Why Is Japanese Literature So Different?

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Japan is one of the most unique countries in the world, considered one of the safest, cleanest and most organized countries in the world.

But what is Japanese literature like? What makes Japanese literature so unique? What are some of the most important themes in Japanese literature? And who are some of the greatest Japanese writers.

In this video I’ll answer all these questions and more by looking at 1,000 years of Japanese literature.

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34 thoughts on “Why Is Japanese Literature So Different?”

  5. NO PUEDO ESPERAR AL FINAL….TENGO QUE EXPRESAR MI AGRADECIMIENTO …..As always, masterful presentation and beautiful dissemination of knowledge… the sweetest beast of the Anglosphere… (the day it immerses itself in Spanish literature will be an epiphany…)

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  10. I'm a Japanese high school student. Nowadays in japan, I feel like we don't have opportunity to learn about Japanese traditional culture in detail like this even we living as japanese. Thank you so much for make such a wonderful program!(I'm sorry for my poor English

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  14. I’m amazed. No one would believe me if I told them that this was not made by someone who has studied Japanese literature for decades! I was sad that Tanizaki wasn't there, but he was mentioned at the end, so that's good. It was also good that you talked about haiku.

    Dazai has always been my favourite. I can't get enough of his self-deprecating humour and honesty. These days, however, I prefer Tanizaki. In one of Tanizaki’s essays he said that the beauty of Japanese expressions is that they say only half of a thing, leaving the rest to the imagination. It was only as an adult that I came to appreciate Kawabata's works, and one of the reasons why Mishima and Murakami are so popular abroad may be that they wrote on the assumption that they would be translated?

    (As for the almost complete absence of descriptions of food in The Tale of Genji, the fish available in Kyoto in the Heian period was dried or salted freshwater fish, and the occasional animal meat was also dried, basically a diet of rice to fill you up, and sugar was a precious commodity, so very frugal compared to today.)

    My deepest respect and thanks to you!

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  15. Amazing content…..exceptionally well done. Have read ''I am a cat'', & ''No longer human''— but learned much while being entertained…..cheers to you FB!! Always have respected and felt as if I could relate to common themes in Japan…..simplistic/to the point thought + nature/solitude/contemplation of existence/not belonging to modern times……many thanks.

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  28. Dazai's novel is about something much broader than the dropping of the atomic bombs and even defeat in WWII. His darkness preceded those events by at least a decade, and so could not be the result of them.

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  29. The first book I read was The Tale of Genji. There was a point in my otaku phase I wanted to have a more mature conversation with Japanese art and literature. So I started with history, later reading complex manga in the seinen category— finally arriving in literature. I want to read more modern works that is not as conscious of the Western gaze. And this video lecture was a wonder introduction to start. Thank you.

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  32. I am a big fan of "Fiction of Beast".
    This japanese story is Well Done…. Brilliant!!
    I have lived out side of my mother country Japan much longer than I lived there.
    More I think about my japanesque in me…makes me very proud of my country.
    I wish feels the same among young people in Japan.

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  33. "Japan is one of the most unique countries in the world, considered one of the safest, cleanest and most organized countries in the world. " Not really. Japan is overrated on several points

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