/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.1726897]

Hey /lit/, I was reading this today and realized I know pretty much nothing about Japanese theatre. I need some recommendations, be it non-fiction, fiction, maybe youtube videos even.

But as for this collection, my favorite so far is definitely the first, Sotoba Komachi. I've still got The Lady Aoi and Hanjo to read too, but the first has captured me the most so far. I can still recognize the basic No themes in it (that I learned from the introduction), and yet Mishima gives it this surreal, modern kind of loneliness. It left me questioning, and I liked that.

Also we can have a Japanese lit general, since I'm not sure Japanese theatre by itself will keep the thread bumped enough to get any recs.

[Anonymous No.1727049]

Just finished the last two plays in this. Both were very strong, though I think I would have gotten a lot more out of The Lady Aoi if I had read the section it references of The Tale of Genji first. It was definitely a haunting play regardless, and probably the one I would most want to see performed (especially for the boat scene and the shadows parts).

The last play, Hanjo, for some reason reminded me of Kawabata's Beauty and Sadness in a way. At least, with the older lady artist and young nubile girl relationship, though the sufferers are switched in this one. It's an excellent play though - themes of waiting, expectations, madness, longing, and of course, loneliness. I think this one and the first are tied for my favorites.

Anyway, still looking for Japanese theatre recommendations/discussion. I may start up Four Major Plays of Chikamatsu here in a bit and put my thoughts on it in this thread too.

[Anonymous No.1727234]

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[Anonymous No.1727235]

WHAT THE FUCK MAN.

I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT THE LACK OF PLAYS FROM JAPANESE AUTHORS AND WAS GOING TO MAKE A THREAD ABOUT IT YESTERDAY.

YOU MUST BE AWESOME TO THINK THE SAME AS I

[Anonymous No.1727242]

>>1727235
Hah, nice! There actually seems to be a decent amount of stuff out there, particularly on Noh, but I'm just not sure where to begin. I thought starting with a more modern author like Mishima or Abe would be a better introduction for me than, say, the 15th century Zeami. But, yeah. I think it's going to be a pretty interesting reading sidetrack for me.

[Anonymous No.1728144]

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[Anonymous No.1728565]

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[Anonymous No.1728572]

sorry I have nothing to contribute of my own, as I know nothing of the subject, but thanks for the list of works I should read.

[Anonymous No.1728575]

I don't know much about Japanese theater, but if you are interested, I would suggest Ozu's "Late Spring," which has a beautiful scene taking at a Noh performance.

[Anonymous No.1728600]

Genji, Heike, Taketori monogatari are among my favorite. 1727049 has goof taste, Four Major PLays of Chikamatsu are good.

[Anonymous No.1728620]

>>1728575
I'll definitely look into it! Downloading a collection with a few other Ozu films as well right now.

[Anonymous No.1729530]

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[Anonymous No.1729532]

Japanese theater is fucking shit. If you've ever sat through a 4 hour Noh play you'd realize that on paper it's pretty cool but in practice...

[Anonymous No.1729536]

>>1729532
Four hours? None of the ones in this book are longer than 30 pages and the intro said they are comparable in length to a one-act play. I didn't think they could be that long.

[Anonymous No.1729538]

>>1729532
Ah, looking at Wikipedia it mentions that a Noh performance usually has several Noh plays at once. Still, have you read much about it? It seems like it's going to be a thing I'd have to know most of the history and nuances of before I try to experience an actual performance. Not that I'll probably be doing that in the next decade.

[Anonymous No.1729540]

mishima is retarded. on the other hand he wrote a few great books. i haven't read any of his plays but i've read probably7 or 8 of his novels and a set of his short stories. i'm glad i'm done with him.

for jap /lit/ my favorites are:

osamu dazai (mishima didn't like him at all. maybe jelly that he killed himself before mishima). the setting sun is the book to check out.

kawabata who was friends with mishima, with speculation whether his death was suicide or not. he did mention he was depressed thinking about his old friend.

kenzaburo oe. in my mind the antithesis to mishima. if you read his novella "17" its crazy to think that oe wrote a story, and mishima turned out just like the protagonist. also his short story, "the catch" is incredible. for novels read "nip the buds, shoot the kids" or "the silent cry."

natsume soseki is probably their most popular literary figure for modern jap lit. kokoro and botchan being the two most popular, my favorite are those along with sanshiro and kasumakura.

man, someone made a long ass list of lots of good jap authors i totally approve of. there are two. one with a brown background that is ok and another that has many more books...like a hundred or so and it's great. not sure who made it though.

