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If you get into classic Japanese literature then have some fun and start at the beginning with Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji written about a thousand years a
by escherplex 8y ago
If you get into classic Japanese literature then have some fun and start at the beginning with Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji written about a thousand years ago. From around 1905 after the Russo-Japanese war when Japan was starting to feel good about itself you have Natsume Sōseki's I am a Cat. As Yet I have No Name but it all depends on what genre you like.
- mikekchar 8y agoI love Souseki. For me he's the Japanese Dickens. I highly recommend Botchan (spelling from google -- no idea what this book is called in English).
- escherplex 8y agoRight. Botchan (1906) (坊っちゃん 明治 三十九年) That was and probably still is a popular book, moreso at the time of its release when virtually all behavior was rigid and prescribed and you were expected to keep your thoughts to yourself and never volunteer them. There's even an .epub of Botchan on Project Gutenberg and aozora. As a Japanese friend who grew up in Japan observed, Botchan was like an alter ego. You know exactly what he is thinking, he had a short fuse, and talked with his fists with little regard as to how his actions were construed. Things at times which you would want to do yourself but wouldn't or couldn't. But like an Aesop's fable, ethics and morality win in the end. - and the above is Kanji if you don't have the script ;-)