Top 10 Japanese Novels of all time (by 10 Authors)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 มิ.ย. 2024
- In this video I discuss my top 10 Japanese novels of all time. These ten novels are some of the best of Japanese literature.
Japanese Literature playlist: • Japanese Literature
I'm on a journey to read fiction from every country on earth. Subscribe / @fiction_beast
Music:
We Are Here by Declan DP / declandp
Licensing Agreement: declandp.info/music-licensing
Free Download / Stream: bit.ly/_we-are-here
Music promoted by Audio Library • We Are Here - Declan D...
Books mentioned
1. I am a cat
2. Botchan
3. Rashōmon and other stories
4. No longer human
5. Snow country
6. The Temple of Golden Pavilion
7. The Woman in the Dunes
8. A Personal Matter
9. The Housekeeper and the Professor
10. Kafka on the Shore
11. Convenience store woman
I'd recommend you to listen to the video. The books are explained soooo well. Thank you.
I love "I am a cat" I have an audiobook and listen often.
Before The Coffee Gets Cold
Definitely should add Musashi
So glad to see Sayaka Murata mentioned in this video, she's my favourite modern writer! You should definitely take a look at her 2nd translated novel called "Earthlings", it's the craziest book I've ever read. One more notable mention should be Mieko Kawakami, "Breasts and Eggs" put me into so much thought about the Japanese society and humanity as a whole.
Earthlings was the first Japanese novel I ever read and oh boy I was not ready for it. Read it in one sitting. Wild ride
Earthlings is definitely a crazy novel, you can feel the pressure of collectivism in all of its pages! Or to use Sayaka's word of the "Factory"!
I would say that any list of great Japanese novels should consider the pioneering stylist Futabatei Shimei and his novel Drifting Clouds...Natsume Soseki's most exquisite novel I believe is Kokoro but the unfinished Light and Darkness a psychologically meticulous study of an unhappy marriage may be his greatest achievment....also for consideration...Nagai Kafu (The River Sumida)..The short story Hell Screen is my personal favorite of Akatagawa Ryunosuke's short works...Dazai Osamu (Setting Sun)..Ibuse Masuji (Black Rain)....I have great reservations about the work of Yasunari Kawabata, though (The Mole) shows him at his limited best...and have never enjoyed Yukio Mishima as his work seems psychologically superficial and sensationalist particularly in comparison to one giant whom a place must be found...Junichiro Tanizaki...sigh...ooh I almost forgot Shimazaki Toson (Broken Commandment) another pioneer work, sadly Western readers may be denied many of his extraordinary novels which will probably remain un translated...in Toson as with other Japanese writers we see a mastery of a particular type of realism that eludes western writers...with that in mind I would also hold a place for Hayashi Fumiko whose novel also named Drifting Clouds has been unfairly criticized as 'documentary' yet few of her contemporaries wrote so knowingly of the states overly acquiescent women find themselves.
Thank you! Awesome recommendations.
I love Japanese literature and I always wondered what draws me so much to it. Based on your intro I think it may be the 'show don't tell' style of writing. And yey, I already read two of your recommendations and had three more recommendations on my to read list. Thank you for sharing more good options :)
Wonderful!
Thank you for this list!
I would add The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon, one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. The aesthetics is superb, and one can also learn a lot about Japanese history, culture and philosophy of life (especially if the translations come with comments, like we have in Croatian translation).
Your voice is so easy to listen to, your narrative is so straight forward, your subject so interesting. Thank you for your work and insight!
Thank you!
This was a lovely video. Thank you. I haven't read every book in the list yet but I adored Snow Country and The Woman in the Dunes.
Loved your video. I am drawn to Japanese Literature and would love to read all the books you mentioned. So far I love Dazai's writing and have recently discovered Junichiro Tanizaki, whose works deserves to be on this list as well 😊👍
Yes I agree, Tanizaki should be on the list. In a future video. Thank you.
the perfect book recs for those getting into japanese literature. great video ❤️ and with that said, im now subscribedd
Awesome! Thank you!
I'm a novice when it comes to Japanese literature. Thanks for introducing so many great titles. I have only read Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, which has lovely musings on grief and written in such a simple yet pleasant style. Hope you are having a great day!
