On Writing Grass for His Pillow

The title is a Japanese phrase (kusamakura) which means sleeping outside. It occurs in the poem used as the epigraph for Across the Nightingale Floor:

The deer that weds
The autumn bush clover
They say
Sires a single fawn
And this fawn of mine
This lone boy
Sets off on a journey
Grass for his pillow

Shigeru also uses the phrase in the first chapter of Across the Nightingale Floor when he and Takeo spend the night on the edge of the Yaegahara plain, scene of the battle in which the Otori were defeated by the Tohan.

The title of each of the books in the Tales of the Otori is hidden within the text of the previous book. As a title, Grass for His Pillow holds, for me, suggestions of exile, suffering and separation, journeying, and an intense awareness of the physical world.

In Across the Nightingale Floor I established a world that draws on the powerful symbols of samurai and ninja, though I never mention these by name - I was hoping to avoid some of the cliches that have attached themselves to these figures. In Grass I wanted to look behind the symbols and see what their true effect might be on the society around them, particularly on women. In Across the Nightingale Floor the characters act heroically and there is "magic": in Grass the underside of heroism and magic are discovered - the treachery and self-serving of the warrior class, the cruelty and ruthlessness of the Tribe.

Cold and snow play an important role in the story; so does the landscape of the Three Countries.

On nights when wind mixing in the rain falls.

On nights when rain mixing in the snow falls.

One of the key themes of Grass is what is hidden and what is revealed. The books are full of secrets, which is why I don't really like talking about them or explaining too much. I hope my readers will discover the treasures that are hidden within for themselves.