/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19388243]

What is your favorite piece of Japanese literature? I just finished reading No Longer Human and really enjoyed it.

[Anonymous No.19388297]

>>19388243
Posting in the thread to get some Japanese literature recommendations.

[Anonymous No.19388311]

>>19388243
Kawabata.
Mishima but you know that already.

[Anonymous No.19388379]

Tanizaki’s Naomi

[Anonymous No.19388383]

>>19388243

Musashi

[Frater Asemlen !XS8vrClKs2 No.19388413]

Complete works of kukai, both the prose and the verse.

[Anonymous No.19388444]

>>19388243
Thousand cranes by kawabata is my fav, but for other recommendations, i just finished basho's prose/haiku piece and really enjoyed that.
The haiku of buson is my fav japanese haiku. Get the penguin book of haiku - you can't really talk about japanese poetry tradition without haiku.
Try mishima, i guess. I don't care for him that much personally, but he may be your cup of tea. Kokoro by soseki was quite good. Kawabata's palm of the hand stories and his novels snow country and the sound of the mountain are kino. I'm going to read more kobo abe (he's great), the novels black rain, beauty and sadness, the master of go, and some oe soon enough.
Get you an anthology of linked verse too. The monkey's straw raincoat is good.
How is other soseki and the old old shit like haiki and genji?

[Anonymous No.19388451]

>>19388444
Also tanizaki's short stories are great (his seven japanese tales are wel translated) and his novel naomi was really good.
I'm forgetting much of what i read from japan though. It really speaks to me.

[Anonymous No.19388484]

Runaway horses

[Anonymous No.19388588]

>>19388243
No Longer Human is already the epitome of Japanese literature though.

[Anonymous No.19388589]

>>19388243
Japan holiday
newspaper had hockey scores
my best Japan read

[Anonymous No.19388692]

Mori Ogai

[Anonymous No.19388774]

Hideo Okuda's Lala Pipo is still the funniest book I've read.

[Anonymous No.19388849]

>>19388243
The Book of Five Rings

[Anonymous No.19388874]

Read Spring Snow. Really liked it.
Now what?

[Anonymous No.19388883]

>>19388484
This
I haven’t read much Japanese Lit but this was my favorite so far

[Anonymous No.19388906]

>>19388243

[Anonymous No.19388909]

>>19388243
The Hōjōki, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's collected folk tales

[Anonymous No.19388919]

What are the best English versions of Komodo and sea of fertility?

[Anonymous No.19388928]

>>19388243
Maggot Baits

[Anonymous No.19389129]

>>19388243
My favorite is Silence because I'm a Catholicfag.
Read Tale of Genji if you want to be a patrician.
Read The Tale of the Heike if you like samuraishit.
Read Tales of Moonlight and Rain if you're an /sffg/ fag.
Read The Woman in the Dunes and A Personal Matter if you're a postwarfag.
Read Haruki Murakami if you're a magical realismfag.
Read The Tatami Galaxy and The Night is Short, Walk on Girl if you're a gigachad.

[Anonymous No.19389185]

>>19389129
I liked Kiku's Prayer more than Silence. Samurai was underwhelming.
Murakami is garbage.

[Anonymous No.19389394]

>>19388588
The setting sun is infinitely better. The character arc is so much more powerful.

[Anonymous No.19389403]

>>19388444
Also the basho piece i'm talking about is "the narrow road of the interior" and is kino but you need to know a lot about the places he's going and what they were then.

[Anonymous No.19389426]

The Moon Over The Mountain is the peak of japanese literature

[Anonymous No.19390109]

Pretty based recs in this thread desu

[Anonymous No.19390241]

[Anonymous No.19390556]

Shiokari pass

[Anonymous No.19390588]

>>19388243
Highly recommend The Makioka Sisters by Tanizaki.

[Anonymous No.19390624]

Shogun by James Clavell

[Anonymous No.19390664]

>>19390588
I have it. It isn't as devious as other tanizaki, is it? I love his stories and naomi for that.

[Anonymous No.19391066]

>>19388243
The Kokinshu, translated by Laurel Rasplica Rodd. Perhaps the most beautiful collection of poetry I have ever read.

