2002-05-31 - 6:09 p.m.

Excerpts from Sei Shonogan's Pillow Book:

That parents should bring up some beloved son of theirs to be a priest is really distressing. No doubt it is an auspicious thing to do: but unfortunately most people are convinced that a priest is as unimportant as a piece of wood, and they treat him accordingly. A priest lives poorly on meagre food, and cannot even sleep without being criticized. While he is young, it is only natural that he should be curious about all sorts of things, and, if there are women about, he will probably peep in their direction (though to be sure, with a look of aversion on his face). What is wrong

about that? Yet people immediately find fault with him for even so small a lapse.

On the first day of the First Month and on the third of the Third I like the sky to be perfectly clear. On the fifth of the Fifth Month I prefer a cloudy sky. On the seventh of the Seventh Month, it should also be cloudy; but in the evening it should be clear, so that the moon shines brightly in the sky and one can see the outline of stars. On the ninth of the Ninth Month, there should be a drizzle from early dawn. In the Eleventh

Month when there are fierce winds and heavy showers, it is quite cool and one does not bother to carry a fan.

One day when I was alone he came up to me and said, "My dear lady, I have

something I must tell you at once - something I've just heard." "And what may that be?" I asked. He approached my curtain. "I heard someone who instead of saying 'Bring your body closer, ' used the phrase, 'Bring up your five parts'". And again I burst into laughter.

One is about to say somthing to a person who is obviously embarassed, but then he

speaks first - very strange.

ADORABLE THINGS

A child whose hair has been cut like a nun's.

DEPRESSING THINGS

One has been foolish enough to invite a man to spend the night in an unsuitable

place - and then he starts snoring. Oh, the dreariness of it. Equally disagreeable is the man who, when leaving in the middle of the night, takes care to fasten the cord of his headdress. This is quite unnecessary.

***** A good lover will behave as elegantly at dawn as at any other time. The lady urges him on: "Come my friend, it's getting light. You don't want anyone to find you here. He gives a deep sigh, as if to say that the night has not nearly been long enough and that it is agony to leave. Once up he does not instantly pull on his trousers. Instead he comes close to the lady and whispers whatever was left unsaid during the night. Even when he is dressed, he still lingers, vaguely pretending to be fastening his sash. Indeed, one's attachment to a man depends largely on the elegance of his leavetaking. When he jumps out of bed, scurries about the room, tightly fastens his trouser sash, stuffs his belongings into the breast of his robe and then briskly secures the outer sash - one really begins to hate him.

THINGS THAT SHOULD BE LARGE

Priests.

THINGS THAT MAKE ONE'S HEART BEAT FASTER

To notice that one's elegant Chinese Mirror has become a little cloudy. It is night and one is expecting a visitor. Suddenly one is startled by the sound of rain drops, which the wind blows against the shutters.

THINGS WITHOUT MERIT

Rice starch that has become mixed with water...I know that is a very vulgar item and everyone will dislike my mentioning it.

TREES

I shall say absolutely nothing about the spindle tree.

THINGS THAT GIVE A PATHETIC IMPRESSION

The expression of a woman plucking her eyebrows.

BIRDS

If I were to write down all my thoughts about the crane, I should become tiresome.

During the short summer nights in the rainy season one sometimes wakes up and

lies in bed hoping to be the first person to hear the hototogisu. Suddenly towards dawn its song breaks the silence; one is charmed, indeed one is quite intoxicated.

But alas, when the Sixth Month comes, the hototogisu is silent. I really need say no more about my feelings for this bird. And I do not love the hototogisu alone; anything that cries out at night delights me - except babies.

ELEGANT THINGS

Duck eggs.

THINGS THAT GIVE A HOT FEELING

The captain in attendance at the Imperial Games. An extremely fat person with a lot of hair. Nothing annoys me so much as someone who arrives at a ceremony in a shabby, poorly decorated carriage. It is not so bad if the person has come to hear a sermon wih the aim of clearing himself of sin: but even then a very inelegant carriage is bound to make a bad effect. At the Kamo Festival, of course, such negligence is quite inexcusable. Yet there are people who actually attend the ceremony in carriages where the plain white robes have been hung up instead of proper blinds. Even when one has carefully equipped one's carriage in honour of the great day making sure that the blinds and other fittings are exactly right, and has set out for the ceremony confident that one presents a fairly elegant appearance to the world, it

is most unpleasant to see a nearby carriage superior to one's own, and one wonders why it had to appear at just that place. How much more galling must it be for someone who is travelling in a really shabby carriage! What could be more magnificent that to see so august a personage as His Majesty seated there in all his glory and honouring his mother in this way. At the sight tears came to my eyes and streamed down my face, ruining my make-up. How ugly I must have looked.

THINGS THAT GIVE AN UNCLEAN FEELING

A rat's nest. A swarm of mice, who still have no fur, when they come wriggling our of their nest.

When a woman lives alone, her house should be extremely dilapidated, the mud wall should be falling to pieces, and if there is a pond it should be overgrown with water plants. It is not essential that the garden be covered with sage-brush; but weeds should be growing through the sand in patches, for this gives the place a poignantly desolate look. I greatly dislike a woman's house when it is clear that she has scurried

about with a knowing look on her face, arranging everything just as it should be, and when (the) gate is kept tightly shut.

THINGS THAT LOSE BY BEING PAINTED

Men or women who are praised in romances as being beautiful. One bright moonlight

night a messenger thrust a note into the ante- room where I was staying. On a

sheet of magnificent scarlet paper I read the words, "There is nothing". It was the moonlight that made this so delightful. I wonder whether I would have enjoyed it at all on a rainy night.

THINGS THAT ARE UNPLEASANT TO SEE

A lean hirsute man taking a nap in the daytime. Does it occur to him what a spectacle he is making of himself? Ugly men should sleep only at night, for they cannot be seen in the dark and, besides most people are in bed themselves. But they should get up at the crack of dawn so that no one has to see them lying down.

**A pretty woman looks even prettier when she gets up after taking a nap on a summer day. But an unattractive woman should avoid such things, for her face will be all puffy and shining and, if she is is not lucky, her cheeks will have an ugly lopsided look. When two people, having taken a nap together in the daytime, wake up and see each other's

sleep-swollen faces, how dreary life must seem to them ACH! I suppose one of the reasons I do not like ugly women to wear unlined robes is that one can see their navels!

-bsg-

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