Objectives

 At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

 name some major works and their writers in three major
national literatures of Asian literature, namely, Chinese,
Japanese, and Indian, and
 analyze a few selected literary works representative of the
literature it belongs.
 What is Asian literature?
What are some of the major works in Chinese, Japanese,
and Indian literatures and who wrote them?
 Tributary System of China
 It was a network of loose international relations focused
on China which facilitated trade and foreign relations by
acknowledging China's predominant role in East Asia.
 It involved multiple relationships of trade, military force,
diplomacy and ritual.
 The other states had to send a tributary envoy to China
on schedule, who would kowtow (the act of deep respect
shown by prostration, that is, kneeling and bowing so low
as to have one's head touching the ground. In
Sinospheric culture, the kowtow is the highest sign of
reverence) to the Chinese emperor as a form of tribute,
and acknowledge his superiority and precedence.
 The other countries followed China's formal ritual in
order to keep the peace with the more powerful neighbor
and be eligible for diplomatic or military help under
certain conditions.
Tributary System of China
 Chinese Literature

 This body of works is in Chinese.

 It has more than 50 000 published works in a wide
range of topics.
 It is among the most imaginative and interesting in
the world. The precision of the language results in
perfectly realized images whether in poetry or prose
and, as with all great literature, the themes are
timeless.
 The Chinese valued literature highly and even had a
god of literature named Wen Chang, also known as
Wendi, Wen Ti.
 Chinese Literature

 Wen Chang kept track of all the

writers in China and what they
produced to reward to punish
them according to how well or
poorly they had used their
talents. This god was thought to
have once been a man named
Zhang Ya, a brilliant writer who
drowned himself after a
disappointment and was deified.
He presided not only over written
works and writers but over
Chinese script itself.
 Chinese Literature

 Ancient Chinese script evolved from the practice of

divination during the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046
BCE). The pictographs made on oracle bones by
diviners became the script known as Jiaguwen (c.
1600-1000 BCE) which developed into Dazhuan (c.
1000-700 BCE), Xiaozhuan (700 BCE - present),
and Lishu (the so-called "Clerky Script", c. 500
BCE). From these also developed Kaishu,
Xingshu, and Caoshu, cursive scripts which
writers later used in prose, poetry, and other kinds of
artistic works.
Oracle Bone
Chinese Literature
 Du Fu (712–770) is
considered as China’s greatest
poet. He was known for his
works of lüshi. A lüshi has
eight lines, each of which has
five or seven syllables
following a strict tonal
pattern. It became widely
popular during the Tang
Dynasty (618–907 CE), the
golden age of art and
literature in Chinese history.
 Chinese Literature

 Li Bai (701–762), also

called Li Po, rivaled Du Fu
for the title of China’s
greatest poet. Unlike Du
Fu, he wrote less formal
verse forms. A famous
drinker, he frequently
celebrated drinking in his
poetry.
 Japanese Literature
JAPANESE LITERATURE , THE BODY
OF WRITTEN WORKS PRODUCED BY
JAPANESE AUTHORS IN JAPANESE OR,
IN ITS EARLIEST BEGINNINGS, AT A
TIME WHEN JAPAN HAD NO WRITTEN
LANGUAGE, IN THE CHINESE
CLASSICAL LANGUAGE.
 Japanese Literature

 Both in quantity and quality, Japanese literature ranks as

one of the major literatures of the world, comparable in
age, richness, and volume to English literature, though
its course of development has been quite dissimilar.
 The surviving works comprise a literary tradition
extending from the 7th century CE to the present; during
all this time there was never a “dark age” devoid of
literary production.
 Not only do poetry, the novel, and the drama have long
histories in Japan, but some literary genres not so highly
esteemed in other countries—including diaries, travel
accounts, and books of random thoughts—are also
prominent.
 Japanese Literature
 Writing was introduced to Japan from China in
the 5th century via the Korean peninsula.
 The oldest surviving works are two historical
records, the Kojiki (also sometimes read as
Furukotofumi or Furukotobumi, is an early
Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns,
genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-
historical accounts down to 641 concerning the
origin of the Japanese archipelago, the kami,
and the Japanese imperial line) and Nihon
Shoki (sometimes translated as The
Chronicles of Japan, is the second-oldest book
of classical Japanese history, also called the
Nihongi), which were completed in the early
8th century.
 Japanese Literature

 In the 11th century, during the peak of the Heian

Period, the world's first novel, The Tale of Genji, was
written in Japan.
 Japanese Literature

 Kakinomoto Hitomaro,
was a Japanese waka poet and
aristocrat of the late Asuka
period. He was the most
prominent of the poets
included in the Man'yōshū,
the oldest waka anthology, but
apart from what can be
gleaned from hints in the
Man'yōshū, the details of his
life are largely uncertain. He
was Japan’s first literary
figure, was known for his
works of tanka and chōka.
 Tanka is the basic form of Japanese poetry, has five
lines in five-seven-five-seven-seven syllable pattern.
Examples of Tanka
 Japanese Literature

 Chōka is a form of
waka (Japanese poem).
It consists of 5-7
syllables repeated and
concludes with a 5-7-7
ending. The phrases 5-7
are repeated at least
three times and 7
syllables are added at
the end.
 Japanese Literature

