Thanks for sending me to this link, and for your insights into the book. I felt exactly the same way about Sei Shonagon, so fresh and idiosyncratic and charming-- her Pillow Book (in Morris's translation) is what got me interested in Heian Japan in the first place, and it still ranks as one of my favorite books ever, even though I've now read three copies to pieces, and could probably recite whole sections from memory.