1. The modern Japanese writing system uses three scripts: kanji (Chinese characters), hiragana (for native words), and katakana (for foreign words). 2. Classical Japanese literature is traditionally divided into four periods: Jōdai (Antiquity), Chūko (Middle Antiquity), Chūsei (Middle Ages), and Kinsei (Recent Past). 3. The oldest existing collection of Japanese poetry is the Man'yōshū compiled in the 8th century, which contains poems reflecting both Confucian/Taoist and Buddhist themes and helped develop the kana writing system.

1. . Japanese did not have letters until chinese introduced their letters in second or third century.
After then the japanese started using chinese letters. Of course ancient japanese used these letters
for learning chinese progressed culture. As you know, chinese letters are basically ideograms
that were originally pictograph and every single letter has its own meaning.
4. For example, the letter for turtle is 亀 . This letter is simplified one as compared to
original one but still the shape of turtle is obvious. Roughly saying, average japanese can read
letters of 5,000 or more but can write down 2,000 or less. At elementary school and junior high
school, 1,800 of letters are taught.
5. The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts: Kanji , ideographs from
Chinese characters, Kana , a pair of syllabaries, consisting of Hiragana , used for native Japanese
words, and Katakana , used for foreign loanwords and sometimes to replace kanji or hiragana for
emphasis.
6. Kanji 癌 gan ("cancer") 峠 tōge (mountain pass) Katakana
コンピュータゲーム konpyūta gēmu ("computer game") コーヒー kōhī ,
("coffee") Hiragana コンニチワ konnichiwa ("hello") 皮膚科 hifuka
("dermatology")
7.
8.
9. Classical literature ( koten bungaku ), meaning literature from the earliest times up to the
Meiji Restoration of 1868, is customarily divided by literary scholars into four major periods:
jōdai (antiquity) , chūko (middle antiquity) , chūsei (the middle ages) , and kinsei (the recent
past) .
10. Jōdai covers Japanese literary history through the Nara period (710-794); chūko is used
more or less synonymously with the literature of the Heian period (794-1180); chūsei takes in the
Kamakura (1180-1333), Muromachi (1333-1573), Azuchi-Momoyama (1573-1600) periods;
kinsei is most often used to refer to the Edo period (1600-1867).
11. Written literature in Japan dates from the Nara period, although an oral tradition existed
well before that time. The work that is usually taken to reveal the process of change from an oral
to a written tradition and from communal to personal concerns is the collection of poems known
as the Man ‘yōshū (The Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves).
12. It is the oldest existing collection of Japanese poetry, compiled some time around 759 A.D.
during the Nara period. The collection is divided into twenty parts or books, mirroring a similar
practice in collections of Chinese poems of the time
13. The collection contains 265 chōka (long poems), 4,207 tanka (short poems), one tanrenga
(short connecting poem), one bussokusekika (poems on the Buddha's footprints at Yakushi-ji in
Nara), four kanshi (Chinese poems), and 22 Chinese prose passages.
14. Earlier poems have Confucian or Taoist themes and later poems reflecting on Buddhist
teachings. It is important for using one of the earliest Japanese writing systems It was influential
enough to give the writing system its name: "the kana of the Man'yōshū ". This
system uses Chinese characters in a variety of functions: their usual ideographic or logographic
senses
15. Literature in the early Heian period flourished under Chinese (Tang) influence, but became
more expressive of native sentiments as Japan withdrew into itself and political institutions based
on Chinese models either collapsed or were molded into more congenial forms.

2. 16. Chinese poetry was supplanted by the wak a (literally, "Japanese song") as the
preeminent literary form. Imperial collections of poetry were compiled, and prose works, most
by women, were written in the newly developed phonetic kana script.
17. The decline of the aristocracy toward the end of the period was paralleled by a loss of
creative energy and a growing sense of pessimism, although collections of folktales and popular
songs signalled the involvement of a new social class in the production of works of recognized
literary value.
18. It is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature.
The term was coined during the Heian period, and was used to distinguish Japanese-language
poetry from kanshi (poetry written in Chinese by Japanese poets)
19. Traditionally waka in general has had no concept of rhyme (indeed, certain arrangements
of rhymes, even accidental, were considered dire faults in a poem), or even of line. Instead of
lines, waka has the unit ( 連 ) and the phrase ( 句 ). ( Units or phrases are often turned into lines
when poetry is translated or transliterated into Western languages, however.)
