Japanese

Literature
POETRY
 Most popular means of communication and
expression in the Japanese culture.
 Integral part of daily life in ancient Japanese
society.

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 Japanese Writing
Man'yoshu (Collection of Ten
- oldest
Thousand book of Japanese poetry
Leaves)
- An anthology of 4,500 poems
- considered as the most brilliant literary
product of this period.
- it wasn't organized very rigidly.

-The Man'yōshū was hugely

influential.

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Nearly poems in these anthologies where written in the following forms:

1. CHOKA

2. TANKA

3. HAIKU

3.1. renga
3.2. hokku

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SEVENTH TO EIGHTH CENTURIES A.D
KAKINOMOTO HITO MARO
 First writer in Japanese poetic
tradition
 extremely dignified, genuine, and
perceptive
 served as the court poet for the
three Japanese rulers.
 coveys a sense of optimisms,
limitations and motivations.

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 FORMS OF POETRY
1. CHOKA - (cho` ka``)
• 5 lines of 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7 syllables
• frequently end with one or more envoys,
or pithy summations

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 FORMS OF POETRY

“ In Praise of Empress Jito” by Kakimoto

Hitomaro
Mountain and river too
Come near and serve.
She, in her divinity
On foaming torrents
Rides her royal crafts.

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 2. TANKA (T`an ‘ k`e)
• Kamakura Period (1192-1333)
• consist of five lines of 5, 7,5,7 and 7 syllables.
• Most Tanka include at least one caesura, or pause.
• Often tell a brief story or express a single
thought or insight.
• love and nature

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TANKA KI NO TSUYARUKI
By; Oshikochi Mitsune - Translated by Geoffrey
At the great sky Bownas
I gaze all my life; When I went to visit
For the rushing The girl love so much
wind that winter night.
Though it howls as The river blew so cold
it goes, That the Plovers were
Can ever be seen. crying

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From KOKINSHU
The blossoms of the plum
Do nor appear to be themselves
For they are blanketed
My mind is dazzled-
With clouds of falling snow
Did you come to visit me?
That swirl from the distant sky.
Or I to you?
Was our night a dream? Reality?
Was I sleeping? Was I awake?
On this day in spring
When the lambent air suffuses
Soft tranquillity
Wondering, wondering Why should cherry petals flutter
“ Does he love or love no more?” With unsettled heart to earth?
Yet I dare not ask-
The rain that knows my destiny
Even more heavily weighs on my heavy heart

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 MATSUO BASHO – 1644- 1694
• greatest Japanese Haiku poet.
• he begun studying the writing of poetry at the early age.
• he lived the life of hermit, supporting himself by teaching and
judging poetry contests.
• Basho wrote his best poetry during
the final ten years of his life.
• he conveys his observations of nature
through spare yet vivid images.

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 3. HAIKU
• Originated during the Tokugawa Period as the Hokku.
• Evolved from a form of collaborative poetry known as RENGA and
HOKKU of chains of interlocking verses of 17 and 14 syllables
Consisting
composed by groups of poets during the medieval age.
• After Hokku the name HAIKU form was
came to be known until the 19th century. Opening verse of a sequence of
• Almost Haiku include a a verses.
or seasonal
KIGO - word such as “ snow” or cherry  17 syllables arranged in 3 lines- 5,
blossoms.
7, 5 syllables

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 HAIKU
by; Basho Summer grasses grow
Clear cascades! 2 On brave warriors’ splendid
1. .
Scatter on waves dreams-
Summer moon The afterglow comes.
an old silent pond…
old pond
A frog jumps into the pond,
Frog jumps in
Splash! Silence again.
Sound of water
Detestable crow
on a withered bough Today alone you please me-
Crow perched Black against the snow
Autumn nightfall

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 3. HAIKU
Taniguchi Buson 1715- 183
Spring rain! And as yet Raftsmen on their floats; The axe that i hear
The little froglet’s Their straw capes see them! Off in the woods far away-
bellies In the storm And this woodpecker, near.
haven’t got wet! Cherry blossom coats!
No poem you send
In answer- o, young The scattering bloom Can this world
lady! Turns into torn waste- From of old
Spring is at its end! paper, and a bamboo (Always) have been so sad,
Blossoms on the pear; broom. Or did it become so for the sake
And a moonlight What piercing cold i feel! Of me alone?
Reads a letter there... My dead wife’s come, in our
bedroom,
Under my heel..

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 JAPANESE LITERATURE
PROSE
• The Kojiki 712 C.E (Record of Ancient Matters) is Anthology of
myths.
• Nihon shoki 712- 720 (Chronicle of Japan) is a chronological record of
history.
• The Fudoki 713 (Records of Wind and Earth) describes as the
history, geography, products, and folklore of the various provinces.
• The tail of Heike by unknown author