Editing Japanese literature (section)

===Kamakura-Muromachi period literature (1185–1603)===
{{main article|Medieval Japanese literature}}
During the [[Kamakura period]] (1185–1333), Japan experienced many civil wars which led to the development of a warrior class, and subsequent war tales, histories, and related stories.<ref name="Japan's Medieval Age: The Kamakura & Muromachi Periods">{{Cite web |last=Collcutt |first=Martin |year=2003 |title=Japan's Medieval Age: The Kamakura & Muromachi Periods |url=http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/content.cfm/japans_medieval_age_the_kamakura__muromachi_periods}}</ref> Work from this period is notable for its more somber tone compared to the works of previous eras, with themes of life and death, simple lifestyles, and redemption through killing.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BSmMbQhafJoC |title=The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature |last1=Miner |first1=Earl Roy |last2=Odagiri |first2=Hiroko |last3=Morrell |first3=Robert E. |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1988 |page=44|isbn=0691008256 }}</ref> A representative work is {{nihongo|''[[The Tale of the Heike]]''||Heike Monogatari|extra=1371}}, an epic account of the struggle between the [[Minamoto clan|Minamoto]] and [[Taira clan|Taira]] clans for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century. Other important tales of the period include [[Kamo no Chōmei]]'s {{transliteration|ja|[[Hōjōki]]}} (1212) and [[Yoshida Kenkō]]'s {{transliteration|ja|[[Tsurezuregusa]]}} (1331).

Despite a decline in the importance of the imperial court, aristocratic literature remained the center of Japanese culture at the beginning of the Kamakura period. Many literary works were marked by a nostalgia for the Heian period.<ref name="Rethinking Japan Vol 1.: Literature, Visual Arts & Linguistics">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bF-2AgAAQBAJ |title=Rethinking Japan Vol 1.: Literature, Visual Arts & Linguistics |last1=Boscaro |first1=Adriana |last2=Gatti |first2=Franco |last3=Raveri |first3=Massimo |publisher=Routledge |year=2014|page=143|isbn=9781135880538 }}</ref> The Kamakura period also saw a renewed vitality of poetry, with a number of anthologies compiled,<ref name="Japan's Medieval Age: The Kamakura & Muromachi Periods"/><ref name="The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BSmMbQhafJoC |title=The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature |last1=Miner |first1=Earl Roy |last2=Odagiri |first2=Hiroko |last3=Morrell |first3=Robert E. |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1988 |page=46|isbn=0691008256 }}</ref> such as the {{transliteration|ja|[[Shin Kokin Wakashū]]}} compiled in the early 1200s. However, there were fewer notable works by female authors during this period, reflecting the lowered status of women.<ref name="Rethinking Japan Vol 1.: Literature, Visual Arts & Linguistics"/>

As the importance of the imperial court continued to decline, a major feature of Muromachi literature (1333–1603) was the spread of cultural activity through all levels of society. Classical court literature, which had been the focal point of Japanese literature up until this point, gradually disappeared.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E8qq6zhhM5kC |title=Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600 |last=Shirane |first=Haruo |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2012 |page=413|isbn=9780231157308 }}</ref><ref name="Rethinking Japan Vol 1.: Literature, Visual Arts & Linguistics"/> New genres such as {{transliteration|ja|[[renga]]}}, or linked verse, and [[Noh]] theater developed among the common people,<ref name="Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E8qq6zhhM5kC |title=Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600 |last=Shirane |first=Haruo |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2012 |pages=382, 410|isbn=9780231157308 }}</ref> and {{transliteration|ja|[[setsuwa]]}} such as the {{transliteration|ja|Nihon Ryoiki}} were created by Buddhist priests for preaching.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}} The development of roads, along with a growing public interest in travel and pilgrimages, brought rise to the greater popularity of travel literature from the early 13th to 14th centuries.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E8qq6zhhM5kC |title=Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600 |last=Shirane |first=Haruo |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2012 |pages=382, 413|isbn=9780231157308 }}</ref> Notable examples of travel diaries include {{transliteration|ja|Fuji kikō}} (1432) and {{transliteration|ja|Tsukushi michi no ki}} (1480).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Katō |first=Eileen |year=1979 |title=Pilgrimage to Daizafu: Sōgi's Tsukushi no Michi no Ki |jstor=2384203|journal=Monumenta Nipponica |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=333–367|doi=10.2307/2384203 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Plutschow |first=Herbert Eugen |year=1989 |title=Japanese Travel Diaries of the Middle Ages |journal=Oriens Extremus |volume=29 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–136}}</ref>