Editing Japanese literature (section)

===Heian literature (794–1185)===
{{Main|Heian literature}}
[[File:Tosa Mitsuoki—Portrait of Murasaki Shikibu.jpg|thumb|left|[[Murasaki Shikibu]], the author of ''The Tale of Genji'']]
The [[Heian period]] has been referred to as the golden era of art and literature in Japan.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/asiaconcisehisto0000meye/page/127|title=Asia : a concise history|last=Walter.|first=Meyer, Milton|date=1997|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780847680634|location=Lanham, Md.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/asiaconcisehisto0000meye/page/127 127]|oclc=44954459}}</ref> During this era, literature became centered on a cultural elite of nobility and monks.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JwGOYBfNdrUC |title=A History of Japanese Literature: From the Manyoshu to Modern Times |last1=Kato |first1=Shuichi |last2=Sanderson |first2=Don |publisher=Routledge |year=2013|isbn=9781136613685 }}</ref> The imperial court particularly patronized the poets, most of whom were courtiers or ladies-in-waiting. Reflecting the aristocratic atmosphere, the poetry was elegant and sophisticated and expressed emotions in a rhetorical style. Editing the resulting anthologies of poetry soon became a national pastime. The {{transliteration|ja|[[iroha]]}} poem, now one of two standard orderings for the Japanese [[syllabary]], was also developed during the early Heian period.

{{nihongo|''[[The Tale of Genji]]''||Genji Monogatari}}, written in the early 11th century by female courtier [[Murasaki Shikibu]], is considered the pre-eminent novel of Heian fiction.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://academic.mu.edu/meissnerd/minzlaff.html|title=web page template|last=Meissner|first=Daniel|website=academic.mu.edu|access-date=2018-02-17}}</ref> Other important writings of this period include the {{transliteration|ja|[[Kokin Wakashū]]}} (905), a {{transliteration|ja|[[Tanka (poetry)|waka]]}}-poetry anthology, and {{nihongo|''[[The Pillow Book]]''||Makura no Sōshi|extra=990s}}. ''The Pillow Book'' was written by [[Sei Shōnagon]], Murasaki Shikibu's contemporary and rival, as an essay about the life, loves, and pastimes of nobles in the Emperor's court.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NYvTAgAAQBAJ|title=The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon: The Diary of a Courtesan in Tenth Century Japan|last=Waley|first=Arthur|publisher=Tuttle Publishing |year=2011|isbn=9781462900886}}</ref> Another notable piece of fictional Japanese literature was {{transliteration|ja|[[Konjaku Monogatarishū]]}}, a collection of over a thousand stories in 31 volumes. The volumes cover various [[Indian literature|tales from India]], [[Chinese literature|China]] and Japan.

The 10th-century Japanese narrative, {{nihongo|''[[The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter]]''||Taketori Monogatari}}, can be considered an early example of proto-[[science fiction]]. The protagonist of the story, Kaguya-[[hime]], is a princess from the Moon who is sent to Earth for safety during a celestial war, and is found and raised by a bamboo cutter. She is later taken back to her extraterrestrial family in an illustrated depiction of a disc-shaped flying object similar to a [[flying saucer]].<ref name=Richardson>{{citation|title=The Halstead Treasury of Ancient Science Fiction|first=Matthew|last=Richardson|publisher=Halstead Press|location=Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales|year=2001|isbn=1-875684-64-6}} ([[cf.]] {{citation|title=Once Upon a Time|journal=Emerald City|issue=85|date=September 2002|url=http://www.emcit.com/emcit085.shtml#Once|access-date=2008-09-17}})</ref>