Notes at the head

One day, the chambermaid Sei received a pile of blank paper as a gift from the empress and began to write her “Notes at the Bedside”, having no literary pretensions and no other purpose other than her own pleasure. As Sei Shonagon herself admits, she was very embarrassed when her book became public. Then she could not even imagine what a huge impact her “Notes” would have on Japanese literature, laying the foundation for a new, extremely popular genre - zuihitsu (“following the brush”), that is, the essay genre. Now the collection of subtle, ironic, often aphoristic diary entries and landscape sketches of Sei Shonagon is rightfully considered the pearl of Japanese medieval fiction. The sophistication of the literary form, psychological insight and rich imagery of “Notes at the Bedside” inspired many to create new zuihitsu. Among such followers one can name Yoshishige no Yasutane - like Sei Shonagon, he lived in the Heian era. His “Notes from a Gazebo over a Pond” is a small hymn to private life in a secluded house, protecting its inhabitants from the hardships and temptations of the crowded capital. The unhurried detail and the love with which this learned man, the prince’s mentor, paints his modest lands, garden and pond with carps playing in it, touches the heart after many centuries.