日本の文化と文学

Japanese Culture and Literature

 Japan -is an island country of East Asia in the
northwest Pacific Ocean. It borders the Sea of Japan
to the west and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the
north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south.
Japan is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire and comprises
an archipelago of 6,852 islands covering 377,975
square kilometers (145,937 sq mi); its five main
islands, from north to south,
are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu,
and Okinawa. Tokyo is the country's capital and
largest city; other major cities include Osaka
and Nagoya.
Map Of Japan
 Flag Of Japan
The Japanese Flag is a white banner whose center contains a
red circle; this circle represents the sun. The Japanese flag is
called Hinomaru, which means "circle of the sun." In
English it is sometimes called the "rising sun." This flag has
been used for over a thousand years, and no one knows who
designed it or when.
 Japanese Currency
Japan’s currency is Yen. Japanese’s first use of money was
in 708 AD on Tang Court (630 AD). Japan's
first formal currency system was the Kōchōsen (Japanese:
皇朝銭 , "Imperial currency"). It was exemplified by the
adoption of Japan's first official coin type, the
Wadōkaichin. It was first minted in 708 AD on the orders of
Empress Genmei, Japan's 43rd Imperial ruler.
 Japanese Clothing
In Japan they used to wear Kimono as all people know. But male’s
kimono is called Yukata, while female’s kimono is just Kimono.
 Japanese People
Japanese people (Japanese:  日本人 , Hepburn: nihonjin) are an ethnic group that
is native to the Japanese archipelago and modern country of Japan, where they
constitute 98.5% of the total population. Worldwide, approximately 129 million
people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 125 million are residents
of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live outside Japan are referred to
as nikkeijin ( 日系人 ), the Japanese diaspora. The term ethnic Japanese is used to
refer to mainland Japanese people, specifically the Yamato. Japanese people
are one of the largest ethnic groups in the world. The Japanese language is
a Japonic language that is related to the Ryukyuan languages and was treated as
a language isolate in the past. The earliest attested form of the language, Old
Japanese, dates to the 8th century. Japanese phonology is characterized by a
relatively small number of vowel phonemes, frequent gemination, and a
distinctive pitch accent system. The modern Japanese language has a
tripartite writing system using hiragana, katakana, and kanji. The language
includes native Japanese words and a large number of words derived from the
Chinese language. In Japan the adult literacy rate in the Japanese language
exceeds 99%. Dozens of Japanese dialects are spoken in regions of Japan.
 Japanese Religion
Japanese religion has traditionally been syncretic in nature, combining elements
of Buddhism and Shinto (Shinbutsu-shūgō). Shinto, a polytheistic religion with no
book of religious canon, is Japan's native religion. Shinto was one of the traditional
grounds for the right to the throne of the Japanese imperial family, and was codified as
the state religion in 1868 (State Shinto), but was abolished by the American
occupation in 1945. Mahayana Buddhism came to Japan in the sixth century and
evolved into many different sects. Today, the largest form of Buddhism among
Japanese people is the Jōdo Shinshū sect founded by Shinran.
A large majority of Japanese people profess to believe in both Shinto and
Buddhism. Japanese people's religion functions mostly as a foundation
for mythology, traditions, and neighborhood activities, rather than as the single source
of moral guidelines for one's life.
About one million, or slightly under 1%, of Japan's population are Christians. A larger
proportion of members of the Japanese diaspora practice Christianity; about 60%
of Japanese Brazilians and 90% of Japanese Mexicans are Roman Catholics, while
about 37% of Japanese Americans are Christians (33% Protestant and 4% Catholic).
 Japan’s Specialties
Japan is famous for many things. But it’s most famous for
Sakura (Cherry Blossoms), Golden Shower Trees, Mount
Fuji, and many more.
Here are the things they are famous for.
Mount Fuji,…
Sakura,…
Golden Shower Trees,… Etc.
日本文学
Japanese Literature
 Japanese Literature
Japan’s literature has a history that has been going since then,
In here we are going to look at Japan’s literature history.
