The Pillow Book

Sei thinks that it’s very awkward and embarrassing when one runs out to greet a visitor, only to discover that the person has come to see someone else. It’s also embarrassing to say something rude about someone, only to have a child repeat one’s words in front of that person. Additionally, Sei thinks it’s embarrassing when someone tells a sad story, but try as one might, one is unable to cry.

This reminds Sei of a time when the Emperor’s carriage stopped in front of the Dowager Empress’s viewing stand during an imperial procession, and his greeting was so moving that Sei cried until her makeup came off. The whole thing made her want to “jump with delight” as she imagined the Dowager Empress’s feelings about her son.

Sei thinks it’s beautiful when water drops hang on garden plants and the morning sun shines on them, or when rain clings to spiderwebs. She also loves it when a branch of the bush clover suddenly springs free of its weight of morning dew. “I also find it fascinating,” she adds, “that things like this can utterly fail to delight others.”

One day Sei receives a wrapped gift, by way of a groundsman, from Secretary Controller Yukinari. It contains two heitan cakes and a formal letter of presentation. The letter jokingly addresses Sei as though she were a Junior Counsellor. Sei consults with an official in charge of court ceremonies about the proper protocol for her response. She ends up sending a punning reply back (playing on heitan, which is similar to reitan, the word for “rude”), whereupon Yukinari appears and praises Sei’s cleverness—she didn’t send a “half-baked poem” or show off, but she actually took the time to send a brilliant reply.

One night, the court ladies idly discuss and debate the odd names of various ceremonial items and articles of clothing. Finally Sei tells them to knock it off and go to sleep, when suddenly a nearby night-priest startles them by interjecting, “No […] Do keep talking all night, ladies.”

After the Regent’s death, the Empress has religious services performed on behalf of his soul every month. Great crowds attend, and the preacher, Seihan, draws tears even from the young people with his sermons. Afterward, Tadanobu recites an especially moving Chinese poem. Tadanobu often teases Sei about their relationship—why can’t they become closer? Sei teases back that if they became lovers, she could no longer praise him in public—she hates it when people do that.

One evening, Secretary Controller Yukinari visits and stays talking until nearly dawn. The next morning he sends Sei a regretful note about having had to leave at the cock’s crow. Sei responds that perhaps he heard “the false cock of Lord Mengchang.” They exchange poems about guards and barrier gates, and although Sei is finally stumped about how to respond, Yukinari praises her perceptive nature to everyone—she’s not shallow and frivolous like many women.