Published: August 16, 2008 10:29 pm         

Kameoka Corner 08-17-08

Prior to the 5th century, the Japanese had no written language, therefore there are no documents or records of earlier times. Starting in the 5th century, written material using kanji characters introduced from China and a newly developed Japanese written language, began to appear.

Most of the very early material was historical records and poems. By the 8th century, kanji was used for official documents and the Japanese written language called katakana was used in everyday life including literature.

By this time, Kyoto was the capital, the imperial court was at its zenith, and narrative literature was flourishing with such great literary works about life in the imperial court, including “Tale of the Bamboo Cutter,” “Tales of Ise,” “The Gossamer Years” and “Tale of Genji.”

When power changes hands from the Emperor and the Imperial Court to military control under powerful warring clans in the 12th century, the kind of literature changed significantly to tales of battle, primarily describing battles between clans and historical works about that time in Japanese history.

At the start of the Edo period in the 1600s, the country was reunited under Shogun rule. In the same time frame, printing technologies made it possible to make a living as a writer and there was a great surge of writing by commoners covering a wide range of topics including writing for puppet and kabuki theaters. Many of the novels published after WW II still deal with that time in Japan’s history.



Larry Jones is a member of the Stillwater Sister Cities Council.

     

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