''Inu makura'' or is an early- Edo period Japanese literary parody of '' The Pillow Book'' of Sei Shōnagon. The title has also been translated as ''The Mongrel Pillow''.

''The Pillow Book''

Sei Shōnagon's observations of the Heian court at the end of the tenth-century in include passages that resemble a poetic diary, others in an essay-like style, as well as a number of poetic catalogues or . For instance, under the heading Elegant Things: 'a white coat worn over a violet waistcoat, duck eggs, shaved ice mixed with

liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ta ...

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

plum blossoms ''Prunus mume'' is an East Asian and Southeast Asian tree species classified in the ''Armeniaca'' section of the genus ''Prunus'' subgenus ''Prunus''. Its common names include Chinese plum, Japanese plum, and Japanese apricot. The flower, lon ...

covered with snow, a beautiful child eating strawberries'. ''Inu makura'' similarly comprises a number of such listings under a series of headings, although without the narrative 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'. The work, without colophon or title page, and dated variously between 1596 and 1607, is attributed to Hata Sōha (1550-1607), annotator of

Essays in Idleness is a collection of essays written by the Japanese monk Kenkō (兼好) 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 ''The P ...

, physician to Toyotomi Hidetsugu, storyteller (otogishu) to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and later in the employ of Tokugawa Ieyasu. An early exemplar of

kanazōshi describes a type of printed Japanese language, Japanese book that was produced primarily in Kyoto between 1600 and 1680. The term literally means “books written in ''kana''” (''kana'' being the phonetic Japanese syllabary that is simpler to ...

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, the furnishings of a tea house, the real thoughts of one's lover'; Interesting Things: '

Tsurezuregusa is a collection of essays written by the Japanese monk Kenkō (兼好) 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 ''The P ...

, arranging coals for the tea ceremony, a flower-viewing walk with a boy favourite'; and Things that Stand One's Hair on End: 'putting on

armour Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...

in winter without underclothes'.

Parodies

Such parodies were amongst the earliest genres of

, updating and transforming Heian and later court works into "comic versions of contemporary popular culture". In the 1530s, , attributed to

Yamazaki Sōkan Yamazaki Sōkan (山崎宗鑑) (1465–1553) 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 (''haimyō''). Biography Originall ...

and a response to the first collections of linked verse, had been infused with the haikai spirit, "outlandish metaphor", and "irreverent or ribald humour". Following on from ''Inu makura'', other parodies emerged: the of 1640; of 1653; and of 1669.

''The Pillow Book''

Parodies

See also

References

Further reading