Low Down

Kokin Wakashu is the earliest set of Japanese poems, it is an anthology of Japanese  poetry , oracle history of the early Imperial nation. The anthology’s origins describes the reign of Emperor Uda and Daigo.  The onset of the book is marked by introduction which is an early Japanese language, the archaic language, twenty-two books are aloof and beautiful, exceptional and unique by presence of crafted drawings. The genres of the poems are ‘tanaka’, ‘waka’and ‘uta’. The poems were requested to be written and gathered by Emperor. It was a enterprise, it was to show how sophisticated Japan became.  All of the poems represent ‘haiku tradition’. The anthology is complex, embraces three periods; the first part portrays sophisticated works of anonymous writers, the oral history of Japan; it is dated before to mid IX century, the collection was entitled “Six Poetic Geniuses”. The poems of medieval Japan , folk stories, it describes social life, social injustice, the Emperor...

The Japanese early modern period is very rich in pictures, notions, sounds, writings in particularly, it is important to underline that the early writings and cartography in Japan was booming, the language was constantly changing, lots  of borrowings came from China, Korea. The language was not simple, lots of districts and dialects made its own literary genre that determined Asia as a whole, new nations, distant ones, but with a very peculiar culture and identity. The early history is not only written by wars and skirmishes – but also by literature, white pages are filled with beautiful poems, rhymes, “oracle history” of Japan . Imperial Japan alike Imperial Britain had its tales on court, from where it all  traveled  miscellaneously changed by troubadours. Generations shaped history. The versification and stress, the intonation pattern changed alongside with the region it was told, sang, created.  Different district meant different dialect and so it went. Jap...

Tsubouchi Shoyo is one of the founders of the modern novel in Japan , the genre that revolutionized the way Western and Eastern patterns were perceived. “The Essence of the Novel” is a masterpiece, an introduction to modernism and modern literary genre in Japan . The “The Essence of the Novel” describes everything that stands for  modern  notion, it does have a background, its focal point from which everything has its onset, the history, its moment in the past,  the reader notices a boom of something new and profound. The age of modernization and age of changes Japanese people were so afraid of marked Japan forever. Western literature seemed to push back the original Japanese genre of ‘gesaku’ one, which, symbolized frivolous, cherry and merry fiction so typical for Meji era. “The Essence of the Novel” focuses on the language, on the pattern, on the protagonist’s character, symbols and meaning. The feelings and emotions are the core of the plot, the descriptions are...

The great impact of poverty and helplessness in Ichiyo’s book doesn’t have to be explained, the power of will, the power to break through is simply  insufferable . The Meji era and its social difficult situation made women stuck. Lack of money and economic niche made a cliché for almost all of them. The prime and the  utmost  figure will always be a man, male dominance is obvious, it is a man who halts the woman, gives her a possibility to come up, or, makes her fell down, almost irrelevant like a foliage. The gender, the division of roles is tragic to the protagonist, gave her a very little or no power at all. “… Okoyo, a stylish woman in her early twenties put her sewing down …” The setting of the novel is very important, the restoration of the Meji era is very significant – Japan and Japanese people underwent sets of changes, sets of life improvements, it was an onset of enlightenment, new ideas, new approaches, West ones, as well. Tremendous changes occurre...

“Nigorie” - “Troubled Waters” – portrays a dramatic and passionate  life of a geisha, full of torment and disappointments within the Red District. The reader does not know where exactly the plot is going on – the place is unspecified, however it centers the most popular geisha – Oriki.   Higuchi Ichiyō was an outsider – poor, unmarried, who wrote beautifully, however, never, became a part of a literary world she loved so much. At the end of her fragile and sorrowful life she was noticed, appalled and respected as a profound writer. The Meji Era and the women place in Japanese society shows great injustice done to them, the problem of that matter is vividly described, the position of women is very disadvantaged, unprivileged. The characters she writes about are alienated, aside of the reality surrounding them, they are lost and confused. Their being is marked by kichigai (madness/ insanity). The mood, its dark and impenetrable nature builds the story, tension, describes hu...