Sei Shōn agon (circa 965 – after 1013) is a great Japanese writer, author of one of a masterpiece of Japanese and world literature, the Bedside Notes .
Poet's daughter
Sei Shōnagon was born around 965 into the Kiyohara clan, a powerful family in the Tōhoku region in the northeast from the island of Honshū (main island of Japan). His birth name is not known for sure, but could be Kiyohara Nagiko. Sei Shōnagon is his nyōbō name:an alias used by members of the nobility. Sei comes from the name of his family; Shōnagon refers to a government position, possibly occupied by her third husband.
What little we know of Sei Shōnagon's life comes mostly from his own writings. She is the daughter of Kiyohara no Motosuke, scholar, poet and member of the nobility. Not having an official income-generating position, his family is however experiencing financial difficulties.
Bedside Notes
At sixteen, Sei Shōnagon married Tachibana no Norimitsu, a government official. They will have a son, Norinaga. In 993, aged 27, Sei Shōnagon entered the service of Empress Teishi, one of Emperor Ichijō's two empress consorts, as a lady-in-waiting. At that time, the writer Murasaki Shikibu was in the service of Empress Consort Shōshi. A rivalry develops between the two women.
When Empress Teishi died in childbirth in 1001, Sei Shōnagon left at court. It was probably from then until 1010 that she worked on her work from notes written during her time at court. The Bedside Notes (Makura no sōshi ) indeed compile anecdotes, impressions, laments, observations, poems on life at court. A valuable historical document of the time, the book is also a great literary work thanks to the poetic style of its author.
Little is known about Sei Shōnagon's life after his time at court. Some believe that she became a Buddhist nun; others that she married Fujiwara no Muneyo, the governor of Settsu province, with whom she had a daughter.
Sei Shōnagon died after 1013, possibly around 1017 or 1025. The Bedside Notes and The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu are not only two great works of the time, but are also considered masterpieces of world literature.
Rare Things
A son-in-law praised by his stepfather.
A daughter-in-law loved by his stepmother.
Silver tweezers that pull good.
A servant who does not slander his master.
A person without the slightest mania, without infirmity, superior in body and spirit, and who remains without blemish, while living in the world.Bedside Notes (~995-1005), Sei Shōnagon (trans. André Beaujard), ed. Gallimard / Unesco, 2007, p. 96