The Heian period in Japan was from 794 to 1185. During this time, the imperial court was believed to be at its peak, when literature and poetry flourished. China was thought to be an exemplary model of culture and civilization, and Japan desired to break away to become its own powerful entity. Due to the steady decline of Chinese influence, Japan was able to establish its own native identity. Through literature, the Japanese elevated their status to challenge China. The first imperial anthology was the Kokinshū that consisted of over 1000 poems, most of them in tanka form. This anthology displayed waka as an acceptable and valuable art form. Thus, it was through poetry that Japanese literature gained appreciation and respect. Throughout the Heian period, poetry held a central role in traditional Japanese literature, in both monogatari and nikki. The focus of this paper will be the role of poetry in narrative prose in the Heian period as shown through the Ise monogatari, Taketori monogatari, and Tosa nikki. These specific works were chosen because each represents a different style of traditional Japanese prose narratives, yet they are all connected by the central thread of poetry.
The explosion of literature was due to the development of kana symbols, which were simpler to use than Chinese kanji characters. Kana was used to compose Japanese poetry and was used among the court ladies. Thus, it is thought that some of the best works of Heian literature were produced by women. In the Heian period, there were two basic types of prose literature: monogatari and nikki. Monogatari are poem stories whose topics range from romances to historical articles to short anecdotes. They are narratives mainly written in prose but ...
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...poetry was not limited to just the upper social classes. All in all, in the Heian period, poetry was the foundation in narrative literature, without which, I believe, Japan would not have been able to rival China.
Works Cited
1. Keene, Donald. Anthology of Japanese Literature, from the Earliest Era to the Mid-nineteenth Century. New York: Grove, 1955.
2. Ise Monogatari reading from class.
3. Taketori Monogatari reading from class.
4. Handout 5 from class.
5. Handout 6 from class.
6. Hand out 8 from class.
7. "Japanese History: Nara, Heian Periods." Japan-guide.com - Japan Travel and Living Guide. 9 June 2002. Web. 03 June 2011. .
8. "Japan Reference - Culture - Japanese History : Heian Period 平安時代." Japan Reference (JREF). Web. 03 June 2011. .
Throughout history artists have used art as a means to reflect the on goings of the society surrounding them. Many times, novels serve as primary sources in the future for students to reflect on past history. Students can successfully use novels as a source of understanding past events. Different sentiments and points of views within novels serve as the information one may use to reflect on these events. Natsume Soseki’s novel Kokoro successfully encapsulates much of what has been discussed in class, parallels with the events in Japan at the time the novel takes place, and serves as a social commentary to describe these events in Japan at the time of the Mejeii Restoration and beyond. Therefore, Kokoro successfully serves as a primary source students may use to enable them to understand institutions like conflicting views Whites by the Japanese, the role of women, and the population’s analysis of the Emperor.
From most of the historical references about ancient Japan, people tend to draw the impression that males were dominant rulers. However, women were actually very important figures in pre-historic time, as they fulfilled their role as independent leaders, especially in times of succession crises. This is why the study of female sovereignty is vital to understand the formation of the Japanese state, based on gender complimentary rulers. The political significance of the existence of these female emperors in ancient Japan is that they provided a place of legitimacy for women leaders, and they played a substantial part in identifying and creating the Japanese society.
Riichi, Yokomitsu. Shanghai. Michigan: The Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan , 2001.
21 Pitts, Forrest R., Japan. p. 113. -. 22. Davidson, Judith. Japan- Where East Meets West, p. 107.
The male dominated society of the Heian and Tang periods led to the creation of biased ideals of men and women. Although the author of the Genji Monogatari, Murasaki Shikibu, was a woman, her perception of male and female ideals was also influenced by centuries of male dominated thought as conveyed through the vast amounts of Chinese culture which permeated the society she was a part of. Thus, one can read the Genji Monogatari as an example of gender ideals in Heian Japan as well its Chinese predecessor, the Tang dynasty.
The Tale of Heike." Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600. Ed. Haruo Shirane. New York: Columbia UP, 2007. 736-39. Print.
Matthew Gerber. “The Importance of Poetry in Japanese Heian-era Romantic Relationships”. 2007 May. 2011 June 3.
Keene, Donald. Anthology of Japanese literature, from the earliest era to the mid-nineteenth century. New York: Grove P, 1955.
In the primordial times of the Heian period, Japan procured and practiced matrilineal systems within their isolated society for over 2,000 years. During the Heian period, situated in 12th century A.D., women were given the privileged of inheriting, managing, and retaining property of their own (Kumar, 2011). It was not until Japanese culture adopted the Confucian ideas of China that the society began to integrate a patriarchal system. Confucian ideals had a prominently drastic impact and influence in Japanese society. The Confucian ethical system stressed the utopian idea of a society in which a hierarchal structure is maintained. The hierarchal structure’s foundation is based upon the subservient and submissive idea of subordinates’ obedi...
The Heian period was a peaceful era that is highly regarded in Japan’s history. At this time Japan was beginning to break away from Chinese influence, thus the culture of Japan was morphing into something unique and independent from that of China. An example of resulting change was Japan’s further development of their writing system known as kana, which allowed authors to express their feelings in a more Japanese way. The Japanese court also progressed independently from China and created unique concepts and values such as miyabi “courtliness,” makoto “sincerity,” and aware “sadness of impermanence” (Hooker). The expectations put on men and women in the court during the Heian period must have been concurrent with such values.
Shirane Haruo. et al. Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology 1600-1900. New York: Colombia University Press, 2002. Print.
Web. The Web. The Web. 24 Dec. 2013. http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/286/women-in-ancient-japan-from-matriarchal-antiquity-to-acquiescent-confinement>.
Denison. B. (2002, January 1). A Basic Overview of Japanese Culture . . Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.mizukan.org/articles/culture.htm
As we learned during the first half of the course, the Heian period focused their attentions on elegance, aesthetics (of actions or objects), and relationships (specifically the feelings of love, longing, and waiting). This is reflected that period’s literature. In “Genji Monogatari,” the characters continuously behaved elegantly and gracefully spoke in poems. “Makura no Sōshi” acted as a reference and guide for appropriately refined court behavior. While various nikki, such as “Izumi Shikibu Nikki” and “Kagerō Nikki,” gave readers insight into the lives and relationships of people in the Heian period court.
Deal, William E. 2006. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Facts on File, Inc., 2006. eBook