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GLOSSARY
Classical Japanese literature
The history of early Japanese literature is represented, in the main, by chronicles, anthologies of poetry; and diaries and novels based largely on life at the Imperial court. Among the latter group, the most famous works are the Genji Monogatari and Makura no Soshi. Both were written by women;in fact, during the Heian period (794-1185) literary works by women were the prominent prose form, works by men being largely confined to poctiy in the tanka style. The Genji Monogatari is ranked among the world's greatest works of literature, both in style and construction and in the vividness of its characterisation. The majority of the work was translated into English by a British scholar between 1925 and 1935.The 400-year interval between the Heian and Edo periods was a time of great unrest, and works of the late 12th to 15th centuries echoed the times. The Heike Monogatari, a military saga, opens with a Buddhistic declaration of the impermanence of things. The Tsurezuregusa is a collection of lyrical essays on the appreciation of nature as a retreat from the prevailing scene of war and uncertainty.The atmosphere of works of the Middle Ages was carried over to the Edo period to some extent by poets working in the tanka and haiku forms. The greatest literary figure of this period, Matsuo Basho (1644-1694),assimilated the traditional lyricism of Japanese poetry within a style that reached out to the instinctive experience of the common man. Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693) was a writer of novels and stories typifying the life-style of the newlyemerging merchant class. His works are vivid, and often humorous,accounts of life during a period of dramatic social change.