Books, Literature & Fiction, Classics, Japanese

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Murasaki Shikibu
The Tale of Genji (Penguin Classics)
by Penguin Classics (Paperback)

Written in the eleventh century, this exquisite portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan is widely celebrated as the world’s first novel—and is certainly one of its finest. Genji, the Shining Prince, son of an emperor, is a passionate character whose tempestuous nature, family circumstances, love affairs, alliances, and shifting political fortunes form the core of this magnificent epic. Royall Tyler’s superb translation is detailed, poetic, and true to the Japanese original while allowing the English reader to appreciate its timeless beauty. In this deftly abridged edition, Tyler focuses on the early chapters, which vividly evoke Genji as a young man and leave him at his first moment of triumph.

Ryunosuke Akutagawa
Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories (Penguin Classics)
by Penguin Classics (Paperback) (Release Date: 2009-02-24)

One of Penguin Classics’s most popular translations— now also in our elegant black spine dress

Junichiro Tanizaki
The Makioka Sisters (Everyman's Library (Cloth))
by Everyman's Library (Hardcover) (Release Date: 1993-05-25)

Murasaki Shikibu
The Tale of Genji (Everyman's Library (Cloth))
by Everyman's Library (Hardcover) (Release Date: 1993-01-11)

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)In the early eleventh century Murasaki Shikibu, a lady in the Heian court of Japan, wrote what many consider to be the world’s first novel, more than three centuries before Chaucer. The Heian era (794—1185) is recognized as one of the very greatest periods in Japanese literature, and The Tale of Genji is not only the unquestioned prose masterpiece of that period but also the most lively and absorbing account we have of the intricate, exquisite, highly ordered court culture that made such a masterpiece possible. Genji is the favorite son of the emperor but also a man of dangerously passionate impulses. In his highly refined world, where every dalliance is an act of political consequence, his shifting alliances and secret love affairs create great turmoil and very nearly destroy him. Edward Seidensticker’s translation of Lady Murasaki’s splendid romance has been honored throughout the English-speaking world for its fluency, scholarly depth, and ...

Shikibu Murasaki
The Tale of Genji
by Vintage (Paperback) (Release Date: 1990-06-16)

Yukio Mishima
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Everyman's Library (Cloth))
by Everyman's Library (Hardcover) (Release Date: 1995-03-21)

Introduction by Donald Keene; Translation by Ivan Morris

Natsume Soseki
Botchan (Tuttle Classics of Japanese Literature)
by Tuttle Publishing (Paperback)

Written in 1904 by Soseki Natsume, the foremost novelist of the Meiji period, Botchan is the story of a simple, honest, and direct young man from Tokyo who teaches high school in the provinces.

Genji & Heike: Selections from The Tale of Genji and The Tale of the Heike
by Stanford University Press (Hardcover)

The Tale of Genji and The Tale of the Heike are the two major works of classical Japanese prose. The complete versions of both works are too long to be taught in one term, and this abridgement answers the need for a one-volume edition of both works suitable for use in survey courses in classical Japanese literature or world literature in translation and by the general reader daunted by the complete works. The translator has selected representative portions of the two texts with a view to shaping the abridgments into coherent, aesthetically acceptable wholes.Often called the world’s earliest novel, The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, is a poetic evocation of aristocratic life in eleventh-century Japan, a period of brilliant cultural efflorescence. This new translation focuses on important events in the life of its main character, Genji. It traces the full length of Genji’s relationship with Murasaki, the deepest and most enduring of his emotional attachments, and contains ...

Yasushi Inoue, Yoko Riley
The Samurai Banner of Furin Kazan (Tuttle Classics of Japanese Literature)
by Tuttle Publishing (Paperback)

Originally published in Japanese in 1959, this classic novel by Yasushi Inoue takes place during the Japanese Warring Era (1467-1573) - a time when Japan was ruled by three young powerful warlords: Takeda Shingen, Iwagawa Yoshimoto, and Hojo Ujiyasu. The story focuses on Takeda Shingen and his one-eyed, crippled strategist, Yamamoto Kansuke. The brilliant strategies of Kansuke, inspired by his passion for war and his admiration for his enemies' war tactics, are beautifully expressed throughout this book.

William J. Puette
Tale of Genji: A Reader's Guide
by Tuttle Publishing (Paperback)

Included in the guide are full explanations of each Genji chapter, maps, sketches, a biography of the Genji's author, and a description of court life in Kyoto.

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