Growth Of Japanese Culture
A Golden Age Of Literature And Drama
Essential question
What is unique about Japanese literature and drama
Japanese Writing Systems
Japan adopted China's writing system around 400 Ad. Like China they used characters to describe an object, an action,an idea, or sound. The Japanese writing includes characters and letters. There writing was influenced by China which was related to Korea's writing system.
Japanese Drama
There are three different types of drama; Shinto, Noh, and Kabuki. Shinto is a relies shrine dance that formed around 600 Ad. Noh is a dance that involved both upper class and lower class people. Gesture, costumes , music, and masks was a big part of Noh. This was around the 1300 Ad and only men acted in this. Kabuki was developed around 1600 Ad and included singing, dancing, costumes, and heavy makeup. This dance style was also preformed by men only.
The Tale Of Genji
After China and Japan ended their diplomatic relationship, Japan started to develop there own culture of literature. Around 100 Ad Lady Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale Of Genji. This tale was very important towards the development of literature. This story was the first novel rather than short stories or myths.
Japanese Poetry
Haiku was a very important type of poetry that was invented around 1600 Ad. This type of poetry had one line of 5 syllables, then 7 syllables, then 5 syllables. Matsuo made haiku popular by relating it to zen, rather than sadness and love.
Japanese calligraphy Live performance.