I like Banana Yoshimoto's style of writing. Kitchen is a lovely novel. I think simplicity is another quality among most Japanese writers. Thank you so much!
Seeking recommendations for Japanese novels, I found this to be very helpful! I'll likely start with The Woman in the Dunes. I've read the poetry of Ryokan, and he encapsulates the loneliness and minimalism you mentioned beautifully; those two aspects are what appeal to me most I think
Come to think now, I think I will add simplicity is another quality. The woman in dunes is a great novel. It makes you pause and think.
Make sure to watch the film as well. It adds to the narrative.
So glad I found this channel! You have a great taste in books
Thank so much!
Congratulations! Your comment on this video has won you a book so please send me a message on instagram DM or twitter telling me your choice from my stack of japanese books (picture at the end of the video) and also send me your address. I will try to send it as soon as possible.
New sub! I lived in Japan for three years and felt like I was absorbing a new way of living and understanding the world through the literature, friends and society I encountered. And you do have a great list here (so much more I have to explore).
And I am also glad that you did not just focus on Haruki Murakami (I first read Ryu Murakami and thought that he was much more interesting).
Hi. This is the best TH-cam channel I have discovered in a long, long time. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for putting this video together; definitely adding several to my TBR
You're so welcome!
Kawabata is my absolute favorite. I love beauty and sadness, house of the sleeping beauties, and some of the stories from palm of the hand stories. However, I'm sad to see that you didn't include any Junichiro Tanizaki. Diary of a Mad Old Man and The Key are great. Still reading through The Maids at the moment.
Thanks for posting this!
Great video Matt, Glad I found your channel 😊
Thank you so much!
Great recommendations. Thank you so much.
So gratified you focus on Japanese literature here, The quotations are wonderful. I've read all the authors you mention with the exception of Sayaka Murata who I'll look out for. I'm in total agreement about Snow Country though I might've substituted Kokoro by Soseki and The Memory Police by Ogawa. I would've also added The Makioka Sisters, by Junichiro Tanizaki, a long, rich, multi-generational family saga. Mishima's work has always been deeply problematic to me for the reasons you mentioned. Arigato gozaimasu.
Thank you! This are great suggestions.
The Makioka Sisters, by Junichiro Tanizaki - Very solid suggestion.
Nice list, lots of good ideas for my future reading! I have Botchan on my shelf but I'm reading Kusamakura first and I'm blown away!
I don't how I ended up on this video and channel but I'm glad I did. Going to binge some your contents.
It’s one of those comments that brightens my day! Thank you!
I have read most of your recommendations. I was most taken aback by your inclusion of Convienience Store Woman, which I happened to read last week. I agree that it is remarkable little book.
I really want to read a personal matter as I've heard good things about it. Great video as always!
It’s a great novel. His other novel is also great the silent cry.
Thank you so much .. everything I needed
Interesting choices. For me, perhaps the greatest writer is Endo. Some of his posthumous English translations seem to be on the weaker side, but I find him one of the greatest writers of the second half of the 20th century. I recently discovered Yoko Ogawa. Perhaps more of her work will be released in the US.
I love this channel 🔥🔥🔥🙌🏾
Thank you!
Have a feeling that I might be binge watching your channel and also hope to read some of the books. At least parts of Proust. Great job! Thank you! I love Kawabata’s writing but I’d say some of his themes/aspects seem inappropriate esp. for women but I loved The Old Capital and Palm of the hand stories (yet to read fully).
Be my guest. Happy you enjoy my videos.
I just discovered your channel and like it a lot. Kawabata is also my favorite Japanese novelist, along with Tanizaki and Endo.
I read A Personal Matter by Oe. If that novel had been my first encounter with Japanese culture, I'd never go near it again. PM was a great novel, but disturbing.
Thank you! Yes, PM was a really tough read for me too. His other novel, the silent cry is a bit easier to read.
