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/lit/ - Literature

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18316158 No.18316158 [Reply] [Original]

What Japanese literature should I read in translation if I'm a weeb who thinks everything Japanese is better?
Tale of genji is on my list, what else?
I've read Akutagawa, Soseki, Mishima, Endo and Dazai so far

>> No.18316167

>>18316158
Tanizaki
The good murakami

>> No.18316169
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18316169

>>18316158
Sei Shonagon's Makura no Sōshi.

>In life there are two things which are dependable. The pleasures of the flesh and the pleasures of literature.

>Pleasing things: finding a large number of tales that one has not read before. Or acquiring the second volume of a tale whose first volume one has enjoyed. But often it is a disappointment.

>In spring it is the dawn that is most beautiful. As the light creeps over the hills, their outlines are dyed a faint red and wisps of purplish cloud trail over them. In summer the nights. Not only when the moon shines, but on dark nights too, as the fireflies flit to and fro, and even when it rains, how beautiful it is! In autumn, the evenings, when the glittering sun sinks close to the edge of the hills and the crows fly back to their nests in threes and fours and twos; more charming still is a file of wild geese, like specks in the distant sky. When the sun has set, one's heart is moved by the sound of the wind and the hum of the insects. In winter the early mornings. It is beautiful indeed when snow has fallen during the night, but splendid too when the ground is white with frost; or even when there is no snow or frost, but it is simply very cold and the attendants hurry from room to room stirring up the fires and bringing charcoal, how well this fits the season's mood! But as noon approaches and the cold wears off, no one bothers to keep the braziers alight, and soon nothing remains but piles of white ashes.

>A man who has nothing in particular to recommend him discusses all sorts of subjects at random as if he knew everything.

>I am the sort of person who approves of what others abhor and detests the things they like.

>To wash your hair, apply your makeup and put on clothes that are well-scented with incense. Even if you’re somewhere where no one special will see you, you still feel a heady sense of pleasure inside.

>Letters are commonplace enough, yet what splendid things they are! When someone is in a distant province and one is worried about him, and then a letter suddenly arrives, one feels as though one were seeing him face to face. Again, it is a great comfort to have expressed one's feelings in a letter even though one knows it cannot yet have arrived. If letters did not exist, what dark depressions would come over one! When one has been worrying about something and wants to tell a certain person about it, what a relief it is to put it all down in a letter! Still greater is one's joy when a reply arrives. At that moment a letter really seems like an elixir of life.

>How ever did I pass
>the time before I knew you?
>I think of that past time
>as now I pass each passing day
>in lonely sorrow, lacking you.

>If writing did not exist, what terrible depressions we should suffer from.

>Someone who butts in when you're talking and smugly provides the ending herself. Indeed anyone who butts in, be they child or adult, is most infuriating.

>> No.18316172

>>18316158
Kenzaburo Oe

>> No.18316180

>>18316167
Oh yeah, I have a copy of makioka sisters.
Will read it.
>>18316169
I have that too.
Haven't read the whole thing but I like it a lot.
tfw dilettante
>>18316172
Hmm, any recs?

>> No.18316181
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18316181

this is one of the best novels ive read its like if tolstoy was japanese and didnt go on and on about dumb philosophy

>> No.18316229

pretty much meaningless if reading in translation. you are better off reading something that apes it in a way that plays into your prejudice and just pretending it's japanese.

>> No.18316246

>>18316229
the most retarded of opinions regularly posted on this board

>> No.18316247

romance of the three kingdoms

>> No.18316255

>>18316158
Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon

Extremely kino, very comfy to read and very enjoyable as well.
Inazo Nitobe wrote a good book called Bushido: the Soul of Japan which is very insightful.

Also, if you like Japanese classics you may enjoy ancient Chinese literature such as A Romance of Three Kingdoms or the Water Margin; they are quite similar in culture and writing style.

>> No.18316264

>>18316169
>In life there are two things which are dependable. The pleasures of the flesh and the pleasures of literature.
Is this why I go between cooming and snacks and reading like a pendant?

