This document provides an overview of Japanese literature, including its key characteristics and influences. It discusses the origins of Japanese writing and how poetry has always been highly revered in the culture. Various literary genres are examined, such as poetry forms like tanka, haiku, and renga. The prominent Heian period is described, along with notable works like The Pillow Book. Major periods of Japanese history are covered as well as the development of forms of drama like Noh plays, Bunraku puppetry, and Kabuki theater. Several major Japanese writers are profiled. The document concludes with assignments of specific poems and short stories for readers to examine Japanese literature further.

1. JAPANESE
LITERATU
RE
Characteristic
s and
Influences

4. · INTRODUCTION
·
Early Japan borrowed much from Chinese culture but
evolved its own character over time. Japanese
literature came into its own after the 5th century AD,
when the Japanese adopted the Chinese system of
writing, modifying it to fit their own needs.

5.  Poetry has always been highly revered in Japan.
 The tendency toward compression in Japanese poetry
reached a peak in haiku, a form developed in the 17th
century.
· JAPANESE LITERATURE ·

6. THE HEIAN
AGE
The period of peace and prosperity,
of aesthetic refinement and
artificial manners

7. by Sei Shonagon
· The Pillow Book ·
Represents a unique form of
the diary genre. It contains
vivid sketches of people and
place, shy anecdotes and
witticisms, snatches of poetry,
and 164 lists on court life
during the Heian period.

8. From Hateful Things
One is in a hurry to leave, but one’s visitor keeps
chattering away. If it is someone of no
importance, one can get rid of him by saying,
“You must tell me all about it next time”; but,
should it be the sort of visitor whose presence
commands one’s best behavior, the situation is
hateful indeed.

9. The Tokugawa Shogunate
By 1630 and for two centuries, Japan was a closed society: all
foreigners were expelled, Japanese Christians were
persecuted, and foreign travel was forbidden under penalty
of death. Haikus and the
poetic travel accounts of Basho are some of the famous
works in this era.

10. GIRI ON
Sense of obligation or
indebtedness which propels
a Japanese to act, as it binds
the person perpetually to
other individuals to the
group, to parents, teachers,
superiors, and the emperor
Connotes duty, justice,
honor, face, decency,
respectability, courtesy,
charity, humanity, love,
gratitude, claim.
· Socio-political concepts ·

11. Japanese
One of the oldest and most popular means of
expression and communication in the Japanese
culture.
Poetry

12.  Poetry was an integral part of daily life in ancient
Japanese society, serving as a means through which
anyone could chronicle experiences and express
emotions.
· JAPANESE POETRY ·

13. · MANYOSHU ·
The first anthology of Japanese
poetry is the Manyoshu, or the
‘Book of Ten Thousand Leaves.
It is an anthology by poets from
a wide range of social classes,
including the peasantry, the
clergy, and the ruling class.

14. There are
different poems
according to set
forms or
structures…

15. CHOKA
Poems that consist of alternate lines of five and
seven syllables with an additional seven-syllable line
at the end. There is no limit to the number of lines
which end with envoys, or pithy summations. These
envoys consist of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables that elaborate
on or summarize the theme or central idea of the
main poem. Unlike other Japanese verse forms,
there is no limit to the number of lines in a choka.

16. Torn
why am I inside
drawn like a moth to the flame
sunshine beckons me
yet here I sit, motionless
obsessed with the screen
ear buds block out the outdoors
can't seem to break free
take matters in my own hands
show of force needed
it is time to pull the plugs
salvage what's left of daylight

17. TANKA
The most prevalent verse form in traditional
Japanese literature. It consists of five lines of 5-7-5-
7-7 syllables including at least one caesura, or
pause. Used as a means of communication in
ancient Japanese society, the tanka often tell a brief
story or express a single thought or insight and the
common subjects are love and nature.

18. Every Single Thing
by Priest Saigyo
Every single thing
Changes and is changing
Always in this world.
Yet with the same light
The moon goes on shining.

19. How Helpless My Heart!
by Ono Komachi
How helpless my heart!
Were the stream to tempt,
My body, like a reed
Severed at the roots,
Would drift along, I think.

20. RENGA
A chain of interlocking tanka. Each tanka
within a renga was divided into verses of 17
and 14 syllables. The standard length of a
renga was 100 verses, although there were
variations.

21. HAIKU
Poetic form consists of three lines of five,
seven, five syllables. Haiku are
characterized by precision, simplicity, and
suggestiveness. Almost all haiku contains a
kigo, a seasonal word, such as cherry
blossoms, snow, falling leaves that
indicates the time of year being described.

22. HAIKU
Buson
Blossoms on the pear;
and a woman in the
moonlight
reads a letter there…
Onitsura
Even stones in streams
of mountain water
compose
songs to wild cherries.
Sokan
If to the moon
one puts a handle – what
a splendid fan!