1.) Nara-period literature (before 794)
2.) Heian literature (794–1185)
3.) Kamakura-Muromachi period literature (1185–1603)
4.) Edo-period literature (1603–1868)
5.) Meiji, Taishō, and early Shōwa-period literature (1868–
1945)
6.) Postwar literature (1945-onwards)
 Nara-period (before 794)
Before the introduction of kanji from China to Japan, Japan had no writing
system; it is believed that Chinese characters came to Japan at the very
beginning of the fifth century, brought by immigrants from the mainland of
Korean and Chinese descent. Early Japanese texts first followed the
Chinese model, before gradually transitioning to a hybrid of Chinese
characters used in Japanese syntactical formats, resulting in sentences
written with Chinese characters but read phonetically in Japanese.
Chinese characters were also further adapted, creating what is known
as man'yōgana, the earliest form of kana, or Japanese syllabic writing. The
earliest literary works in Japan were created in the Nara period. These
include the Kojiki (712), a historical record that also chronicles ancient
Japanese mythology and folk songs; the Nihon Shoki (720), a chronicle
written in Chinese that is significantly more detailed than the Kojiki; and
the Man'yōshū (759), a poetry anthology. One of the stories they describe is
the tale of Urashima Tarō.
 Heian literature (794–1185)
The Heian period has been referred to as the golden era of art and literature in Japan. During this
era, literature became centered on a cultural elite of nobility and monks. The imperial court
particularly patronized the poets, most of whom were courtiers or ladies-in-waiting. Reflecting the
aristocratic atmosphere, the poetry was elegant and sophisticated and expressed emotions in a
rhetorical style. Editing the resulting anthologies of poetry soon became a national pastime.
The iroha poem, now one of two standard orderings for the Japanese syllabary, was also developed
during the early Heian period.
The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari), written in the early 11th century by a woman
named Murasaki Shikibu, is considered the pre-eminent novel of Heian fiction. Other important
writings of this period include the Kokin Wakashū (905), a waka-poetry anthology, and The Pillow
Book (Makura no Sōshi) (990s). The Pillow Book was written by Sei Shōnagon, Murasaki
Shikibu's contemporary and rival, as an essay about the life, loves, and pastimes of nobles in the
Emperor's court. Another notable piece of fictional Japanese literature was Konjaku
Monogatarishū, a collection of over a thousand stories in 31 volumes. The volumes cover
various tales from India, China and Japan.
The 10th-century Japanese narrative, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Taketori Monogatari), can be
considered an early example of proto-science fiction. The protagonist of the story, Kaguya-hime, is
a princess from the Moon who is sent to Earth for safety during a celestial war, and is found and
raised by a bamboo cutter. She is later taken back to her extraterrestrial family in an illustrated
depiction of a disc-shaped flying object similar to a flying saucer.
 Kamakura-Muromachi period literature
(1185–1603)
During the Kamakura period (1185–1333), Japan experienced many civil wars which led to the
development of a warrior class, and subsequent war tales, histories, and related stories. Work
from this period is notable for its more somber tone compared to the works of previous eras, with
themes of life and death, simple lifestyles, and redemption through killing. A representative work
is The Tale of the Heike (Heike Monogatari) (1371), an epic account of the struggle between
the Minamoto and Taira clans for control of Japan at the end of the twelfth century. Other
important tales of the period include Kamo no Chōmei's Hōjōki (1212) and Yoshida
Kenkō's Tsurezuregusa (1331).
Despite a decline in the importance of the imperial court, aristocratic literature remained the
center of Japanese culture at the beginning of the Kamakura period. Many literary works were
marked by a nostalgia for the Heian period. The Kamakura period also saw a renewed vitality of
poetry, with a number of anthologies compiled, such as the Shin Kokin Wakashū compiled in the
early 1200s. However, there were fewer notable works by female authors during this period,
reflecting the lowered status of women.
As the importance of the imperial court continued to decline, a major feature
of Muromachi literature (1333–1603) was the spread of cultural activity through all levels of
society. Classical court literature, which had been the focal point of Japanese literature up until
this point, gradually disappeared. New genres such as renga, or linked verse, and Noh theater
developed among the common people, and setsuwa such as the Nihon Ryoiki were created by
Buddhist priests for preaching. The development of roads, along with a growing public interest
in travel and pilgrimages, brought rise to the greater popularity of travel literature from the
early 13th to 14th centuries. Notable examples of travel diaries include Fuji kikō (1432)
 Edo-period literature (1603–1868)
The Edo period was characterized by the growing cultural
influence exercised by samurai and townspeople. The
commercial class in particular benefited from various economic
and technological developments, the result of which was a great
flowering of culture in the Genroku period (1688-1704).
