Anthology of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century

by Donald Keene (Editor), Ki no Tsurayuki (Contributor), Matsuo Bashō (Contributor)

The sweep of Japanese literature in all its great variety was made available to Western readers for the first time in this anthology. Every genre and style, from the celebrated No plays to the poetry and novels of the seventeenth century, find a place in this book. An introduction by Donald Keene places the selections in their proper historical context, allowing the readers to enjoy the book both as literature and as a guide to the cultural history of Japan. Selections include “Man’yoshu” or “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves” from the ancient period; “Kokinshu” or “Collection of Ancient and Modern Poetry,” “The Tosa Diary” of Ki No Tsurayuki, “Yugao” from “Tales of Genji” of Murasaki Shikibu, and “The Pillow Book” of Sei Shonagon from the Heian Period; “The Tale of the Heike” from the Kamakura Period; Plan of the No Stage, “Birds of Sorrow” of Seami Motokiyo, and “Three Poets at Minase” from the Muromachi Period; and Sections from Basho, including “The Narrow Road of Oku,” “The Love Suicides at Sonezaki” by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, and Waka and haiku of the Tokugawa Period.

Genres: Japan, Fiction, Japanese Literature, Poetry, Anthologies, Literature, Classics

444 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Donald Keene was a renowned American-born Japanese scholar, translator, and historian of Japanese literature. Born in Brooklyn in 1922, he developed a love for foreign cultures early in life. He graduated from Columbia University in 1942 and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where he studied Japanese at the Navy Language School. After the war, he returned to Columbia for his master’s and later earned a second master’s at Cambridge, followed by a PhD from Columbia in 1949. He studied further at Kyoto University and became a leading authority on Japanese literature.
Keene taught at Columbia University for over fifty years and published extensively in both English and Japanese, introducing countless readers to Japanese classics. His mentors included Ryusaku Tsunoda and Arthur Waley, whose translations deeply influenced him. After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Keene retired from Columbia, moved to Japan, and became a Japanese citizen under the name Kīn Donarudo. He was awarded the Order of Culture in 2008, the first non-Japanese recipient. Keene remained active in literary and cultural life in Japan until his death in 2019 at the age of 96.

Reviews

[Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this five-period anthology of Japanese literature is definitely rewarding if its readers get interested in knowing more on some interesting selections translated from Japanese as compiled and edited by Donald Keene. Some might not agree due to its incomplete excerpts but, I think, we need to be content with such an anthology since it's impossible to read all originals in Japanese. Moreover, we can do that if we really know Japanese and can read all we want online via Project Gutenburg (I tried searching an ebook of 'The Tale of Genji' there but in vain, I think we've to keep waiting) or some good national library websites in Japan.

I liked most prose selections and some parts of the plays, however, as for the Haiku or Waga poems, etc. I think we can grasp the meaning of each topic as well as we can since we certainly appreciate more in terms of its shades of literary meaning if we studied and knew Japanese well.
The following excerpts are taken from the three selections I liked most: they are from Kamakura Period, Muromachi Period and Tokugawa Period respectively. I'm sorry to skip the preceding two periods, that is, Ancient Period and Heian Period because I would like to encourage my friends to read the selections there and share their views.

1. An Account of my Hut by Kamo no Chomei [written in 1212; therefore, 2022-1212 = 810 years ago]

I do not prescribe my way of life to men enjoying happiness and wealth, but have related my experiences merely to show the differences between my former and present life. Ever since I fled the world and become a priest, I have known neither hatred nor fear. I leave my span of days for Heaven to determine, neither clinging to life nor begrudging its end. My body is like a drifting cloud – I ask for nothing, I want nothing. My great joy is a quiet nap; my only desire for this life is to see the beauties of the seasons. (p. 211)

2. Essays in Idleness by Yoshida Kenko

It is a joyful thing indeed to hold intimate converse with a man after one’s own heart, chatting without reserve about things of interest or the fleeting topics of the world; but such, alas, are few and far between. Not that one desires a companion who will sit opposite and never utter a word of contradiction – one might as well alone. Far better in hours of loneliness the company of one who, while he will listen with respect to your views, will disagree a little, and argue, saying “Yes, that is so, but …” or “For this reason such and such is the case.”
And yet, with those who are not of the same way of thinking or are contentious, a man can discuss only things of passing interest, for the truth is there must not be any wide gulf between bosom friends. (p. 234)

