Voices of Modern Japan

Sarah Campbell

Ketchikan High School

Ketchikan, Alaska

Essential Question:In what ways did the events of modern Japan influence writers of that period? What perspectives on modernization are reflected in literature produced during the Meiji and Taisho period?

The student will…

Describe the characteristics of modern Japanese literature and identify those characteristics in selected Meiji and Taisho poetry and short stories.

Identify and compare multiple perspectives on modernization as reflected in Meiji-Taisho literature.

What does Modern Japan Look Like?

Modern Japan ~ Magazine Covers

Modern Japan ~ Posters

Women of Modern Japan

Can you date each photo?

1920’s 1920’s

An Evocative Look at Modern Japan

The Oyster’s Shell ~Kambara Ariake~

An oyster in his shell

Lives in a boundless sea,

Alone, precarious, limited,

How miserable his thoughts . . .

Unseeing and unhelped, 

He sleeps behind a sheltering rock .

The Oyster’s Shell

An oyster in his shell

Lives in a boundless sea,

Alone, precarious, limited,

How miserable his thoughts . . .

Unseeing and unhelped, 

He sleeps behind a sheltering rock .

Actively Reading the poem line-by-

line… What does the oyster

represent? What about the shell?

What does the poet mean by word “boundless”?

What type of words are used in line 3 of the poem?

Why use an ellipse to close stanza 1?

Why is the oyster not visible?

What is the tone in the last stanza of the poem?

Juxtaposing Modern Japansese Art &

Literature“The Oyster’s Shell is

an allegory that depicts the oyster (individual)

as being unhappily imprisoned in its shell (society), unable to

appreciate the beauty and grandeur of the

surrounding world, and powerless to achieve

its ideals.”

~Donald Keene

What characteristics do the images and

poem share?The Oyster’s ShellAn oyster in his shell

Lives in a boundless sea,

Alone, precarious, limited,

How miserable his thoughts . . .

 Unseeing and unhelped,

He sleeps behind a sheltering rock.

Characteristics of Modern Japanese Literature

Marked by a strong and intentional break with tradition and the nation-centered and group orientation values. This break includes a strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views. Feminism, individualism, internationalism, liberalism, and proletarianism emerge during this period.

Belief that the world is created in the act of perceiving it; that is, the world is what we say it is.

There is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are relative.

Connection with history or institutions is conflicted. Their experience is that of alienation, loss, and despair.

Championship of the individual and celebration of inner strength.

Life is unordered & incomplete.

Concerned with the sub-conscious. New literary forms and styles; for example, the I-Novel (1st person point of view) autobiographical confessional type of narration emerges in 1906.