Japanese Literature 2.

Kamakura Period (1185-1333)

Why it matters:
Simplicity, Discipline, Nature.
 3 major themes commonly seen on Japanese
literature.
 Foundations of modern literature
RELIGIOUS FOUNDATION
 A large red gate usually marks the entrance to
a Shinto shrine.
 Shinto & Buddhism – main religions of Japan
are based on respect for nature.
 30 years of war between Taira and Minamoto
clans.
 Assigning of daimyo – samurais are more loyal
to their daimyo because the government
cannot pay them.
3. Ashikaga Period (1338-1467)
 Go-Daigo set up a court in Yoshino to restore
imperial power; Takauiji set up a new military
and imperial government in Kyoto.
 The 3rd shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu
established peace and control

AN ISLAND CULTURE 4. Warring States Period (1467-1568)

 There are about 4,000 islands in the Japanese  Chaotic Japan (civil war)
island groups.  Daimyo rose in power
 Most Japanese live in the 4 largest islands:  Oda Nobunaga united most of Japan
Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku.
 Many people depended on the sea for food 5. Tokugawa Period (1603-1867)
and industry.  Hideyoshi continued unifying Japan but he
died in 1598.
THE INFLUENCE OF CHINA  Tokugawa Ieyasu united all Japan and moved
 Around AD 500, Chinese ideas and customs the capital to Edo, now Tokyo.
influenced the Japanese.
 Important influences include: Buddhism and
Chinese writing. History to Literature
Kana, a Japanese Sei Shonogan (The
A MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN writing system based on Pillow Book) and
 About 70% of Japan is covered by mountains Chinese characters, is Murusaki Shikubu (Tale
and hills. introduced during the of Genji) were ladiesin-
 Mt. Fuji – highest peak, considered sacred; Heian period. waiting in the Heian
visited by about 100, 000 people who climb it period. They wrote
each year detailed accounts of
court life in Japanese.
THE WAY OF WARRIOR The Taira and An anonymous
 From 12th century until 1887, Japan was Minamoto clans clash nobleman writes “The
controlled by powerful warlords called during the late 1100s. Tale of Heike”, a war
shoguns and their loyal warriors called epic that chronicles the
samurais. First shoguns established their rise and fall of the Taira
centre of power in Kamakura. family.
 Katana - sword; Bushido - code of behavior
HIERARCHY
HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS RULERS - SAMURAI - PEASANTS - ARTISANS &
MERCHANTS
1. Heian Period (794-1185)
 High point of imperial rule; highly-cultured (Merchants are considered to be the lowest status
society arose, poetry writing, paintings and because they do not ‘produce’ anything.
elaborate rituals. Nevertheless, merchants get to live a prosperous
 Rich Fujiwara family life.)
 Feudalism
WOMEN in early Japan
 Aristocratic women produced the greatest
literature of the time: Sei Shonagon wrote The
Pillow Book— witty and revealing diary of
court life; and
 Murusaki Shikubu wrote The Tale of Genji,
considered the world’s first novel.
 By Kamakura period, samurai wives take care
of households alone; some even engaged
themselves into warfare.
 By Tokugawa period, women lived a peasant
life to abide husband without question.
LITERATURE:
Poetry & Prose
 Early Japanese excelled in poetry.
 First Japanese anthology was compiled in 759
– contains about 4,500 poems.
 Most poems are tanka, a 31-syllable lyrical
poem that deal mostly with nature and love.
 Prose and poetry flourished the most during
Heian period; most writers are members of the
nobility.
 By the end of Heian period, Japanese poets
began to divide tanka into smaller parts.
 Japanese poets created haiku, a 17-syllable
poem that presents the image of nature.
 Matsuo Basho, Tokugawa (known poets)
Literature in Focus:
 The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon is the best
and first example of a Japanese genre zuihitsu,
which means “random notes” or “occasional
writings”.
 The Pillow Book contains lists, character
sketches, notes, brief essays from observations
of nature and (Sein Shonagon’s) experiences at
the imperial court (as the lady-in-waiting for
Empress Sadako).
 Pillow refers to an informal book of notes
written by a noblewoman at night, in the
privacy of a bedroom.
 Tucked in the drawers of the wooden
pillows in which the nobles rested their
head while they sleep.
 Sei Shonagon’s writings were well-
received.
Persian (Iran) Literature
Etymology
 From the Greek Persis, a name given to the
entire land occupied by various Iranian tribes
 In 1935, the name was changed to Iran,
meaning the Land of the Aryans
 The official name of Iran is, “Islamic Republic
of Iran”
Geography
BOUNDED BY:
NORTH – AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA, TURKMENISTAN
AND THE CASPIAN SEA
EAST – PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN
SOUTH – PERSIAN GULF AND THE GULF OF OMAN
WEST – TURKEY AND IRAQ
 CAPITAL - TEHRAN
 OFFICIAL LANGUAGE – FARSI
 RELIGION – ISLAM (SHIA AND SUNNI MUSLIM)
 NATIONAL FLOWER – TULIPS
 NATIONAL BIRD – NIGHTINGALE
 IRAN BECAME AN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC ON
APRIL 1, 1979
INTERESTING FACTS OF IRAN
A. PRE-ISLAMIC PERSIA (1000 BC – AD 642)
 Persians are originally ARYAN NOMADS.
 Plateau in west of India -> “Persia”
 (Eran/Iran) -> the land of Aryans
[600 BC]
Zoroaster – a prophet and religious reformer
(1,200 years)
 According to archaeological studies, the
earliest accounts of humans inhabiting Iran
dates back to the stone age.
 Persians arrived and settled in Persia around
1500 B.C. And tried to conquer Greece in two
occasion and in retaliation, Alexander the
great conquered the Persian empire on 350
B.C.
 Persia -> military power for survival
 CYRUS the Great – established Persian empire
from Indus River to Anatolia (now Turkey)
 Didn’t loot people; respected cultures and
beliefs
 Cambyses II & Darius I – systems of roads; "Life is a balance between holding on and letting
introduced coinage; and standardized weights go." -Rumi
and measures to promote trade Sufism may be best described as a mystical
 224 BC – Persian dynasty “Sassanids” practice that emphasizes certain unique rituals for
 defeated by Muslim Arabs in AD 651. guiding spiritual seekers into a direct encounter
 THE IRANIANS WERE PIONEER CARPET with God.
WEAVERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
PERSIAN PROVERBS
B. ARABS AND THE RISE OF ISLAM (AD 570 – 1258) Iran (Persian) Literature
 600s – Arabian influence
 Arab nomads settled in -> farmers and traders AT NIGHT, THE COTTON Some things are not
 Prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca, 570. SEED IS THE SAME AS A what they seem to be.
 Founded Islam -> Medina PEARL.
 1200s – greatest empire expansion YOU CAN’T PICK UP TWO Trying to do two things
 1258 – independent Muslim states broke the MELONS WITH ONE at once may result to
empire HAND. not being able to do
both well especially if
IMAM MOSQUE one task is already too
 AN EVERLASTING PIECE OF ARCHITECTURE IN much for one person
IRAN AND ALL OVER THE WORLD. to handle.
 IT WAS CONSTRUCTED IN 1611 BY THE ORDER THE DROWNING MAN IS Someone who’s facing
OF SHAH ABBAS I. NOT TROUBLED BY RAIN a great struggle won’t
 ON THE ENTRANCE CEILING IS THE FAMOUS be disturbed by the
FRAME OF SEVEN-COLORED MOSAIC TILES little ones.
A GREEDY MAN IS A person always asking
C. PERSIAN REBIRTH (AD 819 -1502) ALWAYS POOR. for more will never
 Persian dynasty, Samanids, gained power in appreciate what he
north-eastern part of the Islamic empire already has, thus,
 Persian culture spread again there will be no
 Bukhara against Baghdad satisfaction.
 Educated Persians speak and write in Arabic WHAT IS BROUGHT BY Easy come, easy go.
but started doing so in Persian even after THE WIND WILL BE What is easily acquired
being conquered by Turkishspeaking people. CARRIED AWAY BY THE may be lost just as
 Persian vocabulary is also characterized by a WIND. easily
large input of loanwords from Arabic.
 The Iranians also immersed themselves in
Muslim culture through the medium of Arabic. LITERATURE

