Role of Poetry in Narrative Prose of the Heian Period Essay

Japanese literature in the Heian period was most popular for its domination of women’s culture (Hooker, Richard). During this time, a new writing technique was implemented called hiragana. This was especially accepted as a woman’s way of writing since a woman knowing Chinese characters was considered unladylike. For many years Chinese characters was the only accepted way of writing, thus the birth of a new writing technique was like a revelation. This incorporation made a huge impact on Japanese literature, since long before it existed, most techniques were adopted from the Chinese. The most popular works during this time included various monogatari such as Ise monogatari and Taketori monogatari, and most popular, Genji monogatari.†¦show more content†¦The earliest full fledge narrative is Taketori monogatari, also known as The Bamboo Cutter. The author is unknown, but said to be a woman since written in kana, since only men knew kanji and Chinese charact ers. It is a story of Kaguya Hime, a moon princess, who is also immortal, and who was sent to earth as punishment. Her founder finds her in bamboo, when she is only inches tall, and he takes her in as his own daughter and raises her, loves her as his own, and is devastated when she has to go back. The imagery in this tale is so strong. You can see and imagine all of the places where the suitors lie about or actually do go to. The imagination needed to create such an in-depth story is truly amazing. The most popular and lasting piece is Genji monogatari written by Murasaki Shikibu. Genji monogatari is most well known for being one of the greatest novels in world literature. The story is not accepted by all women since it reveals the type of man Genji was. He was known to rape and kidnap women and a lot of women still get angry with this. Still today, women do not like Genji. The role of poetry in Genji is to play into the character that Genji is supposed to be. In the sto ry he is handsome and loved by all, but also makes love to a lot of women all the time. He writes poems about his relationships with women, good and bad. In the story he is perfect, including the fact that he is a perfectShow MoreRelatedJapanese Poetry: The Roles of Poetry in Narrative Prose of the Heian Period1569 Words   |  7 Pagessyllabary was developed, along with abolishment of the legation to China (Handout 8). Moreover, the invention of the Japanese native writing systems served as a stimulus to the creation of a prose literature, as well as the births of prominent female writers (Handout 8). Two types of the prose went mainstream in the Heian literature: monogatari (tale) and nikki (diary) (Handout 8). Murasaki Shikibu’s Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji) is probably the most famous work from the era and therefore I will focusRead MoreEssay on The Role of Poetry in Narrative Prose of the Heian Period713 Words   |  3 PagesIf I happen to encounter poetry imbedd ed within prose, I tend to either skip over it, scan it, or otherwise read it as quickly as possible if it seems uninteresting. I am almost shamed to admit that my reading habits hold no exception for traditional Japanese literature, although I guess I am forced to go back and actually read them thoroughly now, since that happens to be the topic of this paper. First of all, I can grasp the meaning of the poem if it is obvious enough in context. For someone