Brief mentioning regarding Japanese literature.

One of the most notable traditional tendencies of Japanese literature style is confessional style; it means that use the “I” and confess.
For example, Dazai Osamu is one of the most famous writer who used this style.
To describe with this style, the writer wants to save himself from his mentality suffering of desolation.For that in that epoch was the writing is directory means the salvation.
Japan is the Polytheism world and it dominate animism in the religion and natural believing for this reason the notion of salvation is very different from Hebraic Christians’, because in occidental world, the base of salvation is already exist and the oriental world is not exist like occidental salvation.
In case of Japan, the salvation does not exist, so the writer wants to resolve though his own art, because they are not already saved.
In which cause of mentality is sometime say nothing and completely dominates the decadence. From that point of view produced the literature.
But after confessing, finally they could not save himself and suicide, this is the one of the most notable tendency of Japanese literature and artistic attitude on before 1960.
From the appearance of these 2 writers of Yukio Mishimima and Koubo Abe are already uses occidental style, it means third person so they aren’t use confessional style. It better to say very close to style of occidental style of 3rd person.
Now these days, the tendency is a lot of writer using the third person and they want to describe far from himself. So where is salvation that we traditionally produced?
Maybe this tendency is the influence of formalism. I think this influence is only the literature form, how to describe, for that the contents will be light, just like manga.
In those currently literature we can not find out concrete existentialism and diversification of literature so we can not define the concrete as one.
And moreover the influence of internet epoch, the relationship between people are very light, so it is reflect in the currently literature as well.
It is very curious that a lot of literature treats as losing future and living his home without leave we call “hikikomori” this is one of the society problem and reflect the aspect of the current situation. In Japan, annually 30000 people suicide and it is the society issue, but it is not appears as literature issue. It means is seems that abandoned seeking of salvation in literally activation.
One of the reasons why the writer doesn’t write is, still we have the mentality of Harakiri, it is the obedience for the higher power and sometime the suicide will be beauty, estimate as it is not bad.
Our mentality is come from nature and gone to nature, it can observe in Buddhism philosophy, it calls the nothing.
For that no need to obey to occidental philosophy, if the person think just like “ergo sum” (I think), nobody can not work with Japanese mentality, so for us this is the conflict of both world philosophy.
In summary, the Japanese culture keyword is come from natural and returns to land or natural. Maybe it is general Asian world philosophy.
In Japan, It has nothing find out monotheism philosophy, even though we accept democracy and capitalism or society system from occident after world warⅡ.
But our truth is only accept the system, in fact, the truth figure and history of democracy and capitalism are not accepted,
Where we have to go the future.
We are now losing our way, maybe this is the result of only seeks the materialism. We know the problem but we can’t stop the materialism so 10 years after this society will be more dominate materialism.
And literature as well, will be lighter or close to manga or animation world, because that is the intention of materialism society.
But this is the crisis of Japanese literature.
 
29 April 2013