[Anonymous No.1729544]

>>1729536
I studied Noh briefly, but what I remember is that the text of the play is only a mere fraction. Most of it is the music the dudes in the background play.

[Anonymous No.1729545]

>>1729540
This one? I made it :D I'm glad someone likes it!

[Anonymous No.1729547]

>>1729545
HA. nice to meet you, anon. yeah, i dig that pic. :)

i'm on a work computer so i didn't have it.

and i forgot to mention tanizaki. he's one of my favorites too. naomi was brutal.

[Anonymous No.1729554]

>>1729545
x'ed the books i've read on your list. and i actually used it to find a few new authors.

[Anonymous No.1729564]

>>1729554
Definitely read Akutagawa's Kappa when you get a chance! It's a little longer and was written later in his life, so it's kind of got that self-depreciation and dry humor to it, but I thought it was great. Also Tanizaki's The Key is my second favorite (next to Naomi) of his. It's got a lot of the strange sexual themes to it like Naomi does, but the ending is more desolate and depressing than straight out brutal.

How did you like the Matsuo Basho book? I recently read it because I was doing a paper on him, and I thought it covered everything really well. All types of his poetry, his criticisms, a biography, and that last chapter on his lasting renown. I know a lot more about Basho that I did before, for certain.

Which new authors were you looking into? :D

[Anonymous No.1729590]

>>1729564
will do. i like akutagawa's short stories a lot! i'll order it on amazon right now.

looking into:
ogai mori. fumiko enchi. shusaku endo.

and i've also seen banana yoshimoto's name around.

[Anonymous No.1729592]

>>1729554
i've also read hard boiled wonderland and norwegian wood. not sure how i missed them.

[Anonymous No.1729605]

>>1729564
OOPS. forgot to comment on the basho book. i didn't know much before reading it either. definitely a great intro book.

[Anonymous No.1729617]

>>1729545

Thank you anon this is probably one of the bets list produced on /lit/. I'm trying to read my way through all these books now although I'm having a hard time finding ebooks for lots of these authors.

[Anonymous No.1729622]

KOBO ABE
you're welcome

[Anonymous No.1729636]

>>1729622
i loved the book. yet, the movie is so fucking expensive and i don't know where to watch it decently online. :(

[Anonymous No.1729680]

>>1729636
Woman in the Dunes? If you have a Demonoid account, search for the Eight Japanese Masters collection. I got it because of >>1728575's recommendation, and it also includes that film! Pretty excited about watching it, since I loved the book.

[Anonymous No.1729710]

>>1729617
Yeah, I've noticed there's a pretty big lack of Japanese literature ebooks out there. If you don't already have it, here's a .zip with a decent amount of Japanese lit ebooks in it though: http://www.mediafire.com/?33oxh50ljo63bba

It's got some Abe, Akutagawa, Kawabata, both Murakami's, Soseki, Yoshikawa and a smattering of other authors in it.

[Anonymous No.1731176]

Reading Tanizaki's Seven Japanese Tales now. They are definitely very Tanizaki - dominant women treating submissive men like crap, obsession/madness, sexual fetishisms everywhere, etc. The first story, A Portrait of Shunkin, is my favorite so far (and also the longest). I love the interspersed bits of unreliable narration from Shunkin's lover's writings, and the detective-like way the narrator is trying to uncover her real life. Most of the reviewers of it seem to love A Blind Man's Tale, but I haven't gotten to that one yet.

Reading the earlier stories like Terror and The Tattooer, you can really see how far he's come. You can see the same themes he uses in a lot of his other work, but they still obviously show a writer at the beginning of his career (he was about 25-28 for these two).

Anyway, kind of got sidetracked with this one since I forgot to bring the Chikamatsu collection with me to school last night. This one's actually available in the collection in >>1729710, so if anyone wants to try out some Tanizaki, it's there!

[Anonymous No.1731821]

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[Anonymous No.1732927]

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[Anonymous No.1734399]

Bump.

I'll finish Seven Japanese Tales tonight and put the rest of my thoughts on them here. It seems silly to make a new thread, when I already know it won't get more than 5 or so replies, so! I'll just keep doing it here for a bit.

[Anonymous No.1734406]

>>1729710
whoa. thanks, anon.

[Anonymous No.1735070]

>>1731176
Read three more of the stories - The Bridge of Dreams, The Thief, and Aguri.