20. In the Heian period the lovers would exchange waka in the morning when lovers met at the
woman's home. The exchanged waka were called Kinuginu ( 後朝 ), because it was thought the
man wanted to stay with his lover and when the sun rose he had almost no time to put on his
clothes on which he had lain instead of a mattress (it being the custom in those days).
21. Much like with tea, there were a number of rituals and events surrounding the
composition, presentation, and judgment of waka. There were two types of waka party that
produced occasional poetry: Utakai and Utaawase . Utakai was a party in which all participants
wrote a waka and recited them.
22. Utakai derived from Shikai, Kanshi party and was held in occasion people gathered like
seasonal party for the New Year, some celebrations for a newborn baby, a birthday, or a newly-
built house. Utaawase was a contest in two teams.
23. Themes were determined and a chosen poet from each team wrote a waka for a given
theme. The judge appointed a winner for each theme and gave points to the winning team. The
team which received the largest sum was the winner.
24. The political turbulence associated with the Gempei Wars of 1180 to 1185 and the
establishment of the Kamakura bakufu (1192) gave rise to a literature that both centered on
military exploits and often expressed disillusion with such exploits.
25. Mujō (impermanence, transience) became a key concept underlying the literature of this
period, although at the same time groups devoted to the composition of renga (linked verse) were
turning to literature for the purpose of seeking pleasure there.
26. The Edo period was characterized by the growing cultural influence exercised by samurai
and townspeople. The commercial class in particular benefited from various economic and
technological developments, the result of which was a great flowering of culture in the Genroku
period (1688-1704).
27. The haikai master Matsuo Bashō, the novelist Ihara Saikaku, and the dramatist Chikamatsu
Monzaemon are all associated with this enormous outburst of creative activity. The nation's
cultural center shifted from the Kyoto-Osaka region to Edo in the second half of the eighteenth
century, leading to the production of large quantities of gesaku (frivolous works) by the writers
who constituted the last literary generation before the advent of Western influence.
28.

3. 29. The basis for the periodization of modern literature ( kindai bungaku ) is gradually
becoming problematic as the "modern" period grows ever longer. The most common
division is the one based on the reigns of the emperors who have ruled since 1868: Meiji (1868-
1912) , Taishō (1912-1926) , Shōwa (1926-1989) , and Heisei (from 1989) .
30. The Meiji period was when Japan, under Western influence, took the first steps toward
developing a modern literature. The major hallmarks up to the time of the Russo-Japanese War
are considered to be Tsubouchi Shōyō's theoretical study The Essence of the Novel (Shōsetsu
shinzui, 1885)
31. because of its advocacy of psychological realism, and Futabatei Shimei's Drifting Cloud
(Ukigumo, 1887), both for its realistic character portrayal and because the narrative medium is
an approximation of everyday speech. Counterpoints are offered by the highly stylized prose of
the Ken'yūsha (Friends of the Inkstone) group centering on Ozaki Kōyō, and the kind of
romanticism evident in the early stories of Mori Ōgai and,
32. especially, the poetry of Kitamura Tōkoku, Shimazaki Tōson, and Yosano Tekkan. The
movement known as Japanese Naturalism gained prominence with the publication of Shimazaki
Tōson's novel The Broken Commandment , (Hakai, 1906) and Tayama Katai's short story
"The Quilt" (Futon, 1907).
33. Naturalism predominated on the literary scene until around 1910, although such authors as
Natsume Sōseki, Mori Ōgai, and Nagai Kafū were not associated with it and might even be
considered antagonistic. The humanistic idealism of the Shirakaba (White Birch) writers is taken
to mark a turn away from Naturalism and toward a broader definition of literature.
34. The intellectual aestheticism of Akutagawa Ryūnosuke and decadence of Tanizaki
Jun'ichirō characterize this short period, as do (toward its end) the introduction of elements of
Western literary modernism in the early work of Yokomizo Riichi and Kawabata Yasunari and
the first stirrings of proletarian literature. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 is sometimes
taken as a major cultural divide in this process.
