One of My Pet Peeves is…: Sei Shonagon and Her Language

清少納言『枕草子』「ねたきもの」英語訳

We all know too well that making a mistake makes us feel awkward and annoyed. For a change, why not think about failure from a different point of view?  Sei Shonagon, one of the most renowned Japanese women writers from the 11th century, wrote about pet peeves in her great classic prose, “Makura no Soshi (The Pillow Book)”, a thick volume of notes with as many as 300 chapters. OK. Here is what she says:

間違えることは、気まずくイラッとさせられるもの。今回は、気分転換に、少し違った視点で考えてみましょう。11世紀の女性作家である清少納言も、日常のちょっとしたイラッについて書いているんです。300にものぼる章段から成る「枕草子」の一部をのぞいてみましょう。

ねたきもの
人のもとにこれより遣るも、人の返事も、書きて遣りつる後、文字一つ二つ思ひ直したる。
とみの物縫ふに、かしこう縫ひつと思ふに、針を引き抜きつれば、はやく後を結ばざりけり。

Annoying and helpless are the things like these:
You’ve finished writing a poem, or a reply, and only after have you sent out someone with it, you think that a couple of words should be changed.
You’ve finished sewing something in a hurry and you pulled out the needle in full satisfaction, then you notice that you forgot to make a knot at the end of the thread.

どうしようもなくてイラッっとするもの
人に宛てて書いたものでも返事であっても、書き終えたものを使いの者に持たせた後で、やっぱり一文字二文字直したいと思うこと
急いで縫わなくてはいけないものが完成して、うまくできたぞと思って針を抜いたら、糸の端をちゃんと結ぶのを忘れてたこと

Arguably, at the age of 28, she started to serve as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Teishi, 18, much respected for her sophistication. The Pillow Book contains a variety of topics such as diary entries, character sketches and detailed record of upper-class Court life. Her language is varied but compressed, rapturous in adoration for Empress but still lyrical. The limpid beauty of her language marked by repetitiveness, which might be too banal and naïve for Western readers, gives the passages a stylistic rhythm and musicality that still resonate with modern Japanese readers. What do you think?

才知ある18歳の中宮定子のもと宮仕えを始めたのが28歳の時。枕草子は、日記的章段や、人物描写、宮廷生活の記録などからなっています。清少納言の筆致は、多岐に渡りつつも簡明で、中宮讃美にのぼせているようで詩的。繰り返しが多用される彼女の文体に宿る簡潔な美、それは西洋の読者には少し凡庸で技巧に欠けるように思えるかもしれません。しかし、現代の日本人読者にも文体上のリズムと音楽性をもって響いてくるように思えますが、いかがですか?

Tag: Dear Mistakes…
Mistakes are The Norm
Danger Keep Out
Trouble Is A Friend
Variations Sauvages
One of My Pet Peeves is… Sei Shonagon and Her Language