I initially skipped over The Bridge of Dreams, thinking it was going to be one I needed a grounding in The Tale of Genji to enjoy. It didn't /seem/ to, but since I haven't read Genji, I may be missing out on a lot of allusion and parallels with it. Even without that knowledge though, I loved the story! This one, from 1959, is the newest in the anthology. It really shows the culmination of his style too, imo. There are so many layers to it, with the Father's manipulation, the forced blending of the two Mothers (and their sexualization), deception coming from everyone, and the calm acceptance that every character seems to exhibit. I have to say I'm never a fan of when the narrator of a story keeps assuring the reader that the story is true, but other than that I thought this story was pretty much perfect Tanizaki.

The Thief and Aguri were both relatively earlier stories (1921-2), but they were still enjoyable. The Thief I found was an interesting take on personal deception, and how one views oneself in light of your own character and the changes that may happen when no one trusts you. The ending seemed a little contrived, (he becomes a famous "professional thief") but the initial mystery aspects to it were a great side of the author I hadn't seen before.

[Anonymous No.1735072]

>>1735070
continued.

Aguri seemed a little bit of a precursor to Naomi, with more emphasis on the suffering of the older male. This character is similarly obsessed to the point that he is dying, but it comes in the form of emaciation and hallucinations (which are really skillfully pulled off in the story). The descriptions of Western vs Japanese fashion are being used as parallels in this one too. As a side note, I kind of went wut at the passage that said "but there's no opening, so you have to take it off if you want to go to the toilet" when the clerk is talking about Western panties. Apparently I know absolutely nothing about traditional Japanese underwear.


Anyway, the only one left now is A Blind Man's Tale. I was looking forward to that one the most, since a lot of the reviews single it out. We'll see if it tops The Bridge of Dreams!

[Anonymous No.1735124]

is there a torrent or rar anywhere that has a huge collection of japanese books?

[Anonymous No.1735138]

>>1735124
In Japanese? Aozora.gr.jp

In English, all I know about is the one in >>1729710, which is pretty far from a huge collection. Maybe someone else knows where to find some online, but I usually just buy them. If I get bored enough one day I might start scanning/typing the shorter out-of-print ones, but, eh.

[Anonymous No.1735153]

>>1735138
Thanks, I had somehow missed that link and it's a good start to add to my collection. I've got some good books/short stories through my literature class but nothing in ebook format.

[Anonymous No.1735160]

>>1735153
May I ask which ones you had gotten through class (and what kind of class it was)?

[Anonymous No.1735222]

>>1735160
I recently just arrived from overseas and my books are packed away so I don't know the specifics by heart. But I know I have collections of Akutagawa and souseki for example. We also had to read various parts of the pillow book and tale of genji. It's also where I first discovered Ryu Murakami.

This was for my undergrad days in my Japanese Literature class. We had to read most of this stuff in Japanese.

[Anonymous No.1737377]

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[Anonymous No.1737689]

Just link-dropping a bit, if anyone wants to see what a couple of Japanese literature professors list:

http://homepages.wmich.edu/~jangles/findingawork.htm

http://faculty.washington.edu/tmack/lit_list.htm

[Anonymous No.1737916]

Also, just found out Donald Keene has retired: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/columbia-professors-retirement-is-big-news-in-japan/?re
f=nyregion

It's kind of sad news to me, since I was hoping to one day sit in on one of his lectures, if I made it into Columbia for graduate studies. But it's definitely a well-deserved retirement.

[Anonymous No.1738723]

Bump. I guess I'll let this die after I finish the Tanizaki.

[Anonymous No.1740290]

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[Anonymous No.1740444]

I would start to read the jap novel. What could you recommend me to start?

[Anonymous No.1740484]

>>1740444
Everyone seems to love Haruki Murakami, so you could start with one of his. That would probably be an easy transition, since he's still pretty Westernized.

My personal first was Kokoro by Natsume Soseki. It's a bit of a plunge into Japanese literature though, I think. It's a very important work, but you may find it too slow paced if you're not used to that. Same for most of Kawabata's novel's, I'd say. Maybe the short story Patriotism by Yukio Mishima.

It all really depends on what you normally enjoy. If you're a fan of short stories, the supernatural, or mental illness, check out some stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. If you enjoy the existential and surreal, look into Kobo Abe. I dunno. What kinds of books do you normally enjoy?