23. Japanese
A colorful and mesmerizing combination of
dance, drama and musical accompaniment.
DRAMA

24.  Noh play is the earliest
surviving form of Japanese
drama. It was performed on
an almost bare stage by a
small cast of actors wearing
masks; the actors are
accompanied by a chorus;
and the play is written either
in verse or in highly poetic
prose.
· JAPANESE THEATRE ·

25. · JAPANESE THEATRE ·

26.  The Noh plays are performed on an almost bare stage by
a small but elaborately costumed cast of actors wearing
masks.
 Two other forms of drama emerged later: the Joruri (now
called Bunraku) and Kabuki.
· JAPANESE THEATRE ·

27.  Joruri is staged using puppets.

28. Kabuki involves lively, melodramatic acting and is staged
using elaborate and colorful costume and sets.

29. Kabuki is performed with the accompaniment of an orchestra and
generally focus on the lives of common people rather than
aristocrats.

30. Kyogen is a farce traditionally performed
between the Nō tragedies.

31. MAJOR
WRITERS
JAPANESE

32. Lady Murasaki Shikibu
Wrote the long and
detailed The Tale of
Genji (Genji
Monogatari). It is
considered by many
scholars to be the
first true novel.
Murasaki’s novel has
been widely
translated, and today
she is as highly
regarded in Japan as
William Shakespeare is
in English-speaking
countries.

33. Natsume Sōseki
An outstanding
Japanese novelist and
the first to ably depict
the plight of the
alienated modern
Japanese intellectual. It
was through Natsume
that the modern
realistic novel, which
had essentially been a
foreign literary genre,
took root in Japan.
His reputation was
made with two very
successful comic
novels, I Am a Cat and
Botchan. Both satirize
contemporary
philistines and
intellectual
mountebanks.

34. Yukio Mishima
Pen name of
Kimitake Hiraoka, a
prolific writer who is
regarded by many
writers as the most
important Japanese
novelist of the 20th
century.
His highly acclaimed
first novel, Confessions
of a Mask is partly
autobiographical work
that describes with
stylistic brilliance a
homosexual who must
mask his sexual
orientation.

35. Yasunari Kawabata
Japanese novelist
and short story
writer whose spare,
lyrical, subtly-shaded
prose works won
him the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1968.
Three of his best
novels are: Snow
Country, Thousand
Cranes, and Sound of
the Mountains. He
committed suicide
shortly after the suicide
of his friend Mishima.

36. Junichiro Tanizaki
Was one of the
major writers of
modern Japanese
literature. He was a
major novelist whose
writing is
characterized by
eroticism and ironic
wit.
His earliest stories were like
those of Edgar Allan Poe’s
but he later turned toward
the exploration of more
traditional Japanese ideals
of beauty. Among his
works are Some Prefer
Nettles, The Makioka
Sisters, Diary of a Mad Old
Man.

37. Oe Kenzaburo
Japanese author and a
major figure in
contemporary
Japanese literature. His
works are strongly
influenced by French
and American literature
and literary theory. He
was awarded the Nobel
Prize for Literature in
1994.
Among his works are:
Lavish are the Dead,
The Catch, Our
Generation, A Personal
Matter, The Silent Cry,
and Awake, New Man!.

38. Haruki Murakami
His novels, essays, and
short stories have been
bestsellers in Japan as
well as internationally,
with his work translated
into 50 languages and
selling millions of copies
outside Japan. Known for
his deeply imaginative
and often ambiguous
books that connotes
magic realism.
He wrote A Wild Sheep
Chase in 1982, a novel
steeped in the genre of
magical realism. His most
popular work among
Westerners is The Wind-
Up Bird Chronicle and
Kafka on the Shore.

39. Matsuo Basho
Regarded as the
greatest haiku poet.
He was born into a
samurai family and
began writing poetry
at an early age.
After becoming a Zen
Buddhist, he moved into
an isolated hut on the
outskirts of Edo (Tokyo)
where he lived the life of
a hermit, supporting
himself by teaching and
judging poetry.

40. Yosa Buson
Regarded as the
second-greatest haiku
poet. He lived in Kyoto
throughout most of
his life and was one of
the finest painters of
his time
Buson presents a
romantic view of the
Japanese landscape,
vividly capturing the
wonder and mystery
of nature.

41. To have a better appreciation of Japanese
literature, you are required to read the
following poems and short story.
1. Bedraggled Ostrich by Takamura Kotaro
2. Beach Rainbow by Tsakahashi Shinkichi
3. Rashomon by Ryunoksuke Akutagawa

42. To have a better appreciation of Japanese
literature, you are required to read the
following literature:
1. The Spider’s Thread by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
2. The Tunnel, Zen story
3. Madman on the Roof by Kikuchi Kan
4. Essay in Idleness by Yoshida Kenko

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