Ito Okashi

Sei Shōnagon's 'The Pillow Book' is quite outspoken and amusing. It's amazing how you can tell she has a strong, clear personality just from her writing, not just competitive. She must have had a lot of education too. Besides 'Spring is the Dawn,' her descriptions of scenery are skillful, and she writes things like 'this is not beautiful' or 'I hate this kind of guy.' I like the part about 'Terrible Things' because it sounds so annoying and sticky, but even worse is 'The Imperial Cat Who Served Upstairs.' It makes me think humans are too beastly, like little dogs 😭. But it's a good passage to glimpse human arrogance and selfishness. All thanks to the dog. Then, after reading this, when you read 'Delightful Things' and 'Beautiful Things,' you see she's a very lovely and humane person. She's happy when she's praised or favored, or when she can help her superiors, but she's also happy when someone she likes is praised, as if it were her own achievement. She's happy she could win a competition against a man, and happy when an acquaintance fully recovers from illness ( ◜𖥦◝ ). It's cute how toddlers and baby birds each move as they please. The tools for the hina dolls, which are cute no matter what they do, are also cute. Everything small is cute ( ◜𖥦◝ ). That's the vibe. It's surprising she likes children and observes them so much, but given her position, she probably had quite a few opportunities to interact with them.