[Anonymous No.1740502]

>>1740484
I usually read fantasy / sci-fi (many Polish authors, R.R. Martin, Tolkien, Pratchett, Rowley), and various collections of short stories. Recently I started S. King and Lovecraft, they look pretty good.

I also read single volumes Isuna Hasekura and Noboru Yamaguchi light novels, but I want something more... serious. Would be good if the language wasn't be especially difficult.

[Anonymous No.1740518]

>>1740502
Alright then! I stand by my Ryunosuke Akutagawa recommendation, since you mentioned two horror authors and short story collections. His earlier stuff has a lot of folklore/mythological kind of elements to it, which may coincide with your liking of fantasy. If you want some mystery/horror type stories, you might check out Edogawa Ranpo also (his name is supposed to sound like Edgar Allen Poe).

I'm not really familiar with contemporary Japanese stuff, so I probably can't give you any genuine Japanese fantasy/sci-fi recommendations. But a lot of the older literature incorporates supernatural themes - check out Kyoka Izumi's stories if that interests you. I don't think any of these have particularly high level language in them in the English translations either! :D

I can't think of anything that resembles the high fantasy stuff like Tolkien though. Maybe The Tale of the Heike, for the battles and epic scale. It's a lot older though, and so may be hard to get into. Still check it out though!

[Anonymous No.1740526]

>>1740484
Do you happen to have a download link for Patriotism?

[Anonymous No.1740538]

>>1740526
Sorry, I don't. But! I actually had the first page/section of it typed up, and I can post that.

1.

On the twenty-eighth of February 1936 (on the third day, that is, of the February 26 incident), Lieutenant Shinji Takeyama of the Konoe Transport Battalion – profoundly disturbed by the knowledge that his closest colleagues had been with the mutineers from the beginning, and indignant at the imminent prospect of Imperial troops attacking Imperial troops – took his officer’s sword and ceremonially disemboweled himself in the eight-mat room of his private resident in the sixth block of Aoba-cho, in Yotsuya Ward. His wife, Reiko, followed him, stabbing herself to death. The lieutenant’s farewell note consisted of one sentence: “Long live the Imperial Forces.” His wife’s, after apologies for her unfilial conduct in thus preceding her parents to the grave, concluded – “The day which, for a soldier’s wife, had to come, has come….” The last moments of this heroic and dedicated couple were such as to make the gods themselves weep. The lieutenant’s age, it should be noted, was thirty-one, his wife’s twenty-three; and it was not half a year since the celebration of their marriage.

[Anonymous No.1740551]

>>1740518
Okay, thanks for your help - I think I'll start with the "Rashomon. "

[Anonymous No.1740704]

>>1740484

I'm just getting into Japanese literature. Unsurprisingly I started with Haruki Murakami I enjoyed it and everything but as you mentioned its all rather westernized.

Anyway what I wanted to ask is how is Murakami perceived in Japan?

From what I've heard he's ether the greatest contemporary Japanese writer or regarded as hack by most other Japanese writes, anyway I was hoping someone who knew more about Japan could clear this up.

[Anonymous No.1741094]

>>1740526
Actually, I take back my no. Found it online! http://www.mutantfrog.com/patriotism-by-yukio-mishima/

Definitely give it a read. It's not terribly long but it is incredible.

[Anonymous No.1741102]

>>1740704
I have to say, I'm pretty uninformed about Haruki Murakami (and contemporary Japanese literature in general). From what I do know, though, is that while Oe initially thought badly of him, he seems to be praising his later work. And it was apparently love at first read when one of his translators, Jay Rubin, picked up his first Murakami book. So he definitely still gets praise.

But I honestly have no clue how he's perceived in general in Japan. I know his books sell extremely well, so he's surely a popular guy, but I dunno what the critics are saying. I'd be pretty interested in knowing about this as well though, if you happen to come across a more informed source!

[Anonymous No.1741121]

I plan on studying Japanese literature in grad school. My favorite novels include:
Snow Country (Kawabata)
Silence (Endo)
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea (Mishima)
Anything by Soseki

[Anonymous No.1741204]

>>1741121
I'm planning on it too! Which school are you thinking of going to? I'm probably going to aim for University of Michigan, since I don't feel I can make at a place like Columbia. It seems like Michigan has a pretty malleable program for East Asian studies too, which is definitely appealing to me. I personally want to concentrate on Meiji and Taisho literature. What periods are you into?

How long have you been studying it already?

