Early Modern Japanese Literature

Haruo Shirane is Shincho Professor of Japanese Literature and Culture at Columbia University and author of The Bridge of Dreams: A Poetics of The Tale of Genji and Traces of Dreams: Landscape, Cultural Memory and the Poetry of Basho. With Columbia University Press, he has published Traditional Japanese Literature; Classical Japanese: A Grammar; Classical Japanese Reader and Essential Dictionary; and Envisioning The Tale of Genji: Media, Gender, and Cultural Production.

This book will become an indispensable reference, not only for students of Edo literature but also for those who have an interest in Japanese culture in general. Asian Studies Review [This] will serve as the standard anthology for some time to come. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies There has quite simply never been a collection like this one. It's an experience not to be missed, and it will give pleasure to many. -- Thomas Rimer, author of The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature This volume provides a cornucopia of early modern Japanese texts, from high to low, the cool reason of philosophy and literary criticism to 'hot' fiction for popular consumption, Rai Sanyo's history to Chikamatsu's historical drama, kanshi to haiku, autobiography to ghost stories. On the basis of this volume alone, one can mount a comprehensive course in Edo literature. -- Sonja Arntzen, University of Toronto

• Preface Historical Periods, Measurements, and Other Matters 1. Early Modern Japan 2. Ihara Saikaku and the Books of the Floating World 3. The Poetry and Prose of Matsuo Basho 4. Chikamatsu Monsaemon and the Puppet Theater 5. The Golden Age of Puppet Theater 6. Dangibon and the Birth of Edo Popular Literature 7. Comic and Satiric Poetry 8. Literati Meditations 9. Early Yomihon: History, Romance, and the Supernatural 10. Sharebon: Books of Wit and Fashion 11. Kibyoshi: Satiric and Didactic Picture Books 12. Kokkeibon: Comic Fiction for Commoners 13. Ninjobon: Sentimental Fiction 14. Gokan: Extended Picture Books 15. Ghosts and Nineteenth-Century Kabuki 16. Late Yomihon: History and the Supernatural Revisited