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Japanese Literature
Japanese Literature
Literature
• Japanese literature can be difficult to read and
understand
• Statements are often ambiguous, omitting as
unnecessary the particles of speech which would
normally identify words as the subject or object of a
sentence, or using colloquial verb forms from a
specific region or social class.
• In many cases the significance of a simple sentence
can only be understood by someone who is familiar
with the cultural or historical background of the work.
• The nature of the Japanese language influenced the
development of poetic forms.
• All Japanese words end in one of five simple vowels, making
it difficult to construct effective rhymes.
• Japanese words also lack a stress accent, so that poetry was
distinguished from prose mainly by being divided into lines
of specific numbers of syllables rather than by cadence and
rhythm.
• These characteristics made longer poetic forms difficult, and
most Japanese poems are short, their poetic quality coming
from rich allusions and multiple meanings evoked by each
word used in the composition.
Main Periods of Japanese
Literature
Ancient Literature (until 894)
• Before the introduction of kanji from China, there was no writing
system in Japan.
• Chinese characters were used in Japanese syntactical formats, and the
literary language was classical Chinese; resulting in sentences that
looked like Chinese but were phonetically read as Japanese.
• Chinese characters were used, not for their meanings, but because
they had a phonetic sound which resembled a Japanese word.
• Chinese characters were later adapted to write Japanese speech,
creating what is known as the man'yōgana, the earliest form of kana,
or syllabic writing.
• The earliest works were created in the Nara Period.
• Kojiki (712: a work recording Japanese mythology and legendary history)
• Nihonshoki (720; a chronicle with a slightly more solid foundation in historical
records than Kojiki)
• Man'yōshū (Ten Thousand Leaves, 759); an anthology of poetry.
Classical Literature (894-1194; The Heian
Period)
• consider a golden era of art and literature.
• The Tale of Genji (early eleventh century) by Murasaki Shikibu
• Kokin Wakashū (905, waka poetry anthology)
• The Pillow Book (990s), an essay about the life, loves, and pastimes of
nobles in the Emperor's court written by Murasaki Shikibu's
contemporary and rival, Sei Shonagon
• During this time, the imperial court patronized poets, many of whom
were courtiers or ladies-in-waiting. Editing anthologies of poetry was
a national pastime.
Medieval Literature (1195 - 1600)
• is marked by the strong influence of Zen Buddhism, and many writers
were priests, travelers, or ascetic poets
• Japan experienced many civil wars which led to the development of a
warrior class, and a widespread interest in war tales, histories, and
related stories
• The Tale of the Heike (1371), an epic account of the struggle between
the Minamoto and Taira clans for control of Japan at the end of the
twelfth century.
Early-Modern Literature (1600-1868)
• The literature of this time was written during the generally peaceful
Tokugawa Period (commonly referred to as the Edo Period).
• forms of popular drama developed which would later evolve
into kabuki(traditional Japanese theater).
• Many genres of literature made their début during the Edo Period,
inspired by a rising literacy rate among the growing population of
townspeople, as well as the development of lending libraries.
Meiji, Taisho, and Early Showa literature
(1868-1945)
• The Meiji era marked the re-opening of Japan to the West, and a
period of rapid industrialization.
• Young Japanese prose writers and dramatists struggled with a whole
galaxy of new ideas and artistic schools, but novelists were the first to
successfully assimilate some of these concepts
• In the early Meiji era (1868-1880s), Fukuzawa Yukichi and Nakae
Chomin authored Enlightenment literature, while pre-modern popular
books depicted the quickly changing country
• Higuchi Ichiyo, a rare woman writer in this era, wrote short stories on
powerless women of this age in a simple style, between literary and
colloquial. Izumi Kyoka, a favored disciple of Ozaki, pursued a flowing
and elegant style and wrote early novels such as The Operating
Room (1895) in literary style and later ones including The Holy Man of
Mount Koya (1900) in colloquial language.
• Mori Ogai introduced Romanticism to Japan with his anthology of
translated poems (1889), and it was carried to its height by Shimazaki
Toson and his contemporaries and by the
magazines Myōjō and Bungaku-kai in the early 1900s.
• Shimazaki shifted from Romanticism to Naturalism, which was
established with the publication of The Broken Commandment (1906)
and Katai Tayama's Futon (1907).
• Naturalism led to the “I” novel. Neo-romanticism came out of anti-
naturalism and was led by Nagai Kafu, Junichiro Tanizaki, Kotaro
Takamura, Kitahara Hakushu and others during the early 1910s.
Mushanokoji Saneatsu, Shiga Naoya and others founded a
magazine, Shirakaba, in 1910 to promote Humanism.
• War-time Japan saw the début of several authors best known for the
beauty of their language and their tales of love and sensuality,
• Japan's first winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Kawabata
Yasunari, a master of psychological fiction.
Post-War Literature