The Fujiwara presided over a period of cultural and artistic flowering at the imperial court and among the aristocracy. There was great interest in graceful poetry and vernacular literature. Japanese writing had long depended on Chinese ideograms ("kanji"), but these were now supplemented by "kana", two types of phonetic Japanese script: "katakana", a mnemonic device using parts of Chinese ideograms; and "hiragana", a cursive form of "kanji" writing and an art form in itself. "Hiragana" gave written expression to the spoken word and, with it, to the rise in Japan's famous vernacular literature, much of it written by court women who had not been trained in Chinese as had their male counterparts. Three late tenth century and early eleventh century women presented their views of life and romance at the Heian court in "Kagerō Nikki" ("The Gossamer Years") by "the mother of Michitsuna", "Makura no Sōshi" ("The Pillow Book") by Sei Shōnagon, and "Genji Monogatari" ("Tale of Genji") by Murasaki Shikibu (herself a Fujiwara). Indigenous art also flourished under the Fujiwara after centuries of imitating Chinese forms. Vividly colored "yamato-e" (Japanese style) paintings of court life and stories about temples and shrines became common in the mid and late Heian periods, setting patterns for Japanese art to this day.