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is a book of observations and musings recorded by Sei Shōnagon during her time as court lady to Empress Consort Teishi (定子) during the 990s and early 11th century in Heian Japan. The book was completed in the year 1002. In it she included lists of all kinds, personal thoughts, interesting events in court, poetry, and some opinions on her contemporaries. While it is mostly a personal work, Shōnagon's writing and poetic skill makes it interesting as a work of literature, and it is valuable as a historical document. Part of it was revealed to the Court by accident during Shōnagon's life. The book was first translated into English in 1889 by T. Purcell and W. G. Aston. Other notable English translations were by Arthur Waley in 1928, Ivan Morris in 1967, and Meredith McKinney in 2006. ''The Dog Pillow'' is an Edo period parody. ==Overview== Starting with the "exhaustiveness" of the "collection of similar things" and how it is represented by "as for worms", "as for the flowers of trees", "awful things", and "things of beauty", author Sei Shōnagon’s "Ramblings" observed the nature of everyday life and the four seasons, and described in diverse sentences "her recollections" (her diary) that look back at the society of the imperial court surrounding Empress Teishi whom she served, among other things. Three types of classification were proposed by Kikan Ikeda.〔池田亀鑑, ''Complete Lectures on The Pillow Book'' (全講枕草子』解説), 1957〕 However, there are sections that are rather ambiguous and are difficult to classify (e.g., in the first paragraph of her ramblings, "As for Spring, (it is) the dawn (is lovely )", there are objections to common opinions of what is actually meant here). It is composed primarily in Japanese hiragana, and generally many of her short stories were written in a witty literary style. Confessions of her personal feelings are mixed into her writing with occasionally subtle sentimentality that reflects the downfall of the emperor’s adviser, Fujiwara no Michitaka (her biological father), as well as the misfortune of both Emperor and Empress Teishi. Both the author's sophisticated sense and her eye for particular things are fused; for if one compares the sentimentality of ''mono no aware'' (the Pathos of Things) as found in "The Tales of Genji", similar beauty of the world is revealed through the use of the intellectual word ''okashi'' (lovely) in this piece. The miscellaneous collection has been arranged loosely into three types, while the collection of similar things has been compiled by distinct classification, and this so-called compiling was done afterwards by the hands of people other than Sei Shōnagon. In general, this piece is written in brief statements, where the length of one paragraph is relatively short, and it is easy to read the contents, even for modern Japanese speakers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Pillow Book」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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