Japanese Literature

Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan. Eventually, Japanese literature developed into a separate style in its own right as Japanese writers began writing their own works about Japan, although the influence of Chinese literature and Classical Chinese remained until the end of the Edo period. Since Japan reopened its ports to Western trading and diplomacy in the 19th century, Western and Eastern literatu ...more

Most Read This Week Tagged "Japanese Literature"

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library

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Japanese Literature Books

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Lists

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

The Best of Yukio Mishima

23 books — 76 voters

Romance Books With Asian Heroines As Love Interest

526 books — 90 voters

Best Asian-American Teen Fiction

276 books — 338 voters

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Books with a Non-Caucasian person as the/one of the lead characters.

1,515 books — 634 voters

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin

Night at the Fiestas by Kirstin Valdez Quade

Book Riot's 100 Must-Read Contemporary Short Story Collections

119 books — 71 voters

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Japanese Books That Are Not Manga

254 books — 190 voters

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Literature
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Quotes Tagged “Japanese Literature”

“ Unhappiness. There are all kinds of unhappy people in the world. I suppose it would be no exaggeration to say that the world is composed entirely of unhappy people. But those people can fight their unhappiness with society fairly and squarly, and society for its part easily understands and sympathizes with such struggles. My unhappiness stemmed entirely from my own vices, and I had no way of fighting anybody. ”
― Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human

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“ In the ashes on the hearth Saigyo traced and retraced the word, "pity." He had yet to learn to accept life with all its good and evils, to love life in all its manifestations by becoming one with nature. And for this he had abandoned home, wife, and child in that city of conflict. He had fled to save his own life, not for any grandiose dream of redeeming mankind; neither had he taken vows with the thoughts of chanting sutras to Buddha; nor did he aspire to brocaded ranks of the high prelates. On ...more ”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, The Heike Story: A Modern Translation of the Classic Tale of Love and War

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