Essay Database

It's cherry blossom time again in Kyoto and all thoughts turn to the heyday of the ancient capital (well, my thoughts do anyway). Heian-kyo, now known as Kyoto, was the capital of Japan and the imperial residence from 794 until 1868. For most of that period, the Emperor was just a puppet figurehead and the Shogun really ran the country. But back in the tenth century, Heian-kyo was the center of wealth, commerce, power, and style. The …

…court, but about the everyday pastimes, arguments, and opinions of the courtiers. Reading Sei Shonagon's accounts of her encounters with the men in her life, her feuds with her roommates, and her complaints about the other courtiers make us feel that not much has changed in one thousand years. However, the raucous style in which she writes shocks us as it is nothing like the subdued, self-conscious, bashful style of the Japan of later centuries.