Japanese literature has existed for more than one and a half thousand years. During this time, it has repeatedly changed: new styles, directions, artistic movements appeared. Some unrecognized works became real classics, and promising books lost their relevance after a couple of decades. Want to learn more about Japanese literature? About her ups and downs? Read this article!
Ancient literature
Initially, myths and songs were spread in Japan that were transmitted orally. However, closer to the 7th century, everything changed. Emperor Tenji established high schools in which they studied Chinese. Soon, borrowing and optimizing the characters from China, a written Japanese language appeared. Thus, by the seventh century, writing began to spread actively. As a result, monuments of Japanese literature began to appear.
The first Japanese work that has come down to our times is a chronicle called Kojiki. It was written by Yasumaro Ono in 712. The book contained various folklore represented by songs, myths, tales, legends, etc. In addition to this, the work also had historical value. Indeed, in "Kojiki" the author left some historical legends and chronicles.
Another example of ancient Japanese literature is Manyoshu. The book was a huge collection of lyrics, which included more than 4,000 folk and author tank poems.
Classic literature
The next stage of Japanese literature was called classical. It lasted from the VIII to XII centuries. What is typical for this period? Japanese literature was heavily intertwined with Chinese. Most of the inhabitants of Japan were illiterate. For this reason, Japanese fiction was distributed among the aristocracy and higher court circles. Perhaps the main feature of this era is that most of the works were written by women. It is for this reason that in classical Japanese literature, family and other decent motives predominate.
The most striking example of literature of this era is the Tale of the Beautiful Otikubo. The book tells the story of the life of a Japanese Cinderella, who huddled in a tiny wad, while honoring the customs of her ancestors, moral covenants. Thanks to her high morality, the girl was able to get out of the mud to riches, because a noble and rich gentleman fell in love with her.
If we talk about genre orientation, then literature departed from folk art. Myths and fairy tales were replaced by higher genres: short stories, novels, short stories, etc. In the tenth century, even the first Japanese novel called The Tale of Old Man Taketori was released. It tells of an old lumberjack who met a little girl who turned out to be a resident of the moon.
Medieval literature
This literary period lasted from the XII to the XVII century. The power in the country has changed dramatically. The Mikado, who were the country's highly intellectual elite, was replaced by a military estate called the shogun.
The country's literary activity began to plummet. Genres such as romance and Japanese poetry have been forgotten. The memoirs of outstanding commanders and historical works were very popular. In general, Japanese literature has become more violent and bloody. It is also worth noting that women writers did not take part in the medieval literary process in Japan.
"Genpei Josuiki" is a prominent representative of medieval Japanese literature. The work tells about the ups and downs of two genera of aristocratic origin - Genji and Heike. The book is reminiscent of the Shakespearean Chronicle. The work is characterized by fierce heroic battles, the interweaving of historical truth with fiction, author's retreat and reasoning.
Modern Japanese literature
After the fall of the shoguns, emperors returned to power. This led to the emergence of a new period in Japanese literature, which lasted until the middle of the 20th century. The land of the rising sun has become more open to another world. And this turned out to be the main factor for the development of literature. A characteristic feature of this period is the active influence of European ideas and trends.
At first, the number of translations of European (including Russian) literature increased significantly. People wanted to learn about a foreign culture. Later, the first Japanese works began to appear, written in a European way. For example, books such as The Pillar of Fire, The Love Confession of Two Nuns, and The Five-Tier Pagoda, are far removed from Japanese classics. In these works, European ideology and lifestyle were actively cultivated.
Post-war period
The defeat in World War II greatly affected Japanese culture and the life of the people as a whole. The changes were not spared literature. Japanese writers planted a new ideology that combined both old traditions and modern democracy (The Thousand-Winged Crane by Yasunari Kawabata, The Small Snow by Junichiro Tanizaki).
Japanese literature. Haiku
Special attention should be paid to Japanese lyrical works. Japanese poems, or hoku (haiku), were popular throughout almost the entire period of development of literature. The peculiarity of such works is the structure. According to the canons of the genre, hoku consist of 17 syllables that make up a column of hieroglyphs. The main theme of such works is a description of the beauty of nature or philosophical thoughts. The most famous haijins are Takahama Kyoshi, Kobayashi Issa, Masaoka Shiki. Well, Matsuo Basho can safely be called the father of hokku.