Literature of the Japanese Golden Age - Essay Example

Japanese literature is not as prominent and popular as the Western literature; but it is nevertheless rich in literary traditions and folk stories. Drawing upon almost one and a half millennium of writings, the categorization of Japanese literature into time-bound periods has been the centre of debates and conflicts (Japanese Lifestyle, 2010). Towards late 8th century, the emperor of Japan had an entire city planned and built on a new site, encompassed my verdant mountains, this city which is today referred to as ‘Kyoto’ was then popularly known as Heian-kyô, which in literal terminology meant ‘the city of tranquility’, Heian period named after this city and spanning from 794 to 1185 is regarded as the Golden Age of Japan, marked by peace and harmony, as the country and its nationals devoted time to the development of classical culture of Japan that lives to date, these are even read and venerated by the Japanese people in contemporary times.

It is this period wherein the Japanese began to transfer from a Chinese influenced literature to a pure Japanese literature, referred to as the Classical Literature period (William and McCullough, 1980). The culture that thrived in this period gave boost to aesthetic writings, stories of everyday lives of the Japanese individuals were written and made inherent in the history, with their belief that love and compassion is the foremost emotion an individual can have, since the Heian period focused on peace, harmony and solidarity rather than war and bravery as cherished by their later militant counterparts, stories of love and epics of romance became readily acceptable and regarded, the mark of which can be seen in Japanese art and literature even today due to the fact that the patricians of this era associated human accomplishment with the development and progress in art, music and poetry.

Women also gained