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About the Author:
    Sei Shōnagon (c. 966–1017) wrote The Pillow Book during the peaceful Heian period in Japan. As a member of the imperial court, she was known for her wit and poetry. She wrote The
Pillow Book around1002 and is a collection of impressions of court life. "A contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, who wrote The Tale of Genji, she reflects the same concern with style and taste typical of the period. Unlike the wistful and sometimes tragic mood of The Tale of Genji, however, the author of The Pillow Book expressed the feeling of okashi, or a delight in the novelty of life at court. Sei Shônagon's perceptive eye allows little to slip by; her writings have taught later generations much about the daily life of the aristocracy - and of women - during the classical period. "
Source: http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/japan/japanworkbook/literature/pillow.htm
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1024&

I.    Activating Prior Knowledge
    Have you ever kept a journal or diary where you recorded or your deepest thoughts and emotions? How would you feel if, in 1000 years, someone were to discover and publish your diary?

II.    Setting a Purpose for Reading
    At a time when the majority of women in Europe  and Africa could neither read or write, the women of Japan were writing novels and poetry. One of the first novels ever written, The Tale of Genji, was the story of the life of a fictious prince written by Murasaki Shikibu. Sei Shōnagon, another female writer and author of The Pillow Book was a collection of lists, observations, and rules of proper behavior. As you read Shonagon's writings, you need to think about what was important to the people of the imperial court.

III.    Reading the Text (Read, Re-Read, and Read Again)

 ...I set about filling the notebooks with odd facts, stories from the past, and all sorts of other things, often including the most trivial material. On the whole I concentrated on things and people I found charming and splendid; my notes are also full of poems and observations...It is written entirely for my own amusement and I put things down exactly as they came to me... I am the kind of person who approves what others abhor and detests the things they like.

Stop! Can you answer this question? If not, go back and re-read the passage.
Why did Sei Shonagon write The Pillow Book?

[25] Infuriating things

A guest who arrives when you have something urgent to do, and stays talking for ages. If it’s someone you don’t have much respect for, you can simply send them away and tell them to come back later, but if it’s a person with whom you feel you must stand on ceremony, it’s an infuriating situation.
A hair has got on to your inkstone and you find yourself grinding it in with the inkstick. Also, the grating sound when a bit of stone gets ground in with the ink.
[...]
A very ordinary person, who beams inanely as she prattles on and on.
[...]
A baby who cries when you’re trying to hear something. A flock of crows clamoring raucously, all flying around chaotically with noisily flapping wings. A dog that discovers a clandestine lover as he comes creeping in, and barks.
[...]
I hate it when, either at home or at the palace, someone comes calling whom you’d rather not see and you pretend to be asleep, but then a well-meaning member of the household comes along and shakes you awake with a look of disapproval at how you’ve dozed off.
Some newcomer steps in and starts interfering and lecturing the old hands as if she knows it all. This is quite infuriating.
[...]

Stop! Can you answer these questions? If not, go back and re-read the passage.
What conclusions can you draw about life in Japan during the Heian era? What is infuriating to you? Are there any similarities between the author and yourself?

[143] Things that make the heart lurch with anxiety
Watching a horse-race. Twisting up a paper hair-binding cord [because it might break].
When a parent looks out of sorts, and remarks that they’re not feeling well. This particularly worries you to distraction when you’ve been hearing panicky tales of plague sweeping the land. [...]
Your heart naturally lurches when you hear the voice of your secret lover in an unexpected place, but the same thing happens even when you hear someone else talking about him. It also lurches when someone you really detest arrives for a visit.

Stop! Can you answer these questions? If not, go back and re-read the passage.
What conclusions can you draw about life in Japan during the Heian era? What makes your heart lurch with anxiety? Are there any similarities between the author and yourself?

[241] Things that just keep passing by
A boat with its sail up.
People’s age.
Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter.

[242] Things that no one notices
All the inauspicious days.
The aging of people’s mothers.

[257] Things that give you pleasure
You’ve read the first volume of a tale you hadn’t come across before, and are longing to go on with it — then you find the other volume. The rest of it can sometimes turn out to be disappointing, however.
Piecing back together a letter that someone has torn up and thrown away, and finding that you can read line after line of it.
[...]
Someone you love is praised by others, and some high-ranking person comments that his talents are “not inconsiderable.”
When a poem that you’ve composed for some event, or in an exchange of poems, is talked of by everyone and noted down when they hear it. This hasn’t yet happened to me personally, but I can imagine how it would feel.
It’s very pleasing when someone you don’t know well mentions an old poem or story that you haven’t heard of, and then it comes up again in conversation with someone else. If you come across it later in something you’re reading, there’s the delightful moment when you cry, “Oh is THAT where it comes from!”, and you enjoy recalling the person’s mention of it.
[...]
Finding something you need in a hurry.
How could you fail to feel pleased when you win at a matching game, or some other kind of competition?
Managing to get the better of someone who’s full of themselves and overconfident. This is even more pleasing if it’s a man, rather than one of your own circle of gentlewomen. It’s fun to be constantly on your guard because you’re expecting him to try to get even with you, and it’s also fun to have been fooled into relaxing your guard over time, as he continues to act quite unconcerned and pretend nothing’s happened.
When someone you don’t like meets with some kind of misfortune, you’re pleased even though you know this is wicked of you.
[...]


[80] Things that have lost its power
A large boat which is high and dry in a creek at ebb-tide.
A woman who has taken off her false locks to comb the short hair that remains.
A large tree that has been blown down in a gale and lies on its side with its roots in the air.
The retreating figure of a sumo wrestler who has been defeated in a match.
A man of no importance reprimanding an attendant.
An old man who removes his hat, uncovering his scanty top-knot.
A woman, who is angry with her husband about some trifling matter, leaves home and goes somewhere to hide. She is certain that he will rush about looking for her; but he does nothing of the kind and shows the most infuriating indifference. Since she cannot stay away for ever, she swallows her pride and returns.

Source:http://www.robincamille.com/2009-11-06-excerpts-from-the-pillow-book/
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/japan/japanworkbook/literature/pillow.htm
http://www2.aes.ac.in/mswebsite_07/teachersites/mtabor/1_Geography/East_Asia/Korea_Japan/Pillow_Book.pdf

IV.    Personal Reflection - Respond to the following question(s) in your blog. Be sure to include quotes from the text to support your response.

(1) What does this document tell you about life during the Heian era in Japan? Cite at least one quote from the document to support your response.
(2) Create your on pillow book entry. All pillow book entries must be rated "G." Your entries should mirror those of the document and should be creative and use wit and humor. Your pillow book entry can cover one of these topics:
    (a)    Lists - Similar to the lists in the document. (e.g., "Things I Find Reassuringly Tedious.)
    (b)    Series of observations about daily life. (e.g., "My Nightmare Day at School.")
    (c)    Rules of proper behavior. (e.g., "Proper Behavior for the Cafeteria.")
    (d)    Descriptions of unique places. (e.g., "My Underwater Journey.")
    (e)    Description(s) of an artistic pieces. (e.g., "The Scream, Surrealism or Realism?")

V.    Peer Reflection - Read 3 classmates' responses and respond to what they have written.