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Sei Shonagon

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Author

The Resume

    (966- )
    Birth name most likely Kiyohara Nagiko
    Wrote 'The Pillow Book' while serving as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Consort Teishi during the Heian period

Why she might be annoying:

    She was obsessed with fashion.
    She sucked up to the Japanese royal family and condescended to the lower classes.
    Like a teenaged diarist, she filled 'The Pillow Book' with gossip and lists of things that irritated her.
    She was disliked by her rival Murasaki Shikibu, author of 'The Tale of Genji.'
    Japanese school children are required to memorize her writing.

Why she might not be annoying:

    Her father and grandfather were famous poets.
    She is famed for her witty, observant style.
    After the fall of Empress Consort Teishi, she may have lived in poverty.
    Because she wrote in Japanese, not Chinese (the language of scholars) she was often dismissed as a 'woman writer.'
    She is now considered one the greatest early Japanese authors.

Credit: Georgina


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 11 Votes: 45.45% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 27 Votes: 70.37% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 15 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 32 Votes: 46.88% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 63 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying