The Cat who lived in the Palace

The Cat who lived in the Palace by : Lady Sei Shonagon

Lady Sei Shonagon

a Japanese author and a court lady who served the Empress Teishi (Sadako) around the year 1000 during the middle Heian period.

She is best known as the author of The Pillow Book

Lady Sei ShonagonShnagon is also known for her rivalry with her contemporary, writer and court lady Murasaki Shikibu, author of The Tale of Genji who served the Empress Shoshi.

She was the daughter of Kiyohara no Motosuke, a scholar and well-known waka poet, who worked as a provincial official. Her grandfather Kiyohara no Fukayabu was also a waka poet

Lady Sei Shonagon

Shnagon became popular through her work The Pillow Book, a collection of lists, gossip, poetry, observations, complaints written during her years in the court,.

Lady Sei Shonaganit is mostly a personal work, Shnagon's writing and poetic skill makes it interesting as a work of literature, and it is valuable as a historical document. Part of it was revealed to the Court by accident during Shnagon's life.

The book was first translated into English in 1889 by T. Purcell and W. G. Aston

JAPANESE CIVILIZATION

CAPITAL : TOKYO LANGUAGE : NIHONNGO RELIGION : BUDDHISM

The first novel, The Tale of Genji, was written in 1007 by a Japanese noble woman, Murasaki Shikibu.

Tsukiji market in Tokyo is the world's largest fish market.

The Japanese language has thousands of foreign loan words, known as gairaigo.

Japan is the largest automobile producer in the world.

Average life expectancy in Japan is one of the highest in the world. Japanese people live an average of 4 years longer than Americans.

Japan is the worlds largest consumer of Amazon rain forest timber.

Religion does not play a big role in the lives of most Japanese and many do not understand the difference between Shintoism and Buddhism

Mt. Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan, is an active volcano.

Five elements (Japanese philosophy)One is called, in Japanese, gogy (), having its backgrounds in the Chinese five elements, and the other is called godai (). Godai is usually regarded as a Buddhism term in Japan, with certain influences from Hinduism

The Buddhist philosophy godai, lit. "five great", is perhaps best known in the West for their use in Miyamoto Musashi's famous text Gorin-no-sho (The Book of Five Rings), in which he explains different aspects of swordsmanship by assigning each aspect to an element.

FIVE ELEMENTS

Chi (sometimes ji) or tsuchi, meaning "Earth", represents the hard, solid objects of the world. The most basic example of chi is in a stone

Sui or mizu, meaning "Water", represents the fluid, flowing, formless things in the world. Outside of the obvious example of rivers and the like, plants are also categorized under sui, as they adapt to their environment

Ka or hi, meaning "Fire", represents the energetic, forceful, moving things in the world. Animals, capable of movement and full of forceful energy, are primary examples of ka objects.

F or kaze, meaning "Wind", represents things that grow, expand, and enjoy freedom of movement.

K or sora, most often translated as "Void", but also meaning "sky" or "Heaven", represents those things beyond our everyday experience, particularly those things composed of pure energy.

Important personsKawabata was a Japanese short story writer and novelist

Masuji Ibuse. He was a Japanese writer who became famous after World War II.

Edogawa Rampo. Best known by his literary pseudonym

Susano o

This god had a fierce temper and was given to cruel acts.

SAMURAI 400,000 warriors, called "samurai", whose ranks ranged in numerous grades and degrees.

The samurai were affiliated with senior lords in a well-established chain of command

governmentDuring the Edo period,/Tokugawa period, the administration of the country was shared by over two hundred daimy in a federation governed by the Tokugawa shogunate.

GOVERNMENTThe Tokugawa clan, leader of the victorious eastern army in the Battle of Sekigahara, was the most powerful of them and for fifteen generations monopolized the title of Sei-i Taishgun (often shortened to shgun).

Yayoi period

Yayoi periodPit DwellingRice Storage kura

Yayoi periodThis period is named after Yayoi town, the subsection of Bunky, Tokyo, where archaeological investigations uncovered its first recognized traces

. The Yayoi period brought Shamanism and divination by oracles to Shinto, in order to guarantee good crops

YAYOI PERIODJapan first appeared in written records in 57 AD with the following mention in China's Book of the Later Han.

The Yoshinogari site in Kysh is the most famous archaeological site of the Yayoi period

Japanese literature during heian era

The addition of two phonetic syllabaries (katakana and hiragana) during the Heian era (7941185) opened the classic age, in which Japanese literature reached its first peak of development.

Classical Chinese still predominated in intellectual literary circles and official court communications, yet literature in the native language, the only written medium permitted to educated women, gained increasing prestige.

Much Heian literature of note was written by aristocratic women, foremost among whom was Murasaki Shikibu

Sei Shonagon, another contemporary court lady, wrote Makura no soshi [the pillow book], a compilation of miscellaneous notes and reflections that provides an excellent portrait of Heian aristocratic life, with its emphasis on elegancealways an important element of the Japanese aesthetic.

The Japanese have always esteemed poetry as the highest of literary arts, and poets regarded inclusion in a poetry anthology as a supreme honor.

Characters:Protagonist ) Okinamaro who foolishly startled and terrified a cat that lived in the palace.(Antagonist ) Lady Myobu The Emperors Cat, treates with the greatest careLady Uma the nurse in charged to Lady MyobuEmperor / Empress / MajestyUkon

Settings : The story was written during the middle Heian Period. And most of the scenes was taken in the Palace

Falling action :The same evening a wretched-looking dog walked in, his body was trembling and he was swollen all over.The Empress saw the dog but couldnt believe that this was their dog okinamaro, because it doesnt react or respond at all.No it cannot be the same one. And besides, wasnt okinamaro beaten to death and his body thrown away? How could any dog be alive after being flogged by two strong men? The majesty was very unhappy after hearing this.

Theme:

Conflict:It is Internal Conflict , Okinamaro struggle within himself, he makes some decisions and he overcome pain . Man vs Man Okinamaro struggles with his physical strength against other men, forces of nature or animals.

Language and Style: The Pillow Book is a collection of anecdotes, memories of court and religious ceremonies, character sketches, lists of things the author enjoyed or loathed, places that interested her, diary entries, descriptions of nature, pilgrimages, conversations, poetry exchangesindeed, almost everything that made up daily life for the upper classes in japan during the Heian period. Her style is so eloquent, her observations so skillfully chosen, and her wit so sharp that even the smallest detail she records can attract and hold the attention of any modern reader

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Point of view:First Person The story is told by the protagonist or one of the characters who interacts closely with the protagonist or other characters. The reader sees the story through this persons eyes as he/she experiences it and only knows what he/she knows or feels.