:
waga koi ni thickly they fall to
kurabu no yama no cover Mount Kurabu, the
sakurabana soft cherry petals -
ma naku chiru tomo yet their numbers cannot grow
kazu wa masaraji to exceed my thoughts of you...

[Anonymous No.19391072]

>>19388243
The Kokinshu, translated by Laurel Rasplica Rodd. The most beautiful collection of poetry I have ever read.

thickly they fall to
cover Mount Kurabu, the
soft cherry petals -
yet their numbers cannot grow
to exceed my thoughts of you...

[Anonymous No.19391123]

>>19388243
Tales of Tono by Kunio Yanagita and New Tales of Tono by Hisashi Inoue

[Anonymous No.19391426]

>>19388243
I really liked Spring Snow by Mishima. The Woman in the Dunes by Abe hit pretty hard--I like it as much as Spring Snow but it's different. I thought Snow Country by Kawabata was good but I'll need to reread it (I read it too fast and should have spaced it out a bit). I found No Longer Human by Dazai to be extremely overrated (I also read Run, Milos! and thought it was bad). An anon who presented a good take told me to give Dazai another chance by reading The Setting Sun--he seemed like a good guy so I'm going to do so...eventually.

As far as pop lit goes I enjoyed Real World by Natsuo Kirino and Revenge by Yoko Ogawa. I also read Ring by Koji Suzuki and it was solid.

[Anonymous No.19391459]

>>19388874
The rest of the tetralogy. FYI: the 51st anniversary of his seppuku is next week and you can make November Mishima month.

The Sound of Waves is good if you liked the romance aspect of Spring Snow.

[Anonymous No.19391460]

Musashi by Yoshikawa
>>19388928
based

[Anonymous No.19391531]

Dazai is Japan's best postwar writer. Of course to understand his influence one has to understand Japanese and read him in japanese and also be a little bit grown up. He's similar to Hemingway in that he changed literature. His style is very influential. In English translation, his style feels barebones and sentimental. I highly recommend Abe and Oe. They both owe a lot to Dazai. They are not as good, not as sincere but for the western reader, probably more entertaining and "deep".

[Anonymous No.19392084]

>>19391426
Yeah, it may have been me who talked to you about the setting sun. I found the character arc in it incredible. There's a fascinating technique where he'll start the chapter out with a small phrase then flash back until its contextualized. It's quite good.
Snow country is tough because it's 99% symbolism. Most kawabata is like this.
Spring snow should be good. I'm stoked to get to it.
How good is ogawa? For some reason i haven't read any japanese ladies.

[Anonymous No.19392102]

It's a toss up between The Makioka Sisters and KissxSis

[Anonymous No.19392281]

Why do people like Dazai so much? I thought the characters were all autistic as fuck and the stories are stupido. Prose was alright but nothing special

[Anonymous No.19392670]

>>19392084
I've only read Revenge and it was solid. She's really good at atmosphere; she had this weird style where most of the characters seemed like they were experiencing depersonalization of some sort and it made things eerie. Also, the stories in it were linked together and it didn't come off as gimmicky and in a way (no spoilers) made the book come off like a nightmare.

[Anonymous No.19392912]

>>19392281
Every single Japanese person is autistic.

[Anonymous No.19392931]

>>19392281
You have to grow up

[Anonymous No.19392936]

piercing by murakami

[Anonymous No.19392940]

>>19392936
That's pulp trash. OP meant "literature"

[Anonymous No.19392953]

>>19392940
op also asked for my favourite
i like kawabata too if that will assuage your autism, master of go is probably my favourite

[Anonymous No.19392956]

I regret reading all Japanese lit including Mishima, Kawabata, Soseki and other “greats”

[Anonymous No.19392959]

>>19392956
Why anon?
>>19392953
Yes master of go is terrific. His best after Thousand cranes and The lake.

[Anonymous No.19392962]

Sword Art Online

[Anonymous No.19392963]

>>19392959
>Why anon?
Negative influence on my literary development, just like anime

[Anonymous No.19392968]

>>19390664
There was nothing deviant in the novel. It really is a simple story following a cast of Japanese aristocrats in the 1930s. It was very relaxing and enjoyable. I plan on checking his more deviant works soon, starting with The Key.

[Anonymous No.19392969]

>>19392963
What is literary development?