[Sunhawk !nZQ2xl.g.6 No.1741223]

I'm looking forward to 1Q84, but it isn't released in Britain (where I live lololol) until October. Thankfully, we get all 3 books in 1, nice and complete, and a third the price (hopefully). I've read all of his works

[Anonymous No.1741338]

>>1741204
I am planning on attending Indiana University, as it is closer to my home state (KY). If I do well, I might enter in a doctoral program at Illinois/Michigan. I have studied it for the past 2 years, mainly self-study, and I have only recently started taking Japanese courses at the University of Kentucky. Periods I am into: medieval lit and 20th century lit

[Anonymous No.1742808]

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[Anonymous No.1742824]

>>1741223
I was under the impression the British version was two books and the USA version all three? That is what I heard in a review some place anyway.

I am greatly looking forward to it.

[Anonymous No.1743570]

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[Semi Anonymous Tripfag !!4tV++0AG5iF No.1743575]

>>1741223
wow. you've finally said something cool. because i've read everything by murakami translated into english too (except for the first book in the rat trilogy).

:)

[Anonymous No.1744707]

Reading this right now. Pretty much the only author in it that I was previously familiar with was Higuchi Ichiyo, so, I'm getting introduced to a lot of new ones!

I just finished up the short biography on Tazawa Inabune and her story, "The Temple of Godai." She was another writer who died ridiculously young (at 22), but still wrote several good works during her life. Apparently she hit it big with her story "White Rose," about an upper-class lady who is raped by her suitor, then commits suicide. She was known for not shying away from the sexual, violent, and other non-ladylike topics. The story that's included in the anthology, "The Temple of Godai," is a bit less sensational (at least to me). While it does end with a love suicide, the rest of it seems to be pretty standard family drama - young son starts messing around in whorehouses, dad's mistress is trying to get with his son's writer friend, the sister's fiance dies, etc, etc. It's all very tongue-in-cheek though, and includes a lot of almost fourth-wall-breaking jabs at the state of authors and writing during her time period.

Sorry if I'm throwing words at you, /lit/. I'm writing a review of this one for class and figured I could do a little pre-reviewing here. Maybe somebody else here is as interested in Meiji women writers as I am!

[Anonymous No.1744785]

I liked this book despite all the raping.

[Anonymous No.1744789]

>>1744707
The next author in the anthology was Kitada Usurai, another who died young (from tuberculosis at age 24). She was also from a rather well-off family, and was encouraged early on in her interest in literature. Her dad even apprenticed her to Ozaki Koyo, a well known writer during that period. (who also mentored Izumi Kyoka!) However, Kitada was less of an activist than most of the other women in the anthology - she pretty much accepted her role in society. Most of her writings still show women who are dissatisfied and disillusioned, but she was traditional enough in her work that most of the male writers of the time respected her.

Two works by her were included in the book - "Hiding the Grey" and "Wretched Sights." The first one details a particularly odious old man's decisions in life. He abandons his wife and son when he goes to Tokyo on a business trip, manipulates an innkeeper's daughter into marrying him, sets up a shop purely for the purpose of showing off her beauty, and then proceeds to become deathly jealous. The final sacrifice of this second wife was very haunting.

The second story, "Wretched Sights," deals with a visit to the pleasure quarters by an upper middle class lady. The bio for Kitada compares this one to Ichiyo's works dealing with the pleasure quarters, bringing up the fact that Kitada adopts a much more haughty and aloof perspective in her description. Which is easily seen with phrases like "like the caged bird unable to soar into the sky, how pitiful they are."

Next up is Shimizu Shikin!

[Anonymous No.1744793]

>>1744785
I still don't understand why that one hasn't been published in the US yet. I'm gonna import it eventually though.

[Anonymous No.1744805]

>>1744793


But it has. I read it...in english. Amazon, bro. :3

[Anonymous No.1744812]

>>1744805
Hah, I meant it's been published in the UK, but not the US. So I'd still have to import it.

http://www.amazon.com/Paprika-Yasutaka-Tsutsui/dp/1846880777/

Well, I guess there's one available from a seller in New Jersey, but it's like $40 :\

[Anonymous No.1744971]

>>1744789
I actually skipped Shimizu in favor of the lady after her, since she actually relates to the original topic of the thread.