3. The Biography of Snowflake by Rai Sanyo

By nature Snowflake was of a high-spirited, gallant disposition. She devoted little attention to business affairs, but studied instead calligraphy and painting with the Master of the Willow Stream Garden, and took lessons in swordsmanship and judo. She was pale, large, and portly, with great strength in her limbs. Two women attendants named Tortoise (Okame) and Mountain Peak (Oiwa) – both of whom were very strong and brave – constantly followed Snowflake about. At this time she had just turned sixteen, and her two companions were likewise in the bloom of their beauty. Young idlers and ruffians meeting them on the street would often tease the girls and challenge them to a battle. At such times Snowflake would glance meaningfully at her attendants, and they would thereupon knock the boys to the ground, often so hard that they could not get up again. (p. 441)

I especially liked the last paragraph, such an apt and witty conclusion:

The story of Snowflake cannot, of course, be taken as a model of conduct. But in her time there were women who conducted themselves like men, while today we see only men who behave as women. I have hoped herein to divine the rise and fall of Fortune and to elicit, perhaps, a sigh. (p. 442)

Moreover, I think "What the Seasons Brought to the Almanac-Maker" (1686) by Ihara Saikaku under the title of "The Lake Which Took People In," especially the first line, that is,
It is written in 'The Tale of Genji," "There is no logic in love". (p. 344, l. 11) has revealed his true wisdom and understanding of human affairs, culture, logic, etc. on which we need to ponder and agree, more or less.

It’s a pity this Anthology lacks the following:
a. List of translators
b. Clear, full understandable words: Some defective ones, e.g. ...the doll bv her side ... (p. 390, l. 7), ... written with this in _ind ... (p. 390, l. 17), Famous active volcan_ (p. 412, footnote), etc.
c. Incomplete Contents page [i.e. p. 440 The Biography of Snowflake: missing]

There are few words that need verifying, for instance, ... all have different social stations, ... (p. 388, l. 2) I thought the word "stations" should be "statuses" according to the context. However, today (November 6, 2012) I came across this word 'stations' again while reading "The Makioka Sisters" (Vintage, 1995) by Junichiro Tanizaki, that is, "... It had been Sachiko's observation that marriages did not last when the husband and wife came from different stations in life. ..." (p. 274). Therefore, I verified its meaning from Oxford Advanced Leaner's Dictionary (Oxford, 2010) and in its 5th definition, 'station' means social position (p. 1511). Please forgive my misunderstanding.

In summary, taking this anthology as an interestingly comprehensive overview of Japanese Literature by one of the eminent Japanophile scholars living in Japan, reading its excerpts is truly worthwhile since it can help or guide the readers to broaden their curiosities into those texts in original Japanese or in translated versions in English, French, German, etc. or, hopefully and fortunately, in one's native tongue.

[Meghan Fidler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixing linguistic nuances and historical details with numerous stories, Donald Keene provides a strong editorial background to the translations of Japanese literature.
When read carefully, the book also gives a translation of Donald Keene, highlighting his taste in poetry topics, love of Noh theater, and occasional annoyance with mono-linguistic speakers (he's got some footnotes where he simply says 'this is a pun, and its very clever on multiple levels, but would be much to tedious to explain here. Mostly it means ___').
This is a good start to pick which early Japanese literature you might be interested in, but because much of what is in the book is only excerpts, they can never be a substitute the whole text.

[Trux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only got to read a little bit while staying at a vacation rental with a thick-stuffed bookshelf. I pulled this down because I've never sampled any old Japanese lit, and the editor's introduction drew me in with information like this:

. . . . the supreme masterpiece of Japanese literature was "The Tale of Genji" . . . . It is a work of genius, which may justifiably be included among the great novels of the world . . . . One of the unusual features of Heian(? can't read my note) literature is that such work as [The Tale of Genji] were written by women. The usual explanation for this curious fact is that the men considered writing in Japanese to be beneath them and devoted themselves to the composition of poetry and prose in Chinese, leaving the women to write masterpieces in the native language.

I chowed down on that affirming information for just what it is, and as it applies to my own business of blogging and making autobiographical porn.

While the menfolk did a shitty job of trying to mimic someone else's fancy poetic language and wasted their time, the women used the words they (and the rest of the common people) had access to and made something beautiful.

Good reminders to use the words you know and tell good yarns regardless of trends or what the supremely ignorant literati say.

