composed in large part between the mid-7thandmid-8thcenturies. Theearlierpoemsinthe collection are characterized by the directexpression of strong emotion but those oflater provenance show the emergence of therhetorical conventions and expressivesubtlety that dominated the subsequenttradition of court poetry.Arevolutionaryachievement of themid-9th century was the development of a nativeorthography (kana) for the phoneticrepresentation of Japanese. Employingradically abbreviatedChinesecharacters todenote Japanese sounds, the systemcontributed to a deepening consciousness ofa nativeliterary tradition distinct from that ofChina. Poets compiled collections (shikashu)of their verses and, drawing partly on these,the Kokin Wakashu (905;Waka Collectionfrom Ancient and Modern Times), the first of21 imperial anthologies of native poetry, wasassembled in the early 10th century.Theintroductionof kanaalsoledtothedevelopment of a prose literature in thevernacular, earlyexamplesof whicharetheThewrittenliteratureof Japanformsoneofthe richest of Oriental traditions. It hasreceived foreign influences since its beginninginthe8thcentury. Beforethemiddleof the19th century, the source of influence was theculture of China. After the middle of the 19thcentury, the impact of modern Westernculture became predominant.Official embassiesto theSui (589618) andTang (618907) dynasties of China (kenzuishiand kentoshi, respectively), initiatedin600,were the chief means by which Chineseculture, technology, and methods ofgovernment were introduced on acomprehensive basis in Japan. The Kojiki(712;Record ofAncientMatters) and theNihon shoki (720; Chronicles of Japan), theformer writteninhybridSino-Japaneseandthe latter in classical Chinese, were compiledunder the sponsorship of the government forthe purpose of authenticating the legitimacy ofits polity.However, among these collections ofmyths, genealogies, legendsof folkheroes,and historical records, there appear a numberof songslargely irregular in meter andwrittenwithChinesecharactersrepresentingJapanese words or syllablesthat offerinsight into the nature of preliterate Japaneseverse.The first major collection of native poetry,againwrittenwithChinesecharacters, wasthe Manyoshu (late 8th century;The TenThousand Leaves), which contains verses,chiefly the 31-syllable waka, that wereA long, rich history and exciting presentEarly and Heian LiteratureWeb Japanhttp://web-japan.org/LITERATURE1 LITERATUREManyoshuStone inscribed with a verse from the Manyoshu.Ise monogatari (mid-10thcentury;Tales ofIse), a collection of vignettes centered onpoems; andthediary Tosa nikki (935; TheTosa Diary). In the late 10th century, theascendancyof theFujiwararegents, whosepower over emperors depended on thereception of their daughters as imperialconsorts, resultedin theformationof literarycoteries of women in the courts of empresses,andit wasthesewomenwhoproducedthegreat prose classics of the 11th century. Suchworks as Genji monogatari (early 11thcentury; Tale of Genji), a fictional narrative byMurasaki Shikibu, andthe Makura no soshi(9961012; The Pillow Book of SeiShonagon), a collection of essays by SeiShonagon, are considered by Japanese to bea watershed in the development of the nativeliterary tradition.Thechief development inpoetryduringthemedieval period (mid-12th to 16thcentury)was linked verse (renga). Arising fromthecourt traditionof waka, renga wascultivatedbythewarriorclassaswell asbycourtiers,and some among the best renga poets, suchas Sogi, were commoners. A majordevelopment in prose literature of themedieval era was the war tale (gunkimonogatari).Heike monogatari (early 13thcentury; The Tale of the Heike) relatestheevents of the war between the Taira andMinamoto families that finally brought an endtoimperial rule; it wasdisseminatedamongall levelsof societybyitinerant priestswhochanted the story to the accompaniment of alutelike instrument, the biwa. The social2 LITERATUREMedieval LiteratureEdo LiteratureA statue of Murasaki ShikibuThe author of the Tale of Genji. (Photo courtesy of AFLO)Oku no HosomichiA screen decorated with the text and illustrations showing scenes from Bashos The Narrow Road to the Deep North. (Photo courtesy of the Yamagata Museum of Art)upheavalof the early years of the era led tothe appearance of works deeply influenced bythe Buddhist notion of the inconstancy ofworldly affairs (mujo). The theme