Literature of Japan

1. World Literature

3. Japanese did not have
letters until Chinese introduced
their letters in second or third
century. After then the
Japanese started using Chinese
letters. Of course ancient
Japanese used these letters for
learning Chinese progressed
culture. As you know, Chinese
letters are basically ideograms
that were originally pictograph
and every single letter has its
own meaning.

4. For example, the letter for
turtle is 亀 . This letter is
simplified one as compared to
original one but still the shape
of turtle is obvious. Roughly
saying, average Japanese can
read letters of 5,000 or more
but can write down 2,000 or
less. At elementary school and
junior high school, 1,800 of
letters are taught.

5. The modern Japanese
writing system uses three main
scripts:
 Kanji, ideographs from Chinese
characters,
 Kana, a pair of syllabaries,
consisting of
 Hiragana, used for native
Japanese words, and
 Katakana, used for foreign
loanwords and sometimes to
replace kanji or hiragana for
emphasis.

6.  Kanji
 癌 gan ("cancer")
 峠 tōge (mountain pass)
 Katakana
 コンピュータゲーム konpyūta gēmu
("computer game")
 コーヒー kōhī, ("coffee")
 Hiragana
 コンニチワ konnichiwa ("hello")
 皮膚科 hifuka ("dermatology")

8.  Kabuki Theater
 Noh Theater
 Bunraku - Puppet Theater
 Geisha
 Musical Instruments

9.  Sado - Tea Ceremony
 Kodo - The Way of Incense
 Ikebana - Flower Arranging
 Ukiyoe - Woodblock Prints
 Bonsai - Miniature Trees
 Origami - Paper Folding
 Classical Literature
 Modern Literature

10.  Kimono
 Footwear

12. Haiku historyHaiku history

Haiku is one of the most important form
of traditional Japanese poetry.

Haiku is both a type of poetic pattern and
a way of experiencing the world.

A well-executed haiku is rooted in the
physical world of our senses, yet
suggests something deeper, often
evoking the mysterious, transitory nature
of all existence.

Haiku is, today, a 17-syllable verse form
consisting of three metrical units of 5, 7,
and 5 syllables.

13. 
The term hokku literally means "starting verse", and
was the first starting link of a much longer chain of
verses known ashaika.

Because the hokku set the tone for the rest of the
poetic chain, it enjoyed a privileged position in haikai
poetry, and it was not uncommon for a poet to
compose a hokku by itself without following up with
the rest of the chain.

Haiku derives from a type of Japanese court poetry
called tanka that was popularized and refined during
the 9th through 12 centuries.

Traditional haiku is an example of pure syllabic verse.
Which means that the number of syllables
determines the form, not the number of stressed
words in a line.

14. 
Traditional Japanese pattern:

17 syllables

3 lines

1st line: 5 syllables

2nd line: 7 syllables

3rd line: 5 syllables

Other important elements:

Simple, direct, non-metaphorical language. Don't use
abstract words.

Captures a transitory insight or moment in time (called
"satori" or the "aha moment" )

Contains a kigo, an image of nature that evokes a
particular seasons (usually occurs in the 1st or 3rd line)

Usually contains a cutting or pivot word that turns the
movement of the poem in some way.

15. 
Haiku is a poetic form and a
type of poetry from the
Japanese culture.

Haiku
combines form, content,
and language in a meaningful,
yet compact form.

Many themes include nature,
feelings, or experiences.

Usually they use simple words
and grammar.

16. 
The most common form for
Haiku is three short lines.

The first line usually contains
five (5) syllables, the second
line seven (7) syllables, and
the third line contains five (5)
syllables.

Haiku doesn't rhyme.

A Haiku must "paint" a mental
image in the reader's mind.

17. translated by
William J. Higginson*

19.  Basho Matsuo is known as the first great poet in the
history of haikai (and haiku).
 He too, wrote poems using jokes and plays upon
words in his early stages, as they were in fashion, but
began to attach importance to the role of thought in
haikai (especially in hokku) from around 1680.
 The thought of Tchouang-tseu, philosopher in the 4th
century B.C., influenced greatly Basho, and he often
quoted the texts of "The Book of master Tchouang"
in his hokkus.
 The thinker Tchouang-tseu denied the artificiality and
the utilitarianism, seeing value of intellect low.
 He asserted that things seemingly useless had the
real value, and that it was the right way of life not to
go against the natural law.

20.  He was considered the father of haiku had studied Taoism
and classical Chinese poetry in his youth.
 At first he wrote derivative verse, but eventually broke
free from the conventions of Japanese poetry, which at
the time, had an elegant, refined style full of allusions to
the court.
 He began to wander the countryside and write travel
journals as well as tanka.
 During the last part of his life he attempted to live with
"karumi" or "lightness."
 Or as he said in one of his poems "like looking at a shallow
river with a sandy bed."
 To a leg of a heron
Adding a long shank
Of a pheasant.

21. First day of spring--
I keep thinking about
the end of autumn.
Spring rain
leaking through the roof
dripping from the wasps' nest.

22. Fallen sick on a journey,
In dreams I run wildly
Over a withered moor.
An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.

23. The first soft snow!
Enough to bend the leaves
Of the jonquil low.
In the cicada's cry
No sign can foretell
How soon it must die.

24. No one travels
Along this way but I,
This autumn evening.
In all the rains of May
there is one thing not hidden -
the bridge at Seta Bay.

25. The years first day
thoughts and loneliness;
the autumn dusk is here.
Clouds appear
and bring to men a chance to
rest
from looking at the moon.

26. Harvest moon:
around the pond I wander
and the night is gone.
Poverty's child -
he starts to grind the rice,
and gazes at the moon.

27. No blossoms and no moon,
and he is drinking sake
all alone!
Won't you come and see
loneliness? Just one leaf
from the kiri tree.
Temple bells die out.
The fragrant blossoms remain.
A perfect evening!

28. Green frog,
Is your body also
freshly painted?
Sick and feverish
Glimpse of cherry blossoms
Still shivering.

29. At the over-matured sushi,
The Master
Is full of regret.
Pressing Sushi;
After a while,
A lonely feeling
A whale!
Down it goes, and more and more
up goes its tail!

30. Covered with the flowers,
Instantly I'd like to die
In this dream of ours!

31. In my old home
which I forsook, the cherries
are in bloom.
A giant firefly:
that way, this way, that way,
this -and it passes by.

32. Right at my feet -
and when did you get here,
snail?
My grumbling wife -
if only she were here!
This moon tonight...

33. A lovely thing to see:
through the paper window's hole,
the Galaxy.
A man, just one -
also a fly, just one -
in the huge drawing room.
A sudden shower falls -
and naked I am riding
on a naked horse!