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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. Who did the Empress refer to as "heavenly maidens floating in the air?"
(a) Young women at a wedding.
(b) Her daughters.
(c) Little girls at a festival.
(d) Her attendants.

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?
(a) Black.
(b) Cherry-colored.
(c) Golden yellow.
(d) Wistaria.

3. What did common people often add to their speech?
(a) Submissive words.
(b) Extra syllables.
(c) Expletives.
(d) An accent.

4. In what month did the peach trees come into bloom?
(a) The Fourth Month.
(b) The Third Month.
(c) The Sixth Month.
(d) The Second Month.

5. What shade of plum blossom brought Shonagon the most pleasure?
(a) Yellow.
(b) Blue.
(c) White.
(d) Red.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Shonagon, what can't be compared to rain?

2. What bird did Shonagon say she liked even though it did not belong to her country?

3. How did Shonagon say the sky should appear on the fifth day of the Fifth Month?

4. What was the five-year-old boy that Shonagon saw while traveling her carriage one day holding?

5. What was painted on the sliding screen in the back of the hall at Seiryo Palace?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Narimasa do in the section titled "When the Empress Moved" that indicated he was attracted to Shonagon?

2. Why did the Emperor walk toward the Empress' building while playing his flute?

3. Why were Shonagon and the other women disgusted by the response of some of the servants who were carrying attractively wrapped bundles and bags when the women asked them who the packages belonged to?

4. Why did the Empress scold Shonagon when she complained that people would see the women looking shabby as they entered the house because the gate was too small?

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

6. Why did the women hit one another with gruel sticks?

7. In "Smaller Shirakawa," why did Shonagon and her companions leave the morning service early?

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

9. Why did Shonagon find it annoying when a man who was not more than an acquaintance came for a casual chat?

10. What caused Hitachi no Suke to stop coming to the Palace?

(see the answer keys)

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