Inu makura or is an early-Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 Japanese

Japanese literature

Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan...

 literary parody

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

 of The Pillow Book

The Pillow Book

is a book of observations and musings recorded by Sei Shōnagon during her time as court lady to Empress Consort Teishi during the 990s and early 11th century in Heian Japan. The book was completed in the year 1002....

 of Sei Shōnagon

Sei Shonagon

Sei Shōnagon , was a Japanese author and a court lady who served the Empress Teishi around the year 1000 during the middle Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Pillow Book .-Name:...

. The title has also been translated as The Mongrel Pillow.

The Pillow Book

Sei Shōnagon

Sei Shonagon

Sei Shōnagon , was a Japanese author and a court lady who served the Empress Teishi around the year 1000 during the middle Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Pillow Book .-Name:...

's observations of the Heian

Heian period

The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...

 court at the end of the tenth-century in include passages that resemble a poetic diary

Poetic diary

Poetic diary, or Japanese poetic diary, is an English term coined by the Princeton University scholar/translator Earl Miner in his book, Japanese Poetic Diaries. In Japan, poetic diaries date back to Ki no Tsurayuki's Tosa Nikki compiled in roughly 935...

, others in an essay-like style

Zuihitsu

is a genre of Japanese literature consisting of loosely connected personal essays and fragmented ideas that typically respond to the author's surroundings...

, as well as a number of poetic catalogues or . For instance, under the heading Elegant Things: 'a white coat worn over a violet waistcoat

Japanese clothing

The various traditional ethnic garments worn in Japan are still in use, they are mainly worn for ceremonies and special occasions- like weddings or festivals. Both men and women favor "western-style" clothing in their daily lives- due to the comparative convenience and the influx of global...

, duck eggs, shaved ice mixed with liana

Liana

A liana is any of various long-stemmed, woody vines that are rooted in the soil at ground level and use trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy to get access to well-lit areas of the forest. Lianas are especially characteristic of tropical moist deciduous...

 syrup placed in a new silver bowl, rock-crystal prayer beads

Buddhist prayer beads

Buddhist prayer beads are a traditional tool used to count the number of times a mantra is recited whilst meditating. They are similar to other forms of prayer beads used in various world religions; thus some call this tool the Buddhist rosary.-Mala:...

, wisteria

Wisteria

Wisteria is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, that includes ten species of woody climbing vines native to the eastern United States and to China, Korea, and Japan. Aquarists refer to the species Hygrophila difformis, in the family Acanthaceae, as Water Wisteria...

 blossoms, plum blossoms covered with snow, a beautiful child eating strawberries'.

The Dog Pillow

Inu makura similarly comprises a number of such listings under a series of headings, although without the narrative

Narrative

A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...

 accompaniment. Combined with the work's brevity, the effect is sustained through 'the possibilities of terseness, juxtaposition, and surprise', by repeating the same situation under a different heading, or by the subtle alteration of a situation. There are in total ninety sections, seventeen of them in the form of kyōka or 'comic waka

Waka (poetry)

Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...

'. The work, without colophon

Colophon (publishing)

In publishing, a colophon is either:* A brief description of publication or production notes relevant to the edition, in modern books usually located at the reverse of the title page, but can also sometimes be located at the end of the book, or...

 or title page, and dated variously between 1596 and 1607, is attributed to Hata Sōha (1550-1607), annotator of Essays in Idleness

Tsurezuregusa

is a collection of Japanese essays written by the monk Yoshida Kenkō between 1330 and 1332. The work is widely considered a gem of medieval Japanese literature and one of the three representative works of the zuihitsu genre, along with Makura no Sōshi and the Hōjōki.Tsurezuregusa comprises a...

, physician to Toyotomi Hidetsugu

Toyotomi Hidetsugu

was a nephew and retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi who lived during the Sengoku period of the 16th century of Japan.A practitioner of the shudō tradition, Hidetsugu had a number of Wakashū...

