Love to see classic Japanese literature on here ;)
Can also recommend Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book, oshida Kenko's Essays in Idleness, and the Uji collection of medieval tales.
This constitutes my life hack for decompression. Around 10-11 pm. Turn off everything. And focus your undivided attention on literature that has withstood the test of time. You will feel that anachronistic connection with others who have endured life's trials in a foregone age.
> This constitutes my life hack for decompression. Around 10-11 pm. Turn off everything. And focus your undivided attention on literature that has withstood the test of time. You will feel that anachronistic connection with others who have endured life's trials in a foregone age.
Artfully illustrated. That is also more or less mine as well. Sometimes there's nothing better than an evening with good lit; aided by a pen in hand, you can be ready to make note of someone else's insight to further your own. :)
Who says a picture need be worth a thousand words? I can think of many writers, event recent ones, whose work opens up a world that pictures cannot.
not quite ancient, but adding on to suggest Musui’s Story, the puffed-up autobio of a larger than life 19th century samurai that i found laugh-out-loud funny. my most distinctive memory is him bragging about threatening suicide in front of the peasants in his village to extort more grain from them and how clever that was; or when he made fun of his nephews for failing to prevent the murder of his brother; or bragging about scamming money from nearly everyone in his life. I know that sounds dark but it’s probably mostly a pile of lies anyway.
Interesting context to note: Lady Murasaki is the author of the Tale of Genji, which is widely regarded as the first novel ever written and one of the oldest extant pieces of Japanese cultural artifact to be considered a masterpiece.
Keene has a good entry on Murasaki's diary in his book about Japanese diaries (which I recommend to anyone with more than a passing interest in Japanese literature), _Travelers of a Hundred Ages_.
One of the observations that stayed with me is he notes (as one can verify C-fing OP), is that her diary is more than a little infuriating because she almost never talks about _The Tale of Genji_! Just a few passing references.
Considering how much has been lost over time, it is a remarkable gift for any _Genji_ fan or scholar, or even just fan of Japanese literature in general, that her personal diary of all diaries would survive the ages in a fairly extensive form, and then... she doesn't talk about Genji. How did she get the idea? What was her purpose? What was the thematic relationship of Kaoru to Genji? How are we supposed to regard Genji ultimately? Was the original ending really lost? Countless questions, many no one has realized to ask, could have been answered with a few quick sentences discussing _Genji_ or herself, and - nada.
Can also recommend Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book, oshida Kenko's Essays in Idleness, and the Uji collection of medieval tales.
This constitutes my life hack for decompression. Around 10-11 pm. Turn off everything. And focus your undivided attention on literature that has withstood the test of time. You will feel that anachronistic connection with others who have endured life's trials in a foregone age.