[Melanie H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Throughout this book, my greatest challenge was trying to be understanding of the time and place in which this book was released. It serves its purpose as an anthology, albeit a tad light for my tastes, and as a brief introduction to Japanese literature throughout history. But I had a hard time with the fact that there were very few Japanese translators, mostly a bunch of old white academics, whom I daresay were without the cultural context of what many of these pieces were apart. Which leads me to my final criticism, I was disappointed with the brief introductions for the pieces, as an historical context would have provided a better reading experience.

[Prima Seadiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little Free Library find.
Not everything interested me but a lot of the entries did. I think more contemporary translations might present a different interesting view.
Very useful in a larger sense as reference and to have a better background understanding of references in Japanese film, anime and contemporary literate.

Nothing to do with the book or my rating but prior owner underlined and notated relentlessly (in ink) which distracted me like crazy.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been reading this on and off for a year or two. I really enjoy it, especially outside on sunny days.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for class, but I really enjoyed it an valued the work of the writer to translate all of these culturally important Japanese works.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a landmark anthology when published in the 1950s and is still, I think, regarded as standard reading on many university courses in pre-modern Japanese literature. Keene was, and still is, regarded as one of the leading Western authorities on, and translators of, Japanese literature (many of these translations are his own). His selections can, I think, be relied on to offer a representative 'birds-eye' view of Japanese literature from the earliest times right up to the end of the Tokugawa era - a huge span of time. Everything in here is eminently worth taking the time to read. Much of it is genuinely engaging, moving, beautiful, challenging. A particular pleasure of mine was being able to read the full text of a bunraku play. Keene's insightful introductions to (almost) every text are excellent. Some might disagree, however, with Keene's method, elucidated in his introduction, of making the texts more readable to a modern Western audience, but just what this entails is hard to tell without being able to understand the originals.

[Hikachi · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to Japanese literature... Translation-wise, there are three people that really stand out. To me, at least. Donald Keene, Edward G. Seidensticker, and Arthur Waley.

Maybe because my collection is mostly have them credited as a translator, so I'm so well known with their style. Their subtlety and minimum localization. Yes, I despise localization. Unless it's really necessary or the equivalent could capture the nuance of the original phrase.

Anyway, this book is like the guide book for those who wanted to know more about classic Japanese literature, but backed off when knowing how thick the Tale of Genji is.

As the title suggests, the compilation is on chronological order. And I don't know about you. But to me, it gave me an extra view on Japanese history. Things that previously only known briefly, or maybe known through the heavily fabricated details in a manga.

It sure is fun, to know more about a country's history through its literature. Reading this, I couldn't help but notice the changes in theme, nuances, and how people are telling the story.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Numerous enjoyable pieces, in this, my first exposure to ancient Japanese literature.
("Floating Worlds", the letters of Edward Gorey, triggered my interest.)

Some memorable excerpts:
106..Murasaki, 11th C, Tales of Genji...seek not in the wide world to find a home; but where you chance to rest, call that your house.

232..Kenko, 14th C, Essays in Idleness,...when a man is over 40, it is pitiful to see, how, unashamed of his looks, he loves to thrust himself into the society of others....
233..There is a charm about a neat and proper dwelling house, although this world,, 'tis true, is but a temporary abode...
The man is to be envied who lives in a house, not of the modern, garish kind, but set among venerable trees, with a garden where plants grow wild and yet seem to have been disposed with care, verandas and fence tastefully arranged, and all its furnishings simple but antique.

240..a well-bred man does not show strong likings. His enjoyment appears careless.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each literary piece reveals the nature and culture of these beautiful people. The anthology has selections from all five periods of creative writing. The most surprising news of all, many of the short stories were written by women. In fact, the more beautiful, well written plots enlightened one to the power of this peaceful aspect women are able to recreate. Pride of the warrior has been important; so women share the depth of emotion and pleasure in nature, death, belief, and living in the world of Japan.

The fairy tale is important as well as legend and fable. In quite a few stories, there is the outcome of what you sow, you reap as in the Western thought. This anthology is now an important book in my library to settle into that Japanese world time and again! This is a never ending perusal for me.

[Michael O. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I use this book in the classroom for two reasons - it's relatively cheap ($10 when most lit anthologies run $30-40-50) and the collection is well-selected and well-translated. The only problem - for which I docked it one star - is that there's little in the way of explanatory notes, making it less accessible to the neophyte (like my students).

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good place to start with Japanese literature; it contains curated excerpts from classics like "The Tale of Genji" so the reader won't have to commit to the whole thing. Many of the stories are heartbreaking: all the lovers seem doomed and all the warriors seem to be fleeing a disaster. The translations of the poetry here were my favorite part.