History -----> Literature
Muhammed becomes Allah’s revelation to
the prophet of Islam. Muhammed are
gathered in the Koran.
Trade and navigation The Thousand and One
flourish in the region. Nights tells adventures
of a sailor named
Sinbad.
The Samanids support a The Samanids
revival of Persian commission a Persian
culture. epic called Shahnahmeh
A mystical form of Rumi gives poetic
Islam, Sufism, arises. expression to the idea
of Sufism.
Persian Literature has influenced the literatures of:
Turkey, Russia, India, China, UAE
 Pre-Islamic Iran was mainly an oral society. As
a result, Iranian “literature” was for a long
time essentially of oral nature as far as
composition, performance, and transmission
are concerned.
 QASIDA – ELABORATE ODES MEMORIZED AND
RECITED ON IMPORTANT OCCASIONS -
STRONG EMOTIONS
 The advent of Islam made way to Islam being
written
 610-632 AD – Koran
 Golden age of Arabic Literature: history,
philosophy, science and biography

PERSIAN LITERATURE
Many products of their oral type of literature
(whether in verse or in prose) did not survive to
the present day or were committed to writing only
many centuries after their original composition

LITERATURE FOR A FEW…

In the early times of the Persian Empire, writing
was used almost exclusively for reasons of prestige
in royal inscriptions or for practical purposes of
administrative and economic order

 Regardless, Avesta is a great Persian literature.

 In 9th century, Samanids revived Persian
culture which resulted to the blend of Persian
and Arabic culture (Persian poetic and Islam
mysticism)
 Sir Henry C. Rawlinson who studied the great
inscription of Darius I at Bisotun (1835 – 1847)
together with Sir Edwin Norris deciphered the
very first dateable text to be ever written.
 Which led to ASSYRIOLOGY also known as
cuneiform studies
 OTHER EARLY FORMS OF WRITING WERE ALSO
FOUND IN PAPYRI & OSCRATAS

SHAHNAMEH / SHAH NAMAH

 THE BOOK OF KINGS
 IT IS THE GREATEST EPIC OF IRAN
 WRITTEN BY FIRDAUSI (REAL NAME: ABUL
KASIM MANSUR) WHICH IS COMPOSED OF
60,000 VERSES
 ONE NOTABLE STORY IS THE EPIC OF SOHRAB
AND RUSTUM

 The Thousand and One Nights, also called The

Arabian Nights, Arabic Alf laylah wa laylah,
collection of largely Middle Eastern and Indian
stories of uncertain date and authorship. Its
tales of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad the Sailor
have almost become part of Western folklore,
though these were added to the collection
only in the 18th century in European
adaptations.