World Literature

For example, the letter for

turtle is 亀. This letter is
simplified one as compared to
original one but still the shape
of turtle is obvious. Roughly
saying, average japanese can
read letters of 5,000 or more
but can write down 2,000 or
less. At elementary school and
junior high school, 1,800 of
letters are taught.
 The modern Japanese
writing system uses three main
scripts:
 Kanji, ideographs from Chinese
characters,
 Kana, a pair of syllabaries,
consisting of
 Hiragana, used for native Japanese
words, and
 Katakana, used for foreign
loanwords and sometimes to
replace kanji or hiragana for
emphasis.
 Kanji
 癌 gan ("cancer")
 峠 tōge (mountain pass)
 Katakana
 コンピュータゲーム konpyūta gēmu ("computer
game")
 コーヒー kōhī, ("coffee")
 Hiragana
 コンニチワ konnichiwa ("hello")
 皮膚科 hifuka ("dermatology")
 It is the oldest existing collection
of Japanese poetry, compiled
some time around 759 A.D.
during the Nara period.
 The collection is divided into
twenty parts or books, mirroring
a similar practice in collections of
Chinese poems of the time
 The collection contains 265
chōka (long poems), 4,207
tanka (short poems), one
tanrenga (short connecting
poem), one bussokusekika
(poems on the Buddha's
footprints at Yakushi-ji in
Nara), four kanshi (Chinese
poems), and 22 Chinese prose
passages.
 Chinese poetry was supplanted
by the waka (literally, "Japanese
song") as the preeminent
literary form. Imperial
collections of poetry were
compiled, and prose works,
most by women, were written in
the newly developed phonetic
kana script.
 It is a genre of classical Japanese
verse and one of the major
genres of Japanese literature.
 The term was coined during the
Heian period, and was used to
distinguish Japanese-language
poetry from kanshi (poetry
written in Chinese by Japanese
poets)
 Traditionally waka in general has
had no concept of rhyme
(indeed, certain arrangements of
rhymes, even accidental, were
considered dire faults in a poem),
or even of line. Instead of lines,
waka has the unit (連) and the
phrase (句). (Units or phrases are
often turned into lines when
poetry is translated or
transliterated into Western
languages, however.)
 In the Heian period the lovers
would exchange waka in the
morning when lovers met at the
woman's home.
 The exchanged waka were called
Kinuginu (後朝), because it was
thought the man wanted to stay
with his lover and when the sun
rose he had almost no time to
put on his clothes on which he
had lain instead of a mattress (it
being the custom in those days).
 Haiku is a poetic form and a
type of poetry from the
Japanese culture.
 Haiku
combines form, content,
and language in a meaningful,
yet compact form.
 Many themes include nature,
feelings, or experiences.
 Usually they use simple words
and grammar.
 The most common form for
Haiku is three short lines.
 The first line usually contains
five (5) syllables, the second
line seven (7) syllables, and the
third line contains five (5)
syllables.
 Haiku doesn't rhyme.
 A Haiku must "paint" a mental
image in the reader's mind.
First day of spring--
I keep thinking about
the end of autumn.

Spring rain
leaking through the roof
dripping from the wasps' nest.
Fallen sick on a journey,
In dreams I run wildly
Over a withered moor.

An old silent pond...

A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.