Japanese Literature

Simplicity. Discipline. Nature. 1. Heian Period (794-1185)

- 3 major themes commonly seen on - High point of imperial rule; highly-

Japanese literature. cultured society arose, poetry writing,
- Foundations of modern literature paintings and elaborate rituals.
- Rich Fujiwara family
RELIGIOUS FOUNDATION
- Feudalism
- A large red gate usually marks the
2. Kamakura Period (1185-1333)
entrance to a Shinto shrine.
- Shinto & Buddhism – main religions of - 30 years of war between Taira and
Japan are based on respect for nature. Minamoto clans.
- Assigning of daimyo – samurais are
AN ISLAND CULTURE
more loyal to their daimyo because
- There are about 4,000 islands in the the government cannot pay them.
Japanese island groups.
3. Ashikaga Period (1338-1467)
- Most Japanese live in the 4 largest
islands: Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and - Go-Daigo set up a court in Yoshino to
Shikoku. restore imperial power; Takauiji set up
- Many people depended on the sea for a new military and imperial
food and industry. government in Kyoto.
- The 3rd shogunate, Ashikaga
THE INFLUENCE OF CHINA
Yoshimitsu established peace and
- Around AD 500, Chinese ideas and control
customs influenced the Japanese.
4. Warring States Period (1467-1568)
- Important influences include:
Buddhism and Chinese writing. - Chaotic Japan (civil war)
- Daimyo rose in power
A MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN
- Oda Nobunaga united most of Japan
- About 70% of Japan is covered by
5. Tokugawa Period (1603-1867)
mountains and hills.
- Mt. Fuji – highest peak, considered - Hideyoshi continued unifying Japan
sacred; visited by about 100, 000 but he died in 1598.
people who climb it each year - Tokugawa Ieyasu united all Japan and
moved the capital to Edo, now Tokyo.
THE WAY OF WARRIOR
History to Literature
- From 12th century until 1887, Japan
was controlled by powerful warlords Kana, a Japanese Sei Shonogan (The
called shoguns and their loyal warriors writing system based Pillow Book) and
called samurais. First shoguns on Chinese Murusaki Shikubu
established their centre of power in characters, is (Tale of Genji) were
Kamakura. introduced during ladiesin-waiting in
- Katana - sword; Bushido - code of the Heian period. the Heian period.
They wrote detailed
behavior
accounts of court life
HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS in Japanese.
The Taira and An anonymous
 Minamoto clans nobleman writes
clash during the late “The Tale of Heike”,
1100s. a war epic that
chronicles the rise
and fall of the Taira
family.
HIERARCHY
RULERS - SAMURAI - PEASANTS - ARTISANS &
MERCHANTS
- (Merchants are considered to be the lowest
status because they do not ‘produce’ anything.
Nevertheless, merchants get to live a
prosperous life.)
WOMEN in Early Japan
- Aristocratic women produced the
greatest literature of the time: Sei
Shonagon wrote The Pillow Book—
witty and revealing diary of court life;
and
- Murusaki Shikubu wrote The Tale of
Genji, considered the world’s first
novel.
- By Kamakura period, samurai wives
take care of households alone; some
even engaged themselves into
warfare.
- By Tokugawa period, women lived a
peasant life to abide husband without
question.
LITERATURE:
Poetry & Prose
- Early Japanese excelled in poetry.
- First Japanese anthology was compiled
in 759 – contains about 4,500 poems.
- Most poems are tanka, a 31-syllable
lyrical poem that deal mostly with
nature and love.
- Prose and poetry flourished the most
during Heian period; most writers are
members of the nobility.
- By the end of Heian period, Japanese
poets began to divide tanka into
smaller parts.
- Japanese poets created haiku, a 17-
syllable poem that presents the image
of nature.
- Matsuo Basho, Tokugawa (known
poets)
Literature in Focus:
- The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon is the
best and first example of a Japanese
genre zuihitsu, which means “random
notes” or “occasional writings”.
- The Pillow Book contains lists,
character sketches, notes, brief essays
from observations of nature and (Sein
Shonagon’s) experiences at the
imperial court (as the lady-in-waiting
for Empress Sadako).
- Pillow refers to an informal book of
notes written by a noblewoman at
night, in the privacy of a bedroom.
- Tucked in the drawers of the wooden
pillows in which the nobles rested
their head while they sleep.
- Sei Shonagon’s writings were well-
received.
Persian (Iran) Literature
Etymology
- From the Greek Persis, a name given to
the entire land occupied by various
Iranian tribes
- In 1935, the name was changed to
Iran, meaning the Land of the Aryans
- The official name of Iran is, “Islamic
Republic of Iran”
Geography
BOUNDED BY:
NORTH – AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA,
TURKMENISTAN AND THE CASPIAN SEA
EAST – PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN
SOUTH – PERSIAN GULF AND THE GULF OF
OMAN
WEST – TURKEY AND IRAQ
  CAPITAL - TEHRAN B. ARABS AND THE RISE OF ISLAM (AD 570 –
 OFFICIAL LANGUAGE – FARSI 1258)
 RELIGION – ISLAM (SHIA AND SUNNI
- 600s – Arabian influence
MUSLIM)
- Arab nomads settled in -> farmers and
 NATIONAL FLOWER – TULIPS
traders
 NATIONAL BIRD – NIGHTINGALE
- Prophet Muhammad was born in
 IRAN BECAME AN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
Mecca, 570.
ON APRIL 1, 1979
- Founded Islam -> Medina
INTERESTING FACTS OF IRAN - 1200s – greatest empire expansion
- 1258 – independent Muslim states
A. PRE-ISLAMIC PERSIA (1000 BC – AD 642) broke the empire
- Persians are originally ARYAN IMAM MOSQUE
NOMADS.
- Plateau in west of India -> “Persia” - AN EVERLASTING PIECE OF
- (Eran/Iran) -> the land of Aryans ARCHITECTURE IN IRAN AND ALL OVER
THE WORLD.
[600 BC] - IT WAS CONSTRUCTED IN 1611 BY THE
ORDER OF SHAH ABBAS I.
Zoroaster – a prophet and religious reformer
- ON THE ENTRANCE CEILING IS THE
(1,200 years)
FAMOUS FRAME OF SEVEN-COLORED
- According to archaeological studies, MOSAIC TILES
the earliest accounts of humans
C. PERSIAN REBIRTH (AD 819 -1502)
inhabiting Iran dates back to the stone
age. - Persian dynasty, Samanids, gained
- Persians arrived and settled in Persia power in north-eastern part of the
around 1500 B.C. And tried to conquer Islamic empire
Greece in two occasion and in - Persian culture spread again
retaliation, Alexander the great - Bukhara against Baghdad
conquered the Persian empire on 350 - Educated Persians speak and write in
B.C. Arabic but started doing so in Persian
even after being conquered by
Persia -> military power for survival
Turkishspeaking people.
- CYRUS the Great – established Persian - Persian vocabulary is also
empire from Indus River to Anatolia characterized by a large input of
(now Turkey) loanwords from Arabic.
- Didn’t loot people; respected cultures - The Iranians also immersed
and beliefs themselves in Muslim culture through
- Cambyses II & Darius I – systems of the medium of Arabic.
roads; introduced coinage; and
History -----> Literature
standardized weights and measures to
promote trade Muhammed Allah’s revelation to
- 224 BC – Persian dynasty “Sassanids” becomes the Muhammed are
- defeated by Muslim Arabs in AD 651. prophet of Islam. gathered in the
- THE IRANIANS WERE PIONEER CARPET Koran.
WEAVERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. Trade and navigation The Thousand and
 flourish in the One Nights tells LITERATURE
region. adventures of a
sailor named Sinbad. Persian Literature has influenced the literatures
The Samanids The Samanids of:
support a revival of commission a
Turkey, Russia, India, China, UAE
Persian culture. Persian
epic called - Pre-Islamic Iran was mainly an oral
Shahnahmeh society. As a result, Iranian “literature”
A mystical form of Rumi gives poetic was for a long time essentially of oral
Islam, Sufism, arises. expression to the nature as far as composition,
idea of Sufism.
performance, and transmission are
concerned.
"Life is a balance between holding on and - QASIDA – ELABORATE ODES
letting go." -Rumi MEMORIZED AND RECITED ON
IMPORTANT OCCASIONS - STRONG
Sufism may be best described as a mystical EMOTIONS
practice that emphasizes certain unique rituals - The advent of Islam made way to Islam
for guiding spiritual seekers into a direct being written
encounter with God. - 610-632 AD – Koran
PERSIAN PROVERBS - Golden age of Arabic Literature:
history, philosophy, science and
Iran (Persian) Literature biography

