Japanese literature
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Japanese literature throughout most of its history has been influenced by cultural contact with neighboring Asian literatures, most notably China and its literature. Early texts were often written in
Murasaki Shikibu, the author of The Tale of Genji
Matsuo Bashō, a haikai poet
Mori Ogai in the atelier of Sculptor Takeishi Kozaburo in 1916
Soseki
Yasunari Kawabata
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Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Japanese author to receive the aw
Japanese literature
…writers, while Japanese literature has in turn become more recognized internationally, leading to two Japanese Nobel laureates in literature, namely Yasunari Kawabata and Kenzaburō Ōe. Before the introduction of kanji from China to Japan, Japan had no writing system; it is believed that Chinese characters came to…
Kawabata at his home in Kamakura
Kawabata in 1917
Hatsuyo Itō (1906–1951), to whom Kawabata was briefly engaged in 1921. She was the unrequited love of his life and may have influenced some of his works.
Kawabata with his future wife Hideko (秀子) to his left and her younger sister Kimiko (君子) to his right (1930).