[Paul Hartzog · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really an amazing collection. I wouldn't necessarily have it around to reread, but it is great to read the excerpts and then chase down the source material that appeals. I've gone off and acquired several books as a result of reading the bits in here. As usual, Donald Keene does not disappoint.

[V]

This book is perfect for an introduction to Japanese literature. It contains popular excerpts from the most notable works. I highly suggest it only to be used as an introduction, because it only brushes the surface of the stories you read in this anthology.

[Gordon Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well selected and explained by a person you would trust to this task.
He's gone for representative rather than for western-appeal and so you might find a lot of falling petals and moon gazing haikus which don't do much in English but at least you know what they were writing then.
Fascinating.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keene's collection has some of THE most essential works of Japanese literature. A must-read to anyone introducing themselves to Japanese works.

[Guy Cranswick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent to re-read the variety of pieces eg Essay on Idelness

[Mari · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction to Japanese literature.

[Stezsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apakah orang Jepang menyukai Bai Juyi? Ato kebetulan yg ditranslate yg banyak Bai Juyi nya?

Aaa jadi pengen baca Tale of Genji.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent introduction.

[Irma Agsari · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that i will not finish cover-to-cover at one time, and actually i can start from anywhere i want, be it page 1, or 160. Maybe I'll read a bit more later. :)

[Rudy Garcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kokinshu was a lot of fun, and the diary of the woman in the Heian Court absolutely broke my heart- but I feel that a lot of the work in this is restrictive w/r/t subject matter.

[Daryl Chew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good collection and a great introduction to ancient Japanese literature. I particularly liked the inclusion of romanized Japanese in the poetry sections.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad at all, basically an introduction to Japanese literature. I read this for one of my Japanese lit classes.

[Katia Rv · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess this was impressive at the time it came out, but if you are a Japanese student in the 21st century I'd check out the Shirane anthologies instead

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gem of an anthology. Typically, I read anthologies by period while I am reading the larger works. However, the selection was so good that I had to read it end to end.

[Douglas Humes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had this book for years - hidden away on a shelf, and finally read it end to end. Sorry I waited so long. A "greatest hits" of Japanese literature from about the 8th to the 18th century. Short selections - a good nightstand reader. Kudos to the editor for the translations. Amazing to look across time and an ocean and a completely different culture to find thoughtful people feeling and thinking the same things that we feel today. I was impressed with how much emotion can be packed into a 17 syllable haiku. Loved "An Account of My Hut" - reminiscent of Thoreau in his cabin at Walden, yet 600 years earlier. A new poetic concept - chained poetry. In 1488 the three greatest poets of the age gathered together at a retreat. One would write the traditional haiku, the next would write a two line "chain" and the 3rd would write a haiku that uses the chain as an introduction and then takes the thought in a different direction. So the first two verses can stand on their own, and the last two verses can stand on their own as a separate poem. At that gathering they composed 100 verses like this - 50 included in the anthology. I hope to travel to Japan and so this was my introduction to some of their culture. The same editor has done a second volume - 18th-20th century. Ordered from Amazon and on its way!

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellently edited book by Donald Keene, which offers readers a healthy array of important Japanese literary works from pre-1000 A.D. through the mid 19th century. Some of the works were translated by Keene himself, and most samplings offer important contextual information about the work and why they were chosen as being important examples of Japanese literature. The translations overall flow very well and some poems do include their romaji readings (bonus: interesting to see how words transformed over time as someone who is studying/knows passable Japanese). Personally speaking, I didn't find any works difficult to read because of the translation, and for several, I have since ordered the full version of some works I was previously unfamiliar with or had not read.

If you're looking for a solid crash course in Japanese literature or enjoy Japanese literature and culture as a whole, this is a must read.

[Austin Zhao · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to pre-Meiji Japanese literature. As someone who's never read pre-modern Japanese literature before, I was struck by the raw evocativeness of wakas and Noh plays. Quite a number of the stories in this anthology were also surprisingly relatable to modern-day readers and didn't read off as simply a time capsule of the ancients, with stories of girls with strange interests, lovers eloping, gender benders, and a hilarious story of two travelers who try to sleep with the same girl, who unwittingly end up sleeping with each other. So, all in all, this was a great read, with a perfect curation of stories and plays, even for those who are new to Japanese literature.