Encompassing a wide range of issues in Japanese literature and culture, the 29 essays in this volume focus on how cultural and literary genres and norms have developed in response to historical and cross-cultural influences. Each essay deals with an aspect of Japanese culture. They cover Japanese literature from the Heian period to the present, discussing poetry, drama, fiction autobiographical writing, film, the visual arts and social and intellectual history. They touch on topics such as: the art of translating Takuboku; Mishima Yukio's notion of No; the poetry of Saito Mokichi's Shoen;...

In Volume 2 of Columbia's comprehensive anthology of modern Japanese literature, thoughtfully selected and carefully translated readings portray the vast changes that have transformed Japanese culture since the end of the Pacific War. Beginning with the Allied Occupation in 1945 and concluding with the early twenty-first century, these stories, poems, plays, and essays reflect Japan's heady transition from poverty to prosperity, its struggle with conflicting ideologies and political beliefs, and the growing influence of popular culture on the country's artistic and intellectual traditions....