The haikai master Matsuo Bashō, the novelist Ihara Saikaku,
and the dramatist Chikamatsu Monzaemon are all associated
with this enormous outburst of creative activity. The nation's
cultural center shifted from the Kyoto-Osaka region to Edo in
the second half of the eighteenth century, leading to the
production of large quantities of gesaku (frivolous works) by the
writers who constituted the last literary generation before the
advent of Western influence.
 Meiji literature (1868-1912)
The Meiji period was when Japan, under Western influence, took the first steps
toward developing a modern literature. The major hallmarks up to the time of the
Russo-Japanese War are considered to be Tsubouchi Shōyō's theoretical
study Shōsetsu shinzui (The Essence of the Novel, 1885) because of its advocacy of
psychological realism, and Futabatei Shimei's Ukigumo (Drifting Clouds, 1887),
both for its realistic character portrayal and because the narrative medium is an
approximation of everyday speech. Counterpoints are offered by the highly
stylized prose of the Ken'yūsha (Friends of the Inkstone) group centering on Ozaki
Kōyō, and the kind of romanticism evident in the early stories of Mori Ōgai and,
especially, the poetry of Kitamura Tōkoku, Shimazaki Tōson, and Yosano Tekkan.
The movement known as Japanese Naturalism gained prominence with the
publication of Shimazaki Tōson's novel Hakai (The Broken Commandment, 1906)
and Tayama Katai's short story Futon (The Quilt, 1907). Naturalism predominated
on the literary scene until around 1910, although such authors as Natsume Sōseki,
Mori Ōgai, and Nagai Kafū were not associated with it and might even be
considered antagonistic to it. The humanistic idealism of the Shirakaba (White
Birch) writers from the second decade of the century is taken to mark a turn away
from Naturalism and toward a broader definition of literature.
 Taishō literature (1912-1926)
The intellectual aestheticism of Akutagawa
Ryūnosuke and decadence of Tanizaki Jun'ichirō
characterize this short period, as do (toward its end)
the introduction of elements of Western literary
modernism in the early work of Yokomitsu Riichi and
Kawabata Yasunari, along with the first stirrings of
proletarian literature. The Great Kanto Earthquake of
1923 is sometimes taken as a major cultural divide in
this process.
 Shōwa (1926-1989), Heisei (1989-2019), and
Reiwa (2019- )
Proletarian literature was the chief literary movement of the 1920s, supplemented by the uniquely
Japanese genre of autobiographical fiction known as the "I novel" (watakushi
shōsetsu or shishōsetsu). Government suppression of proletarian literature in the 1930s was
attended by the publication of "conversion" (tenkō) novels by writers compelled to renounce their
communist ideals. The subsequent patriotic writings of the war years have largely been forgotten.
The end of the war witnessed a resurgent cosmopolitanism that has resulted in a striking literary
diversity and has led to a reassessment of  the way in which tradition and modernity can be said to
contribute to the Japanese sense of identity. This process of reevaluation can be seen in the choice
of the two postwar Japanese winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature: Kawabata Yasunari (1968),
who titled his acceptance speech "Japan the Beautiful and Myself," and Ōe Kenzaburō (1994),
who in deliberate contrast chose the title "Japan the Ambiguous and Myself."

The situation since the 1980s has been characterized by an ever increasing diversity, with the
"postmodernism" of Murakami Haruki often being one of the last topics mentioned in recent
general surveys. This means, in other words, that "accepted" literary history has not really caught
up with developments since the late Shōwa period. But any future account of Heisei -- and now
Reiwa -- literature will surely have to take note not only of growing categorical fragmentation and
diversity but also of the profusion of visually oriented and non-print media (manga, anime,
streaming, gaming) that is currently working to reshape the very definition of "literature."
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