Sei Shōnagon
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Sei Shōnagon, or Seijo, was a Japanese author, poet, and court lady who served the Empress Teishi around the year 1000, during the middle Heian period. She is the author of The Pillow Book.
Sei Shōnagon, illustration from an issue of Hyakunin Isshu (Edo period)
Sei Shōnagon in a later 13th-century drawing
Sei Shōnagon in a later 17th-century drawing
Sei Shōnagon, drawing by Kikuchi Yosai (1788–1878)
The Diary of Lady Murasaki
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The Diary of Lady Murasaki is the title given to a collection of diary fragments written by the 11th-century Japanese Heian era lady-in-waiting and writer Murasaki Shikibu. It is written in kana, then
Murasaki Shikibu, depicted by Tosa Mitsuoki, from his illustrations of The Tale of Genji (17th century)
The 50th day celebration of the birth of Prince Atsuhira-shinnō (later Emperor Go-Ichijō). Fujiwara no Michinaga is in the foreground offering mochi. The figure to his right might be Murasaki Shikibu, c. 13th century.
Fujiwara no Michinaga, shown here in a 13th-century illustration of the diary.
Empress Shōshi and Murasaki reading Bai Juyi's poems in Chinese. From the Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki, 13th century.