Sei Shōnagon

writer and court lady

c. 966 – 1025 · 59 years · Heian-kyō (Kyoto) · Asia

Lady-in-waiting to the empress and author of The Pillow Book, a masterpiece of Heian Japanese prose.

Portrait: 土佐光起 (Tosa Mitsuoki) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Contemporaries around the world

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