Sei Shōnagon

Sei Shōnagon was born around 966, the daughter of the scholar and poet Kiyohara no Motosuke. Her real name is unknown: the one given to her joins the Sino-Japanese reading of the first character of her clan's name to the title of an administrative office. From 993 she served the Empress Teishi, wife of the Emperor Ichijō, and left the court around the year 1000. The novelist who served the second empress judged her severely in her diary, while acknowledging her talent. The date of her death is uncertain.

In the catalogue 1

• EssayThe Pillow Book枕草子Sei Shōnagon · 1002Literature