561. The Golden Age of Japan: Secrets of the Imperial Court (Part 2)

In spring, the dawn, when the slowly paling mountain rim is tinged with red, and wisps of faintly crimson purple cloud float in the sky. In summer, the night moonlit nights, of course, but also at the dark of the moon. It's beautiful when fireflies are dancing everywhere in a mazy flight, and it's delightful, too, to see just one or two fly through the darkness, glowing softly. Rain falling on a summer night is also lovely. In autumn, the evening, the blazing sun has sunk very close to the mountain rim, and now even the crows in threes and fours or twos and threes hurrying to their roost are a moving sight.

Still more enchanting is the sight of a string of wild geese in the distant sky, very tiny, and oh, how inexpressible, when the sun has sunk, to hear in the growing darkness the wind and the song of autumn insects. In winter, the early morning, if snow is falling, of course, it's unutterably delightful. But it's perfect too if there's a pure white frost, or even just when it's very cold, and they hasten to build up the fires in the braziers and carry in fresh charcoal. But it's unpleasant as the day draws on and the air grows warmer, how the brazier fire dies down to white ash.

So that, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the most famous passages in all Japanese literature. I would argue one of the most extraordinary passages of prose you will ever read. It is the beginning of a really, really remarkable and original masterpiece called The Pillow Book, which was written in the early years of the eleventh century in what is now Kyoto. And Tom, we talked last time about the great Japanese classic, The Tale of Genji, This was written round about the same time in what was then called Heian Kyo, and as with the Tale of Genji, its author was a woman.

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