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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the old nun who came on the second day of the Perpetual Readings asking for?
(a) A job.
(b) Leftovers from the altar.
(c) A place to stay.
(d) New clothes.

2. What hateful thing did Shonagon say some elderly people did when warming their hands over a brazier?
(a) Counted their age spots.
(b) Rubbed their hands together.
(c) Stretched out their wrinkles.
(d) Slept.

3. What was Shonagon's elder brother's name?
(a) Tadanobu.
(b) Tsunefusa.
(c) Narimasa.
(d) Norimitsu

4. What item did Shonagon send to Normitsu in response to his letter asking if he could tell Tadanobu where she was?
(a) Seaweed.
(b) Hollyhock.
(c) Shell.
(d) Twig.

5. What was painted on the sliding screen in the back of the hall at Seiryo Palace?
(a) Dragons.
(b) Cherry trees.
(c) Stormy sea.
(d) Plum blossoms.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Shonagon tell the Empress she thought of Yukinari?

2. What color robe did Korechika wear when he came to report to His Majesty while the ladies sat discussing the painting on a sliding screen?

3. What did the pictures hung for the Perpetual Readings depict?

4. What plant did Shonagon think made an "uncommonly pretty" design on figured silk?

5. In "It Is So Stiflingly Hot," who did the woman in the house with the open lattice receive a letter from?

Short Essay Questions

1. What made Shonagon come into the Empress's apartments after she left because the screens with the paintings of Hell frightened her?

2. Why didn't the women write their hototogisu poems after going on an outing to hear them sing?

3. Why did Shonagon say a wickerwork carriage should move swiftly?

4. Why did the women laugh at the paintings on the sliding screen in Seiryo Palace?

5. What was the reason given for the way the snap-beetle bowed while crawling?

6. Why did dried hollyhock produce fond memories?

7. Why didn't Shonagon like the husbands of nurse-maids?

8. Why did Shonagon send her brother a piece of seaweed in reply to his letter?

9. Why was it considered such a bad thing for Masahiro to leave his shoes on the serving-board?

10. In "It Is Hateful When a Well-Bred Young Man," why did Shonagan think it was proper for a gentleman to bring along a man when he went to visit a lady-in-waiting?

(see the answer keys)

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