A great selection of Japanese books. I would have personally added a modern novel by Keigo Higashino called The Devotion of Suspect X. A great novel with a great twist. And possibly my favourite Murikami book (although i have at least five favourites I rotate depending on my mood) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
Keep up the good work
Love the channel! Would be great to see a video about some Scottish books/authors. Some recommendations of mine are: The Bridge - Iain Banks, Glue - Irvine Welsh, 1982 Janine - Alasdair Gray.
Of course, I will make a video on Scottish literature at some point in the future. Appreciate your suggestions.
Yet another absolutely fantastic video thank you. I really enjoyed Temple of the Golden Pavilion and Snow Country and after this video will certainly pick up some Sōseki and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa! Would you be able to recommend any biographies of any of the authors mentioned or any good histories of Japanese Literature?
Really appreciate your comment. Unfortunately not on top of my head but if i come across a good book will let you know here.
@@Fiction_Beast ,Ah, no problem, thank you!
Donald Richie has written about Japan and its arts for many years, and I have a bio of Mishima by Henry Scott Stokes, "The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima".
The information is really helpful. Thanks 😊 ...
I read "A Thousand Cranes" from Kawabata and like it very much and I'm currently reading Norwegian Wood from Murakami and loving it so far.
I’ve read and loved 3 of these- others are waiting on the shelf for me
Just watched this and thought you might have included Fires on the plain by Shosei Ooka. We read this many years ago 6 or 7 yrs after the film came out, it impressed me lot.
What a WONDERFUL VIDEO!! Long overdue, the world would Improve by reading these books!
I would add Shusaku Endo’s “Deep River”, “The Samurai”…
thank you very very much, Ive been wondering where to start reading Japanese literature (apart from the famous Murakabi), this video is a life saver :)
Wonderful!
Excellent video. I'm heading back to Japan in a couple of weeks and wanted to write a list of new Japanese books to look for in Junkudo Ikebukuro, Maruzen Tokyo and Kinokuniya Shinjuku. I'm excited to have a couple of new ones to add thanks to your concise, well articulated list here. Thank you! PS= The most horribly disappointing piece of modern Japanese fiction I attempted to complete (but could not, alas) is a novel called 'There's No Such Thing as An Easy Job'. I rarely leave books unfinished so the 1 star review I'd give it is weighty indeed. Thank you for steering me in a better direction here.
Loved this video
Awesome!
Oh wow, Convenience Store Woman has been on my very long list of things to get to!
It’s short but also sharp. Murata has since published another novel which Is on my list to read.
great book...loved it
Convenience Store Woman and Post Office by Charles Bukowski are great books to read back to back
I havent read the Post Office but will definitely check it out. I have heard a lot about Bukowski, it's time i read him.
Not Japanese…
@@jonharrison9222yeah, and also Bukowski isn't good.
Lame drunkard who just knows how to move a pen. Next.
My favorite Japanese novel is "Silence" Shusaku Endo. Interesting how he captured Japanese peculiarities through Western eyes and in the process the reader comes to understand the Japanese essence better. It's like the saying "One does not know their own language until they learn another" manifested into a book.
Thank you for posting this. I wonder if Kazuo Ishiguro's works are considered "Japanese" enough to be mentioned here. If yes I would say that along with Kawabata and Murakami he is my favourite.
Language English but themes more Japanese and Buddhist
Intelligent, succinct, helpful, assured, expert. perceptive. Thank you.
I have read almost all the works of Soseki and Dazai, including their essays and letters. I highly recommend Soseki's 'The Miner', my favourite. It’s a gem and you can read it in a day. Dazai was a great storyteller and wrote beautiful short stories and novellas. I have a feeling that they are both a little misunderstood outside Japan because of their most translated and most famous novels, Kokoro and No Longer Human. In fact, most of their novels are fun to read.
For beginner which osamu dazai novel did you suggest to read first?
I love his short stories. I think some of them have been translated into English. A lot of people like The Setting Sun.@@summer.days1105
Insightful video.
Thanks.
The movie adaptation of A Woman in the Dunes is one my very favorite movies. I highly recommend checking it out.
Good selections here. I would add Deep River by Endo.
Awesome list. Haven't heard of alot of these. No longer human and the temple of the Golden pavilion are excellent.
