Editing Japanese literature (section)

===Edo-period literature (1603–1868)===
[[File:Basho in Ogaki.JPG|thumb|[[Matsuo Bashō]], a {{transliteration|ja|[[haikai]]}} poet]]
Literature during this time was written during the largely peaceful [[Tokugawa shogunate]] (commonly referred to as the [[Edo period]]). Due in large part to the rise of the working and middle classes in the new capital of [[Edo]] (modern [[Tokyo]]), forms of popular drama developed which would later evolve into [[kabuki]]. The {{transliteration|ja|[[jōruri (music)|jōruri]]}} and kabuki dramatist [[Chikamatsu Monzaemon]] (1653–1725) became popular at the end of the 17th century, and he is also known as Japan's [[Shakespeare]].

Many different genres of literature made their debut during the Edo period, helped by a rising literacy rate among the growing population of townspeople, as well as the development of lending libraries. [[Ihara Saikaku]] (1642–1693) might be said to have given birth to the modern consciousness of the novel in Japan, mixing vernacular dialogue into his humorous and cautionary tales of the pleasure quarters, the so-called {{transliteration|ja|Ukiyozōshi}} ("[[Ukiyo-zōshi|floating world]]") genre. Ihara's ''Life of an Amorous Man'' is considered the first work in this genre. Although Ihara's works were not regarded as high literature at the time because it had been aimed towards and popularized by the {{transliteration|ja|[[chōnin]]}} (merchant classes), they became popular and were key to the development and spread of {{transliteration|ja|ukiyozōshi}}.

[[Matsuo Bashō]] (1644–1694) is recognized as the greatest master of [[haiku]] (then called {{transliteration|ja|[[hokku]]}}). His poems were influenced by his firsthand experience of the world around him, often encapsulating the feeling of a scene in a few simple elements. He made his life's work the transformation of {{transliteration|ja|haikai}} into a literary genre. For Bashō, {{transliteration|ja|haikai}} involved a combination of comic playfulness and spiritual depth, ascetic practice, and involvement in human society. In particular, Bashō wrote {{transliteration|ja|[[Oku no Hosomichi]]}}, a major work in the form of a [[Travel literature|travel diary]], considered "one of the major texts of classical Japanese literature."<ref>Bashō 1996b: 7.</ref>

[[Fukuda Chiyo-ni]] (1703–1775) is widely regarded as one of the greatest haiku poets. Before her time, haiku by women were often dismissed and ignored. Her dedication toward her career not only paved a way for her career but it also opened a path for other women to follow. Her early poems were influenced by Matsuo Bashō, although she did later develop her own unique style as an independent figure in her own right. While still a teenager, she had already become very popular all over Japan for her poetry. Her poems, although mostly dealing with nature, work for unity of nature with humanity.<ref>Patricia Donegan and Yoshie Ishibashi. ''Chiyo-ni: Woman Haiku Master'', Tuttle, 1996. {{ISBN|0-8048-2053-8}} p256</ref> Her own life was that of the {{transliteration|ja|haikai}} poets who made their lives and the world they lived in one with themselves, living a simple and humble life. She was able to make connections by being observant and carefully studying the unique things around her ordinary world and writing them down.<ref>trans. Donegan and Ishibashi, 1996 p172</ref>

{{transliteration|ja|[[Rangaku]]}} was an intellectual movement situated in Edo and centered on the study of [[Japan–Netherlands relations|Dutch]] (and by subsequently [[Western world|western]]) science and technology, history, philosophy, art, and language, based primarily on the Dutch books imported via Nagasaki. The [[polymath]] [[Hiraga Gennai]] (1728–1780) was a scholar of {{transliteration|ja|rangaku}} and a writer of popular fiction. [[Sugita Genpaku]] (1733–1817) was a Japanese scholar known for his translation of [[Kaitai Shinsho]] (New Book of Anatomy) from the Dutch-language anatomy book {{lang|nl|Ontleedkundige Tafelen}}. As a full-blown translation from a Western language, it was the first of its kind in Japan. Although there was a minor Western influence trickling into the country from the [[Dejima|Dutch settlement at Nagasaki]], it was the importation of [[Chinese literature|Chinese vernacular fiction]] that proved the greatest outside influence on the development of Early Modern Japanese fiction.

[[Jippensha Ikku]] (1765–1831) is known as Japan's [[Mark Twain]] and wrote {{transliteration|ja|[[Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige]]}}, which is a mix of travelogue and comedy. [[Tsuga Teisho]], [[Takebe Ayatari]], and [[Okajima Kanzan]] were instrumental in developing the {{transliteration|ja|[[yomihon]]}}, which were historical romances almost entirely in prose, influenced by Chinese vernacular novels such as {{nihongo3|[[Three Kingdoms]]|三国志|Sangoku-shi}} and {{nihongo3|[[Water Margin]]|水滸伝|Suikoden}}.

Two {{transliteration|ja|yomihon}} masterpieces were written by [[Ueda Akinari]] (1734–1809): {{transliteration|ja|Ugetsu Monogatari}} and {{transliteration|ja|Harusame Monogatari}}. [[Takizawa Bakin|Kyokutei Bakin]] (1767–1848) wrote the extremely popular fantasy/historical romance {{transliteration|ja|[[Nansō Satomi Hakkenden]]}} over a period of twenty-eight years to complete (1814–1842), in addition to other {{transliteration|ja|yomihon}}. [[Santō Kyōden]] wrote {{transliteration|ja|yomihon}} mostly set in the red-light districts until the [[Kansei]] edicts banned such works, and he turned to comedic {{transliteration|ja|[[kibyōshi]]}}. Genres included horror, crime stories, morality stories, comedy, and pornography — often accompanied by colorful woodcut prints.

[[Hokusai]] (1760–1849), perhaps Japan's most famous [[Woodblock printing in Japan|woodblock print]] artist, also illustrated fiction as well as his famous [[36 Views of Mount Fuji (Hokusai)|36 Views of Mount Fuji]].

Nevertheless, in the Tokugawa period, as in earlier periods, scholarly work continued to be published in Chinese, which was the language of the learned much as Latin was in Europe.<ref>Earl, David Margery, Emperor, and Nation in Japan; Political Thinkers of the Tokugawa Period, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1964, p 12</ref>