, storyteller (otogishu) to Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...

, and later in the employ of Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

 was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...

. An early exemplar of kanazōshi

Kanazoshi

describes a type of printed Japanese book that was produced primarily in Kyoto between 1600 and 1680. The term literally means “books written in kana”...

 or 'booklets in the vernacular', it was printed with wooden movable type.

Illustrative of the work are such sections as Things One Wishes to See: 'the moon, well-performed Noh

Noh

, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...

, the furnishings of a tea house

Chashitsu

In Japanese tradition, architectural spaces designed to be used for tea ceremony gatherings are known as chashitsu ....

, the real thoughts of one's lover'; Interesting Things: 'Tsurezuregusa

Tsurezuregusa

is a collection of Japanese essays written by the monk Yoshida Kenkō between 1330 and 1332. The work is widely considered a gem of medieval Japanese literature and one of the three representative works of the zuihitsu genre, along with Makura no Sōshi and the Hōjōki.Tsurezuregusa comprises a...

, arranging coals for the tea ceremony

Tea ceremony

A tea ceremony is a ritualised form of making tea. The term generally refers to either chayi Chinese tea ceremony, chado Japanese tea ceremony, tarye Korean tea ceremony. The Japanese tea ceremony is more well known, and was influenced by the Chinese tea ceremony during ancient and medieval times....

, a flower-viewing

Hanami

is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, "flower" in this case almost always meaning cherry blossoms or ume blossoms. From the end of March to early May, sakura bloom all over Japan, and around the first of February on the island of Okinawa...

 walk with a boy favourite'; and Things that Stand One's Hair on End: 'putting on armour

Japanese armour

Armour in Japan has a history that goes back as far as the 4th century. Japanese armour developed enormously over the centuries since its introduction to the battlefield. It was worn to varying degrees by numerous classes; most notably by the Samurai , and was seen on the battlefield both on...

 in winter without underclothes'.

Parodies

Such parodies were amongst the earliest genres of kanazōshi

Kanazoshi

describes a type of printed Japanese book that was produced primarily in Kyoto between 1600 and 1680. The term literally means “books written in kana”...

, updating and transforming Heian

Heian period

The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...

 and later court works into 'comic versions of contemporary popular culture'. In the 1530s, , attributed to Yamazaki Sōkan

Yamazaki Sokan

Yamazaki Sōkan was a renga and haikai poet from Ōmi Province, Japan. His real name was Shina Norishige, and he was also called Yasaburō; "Yamazaki Sōkan" was a pen-name ....

 and a response to the first collections of linked verse

Renga

' is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry. A renga consists of at least two or stanzas, usually many more. The opening stanza of the renga, called the , became the basis for the modern haiku form of poetry....

, had been infused with the haikai

Haikai

Haikai is a poetic genre that includes a number of forms which embrace the aesthetics of haikai no renga, and what Bashō referred to as the "poetic spirit" , including haiku, renku , haibun, haiga and senryū ."Haikai" is sometimes used as an abbreviation for "haikai no...

 spirit, 'outlandish metaphor

Metaphor

A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...

', and 'irreverent or ribald humour'. Following on from Inu makura, other parodies emerged: the of 1640; of 1653; and of 1669.

See also

• Japanese literature
  Japanese literature
  Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan...
  
  
• Japanese poetry
  Japanese poetry
  Japanese poets first encountered Chinese poetry during the Tang Dynasty. It took them several hundred years to digest the foreign impact, make it a part of their culture and merge it with their literary tradition in their mother tongue, and begin to develop the diversity of their native poetry. For...
  
  
• The Lady who Loved Insects
  The Lady who Loved Insects
  is the twelfth-century Japanese tale of one who defies social convention and breaches the decorum expected of a Heian court lady. It is one of ten short stories in the collection Tsutsumi Chūnagon Monogatari.-Story:...
  
  
• List of National Treasures of Japan (writings: Japanese books)

Further reading