[Anonymous No.19393042]

>>19392969
Pseud power level

[Anonymous No.19393155]

The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe is fun and literary at the same time

[Anonymous No.19393660]

>>19392969
It’s something like pseud power level except it’s real since the things you read affect you.

[Anonymous No.19393692]

Welcome to the NHK

[Anonymous No.19393894]

>>19392953
>>19392959
Do you need to know a ton about go to understand it? How does one learn go well enougj to appreciate the novel?

[Anonymous No.19394806]

Bump

[Anonymous No.19394809]

>>19393894
it tells you enough to enjoy it

[Anonymous No.19394815]

>>19392281
It’s because they heard he’s popular in Japan. That’s the truth.

[Anonymous No.19395069]

>>19388243
Silence
Snow Country
Kokoro

[Anonymous No.19395081]

>>19389129
>tfw Tatami Galaxy chad

[Anonymous No.19395089]

>>19388243
I've read three authors, and one of those are Haruki Murakami, which honestly doesn't count. So I'll just list the other two:
>The Woman in the Dunes (Abe)
>The Sea of Fertility Tetralogy (Mishima)
>The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Mishima)
>The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea (Mishima)
>The Sound of Waves (Mishima)
For Mishima, if you're unfamiliar, start with either 'Temple' or 'Sailor' and see what that does for you.

[Anonymous No.19396110]

buno

[Anonymous No.19396354]

Bump

[Anonymous No.19396632]

>>19395089
Temple of the Golden Pavillion is insane

[Anonymous No.19396829]

>>19396632
About a quarter of the way through Temple right now. I'm having to go through it painfully slow because I'm feel like I'm constantly 'missing' things. Really enjoying it so far though. I'm starting to wonder how much I missed in Sailor though since I read it in like a day.

[Anonymous No.19396850]

Also my favorite book. Sound of Waves by Mishima is a good one too

[Anonymous No.19396926]

>>19388243
My Hero Academia. The manga.
No matter how much media you consume, there will never be another character as complex as Uraraka

[Anonymous No.19397709]

>>19396926
Faggot midwit

[Anonymous No.19397852]

>>19388243

[Anonymous No.19398074]

>>19396926
Pop quiz: how do you identify a midwit?
He upholds 'complexity' as the greatest virtue.

[Anonymous No.19398150]

Ryūnosuke Akutagwa - Complete Short Stories
Kōbō Abe - The Box Man
Natsume Sōseki - The Miner
Junichirō Tanizaki - Diary of a Mad Old Man/Some Prefer Nettles/In Praise of Shadows

[Anonymous No.19398562]

This is probably the best nip literature

[Anonymous No.19399736]

>>19388243
Metal Gear Solid 2

[Anonymous No.19399803]

>>19388243
OE

[Anonymous No.19399824]

>>19388243
Kokoro
Most things by Mishima
No longer human
Kawabata Short stories

[Frater Asemlen !XS8vrClKs2 No.19399844]

I didn’t shill kukai hard enough so I am going to post some of his poetry.

The singing image of an echo

In an empty hall of a mouth or canyon
A voice or echo arises from vibrations of the air.
Foolish and wise ones hear it in different ways
As if anger and pleasure are really different.
Seeking the origin, we find that things have no essence.
All is unborn, imperishable, and has no beginning nor end. Stay in the One Mind of no discrimination.
Voice and echo only deceive the ears.

The singing image of fire

Whirling fire becomes a square and a circle as the hand moves. Many changes are made according to our will.
One eternal word, "Ah!" turns into many others
Expressing innumerable Buddha-truths

The singing image of a castle

Seeing a solemn castle over the sea Thronged with horses and people,
Fools immediately think it is reality.
The wise know it is temporary and empty.
Heavenly halls, temples, earthly palaces
That once looked real return tQ nothing.
How laughable, how childish the astray are! Do not love blindly. Meditate earnestly and quickly live in the palace of Suchness.

[Anonymous No.19399869]

>>19390624
LOL this.