AT NIGHT, THE Some things are not PERSIAN LITERATURE

COTTON SEED IS THE what they seem to
SAME AS A PEARL. be. Many products of their oral type of literature
YOU CAN’T PICK UP Trying to do two (whether in verse or in prose) did not survive to
TWO MELONS WITH things at once may the present day or were committed to writing
ONE HAND. result to not being only many centuries after their original
able to do both well composition
especially if one task
is already too much LITERATURE FOR A FEW…
for one person to
In the early times of the Persian Empire, writing
handle.
was used almost exclusively for reasons of
THE DROWNING Someone who’s
prestige in royal inscriptions or for practical
MAN IS NOT facing a great
TROUBLED BY RAIN struggle won’t purposes of administrative and economic order
be disturbed by the - Regardless, Avesta is a great Persian
little ones.
literature.
A GREEDY MAN IS A person always
- In 9th century, Samanids revived
ALWAYS POOR. asking for more will
Persian culture which resulted to the
never appreciate
what he already has, blend of Persian and Arabic culture
thus, there will be no (Persian poetic and Islam mysticism)
satisfaction. - Sir Henry C. Rawlinson who studied the
WHAT IS BROUGHT Easy come, easy go. great inscription of Darius I at Bisotun
BY THE WIND WILL What is easily (1835 – 1847) together with Sir Edwin
BE CARRIED AWAY acquired may be lost Norris deciphered the very first
BY THE WIND. just as easily dateable text to be ever written.
 - Which led to ASSYRIOLOGY also known
as cuneiform studies
- OTHER EARLY FORMS OF WRITING
WERE ALSO FOUND IN PAPYRI &
OSCRATAS

SHAHNAMEH / SHAH NAMAH

- THE BOOK OF KINGS

- IT IS THE GREATEST EPIC OF IRAN
- WRITTEN BY FIRDAUSI (REAL NAME:
ABUL KASIM MANSUR) WHICH IS
COMPOSED OF 60,000 VERSES
- ONE NOTABLE STORY IS THE EPIC OF
SOHRAB AND RUSTUM
- The Thousand and One Nights, also
called The Arabian Nights, Arabic Alf
laylah wa laylah, collection of largely
Middle Eastern and Indian stories of
uncertain date and authorship. Its
tales of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad
the Sailor have almost become part of
Western folklore, though these were
added to the collection only in the
18th century in European adaptations.