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
According to Sei, a priest giving a sermon ought to be handsome, because his teaching hits home most effectively if one is gazing at the priest’s face. If one’s attention drifts because of an unattractive face, it “has the effect of making you feel quite sinful.”
Members of the court often attended Buddhist sermon series, for both pious and social reasons. The sermon series were based on such popular Buddhist scriptures as the Lotus Sutras.
Themes
An ex-Chamberlain who no longer has enough to do will often turn up at many sermons, in part to be seen by others. Sometimes he’ll have an abstinence tag attached to his cap, just to let everyone know that even though he’s supposed to be staying at home, such rules don’t apply to someone of his level of piety. Often he ends up chatting with an old friend throughout the sermon anyway.
Yin-Yang divination, which originated in China, dictated that certain days should be set aside for abstinence, meaning that a person would stay at home to avoid evil influences, and would wear a tag on the hat to signify this state to others.
Themes
One day, while Sei was attending the Salvation Lotus Discourses at the temple, she received a note summoning her home. Sei wrote back, “You long for my return, / but I long only to be drenched / with Lotus dews of Truth.”
The Lotus Discourses expounded central Buddhist teachings and were ceremonially delivered in the temple over a course of days. The Salvation Lotus Sutra was believed to supply merit for salvation; Sei’s playful poem nevertheless suggests her piety.
Themes
Sei recalls attending a particularly important set of Salvation Lotus Discourses where everyone important, including the Regent at that time, showed up. She remembers the specific style of clothing everyone wore and that everyone’s red fans created the effect of a field of flowers. Sanekata, the finest poet of that day, sent a message to a woman in an outlying carriage. Everyone in attendance watched the exchange of messages with bated breath, wanting to overhear the poems being exchanged. Once the sermon began, the lady’s carriage quietly slipped away, and Sei never found out who it was.
Sei is always attentive to the details of people’s clothes—but this is not so much indicative of superficiality on her part as of common cultural values at the time: clothing signified rank and social position. The exchange of romantic poems was also a common part of court social life.
Themes
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