You might have heard of the Pillow Book. It originally began as a memoir written out on the pages of old, empty notebooks and was written in the Heian period of Japan (794 - 1185). The Heian period is noted for being the first time in recorded history that Japan closed its ports and decided to have a little high-culture revolution. Chinese was spoken in court, but what was more important was to be a quintessential "renaissance man" -- a warrior-poet who appreciated the beauty of natural surroundings. Sei Shonagon wrote one of the only books to come out of the salon of Empress Teishi, while a rivaling salon produced an incredible number of works of lesser quality. Her writing is elegant, insightful, and expounds on natural beauty.
It's also incredibly hilarious.
Shonagon was pretty much the first blogger. In an excerpt printed in our Japanese Lit textbook (Traditional Japanse Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600, Haruo Shirane), Shonagon writes of a cat who lived in the palace, of families who push their sons into priesthood in order to obtain Buddhist blessings, and short poems of haunting beauty, even in translation.
She also writes lists. Among others, "Adorable things," "Hateful things," "Depressing things," and "Rare things" are written with an unusual ("unfeminine," at least) frankness. Elegant are wisteria blossoms, or plum blossoms covered in snow. With a display of frankness rare for a Heian period woman, she says, when "One is in a hurry to leave, but one's visitor keeps chattering away. If it is someone of no importance, one can get rid of him by saying, 'You must tell me all about it next time'; but should it be the sort of visitor whose presence commands one's best behavior, the situation is hateful indeed." She writes of a lover sneaking into one's house and how she "feels like killing the beast" when a dog starts barking, alerting the entire neighborhood.
Her honesty is refreshing and the things she writes about can still be identified with, to this day. I definitely recommend reading some of Pillow Book, especially if you can find an annotated translation explaining some of the lost cultural references.