[Anonymous No.19400245]

start with the kojiki
this isn't an illiad/greeks situation
you literally cannot understand japanese literature at a high level if you don't have a decent grasp of the kojiki
it's the beginning and the end of japanese literature, all references it and everything builds upon it
it is the soul 心 of japanese literature and culture

[Anonymous No.19400437]

yooooooooooooooooooooooo
i got the short story collection by the guy who was supposedly the father of the japanese short story and i found it to be largely underwhelming though note entirely unpleasant, but frankly i wouldn't recommend it for the typical reader

[Anonymous No.19400457]

>>19400245
start with the quran
you literally cannot understand middle eastern literature at a high level if you don't have a decent grasp of the quran
it's the beginning and the end of middle eastern literature, all references it and everything builds upon it
it is the soul of middle eastern literature and culture

start with the bible
you literally cannot understand western literature at a high level if you don't have a decent grasp of the Bible
it's the beginning and the end of Western literature, all references it and everything builds upon it
it is the soul of Western literature and culture

start with the Tao Te Ching
you literally cannot understand Chinese culture at a high level if you don't have a decent grasp of the Tao Te Ching
it's the beginning and the end of Chinese literature, all references it and everything builds upon it
it is the soul of Chinese literature and culture

start with the Upanishads
you literally cannot understand Indian culture at a high level if you don't have a decent grasp of the Upanishads
it's the beginning and the end of Indian culture, all references it and everything builds upon it
it is the soul of Indian literature and culture

start with the epic of Sujata
you literally cannot understand African culture at a high level if you don't have a decent grasp of the epic of Sunjata
it's the beginning and the end of African culture, all references it and everything builds upon it
it is the soul of African literature and culture

start with the Talmud
you literally cannot understand Jewish culture at a high level if you don't have a decent grasp of the Talmud
it's the beginning and the end of Jewish culture, all references it and everything builds upon it
it is the soul of Jewish literature and culture

Oh and pic unrelated, it just makes midwits seethe

[Anonymous No.19400623]

GDYRW

[Anonymous No.19400630]

8KKJA

[Anonymous No.19400771]

>>19400457
First part is true though

[Anonymous No.19400785]

>>19388243
Haruki Murakami is the best

[Anonymous No.19400918]

>>19400771
I'm not saying it isnt, it's just kind of an obnoxious statement. Every example I gave is directly comparable. In order to understand the culture of a civilization, people will say that first you need to understand its civ founding texts. But again fuck it, what if I dont want to read capeshit, but if I just want modern lit. I'm so tired of retarded lit memes like these

[Anonymous No.19401325]

>>19400918
Based

[Anonymous No.19401468]

Snow Country is my favourite. It's also the only Japanese piece of literature I've read.

[Anonymous No.19402622]

>>19388909
Can you tell me how his story rashomon relates to kurosawas movie ? It's completely a different story...
Or did he combine other stories to create the film rashomon ?
Iam at the very beginning of that book

[Anonymous No.19402840]

>>19389129
>The Tatami Galaxy and The Night is Short, Walk on Girl
what are your thoughts on the Masaaki Yuasa adaptations?

[Anonymous No.19403299]

I really like the first two books of the Sea of Fertility tetralogy, Snow Country and Setting Sun. I've also read some other novels by Abe, Oe, Murakami and Soseki but in general I find Japanese cinema more rewarding

[Anonymous No.19403315]

My favourite is essays in idleness, hojoki, the penguin collection of akutagawa's short stories and onnagata and patriotism by Mishima

[Anonymous No.19403384]

>>19389129
Silence is great

[Anonymous No.19403548]

>>19388243

[Anonymous No.19403594]

>>19388243
Kenji Miyazawa's short stories (see: Once and Forever). "The Earthgod and the Fox" made me cry.
Genocidal Organs by Project Itoh, probably my alltime favorite sci-fi novel.
And for something I didn't like: Akutagawa, read Rashomon and Seventeen other stories, I liked some of the earlier ones but the later ones get way too schizo for me; not a fan.
>>19397852
This one was quite interesting. Why did Erik Satie show up out of nowhere though?

[Anonymous No.19403692]

>>19388243
Heike Monogatari

[Anonymous No.19404591]

i remember reading Hagakure when I was young, was curious about it because of the biohazard symbol. it has some wild samurai stories

also as others have stated, book of five rings by musashi

[Anonymous No.19404789]

>>19402622
The answer to your question is in literally the first paragraph of both wikipedia pages