Venice masks

Wednesday 6 May 2020

Things That Arouse a Fond Memory of the Past - Sei Shōnagon

Dried hollyhock. To find a piece of deep violet or grape-coloured material that has been pressed between the pages of a notebook.
It is a rainy day and one is feeling bored. To pass the time, one starts looking through some old papers.
And then one comes across the letters of a man one used to love.
Last year's paper fan. A night with a clear moon.

Sei Shōnagon (c. 966 - c.1025) Japan
Translated by Ivan Morris
Source: The Pillow-Book of Sei Shōnagon Translated by Ivan Morris, Columbia University Press, 1991

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