Japan

Japanese Literature

Japanese literature spans a period of almost two millennia. Early writings are heavily influenced by cultural contact with China. Japan eventually created its own separate style. The Chinese influence remained until the end of the Edo Period. In Japanese literature there are four main periods: ancient, classical, medieval, and modern.

Japanese literature came from oral tradition. They first started to be recorded in the early eighth century. At first all writing was in Chinese. The earliest works were in the Nara Period. Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters)- 712, Japanese myths and legendary histories Nihonshoki (Chronicle of Japan)- 720, chronicle Manyoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves)- 759, poetry anthology. 45,000 poems compiled from many people including unknown commoners and highly respected emperors.

794-1185 Classical- during the Heian Period. It is sometimes called the golden era of art and literature. Two main literary works were: The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu and The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagen. In the 10th century a narrative came out that was called The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. It was an early version of proto-science fiction.

1185-1600 Medieval- this time period was heavy influenced by Zen Buddhism.

1600-1868 Edo Period Dramas became popular and later led to kabuki. There was a little Western influence because of a Dutch settlement at Nagasaki. Some popular genres of the time were: horror, crime stories, morality stories, and pornography.

1868-1945 Meiji Era European literature brought free verse to the poets. Classicism became popular.Ichiyo Higuchi was a rare female author. She wrote short stories about powerless women of this time. Romanticism came about and soon Naturalism did as well. Popular pre-war author- Akutagawa Ryunosuke During the war- Junichiro Tanizaki was the first Japanese person to win the Noble Prize for Literature with Yasunari Kawabata. Post war- After WWII authors wrote about disaffection, loss of purpose, and coping with defeat. Kenzaburo Oe wrote A Personal Matter in 1964. It won him Japan's second Noble Prize for Literature.

Manga- similar to comic books. hey have writing as well as pictures. They are sometimes called graphic novels. They have become wildly popular now a says. They took up 20-30 percent of annual publication in the end of 1980.

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