Thank you! I have actually visited free golden temple so many times-the perks of being a photographer in Kyoto.
Always looking for good Japanese literature! Read Norwegian Wood (inspired me to write one of my favorite poems) and Snow Country. Bless you for this list!
Thank you, Steve! Send me a link to your poem via Instagram dm, if you have posted it online.
@@Fiction_Beast I posted it on my old blog that is shutdown, will send it to you the poem itself.
Great! Thank you!
Read and loved it. A wonderful poem.
@@Fiction_Beast thank you so much. There is more at fullbeardlit.org 😉
Im reading kafka on the shore and The housekeeper , Convenience store woman are on my to be read list. Thanks for the video
Wonderful!
Very, very interesting. Arigato 🙏
I have I Am a Cat on my kindle. I started it but had to return it before I could finish and have been haunted by what I read.
I have read a couple of Akutawaga short stories but now I want to read more. Thanks.
And Kafka on the Shore was a joy to read. It’s funny you say he is easy because I agree but hear so many people complain that he is too complex to enjoy.
Some of these novels have been on my short-list for a while and some are new to me. Inspiring list. Glad I stopped by.
I’m a cat is not an easy one I have to say. But I like the unique perspective for a novel of that period. You might like kokoro or Botchan I think.
I have also heard people saying Murakami being too difficult, but mostly from Japanese people due to his complex use kanji writing system but in English I find it very smooth and flowing. It’s like someone holding your hand telling you everything.
@@Fiction_Beast
Hey - great !
WoW ! I love this channel
Thanks a lot !
They all sound so good - I will try to read them !!!
You are right , I sometimes find Murakami is not so easy - but still good 👍🏻
Thanks !
You are Japanese ?
🙈
Based on your recommendation I have read Convenience store woman. Enjoyed it very much. Thank you.
I would like to get and read the first five books, since I am very interested in the historical/social changes Japas has undergone in the past century. I am a new subscriber, and I will check if you have a video about Ishiguro, an author I admire a lot. I am curious about your opinion. Thank you and greetings from Germany.
Thank you!😊
I personally preferred Setting Sun to No Longer Human, though both are great. I'm looking forward to reading Marshland, which has been translated to English and due to be released this Spring.
Ah! You mentioned the Proustian moment of the woman and the window pane of the train. I'm surprised you haven't done a video on Kawabata.
Great video
Thank you!
Hi, thank you. Could you give us the links to the videos where you discuss/ mention The Tale of Genji? Thank you.
Japanese Literature playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLyKyeehuJVIH5OGzx1m8dSG1-KaxQOU12.html
Fiction Beast, I have a simple question: have you read Life of Pi, the famous Canadian novel by Yann Martel? It’s the only great Canadian novel I can think of, and since you mentioned trying to read books from all around the world, I would assume you’ve read this one. If so, what did you think?
Amazing Channel
Thanks so much!
The first two lines of ‘Snow Country’ are probably the most famous lines in Japanese literature as they evoke a vivid image. The translation is “The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country. The earth lay white under the night sky.” If I venture to translate word-for-word; When crossed the border through the long tunnel it was snow country. The bottom of the night turned white.
I love your translation. It’s more poetic.
@@Fiction_Beast Thank you kindly. Did you know that Kawabata gave half of his Nobel prize money to the translator? Translating Kawabata’s work into English was not an easy task, no doubt. By the way, I am rereading Snow Country and am surprised at how ‘for the grown ups’ the novel is. No wonder I didn’t get it when I was a teenager.
You know really cool facts about Kawabata. He was a great writer. I really want to visit the snow country/village that inspired him, if there is such a place.
@@Fiction_Beast It is ‘Yuzawa-onsen’ in Niigata-prefecture. Kawabata said so himself.
Awesome. It looks beautiful in winter.
Have you read anything by Banana Yoshimoto or Ryu Murakami? When I was into Japanese novels those are the two authors who I never ended up reading but who seemed to be pretty hot at the time. I'd also love to see a video just on Kōbō Abe's works.
I read Kitchen by Yoshimoto. It's simple, too simple but beautiful. Ryu Murakami is on my list.