ofmujoprovides the ground note of Heike monogatariandtheessaycollections Hojoki (1212; TheTen Foot Square Hut), by Kamo no Chomei,and Tsurezuregusa (ca 1330; Essays inIdleness), by Yoshida Kenko.The formation of a stable central governmentin Edo (now Tokyo), after some 100 years ofturmoil, and the growth of a market economybased on the widespread use of astandardized currency led to the developmentin theEdo period(16001868) of a classofwealthy townsmen. General prosperitycontributed to an increase in literacy, andliterary works became marketablecommodities, giving rise to a publishingindustry. Humorous fictional studies ofcontemporary society such as Koshokuichidai otoko(1682; The Life of an AmorousMan), by Ihara Saikaku, were hugecommercial successes, and prose works,often elaborately illustrated, that weredirectedtowardamassaudiencebecameastaple of Edo-period literature. Commercialplayhouses were established for theperformance of puppet plays (joruri) andkabuki, whose plots often centered onconflictsarisingfromtherigidlyhierarchicalsocial order that was instituted by theTokugawa shogunate.The 17-syllable form of light verse knownas haikai (later known as haiku), whosesubject matter was drawn from nature and thelivesof ordinarypeople, was raisedtothelevel of great poetry by Matsuo Basho. He isespeciallywell knownfor histravel diaries,suchasthe Oku no hosomichi (1694; TheNarrow Road to the Deep North). A number ofphilologists, amongthemKeichu, KamonoMabuchi, and Motoori Norinaga, wrotescholarly studies on early literary texts, suchas Kojiki, Manyoshu, and The Tale of Genji.The imperial restoration of 1868 was followedby the wholesale introduction of Westerntechnology and culture, which largelydisplacedChineseculture. As aresult, thenovel becameestablishedasaseriousandrespected genre of the literature of Japan. Arelated development was the gradualabandonment of literary language in favor ofthe usages of colloquial speech.Futabatei Shimei produced what has beencalledJapansfirst modernnovel, Ukigumo(18871889; Drifting Clouds). What isstrikingly fresh about the novel is thecolloquial styleof thelanguage, Futabateisconception of his heros plight within thecontext of a quickly changing society, and hissubtle psychological examination of hisprotagonist. In the 1890s, Futabateispsychological insight was adopted by severalyoungwriters. Oneof themost impressiveworks of fictioninthis stylewas thestoryTakekurabe (18951896; Growing Up), byHiguchi Ichiyo. In this tale of children living ina red-light district, Ichiyo describesadolescent loneliness and the confusionattending the onset of puberty. Another writer,Shimazaki Toson, relatesinhisfirst novel,Hakai (1906;The Broken Commandment),thestoryof aschoolteacher whohidesthefact that he was born in a community ofoutcaste people until he realizes his onlysalvationliesinlivingopenlywiththetruth.After Hakai, however, Toson retreated into hisownprivateworldtowriteinthegenreofpersonal history known as the I-novel(shishosetsu).The modern Japanese realistic novel wasbrought tofull maturitybyNatsumeSoseki.His heroes are usually university-educated LITERATUREModern LiteraturePortrait of Natsume Soseki(Photo courtesy of the Museum of Modern Japanese Literature)men made vulnerable by the new egoism andan overly keen perception of their separationfrom the rest of the world. Guilt, betrayal, andisolation are for Soseki the inevitableconsequences of the liberation of the self andallthe uncertainties that have come with theadvent of Westernculture. Thesemotifsareexplored in his novels Kokoro (1914;TheHeart),Mon (1910;The Gate), and Kojin(19121913; The Wayfarer). Mori Ogai firstwon acclaim with three romantic short storiesset in Germany. The most popular, Maihime(1890; The Dancing Girl), deals with thedoomed love affair of a young Japanesestudent in Berlinwitha Germandancer. Hismost representative late works arefictionalized studies in history and biography,such as the life of an Edo-period doctorpresented in Shibue Chusai (1916).AkutagawaRyunosukewasoneof Japansmost famous short-story writers. Such storiesas Rashomon (1915; Rashomon), andYabu no naka (1922; In a Grove) arebrilliantly told, combining psychologicalsubtletyandasardonictonewithafancifuldelight inthegrotesque. Nagai Kafu, whoselifeandworkreflectedthetensionbetweenthe modern and a yearning for the old Japan,isbest knownforhiselegiacworks. Bokutokidan (1937; A Strange Tale from East of theRiver), a notable example of such fiction,depictsinlovingdetail afadingdemimondeon the outskirts of Tokyo.The writer who most clearly reflected thesense of loss and confusion following theshatteringexperienceof WorldWar II wasDazai Osamu. Dazais Shayo (1947; TheSetting Sun) and the novel published justbeforehis suicide, Ningen Shikkaku(1948;No Longer Human), attracted a largereadership. Not long after the defeat, TanizakiJunichiro published his masterpiece, themassive novel Sasameyuki(19431948; TheMakioka Sisters). Achronicleof thelivesofthedaughters of a patrician merchant familyin its last stages of decline before theoutbreak of the war, it is a beautiful elegy tothefinal passingof all that remainedof anolder and more elegant world.Innovelssuchas Yukiguni (19351948;SnowCountry), Nobel laureate KawabataYasunari creates enormous distancesbetweenhischaracters, suggestingadreadof intimacy that threatens even the mostpromisingof humanrelationships. After thewar, Kawabata took to writing what he calledelegiesto the lost Japanin suchworksasYama no oto (1949 1954; The Sound of theMountain). Yet Japanesewritingin the earlypostwar years could not be characterizedsolely in terms of the shock and dislocation ofdefeat. There was, in fact, a vigorousrenascence of literary activity after 1945, andanewgroupof writerswhodebutedat thistime came to be known as the firstgeneration of postwar authors. MembersofthisgroupincludeNomaHiroshi andOokaShohei. Thesecondgenerationof postwarwriters includes Abe Kobo and Mishima Yukio.Abe would eventually create a distinctive typeof Kafkaesqueexistential allegoryinnovelssuch as Suna no onna (1962; The Woman inthe Dunes), while Mishima attracted aninternational readership with his opulentaestheticism in such works as Kinkakuji(1956; The Temple of the Golden Pavilion).Critics have posited a turning point in the1950s, after whichJapanesefictioncannolonger be easily characterized in terms of theearly postwar consciousness. Beginningabout this time, a revival and restructuring ofthe I-novel formwas achieved by a thirdgeneration of postwar writers such as KojimaNobuo, Yasuoka Shotaro, YoshiyukiJunnosuke, and Shimao Toshio. Alsoincludedinthis groupis EndoShusaku, aCatholic convert who examines the issues ofbetrayal, cowardice, and martyrdom in novelssuch as Chimmoku (1966; Silence). From the1960s onward, writers have sought tosynthesize various approaches to fiction or toexperiment with new modes of representation.Oe Kenzaburo, who received the Nobel Prizefor literature in 1994, has been a prodigiouslyinventive force in contemporary fiction,continuously experimenting with form andmode of presentation in such novels asKojinteki na taiken (1964; A Personal Matter) LITERATURELiterature todayand Manengannen no futtoboru(1967; TheSilent Cry). TsushimaYuko, thedaughterofDazai Osamu, has explored the lives ofwomen who are single parents in Choji (1978;Child of Fortune).Finally, the generation raised on theinternational cultureof thelast decadeshasfounditsvoiceinwriterssuchasMurakamiRyu, author of Kagirinaku tomei ni chikai buru(1976; Almost Transparent Blue), andMurakami Haruki, popular among foreignreaderswithhisworkstranslatedtomultiplelanguages, won the Franz Kafka Prize inCzechoslovakia in 2006, the Jerusalem Prizein 2009 and the International Catalunya PrizeinSpainin2011. YoshimotoBanana, whowas born in 1964, portrays the lives of peoplein desperately isolated situations in Kitchin(1987;Kitchen). These writers have beenimmensely popular with young readers both inJapan and abroad.Since 2000 new forms of literature have beenappearing, includingonlinenovels releasedon the Internet and cell phone (keitai) novelssent by cell phone, as Internet and cell phoneusespreads. Among keitai novelsthat wereaccessed by many people are some that havebecomebestsellersinbookformandworksthat havebeendramatized. Light novelsforyoung people, which include manyillustrations and are written in an easy-to-understand style, are also becoming popular.Online publishing is becoming popular.While copyright-expired books are beingofferedfreeof charge, Japanesebooksstillprotected by copyright are also madeavailableonline. Thelocal market for onlinepublishingisestimatedat 62.9billionyenin2011. TheInternet MediaResearchInstitutesaysasmorepeopleusesmartphonesandtablets, the market will become larger.