly closeted at home. The ‘taboo-ticket,’
_mono-imi no fuda_, was worn as a sign that he must not be disturbed.
[81] The Empress’s brother, Ryū-en.
[82] A creature that squeezes its way into the shells of other fish.
[83] There is here a series of puns too complicated for explanation.
[84] What we should call bobbed hair; standing out fan-wise behind, and
worn about six inches long over the temples.
[85] Like our Venetian blinds.
[86] Bringing messages from home, or the like.
[87] The examinations for officers of the Sixth Rank and under.
[88] I.e. Confucius. This is the ceremony in honour of Confucius and
his disciples. In Chinese, _Shih-tien_. I quote this passage because it
illustrates the extraordinary vagueness of the women concerning purely
male activities.
[89] I.e. dream-interpreter. Modern experts have seldom been known to
take this reassuring view.
[90] Light purple, lined with clear blue.
[91] Partitions made of thin pieces of wood, laid trellis-wise.
[92] The incantations of the priest cause the spirit which is
possessing the sick person to pass into the medium, who, being young
and healthy, easily throws it off.
[93] Not to be confused with Minamoto no Narimasa, mentioned above.
[94] The story of Yü Kung, who rebuilt his gate because of a conviction
that his son Ting-kuo would rise to greatness, is told in the little
handbook of improving anecdotes to which I refer below (p. 151).
Shōnagon is laughing at the fact that Narimasa should so easily have
been impressed.
[95] Shōnagon was now about thirty-four; Narimasa was fifty.
[96] He uses an affected pronunciation.
[97] Died in 1018, at the age of nineteen.
[98] See above, p. 65.
[99] There is a good copy of this at the British Museum.
[100] The intimacy would, of course, be secret. Shōnagon’s
embarrassment would proceed solely from her own conscience.
[101] Except in the case of _uta_, the small poems of thirty-one
syllables.
[102] Higuchi Ichyō (1872–1896).
[103] Preserved only in the so-called ‘manuscript with the
side-commentary.’
Transcriber’s Notes:
• Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
• Text enclosed by pluses is in small caps (+small caps+).
• Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.
• Paragraph spacing follows that of the book; there are many wide
gaps where a thought break would be inappropriate, such as
attributions followed by quotes.