The Man Yoshu, Tale Of Genji, And The Pillow Book

During the Golden Age of Japanese poetry Japan was influenced by outside sources such as Korea and Vietnam, but its main literary influence was China. This influence would led to the idea that the Japanese culturally leached most of their societal concepts from China, but this is not the case. Despite having similarities between Literature and Culture Japan was still able to find a way to craft their country as their own. This individualism was mostly done through the use of literature. Despite the opposing argument that Japanese literature is a complete imitation of Chinese literature, The Man’Yoshu, Tale of Genji, and the Pillow Book, prove otherwise. Even though outside influences and cultures led to the creation of these literary pieces,

One of the main outside influences of the Man’yoshu is China. During the creation of the Man’Yoshu, Japan and China were in a period of cultural exchange. This cultural exchange can be seen in the style that that the Man’Yoshu is written in. For example, within in the Man’Yoshu, Chinese literary elements such as the using of Chinese characters for the meaning, and sound enabled the authors of the poem to make it mutually intelligible amongst other cultures. Aside from the Chinese influences the Man’Yoshu was incorporated with one defining quality that epitomized the diversity of the Japanese culture. When the Man’Yoshu was created at the imperial court, only the most established poets had their work published in the anthology, but to avoid an elitist mentality, people other than the established hierarchs were able to publish their own poems. One purely Japanese idea within this poem includes the use of the Jewel-sash Mount, which was Japanese ceremonial attire for worship. By describing the use of the Jewel-sash the poet, alludes to the holiness of a particular mountain. With the incorporation of Japanese themes in the Man’Yoshu the poet was able to make a distinction of cultures between Japanese and Chinese