![]() ![]() ![]() Its writing style is extremely individualistic: there is no similar book except "Gizan-zassan (Gizan Collection)," compiled by Shangyin LI (courtesy name Yishan), a poet of the late Tang dynasty. Along with both "Hojo-ki (The Ten-Foot-Square Hut)," written by KAMO no Chomei, and " Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness)" written by Kenko YOSHIDA, it is called one of the three Japanese major lists, histories and satires. Together with " The Tale of Genji," this book is considered one of the twin masterpieces of Heian literature, and it had a great influence on the Renga (linked verse), Haikai (seventeen-syllable verse), and Kanazoshi (old stories witten in the kana script) that followed. ![]() The title was also written using Chinese characters such as '枕草紙' (Makurazoshi Notebook), '枕冊子' (Makura Sasshi), '枕双紙' (Makura soshi), and '春曙抄' (Shunsho-sho Commentary), and the oldest manuscript (called "maedabon" in Japanese), a copy of which was made in the Kamakura period, has a gold-lacquered casket with the Chinese characters "清少納言枕草子" ( Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book) written on it. "The Pillow Book" is a zuihitsu essay (literally, "random jottings"), which is said to have been written by Sei Shonagon, a female writer who lived in the mid-Heian period. ![]()
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