@@Fiction_Beast You know you could even do an interesting video on what's on your list! (-:
Ryu is amazing, although you have to be careful who you recommend him to (cf. "Almost Transparent Blue").
I really enjoyed watching this. I very much enjoyed The sea of fertility, by Mishima. I thought it was a beautifully written masterpiece.
Wonderful!
i love kawabata and prefer reading him in french or italian, not english, i wish i knew japanese, but luckily his poetry touches me deeply through translation
One author I really like is Hiroko Oyamada. Her 2nd novel, "Hole", won some prestigious award; her most recent is "Weasels In The Attic." Quite short, quite compelling
I am starting my first Japanese novel this day .... hope to finish all the novels mentioned in the lists .... the book I have started to read is no longer human
That is a great choice.
Thanks for putting this together, it is a great one. I am currently doing #JanuaryInJapan on book Twitter, so you have given me good ideas for what to read next. Thanks.
Will cover Italian literature
Dante , Virgil, Boccaccio
Those are giants. I will have to spend plenty of time digesting them first. Yes in the future for sure.
Very interesting channel.
Glad you think so!
Great list. I'll have to read The Woman in the Dunes. I've read other Kobo Abe books, but not that one. I saw the movie which was adapted from the book many years ago. It is one of my favorites.
I havent seen the movie, but I'm keen to know how the village and the house look like.
@@Fiction_Beast I just finished reading the book. What a thought-provoking pleasure. I don't remember the village in the movie, but the woman's house was very much as described in the book. Now I have to find a copy of the movie to watch to compare to the book. LOL.
Google tells me there is a 1964 Japanese film. Is there is a more recent one?
@@Fiction_Beast The 1964 film is the one I've seen. It's part of the Criterion Collection. That's the only one I am aware of.
@@raycarns7971 Some kind soul has uploaded it on youtube. Not sure for how long it will stay here. I'm gonna watch it as soon as i have some time. th-cam.com/video/IycG71GrgKk/w-d-xo.html
Want to read all of them . Kafka on the shore and convenience store women I read it. Loved both of them .
wonderful! let me know how you get on. All of them are great novels.
I also read "El Cielo es Azul, la Tierra Blanca" (This means "The Sky is Blue and the Land is White", I couldn't find the English Adaptation) from Hiromi Kawakami and it was amazing it made me cry. I would like to listen to your opinion about this author, her writing is very delicate like a haiku.
11:47 Its me!
That's so cool. I wonder how it ended up on a stock site?
I took Van C. Gessel's course in Japanese literature at Berkeley in the late 80's then later lived and worked in Tokyo for 6 years as a software engineer at a joint-venture firm.
I'm not sure I even needed to live in Japan - Gessel's course taught me that there's vast variation from one (good) Japanese novelist to the next. Mishima is nothing like Kawabata - and neither is anything like Oe. And thus I'd be reluctant to make generalizations about Japanese literature.
Here's a paradox. Maybe one can make generalizations about cultures, and so on, and maybe they're useful. And yet the particular, and the varying, are also essential. You need to simultaneously take in both. Things have their distinctive characters and yet everything is also general.
This was an interesting video and I think it's a valuable list. Thank you. My only complaint is, What? No Tanizaki? I am very fond of The Key and The Diary of a Mad old Man especially. Tanizaki was quite brilliant in my opinion.
Fair enough! You got a point.
About to watch, I wonder if Eiji Yoshikawa made your list
Oops! Hope not too disappointed.
@@Fiction_Beast nah, your video was interesting nonetheless
Wonderful. Thanks!