>> No.18316271

>>18316158
The Tale of Genji of course, though the book gets increasingly boring as it goes on. The beginning is the best, because we get an insight into the female mind.
Then Genji rapes a boy and kidnaps a little girl and it all goes to shit.

>> No.18316284

Just go right to Mishima. All of his books read like they could’ve been plays or even anime (if you really like) and they translate the best into English by far. Haruki Murakami if you want something sort of manga-ish (responsible in part for influencing a lot of manga such as Tokyo Ghoul).

>> No.18316307

Nihon Ryoiki is an early collected of Buddhist folk tales. Most are a paragraph or two long with a handful of longer ones thrown in. It's kind of samey/repetitive but worth it if you're into early stuff. Not a great deal of literary value though

>> No.18316330

>>18316271
this is like saying the best episode of boku no pico is the first one

>> No.18316740

Kokoro

>> No.18316758

>>18316158
Dies irae, it's a visual novel and japanse treat it like we treat the illiad or the divine comedy.

>> No.18316873

>>18316758
There are far better VNs than that garbage.

Also the jap Iliad is The Tale of Heike.

>> No.18316886

>>18316740
Kokoro. Start with Soseki. Read Kawabata and Mishima next. Then Tanizaki and Junior Ichuro for the dirty bawdy shit.

>> No.18317596

>>18316330
never watched sorry

>> No.18317602
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18317602

>>18316873
like what weeb

>> No.18317762

The Hojoki, Essays in Idleness, and Pillow Book.

>> No.18317896

>>18316158
Miura's "He's leaving Home"
Hyakken Ushida "Realm of the Dead"
Kenzaburo Oe "Tagame Berlin Tokyo"
Yasushi Inoue "Death of the Tea-Master"

>> No.18318033

>>18316158
Read murakami so you realize japanese media can be just as terrible as anything else

>> No.18318177

>>18316158
Yoshikawa's Musashi and Taiko

>> No.18318260

>>18316873
>Tale of Heike
Based, it is my favorite non-Mishima from Japan.

>> No.18318748

>>18316873
Are there any VNs actually worth the time investment for their literally merits. I tried browsing a bunch and trying a few but I can't get past the otaku pandering. Was able to enjoy Umineko cause it avoided that mostly but still not sure I'd say it's worth 50 whatever hours

>> No.18320389

>>18316158
Kojiki - Get the Philippi translation from Princeton (it's available on libgen).
Nihongi - Get the Aston translation.

>> No.18320420

>>18316158
Does Hagakure count?

>> No.18321298

>>18320389
Is there a definitive modern Japanese translation of these texts?

>> No.18321936

>>18316158
pillow book

>> No.18321939

>>18316158
Kawabata, Book of the Tea, Basho

>> No.18321942

boku no pico

>> No.18321970

>>18316158
Don't listen to trolls like >>18321942. Read the acclaimed classic "Ghostory" by Nisio Isin instead. Fair warning, however: you will miss out on much of the deft wordplay that's available to dekirus. But even this watered-down experience surpasses most Western literature.

>> No.18322419

Any books set in the edo period about the problems of the samurai's existence in the times of peace?
I really like the Chūshingura (read the puppet version I think?) and the film Harakiri

>> No.18322468

>>18318748
They are almost all bloated to hell and back. Low quality filler (usually where the worst of the "otaku pandering" happens). Many of them would become decent lowbrow entertainment with a proper editor that trimmed them to a half or even third of their lengths.
I still need my yuri fix from time to time.

>> No.18322506

>>18322419
I assume you've heard of the Hagakure since it's become a normalfag book (far outside weeb circles) but it is exactly what you are asking for.

>> No.18322529

>>18322506
Does it decry the standards of the samurai living at the time?

>> No.18322552

>>18322529
It's a bored lord fantasizing and larping about the great civil war period because it was honorabu and how other samurai are sellout petty bourgeois for becoming civil administrators, praising suicide, etc. Big influence on Mishima.

>> No.18322563

>>18322552
Yeah that's what I thought it was, if it's complaining about civil administrators I'll read it though.

>> No.18323705

>>18316158
Anyone know of books with similar vibes to romance manga?