 Hitomaro’s works were

included in Man’yōshū,
the oldest anthology of
Japanese poetry which
was produced during the
Nara Period (710–784).
 Japanese Literature
 Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694)
was regarded as the supreme
haiku poet. Emerged from the
early Tokugawa period (1603–
1770), the haiku is composed of
three lines with five-seven-five
syllable pattern. It originated
from the hokku, the first three
lines of a renga, a poem usually
with a hundred linked verses.
Bashō’s verses appear with his
travel accounts like The
Narrow Road to the Deep
North (1694).
 INDIAN
LITERATURE
INDIAN LITERATURE , WRITINGS OF THE
INDIAN SUBCONTINENT, PRODUCED THERE
IN A VARIETY
OF VERNACULAR LANGUAGES,
INCLUDING SANSKRIT , PRAKRIT, PALI ,
BENGALI , BIHARI , GUJARATI , HINDI ,
KANNADA , KASHMIRI , MALAYALAM, ORIYA ,
PUNJABI, RAJASTHANI , TAMIL , TELUGU ,
URDU, LAHNDA , SIRAIKI, AND SINDHI,
AMONG OTHERS, AS WELL AS IN ENGLISH .
 INDIAN LITERATURE

 The term Indian literature is used here to

refer to literature produced across the
Indian subcontinent prior to the creation
of the Republic of India in 1947 and within
the Republic of India after 1947.
 The earliest Indian literature took the
form of the canonical Hindu sacred
writings, known as the Veda (a collection
of poems or hymns composed in archaic
Sanskrit by Indo-European-speaking
peoples who lived in northwest India
during the 2nd millennium BCE), which
were written in Sanskrit.
 INDIAN LITERATURE

 Because Sanskrit was identified with the Brahminical

religion of the Vedas, Buddhism
and Jainism adopted other literary languages (Pali
and Ardhamagadhi, respectively).
 The literature of those languages depended largely
on the ancient Indian background, which includes
two Sanskrit epic poems,
the Mahabharata and Ramayana, as well as
the Bhagavata-purana and the other Puranas.
 INDIAN LITERATURE

 The Mahabharata is an ancient Indian epic where

the main story revolves around two branches of a
family - the Pandavas and Kauravas - who, in the
Kurukshetra War, battle for the throne of
Hastinapura. Interwoven into this narrative are
several smaller stories about people dead or living,
and philosophical discourses.
 The poem is made up of almost 100,000 couplets—
about seven times the length of the Iliad and
the Odyssey combined—divided into 18 parvans, or
sections, plus a supplement
titled Harivamsha (“Genealogy of the God Hari”;
i.e., of Vishnu).
 INDIAN LITERATURE

 Ramayana, (Sanskrit: “Rama’s Journey”) shorter of

the two great epic poems of India, the other being
the Mahabharata (“Great Epic of the Bharata
Dynasty”). The Ramayana was composed
in Sanskrit, probably not before 300 BCE, by the
poet Valmiki and in its present form consists of some
24,000 couplets divided into seven books.
 The poem describes the royal birth of the
god Rama in the kingdom of Ayodhya (Oudh),
his tutelage under the sage Vishvamitra, and his
success in bending Shiva’s mighty bow at the
bridegroom tournament of Sita, the daughter of King
Janaka, thus winning her for his wife.
 INDIAN LITERATURE
 “The Panchatantra” is one of the best-
known collections of old stories.
"Panchatantra" is a Sanskrit word that
means "five books." Each book has a
framework story, sort of like “Arabian
Nights”, into which shorter stories are
interwoven. The fable-like stories are
full of humor and sagely advice. Many
scholars say that “The Panchatantra”
was originally composed in Kashmir
about 200 B.C. According to legend, it
was written for three princes to teach
them the principals of "right living."
Many of the stories are attributed to a
writer named Bidpai, a wise man from
India.
 INDIAN LITERATURE

 Storytelling has been a popular

form of entertainment in India
for centuries. Many regions and
ethnic groups have their
traditions of folk stories. The
“Hitopadesa” ("Book of Good
Counsel" in Sanskrit) is another
book of fables written after
“The Panchatantra”. The stories
from “Arabian Nights” are very
popular in India, many of the
stories originated in India.
Ancient philosophers were
articulated by Shakyamuni.
INDIAN LITERATURE

 R.K Narayan is one of the

greatest and celebrated
novelists in India. He is
distinguished for his simple
and unpretentious English
writing style and is one of the
most widely read Indian
novelists.
 His popular works include
The English Teacher, The
Financial Expert and Waiting
for the Mahatma.
 INDIAN LITERATURE
 Rabindranth Tagore (1861-1941),
a poet, philosopher and writer
from Calcutta, was the first non-
European to win the Nobel Prize
in literature. He was a formidable
personality who played a major
role in shaping the cultural life of
India at the turn of the 20th
century, “when the country was
struggling for its independence
and searching for its identity in
the international community. He
also helped introduce Indian
literature to the West.
 References

 https://www.slideserve.com/sachi/asian-history-and-
literature
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tributary_system_of_China
 https://www.britannica.com/art/Japanese-literature
 https://www.japanese-wiki-
corpus.org/literature/Choka%20(long%20epic%20song).html
 https://www.google.com/search?q=example+of+choka&hl=e
n&source
 https://factsanddetails.com/india/Arts_Culture_Media_Spor
ts/sub7_5a/entry-4236.html
 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ramayana-Indian-epic