JAPANESE LITERARY FORMS

Presentation by Group 3
 WRITING WAS INTRODUCED TO JAPAN FROM
CHINA IN THE 5TH CENTURY VIA KOREA. THE
OLDEST SURVIVING WORKS ARE TWO HISTORIC AL
RECORDS, THE KOJIKI AND NIHON SHOKI, WHICH
WERE COMPLETED IN THE EARLY 8TH CENTURY. IN
THE 11TH CENTURY, THE WORLD'S FIRST NOVEL,
THE TALE OF GENJI, WAS WRITTEN IN JAPAN.
Influx of foreign texts spurred
the development of modern
Japanese literature
Since then, Japan has
maintained a vibrant literary
culture, and contemporary
writers.Writers such as
Kawabata Yasunari and Oe
Kenzaburo have won the
Nobel Prize for Literature in
1968 and 1994 respectively.
Some of the authors of the
time include Higuchi Ichiyo,
whose image is on the 5000
yen bill; Natsume Soseki, who
wrote "Botchan"; and
Miyazawa Kenji best known for
his work "Night on the
Galactic Railroad".
MEIJI PERIOD
( 1868 – 1912 )
 MATSUYAMA

Each author has museums,

monuments and statues
dedicated to them around
the city., monuments and
statues dedicated to them
around the city. home to three famous Japanese writers:
• Natsume Soseki and Shiba Ryotaro (
who both set their novels in
Matsuyama )
• poet Masaoka Shiki
 The Tale of Genji is an The town of Uji is frequently mentioned in
11th-century work of the novel, and several locations around the
fiction written by a
town are marked by statues and plaques.
UJI Japanese noblewoman
describing the intrigues Visitors can also the Tale of Genji
of court life during Museum to learn more about this novel
the Heian Period. that has stood the test of time.
 • well known for its collection of
folklore involving legends of
spirits, animals and supernatural
creatures. This rich oral tradition
was eventually transcribed and
collated into a book in 1910 - the
"Legends of Tono"

• the legends continue to be told

today and visitors can attend
these story telling performances
(in Japanese) at the folk villages,
museums and at some of the
TONO hotels around town
 • was the center of the Kibi
Kingdom. The area is
K known for the legend of
I Prince Kibitsuhiko, which
B serves as the foundation
I of the famous folktale
"Momotaro"
P
L The folktale chronicles the journey of a boy, who was born of a
A
peach (momo) and defeated a band of ogres who were terrorizing
I
N the land
• this area was also the • seven waterfalls in the mountains above
setting of Nobel laureate Kawazu Town in the southeast of the Izu
Kawabata Yasunari's Peninsula
short story "Izu no
Odoriko" (The Izu Dancer)

• visitors can follow a

walking trail with several
life-sized statues of the
odoriko (dancing girls)
depicted in the story

KAWAZU NANADARU
 HAIKU

The essence of haiku is “cutting”. • haiku in English often appear in three

lines parallel to the three phrases of
• is often represented by
Japanese haiku
the juxtaposition of two
images or ideas and a • Modern Japanese haiku are said to increasingly
kireji between them, a vary from the tradition of 17 on and taking
kind of verbal punctuation nature as their subject.
mark which signals the • There is a common perception that the images
moment of separation juxtaposed must be directly observed everyday
and colors the manner in objects or occurrences
which the juxtaposed
elements are related
 HAIKU

Traditional haiku 古池や蛙飛び込む水の音ふるいけやかわずとびこむみ

often consist of ずのおと (transliterated into 17 hiragana)
17 on (also
known as morae furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto (transliterated
though often into rōmaji)
loosely
translated as This separates into on as : Translated:[16]
"syllables"), in fu-ru-i-ke ya (5) old pond
three phrases of ka-wa-zu to-bi-ko-mu (7) frog leaps
5, 7, and 5 on, mi-zu-no-o-to (5) inwater's sound
respectively
 • is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of
Japanese literature
• originally, in the time of the Man'yōshū (latter half of the eighth century
AD), the term tanka was used to distinguish "short poems" from the
longer chōka (長歌, "long poems").
T
A • Tanka consist of five 東海の Tōkai no On the white sand
N 小島の磯の kojima no iso Of the beach of a
K units. The 5-7-5 is
no small island
A called the kami-no-
白砂に shirasuna ni In the Eastern Sea
ku (上の句, "upper われ泣きぬれて ware I, my face streaked
phrase"), and the 7-7 naki nurete with tears,
is called the shimo- 蟹とたわむる kani to Am playing with a
no-ku (下の句, tawamuru crab
"lower phrase").
• is a linked-verse In ancient Japan, composing renga was a favorite
Japanese poetry pastime affairs of poets, aristocrats, even general
from composed in public. The earliest record of renga poems is found in
tanka pattern and Kin'yo-shu, an anthology of poems compiled in about
was originally 1125.In the beginning, renga were based on light topic,
composed by two or however, by 15th century, there was a distinction
more poets. drawn between ushin renga (serious renga) and
• developed when mushin renga (comic renga).Renga poetry contains at
poets tried to least 100 verses. The first stanza (the first three lines),
communicate of renga is called hokku. Hokku of a renga later
through poetry. developed into haiku poetry.
The first three lines of renga, in 5-7-5 syllables format, were composed by a poet and the
remaining 7-7 syllables were composed by another.

RENGA
• Haiga (俳画, • Stylistically, haiga Composing haiku,
haikai drawing) vary widely based on and painting
is a style of the preferences and accompanying
Japanese training of the pictures, was a
painting that individual painter, common pastime
incorporates but generally show of Edo period H
the aesthetics of influences of formal aesthetes, who A
haikai. Haiga are Kanō school would pursue I
typically painted painting, minimalist these activities in G
A
by haiku poets Zen painting, and their spare time,
(haijin), and Ōtsu-e, while sharing or at friendly
often much of the gatherings as a
accompanied by aesthetic attitudes of communal form of
a haiku poem. the nanga tradition. entertainment.