Japanese literature. The history of development

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Japanese literature has been around for over 1,500 years. During this time, it has changed several times: new styles, trends, artistic trends have 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, which were transmitted orally. However, closer to the 7th century, everything changed. Emperor Tenji established high schools that taught Chinese. Soon, by borrowing and optimizing hieroglyphs from China, a written Japanese language appeared. Thus, by the 7th 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 undercalled "Kojiki". It was written by Yasumaro Ono in 712. The book contained various folklore, represented by songs, myths, fairy tales, legends, etc. In addition, the work had historical value. Indeed, in the "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 4000 folk and author tanka poems.

Classic Literature

The next stage of Japanese literature was called classical. It lasted from the 8th to the 12th centuries. What is typical for this period? Japanese literature was strongly intertwined with Chinese. Most of the inhabitants of Japan were illiterate. It was for this reason that Japanese fiction spread among the aristocracy and the highest 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 classical Japanese literature is dominated by family and other decent themes.

The Tale of the Beautiful Ochikubo can serve as the clearest example of the literature of this era. The book tells about the life of a Japanese Cinderella, who huddled in a tiny closet, while honoring the customs of her ancestors, moral covenants. Thanks to her high morality, the girl was able to get out of the rags to riches, because a noble and rich gentleman fell in love with her.

If we talk about the genreorientation, then literature moved away from folk art. Myths and fairy tales were replaced by higher genres: short stories, novellas, short stories, etc. In the 10th century, the first Japanese novel was even published under the title "The Tale of Old Man Taketori". It tells the story of an old lumberjack who meets a little girl who turns out to be from the moon.

Medieval literature

This literary period lasted from the 12th to the 17th century. The power in the country has changed dramatically. The mikado, who were the highly intellectual elite of the country, was replaced by a military class called the shogun.

Literary activity of the country began to decline rapidly. Genres such as the novel and Japanese poetry fell into oblivion. The memoirs of outstanding commanders and works of a historical nature 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 at all.

"Genpei Josuiki" is a prominent representative of medieval Japanese literature. The work tells about the rise and fall of two families of aristocratic origin - Genji and Heike. The book is reminiscent of Shakespeare's chronicle. The work is characterized by cruel heroic battles, the interweaving of historical truth with fiction, author's digressions and reasoning.

Modern Japanese Literature

After the fall of the shoguns, the emperors returned to power. This ledto 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.

First, the number of translations of European (including Russian) literature increased significantly. People wanted to learn about foreign culture. Later, the first Japanese works began to appear, written in a European way. For example, books such as Pillar of Fire, Love Confession of Two Nuns, and Five Tiered Pagoda have departed far from the Japanese classics. European ideology and lifestyle were actively cultivated in these works.

Post-war period

The defeat in World War II greatly affected the entire Japanese culture and the life of the people as a whole. Literature has not been spared either. Japanese writers propagated a new ideology that combined both old traditions and modern democracy ("Thousand-winged Crane" by Yasunari Kawabata, "Small Snow" by Junichiro Tanizaki).

Japanese literature. Haiku

Japanese works of a lyrical nature deserve special attention. Japanese poetry, or haiku (haiku), has been popular throughout most of the development of literature. The peculiarity of such works lies in the structure. Byaccording to the canons of the genre, haiku consists 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 reflections. The most famous haijins are Takahama Kyoshi, Kobayashi Issa, Masaoka Shiki. Well, the father of haiku can be safely called Matsuo Basho.