35. Proletarian literature was the chief literary movement of the 1920s, supplemented by the
uniquely Japanese genre of autobiographical fiction known as the "I novel" (
shishōsetsu or watakushi shōsetsu ).
36. Government suppression of proletarian literature in the 1930s was attended by the
publication of "conversion" ( tenkō ) novels by writers compelled to renounce their
communist ideals. The subsequent patriotic writings of the war years have largely been
forgotten.
37. The end of the war witnessed a resurgent cosmopolitanism that has resulted in a striking
literary diversity and has led to a reassessment of the way in which tradition and modernity can
be said to contribute to the Japanese sense of identity.
38. This process of reevaluation can be seen in the choice of the two postwar Japanese winners
of the Nobel Prize for Literature: Kawabata Yasunari (1968), who titled his acceptance speech
"Japan the Beautiful and Myself," and Ōe Kenzaburō (1994), who in deliberate
contrast chose the title "Japan the Ambiguous and Myself."
39.
40.
41. Kabuki Theater Noh Theater Bunraku - Puppet Theater Geisha Musical Instruments
42. Sado - Tea Ceremony Kodo - The Way of Incense Ikebana - Flower Arranging Ukiyoe -
Woodblock Prints Bonsai - Miniature Trees Origami - Paper Folding Classical Literature
Modern Literature

4. 43. Imperial Family The government of Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of
the Emperor is very limited. As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the [[Constitution of
Japan|constitutionby the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected members of the Diet, while
sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people. The Emperor effectively acts as the head of
state on diplomatic occasions. Akihito is the current Emperor of Japan. Naruhito, Crown Prince
of Japan, stands as next in line to the throne.
44. Annual Festivals Annual Holidays Four Seasons Hanami - Cherry Blossom Viewing
45. Kimono Footwear
46. The Basics of Japanese Cuisine Popular Dishes Alcohol - Sake, Beer and more
47.
48. Haiku is a poetic form and a type of poetry from the Japanese culture. Haiku combines
form , content , and language in a meaningful, yet compact form. Many themes include nature,
feelings, or experiences. Usually they use simple words and grammar .
49. The most common form for Haiku is three short lines. The first line usually contains five
(5) syllables, the second line seven (7) syllables, and the third line contains five (5) syllables.
Haiku doesn't rhyme. A Haiku must "paint" a mental image in the reader's mind.
50.
51. First day of spring-- I keep thinking about the end of autumn. Spring rain leaking through
the roof dripping from the wasps' nest.
52. Fallen sick on a journey, In dreams I run wildly Over a withered moor. An old silent
pond... A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again.
53. The first soft snow! Enough to bend the leaves Of the jonquil low. In the cicada's cry No
sign can foretell How soon it must die.
54. No one travels Along this way but I, This autumn evening. In all the rains of May there is
one thing not hidden - the bridge at Seta Bay.
55. The years first day thoughts and loneliness; the autumn dusk is here. Clouds appear and
bring to men a chance to rest from looking at the moon.
56. Harvest moon: around the pond I wander and the night is gone. Poverty's child - he starts
to grind the rice, and gazes at the moon.
57. No blossoms and no moon, and he is drinking sake all alone! Won't you come and see
loneliness? Just one leaf from the kiri tree. Temple bells die out. The fragrant blossoms remain.
A perfect evening!
58. Green frog, Is your body also freshly painted? Sick and feverish Glimpse of cherry
blossoms Still shivering.
59. At the over-matured sushi, The Master Is full of regret. Pressing Sushi; After a while, A
lonely feeling A whale! Down it goes, and more and more up goes its tail!
60. Covered with the flowers, Instantly I'd like to die In this dream of ours!
61. In my old home which I forsook, the cherries are in bloom. A giant firefly: that way, this
way, that way, this -and it passes by.
62. Right at my feet - and when did you get here, snail? My grumbling wife - if only she were
here! This moon tonight...
63. A lovely thing to see: through the paper window's hole, the Galaxy. A man, just one - also
a fly, just one - in the huge drawing room. A sudden shower falls - and naked I am riding on a
naked horse!