Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Pillow Book, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Court Life vs. Common Life
Poetry and Social Relationships
Aesthetic Beauty, Delight, and Cultural Tradition
Romance and Official Duty
Summary
Analysis
Once, while Sei was away on a retreat, the Empress sent her a letter written on “red-tinted Chinese paper.” The enclosed poem relates that the peals of a temple bell toll “the loving thoughts [of you] that fill my heart.” Sei doesn’t have any suitable paper, so she sends her reply on a violet lotus petal. Sei follows this anecdote with lists of both posting stations and shrines.
The Empress’s stationery is paper of the highest quality, which is why Sei can’t use just any paper for her reply. The “lotus petal” is probably from an artificial flower. Sei’s thought processes can be traced by the way she moves from a specific piece of mail she received on a retreat to making lists of post offices and religious shrines.
Themes
Sei describes a legend that’s associated with the Aritoshi Shrine: there was once an Emperor who only liked young people and therefore killed anyone over age 40. Most older people fled, but a certain Captain, whose filial piety forbade him from separating from his parents, hid them in a secret room under his house. One day, the Emperor of China, who was constantly trying to get the better of the Japanese Emperor, sent him a riddle he couldn’t solve. Well-meaning, the Captain asked his old father for the answer. When the Captain passed his father’s answer along to the Emperor, it turned out to be correct. This happened several more times. Eventually, the Emperor sought to reward the Captain, who asked only that his parents be allowed to live freely in the capital. The Emperor granted this. The Captain’s father seems to have become the god of the Aritoshi shrine.
Sei moves from discussing shrines in general to relating the legend of a particular shrine. The legend contains culturally familiar themes of loyalty to family, rivalry between Japan and China, and the love of cleverness and riddles.
Themes
Sei notes that a gentlewoman who shows what it must be like to be reborn as a heavenly being is the ordinary gentlewoman who becomes an imperial wet-nurse. She gets to sleep in the Empress’s bedroom, summon the other ladies to send messages for her, and enjoy other privileges.
A wet nurse would breastfeed the imperial baby, hence her newly privileged status and intimate access to the family.
Themes
Sei lists the names of hills, things that fall (snow, hail, sleet, and snow), the best kinds of sun and moon, stars, and kinds of clouds. “Things that create a disturbance” include crows on a rooftop eating a portion of a monk’s morning meal. “Slovenly-looking things” include working women with their hair up, and the behavior of holy men. “People who are smug and cocky” include three-year-olds, healing women who gossip even while administering healing rituals, and fools who presume to instruct others.
A monk would set aside a portion of his morning meal as an offering to all sentient beings. With “holy men,” Sei is probably referring to eccentrics and hermits rather than everyday monks like those who would be seen in the capital.
Themes
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Sei despises people who express themselves poorly in writing or speech. It’s not so bad when a “country bumpkin” uses “slovenly” language, but when anyone else does this, it causes her to cringe. It’s wrong to speak over-politely, but at the same time, senior courtiers and other officials should not be addressed by their names, but by their titles.
Sei expects no better from common people than to use what she terms “slovenly” language, but it’s unbecoming for higher-ranked people to speak in this way. The etiquette of court speech is intricate and dependent on the relative ranks of the people involved.
Themes
Sei mentions a young man who married into a prosperous household, yet stopped calling on his new wife within a month, to wide condemnation. At the New Year he received a promotion to Chamberlain and boldly attended the Lotus Discourses in his dazzling uniform, even though his wife’s carriage was nearby, and everyone was astonished at his behavior. “It does seem,” Sei reflects, “that men don’t have much sympathy for others.”
Early in marriage, a young man would pay overnight visits to his wife rather than establishing a new home with her immediately. To stop paying visits would be a source of great insult to the young woman. Sei finds the insensitivity of this young man to reflect the character of men in general.
Themes
