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Lesson objectives

At the end of this lesson, students are expected

to:
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1. Define what is Japanese literature.
2. Give the major themes of Japanese
literature
3. Give the importance of studying Japanese
literature
4. Enumerate the literary works of Japanese
literature
• Japanese literature spans a period of almost
two millennia and comprises one of the major
literatures in the world, comparable to English
literature in age and scope. It comprises a
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number of genres, including novels, poetry,
and drama, travelogues, personal diaries and
collections of random thoughts and
impressions.
• From the early seventh century until the
present there has never been a period when
literature was not being produced by Japanese
authors.
• Japan adopted its writing system
from China, often using Chinese
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characters to represent Japanese
words with similar phonetic sounds.
Early works were heavily
influenced by cultural contact with
China and Chinese literature, and
was often written in Classical
Chinese.
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HAIKU is a short Japanese poem that presents the

world objectively and contrasts two different images.
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 An old silent pond
A frog jumps into the pond—
Splash! Silence again.

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The first cold shower
Even the monkey seems to want
A little coat of straw.

by Matsuo Bashō
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 a nka r u
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• A Japanese traditional puppet theatre in which half-life-
size dolls act out a chanted dramatic narrative, called
jōruri, to the accompaniment of a small samisen (three-
stringed Japanese lute).
• The term Bunraku derives from the name of a troupe
organized by puppet master Uemura Bunrakuken in the
early 19th century;
• the term for puppetry is ayatsuri and puppetry theatre is
more accurately rendered ayatsuri jōruri.