Great Works at 10.20am Spring 2015

Sei Shonagon: More than just Black and White

In Sei Shonagon’s times, it was incredibly difficult to become an equal to men amongst society. One important thing to keep in mind is that, in Heian Japan, court women were called after the court title of a male family member. This alone shows the difficulty of women representing their own individuality and not being able to fully obtain their own identity. As for Sei Shonagon, although her real name is unsure, she represents a strong determined women; one who is recognized not by her name but for her work. One of her well-known works, The Pillow Book, gives us a good sense in what kind of person she was. The Pillow Book is a collection of lists, reflections, and journals in which proves her to be a women of many shades; very much complicated, yet simple to understand.

From her lists we can infer that she is a person who appreciates the little things in life. She is very detailed oriented and focuses on things people do not pay mind to. A great example of this would be her first list of the seasons from the year. In the list she describes what she finds lovely in each one of the season; “In Summer…it’s beautiful when fireflies are dancing everywhere in a mazy flight…Rain falling on a summer night is also lovely”(1131). The list continues to show each little detail that makes the season what it really is about. In addition, because the book is a collection of her writings, and the fact that she organizes her writing accordingly; by lists, reflections, and journals, proves once again her organizing and structuring qualities.

Along with the good, there is also bad. In some of her reflections she says judgmental and sharp statements, “A priest who gives a sermon should be handsome.”(1142) Her reason for that is, a nice face will keep anyone interested. Another sharp statement is, “anyone less than attractive will emerge from a nap and a face all greasy and bloated with sleep… How dreary for two such people to have to look each other in the face when they get up”(1151) Although this can be true, we can see that she is a picky person. She is someone that will not associate with just anyone. We are also constantly reminded of how detailed oriented she is, for example things like, “someone wearing a robe with the back seam hitched over to one side” (1151) are distressing for her to see. Those little things get to her and make her to be a person of high standards and elegancy.

This women shows many different sides of a strong women; she possesses good and bad qualities like any other human. She is down to earth, respectful, educated and talented, yet possess a judgmental, and in some ways, close minded personality. However without having any of these qualities, I believe she would just be another regular women; one who doesn’t fully posses their identity, themselves. She is a good representation of women, she demonstrates passion, elegancy and witty-ness; in addition Sei Shonagon represents everyone in general; she has faults like all of us.