Japanese Literature

Ancient, Medieval and Modern Periods

Introduction
Japanese literature spans a period of almost
two millennia. Early works were heavily
influenced by cultural contact with China
and Chinese literature, often written in
Classical Chinese. But Japanese literature
developed into a separate style in its own
right as Japanese writers began writing their
own works about Japan, although the
influence of Chinese literature and Classical
Chinese remained until the end of Edo
period. When Japan reopened its ports to
Western trading and diplomacy in the
19th century, Western literature had a
strong effect on Japanese writers, and this
influence is still seen today.
Ancient Literature
With the introduction of kanji from China, the
first writing in Japan became possible. Before
this, there was no writing system. At first
Chinese characters were used in Japanese
syntactical formats, and the literary language
was classical Chinese; the result is sentences
that look like Chinese but are phonetically read
as Japanese. Chinese characters were later
adapted to write Japanese, 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. These include
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; and
Classical literature (The Heian
Period)
Golden era of Japanese art and literature.
The Tale of Genji (early eleventh century) by
Murasaki Shikibu is considered the pre-eminent
masterpiece of Heian fiction and an early
example of a work of fiction in the form of a
novel.
Other Important works at that time:
Kokin Wakashū (905) and The Pillow Book
(990s), the latter written by Murasaki Shikibu's
contemporary and rival, Sei Shonagon, as an
essay about the life, loves, and pastimes of
nobles in the Emperor's court.
Iroha Poem
One of two standard orderings for the
Japanese syllabary.
Classical literature (The Heian
Period)
In this time the imperial court patronized the
poets, most of whom were courtiers or ladies-
in-waiting. Editing anthologies of poetry was a
national pastime. Reflecting the aristocratic
atmosphere, the poetry was elegant and
sophisticated and expressed emotions in a
rhetorical style.
Medieval literature
Medieval Japanese Literature is marked by the
strong influence of Zen Buddhism, where
characters are priests, travelers, or ascetic
poets.

During this period, Japan experienced many

civil wars which led to the development of a
warrior class, and subsequent war tales,
histories, and related stories.

Works from this period is notable for its insights

into life and death, simple lifestyles, and
redemption through killing.
Medieval literature
Important works at that time:

 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.

 Kamo no Chōmei's Hōjōki (1212)

 Yoshida Kenko's Tsurezuregusa (1331).

Other notable genres in this period were renga, or

linked verse, and Noh theater. Both were rapidly
developed in the middle of the 14th century, the
early Muromachi period.
Early-Modern Literature
 Literature during this time was written during the largely
peaceful Tokugawa Period (commonly referred to as the
Edo Period).

 Due in large part to the rise of the working and middle

classes in the new capital of Edo (modern Tokyo), forms
of popular drama developed which would later evolve
into kabuki.

 The joruri and kabuki dramatist Chikamatsu Monzaemon

became popular at the end of the 17th century.

 Matsuo Bashō wrote Oku no Hosomichi ( 奥の細道 ,

1702), a travel diary.

 Hokusai, perhaps Japan's most famous woodblock print

artist, also illustrated fiction as well as his famous
36 Views of Mount Fuji.
Early-Modern Literature
 Many genres of literature made their début during
the Edo Period, helped by a rising literacy rate
among the growing population of townspeople, as
well as the development of lending libraries.
Although there was a minor Western influence
trickling into the country from the Dutch settlement
at Nagasaki, it was the importation of Chinese
vernacular fiction that proved the greatest outside
influence on the development of Early Modern
Japanese fiction.

 Important works:
Ihara Saikaku might be said to have given
birth to the modern consciousness of the novel in
Japan, mixing vernacular dialogue into his
humorous and cautionary tales of the pleasure
quarters.
Jippensha Ikku wrote Tōkaidōchū hizakurige
which is a mix of travelogue and comedy.
Early-Modern Literature
Tsuga Teisho, Takebe Ayatari, and Okajima
Kanzan were instrumental in developing the
yomihon, which were historical romances
almost entirely in prose, influenced by Chinese
vernacular novels such as Three Kingdoms and
Shui hu zhuan. Kyokutei Bakin wrote the
extremely popular fantasy/historical romance
Nansō Satomi Hakkenden in addition to other
yomihon.
Santō Kyōden wrote yomihon mostly set in the
gay quarters until the Kansei edicts banned
such works, and he turned to comedic kibyōshi.
Meiji, Taisho, and Early Showa
Literature
The Meiji era marks the re-opening of Japan to
the West, and a period of rapid
industrialization.
The introduction of European literature brought
free verse into the poetic repertoire; it became
widely used for longer works embodying new
intellectual themes.
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.
Meiji, Taisho, and Early Showa
Literature
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.
Realism was brought in by Tsubouchi Shoyo
and Futabatei Shimei in the mid-Meiji (late
1880s - early 1890s) while Classicism of
Ozaki Koyo, Yamada Bimyo and Koda Rohan
gained popularity.
Higuchi Ichiyo, a rare woman writer in this era,
wrote short stories on powerless women of this
age in a simple style in between literary and
colloquial.
Post World War Literature
 World War II, and Japan's defeat, influenced
Japanese literature. Many authors wrote stories of
disaffection, loss of purpose, and the coping with
defeat.
 Prominent writers of the 1970s and 1980s were
identified with intellectual and moral issues in their
attempts to raise social and political consciousness.
One of them, Oe Kenzaburo wrote his best-known
work, A Personal Matter in 1964 and became
Japan's second winner of the Nobel Prize for
Literature.
 Popular fiction, non-fiction, and children's literature
all flourished in urban Japan in the 1980s. Many
popular works fell between "pure literature" and
pulp novels, including all sorts of historical serials,
information-packed docudramas, science fiction,
mysteries, detective fiction, business stories, war
journals, and animal stories. Non-fiction covered
Post World War Literature
Manga (comic books) have penetrated almost
every sector of the popular market. They
include virtually every field of human interest,
such as a multi volume high-school history of
Japan and, for the adult market, a manga
introduction to economics, and pornography.
Manga represented between 20 and 30 percent
of annual publications at the end of the 1980s,
in sales of some ¥400 billion per year.
END