Hasegawa Shigure (picture related) was another female writer in the Meiji period. Her father was a kabuki connoisseur, and often took her to performances when she was a kid. However, her mother wasn't too keen on Shigure's literary tendencies, and forbade her from school after 6th grade. Despite this, she often stole away to the university student that boarded with them's room and read from his library. She was married off at age 19 to a wealthy family, and suddenly was free to read whatever she wanted. Until, that is, her husband got cut off financially from his family for being a douche. After living in poverty with him for a few years, she divorced and concentrated on her writing. She then re-married, to another writer 11 years her junior.

Her play, "Hanomaru", was the first ever play written by a Japanese woman to be performed in Japan. That's not the one included in the anthology though; the included play is "Wavering Traces." Hasegawa was known for her innovations in kabuki theatre - offstage sound and changes in lighting especially. Anyway, this kabuki play was amazing. Creepy little kids singing lullabies, a traveling monk telling of an evil spirit, the grim determination of the swordsmith; it was all very eerie and tragic. Definitely one I would want to see performed.

And that's probably all I'm going to do for the night. (not that anyone is reading this!)

[Anonymous No.1745021]

>>1744971
Well, one more.

Nogami Yaeko's lifespan is a pleasant departure from the last few author's - she lived to be almost 100 years old. During those 100 years, she wrote in a large variety of styles (short stories, plays, essays, diaries, travel narratives) on a wide variety of themes (marriage, cannibalism, politics, personal reminisces). Her family was very well off and supported her education from an early age. When she married, her husband was an attendee of Natsume Soseki's weekly literary meetings. He would frequently bring her manuscripts to the group for critique, and it was Soseki himself who provided the introduction for literary debut.

The story included in the anthology is "Persimmon Sweets," written in 1908. It's a very layered story, with a good bit of humor to it. While there seems to be a lot of lighthearted teasing happening on the surface, Nogami brings in much darker themes with Osetsu's determination to rid herself of her self when entering into marriage. Her failure in doing this leads Yoshida to claim that if she's going to be dead inside when married, why not just kill herself before marriage and save people the trouble. The dialogue between those two in the past sharply contrasts with the banter between the two sisters and Yoshida in the present, making the whole story feel a bit sinister.

[Anonymous No.1745702]

>>1745021
And some more.

Tamura Toshiko, born in 1884, was apprenticed early on to the famous Koda Rohan. He schooled her in the classics and romantic tradition of the time, but she later abandoned that for the Naturalist movement set in motion with Shimazaki Toson. In addition to writing, Tamura performed in kabuki quite frequently. Her first marriage was an unhappy one, and she eventually divorced. After that, she had several affairs with married men. She often detailed her infatuations with women, even living with an openly lesbian lady for several years, leading a lot of people to speculate she was bisexual. During the later parts of her life, and often as a result of scandalous affairs, she lived abroad in Canada, the United States, and China.

The stories included in the anthology by her are "Lifeblood" and "The Vow." "Lifeblood" was pretty much amazing. It recalls the aftermath of a girl losing her virginity, though it isn't explicit. There is such an abundance of imagery in this story, from the goldfish to the clothing, the flowers to the circus performers. Everything is foreboding, everything is full of meaning.

In comparison, "The Vow" didn't strike me as much. The desperation and psychology of the wife is really well executed though. Her conflicting emotions, the mask she wants to put on, her violent, reluctant resolve - it's easy to feel all this right along with her.

[Anonymous No.1747169]

Okay, I guess I'll cease the Meiji women stuff. All in all that was a great anthology though. Very wide variety of writers and works, my favorites being "Wavering Traces" by Hasegawa and "Lifeblood" by Tamura. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be much else out there translated into English for them.

But yeah, finally finished the last story in Tanizaki's Seven Japanese Tales, "A Blind Man's Tale." A lot of aspects of this one went over my head, seeing as I know very, very little about Japanese history, and this story was full of what seemed to be famous war heroes of the Japanese medieval period. The narrator of the story also digressed quite a bit, assuming the reader was already familiar with these people. So, I definitely didn't understand as much as I should have. Despite my own shortcoming there, it was still a great story. I love epics seen from the point of view of servants or otherwise insignificant characters (though the blind man plays a pivotal role later on), and this was very much that. The last ~20 or so pages of the story are grand though, even if you don't know anything about Japanese history. The final massive feast, the preparations for mass suicide, castles burning, gunpowder exploding, everybody confused and killing each other - I mean, how could that not be an amazing scene.

Dunno what I'm reading next, but I'll let the thread die now. Hopefully someone got something out of it.

[Anonymous No.1747270]

>>1747169
I did.

Also, thank you for this.