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Medieval Japanese literature can be broadly divided into two periods: the early and late middle ages, the former lasting roughly 150 years from the late 12th to the mid-14th century, and the latter until the end of the 16th century.
The classical Japanese language (文語, bungo, "literary language"), also called "old writing" (古文, kobun) and sometimes simply called "Medieval Japanese", is the literary form of the Japanese language that was the standard until the early Shōwa period (1926–1989).
Heian literature focuses on the capital's view of provincial disturbances, but medieval war tales shift their perspective to focus on those actually involved with the war, often sympathizing with the defeated warriors. The authors of gunki monogatari do not hesitate to sympathize with the warriors or moralize about their actions.
Japanese literature throughout most of its history has been influenced by cultural contact with neighboring Asian literatures, most notably China and its literature. Early texts were often written in pure Classical Chinese or lit.
The Heike is considered one of the great classics of Medieval Japanese literature. Two main strands feed into the central ethos of the tale, samurai and buddhist. At one level, the Tale is an account of martial heroism – of courage, cruelty, power, glory, sacrifice and sorrow. [4]
For the most part, scholars have been critical of this genre, dismissing it for its perceived faults when compared to the aristocratic literature of the Heian and Kamakura periods. As a result, standardized Japanese school textbooks often omit any reference to otogi-zōshi from their discussions of medieval Japanese literature. Recent studies ...
Tsurezuregusa (徒然草, Essays in Idleness, also known as The Harvest of Leisure) is a collection of essays written by the Japanese monk Kenkō (兼好) between 1330 and 1332. The work is widely considered a gem of medieval Japanese literature and one of the three representative works of the zuihitsu genre, along with The Pillow Book and the ...
Onna-musha (女武者) is a term referring to female warriors in pre-modern Japan, [1] [2] who were members of the bushi class. They were trained in the use of weapons to protect their household, family, and honour in times of war; [ 3 ] [ 4 ] many of them fought in battle alongside samurai men.