A silent Scream, from Kenzaburo Ōe, is also amazing. "El grito silencioso" in Spanish, I don’t know the original name or the way they translated it to English. I’ve always loved some of these authors, maybe try something from Banana Yoshimoto. She’s amazing. Amrita, N.P., Kitchen, The Lake, Deep Dream(Sleep?), and Lagartija… which I wouldn’t know how to translate other than lizard 🦎 😅
The Housekeeper and the Professor is wonderful 🎉
I've enjoyed your videos on japanese literature and there are some great recommendations here. I might disagree about some of the works you select by those authors - for me Kokoro is Soseki's most poignant and complete novel. I much prefer it to Botchan or I Am A Cat. I also like the dreaminiess of Kusamakura. For Kawabata, I Iove Snow Country and some of the other shorter fiction, but I wish someone would mention the brilliance of The Old Capital. And for Ogawa, I think The Memory Police is the best of her novels available in English. The one novelist I think really deserves a place her is Fumiko Enchi. Her 'The Waiting Years', is one of the most deeply moving novels I've read and has such insight into the history of the period, and of of the strength and depth of women's experience in Japan. I love your point about the concision of Japanese writing and the cultural reasons behind it. That makes me think you should do a video about short stories/novellas. You could do a whole one about the genius of Akutagawa but there seem so many others. I've been amazed by Higuchi Ichiyo. Her stories about poverty and life on the fringes from the 1890s are like almost nothing I've read from that era and some are as good as the short stories of Chekov. I'm also just discovering the work of Yasushi Inoue. Thanks again for the video, and sorry for my long comment!
I love tetsuko kureyanagi.Because her stories are interesting.
I have only managed to read most of Kawabata’s novels and stories. I’m honestly disappointed that you didn’t spend more time with the novels. The aspects of love which Kawabata describes from the different points of view of the interestingly different characters. I think, many male authors can’t satisfactorily portray the point of view of a woman.
The Factory is a great surrealist novel.
Would only mention three. No Longer Human, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace from the Sea and Tokyo Blues. Then there's Music, which is another fine Mishima book, but haven't read any other Japanese books, think or it bored me a lot. Haven't read Kokoro or The Setting Sun, yet.
I have not read those books.
Thank you so much for the Top 10 Japanese Novels of all time! My brother and I were just talking about how we so enjoy Japanese writers. I know he will have read some of these. I will read many of them because of love minimalism story writing and stories about the loneliness of being human.
You’re welcome.
Im about to start the vid and right way though of Im a cat by Soseki, and yes, its in the top 10. Very funny novel and insights.
Aisatsu 🙏 i would like to receive one which blends the Japanese way of being precisely in every sense combining with yog pranayam or any indian practice that helps people be contented spiritually
Thank you! I suggest Deep River by Shusaku Endo, it is about a group of Japanese pilgrims going to india on a spiritual journey.
I would love to win a book from your shelf! You have great and wide taste in books which I admire and seek to read in the same manner. Thanks for your informative videos! 🙏🏽
This giveaway is closed now and i already sent the book out. Keep an eye, I will more giveaways in future videos.
@@Fiction_Beast will do, subscribed!
Just out of curiousity, do you read these novels in Japanese too? Or do you prefer to read them in English?
I read them in English.
What was the criteria for picking these ten, purely subjective? Anyway, very helpful. Thank you.
Yes
My first Japanese novel was No Longer Human, i enjoyed it very much. Read it all in a single sitting.
I should get around and read the rest of these works, but then I absoltuely wouldn't study Japanese which I am supposed to be doing right now. When I first came to Japan, the local city library had a great collection of most of the Penguin series of Russian literature...I had always wanted to read them...and that is largely what I did when I wasn't teaching English 6 days a week. So now, I look at your list....for the most part I have been on a non-fiction rant for so many years......until this year. The trouble is that my Japanese adult learners are all retired businessmen and women. The want to talk about economics. and politics, or a bit of history, all the time. Yeah, just as soon as I get my kanji review under control I'll pick up on this list.....
I have read most of these books and I agree, they're all fascinating in a different way. I would have added Tanizaki's the Makioka sisters too, I find it charming and a great picture of that time :)
good call.
haruki murkami is my fav
I like your channel I jest came across it I been reading a couple of Haruki Murakami books and I jest bought three books from your suggestion it’s going a new adventure in reading thank you
That is awesome!
Awwweeee Don’t be lonely you have so many people who think you’re great including me
I love japanese novels.
It's kind of ironic you say Akutagawa was one of the most original Japanese authors when he was heavily criticized for his unoriginality. He basically couldn't write a story without some form of "borrowing", even Roshomon is a retelling of an old tale written in the Konjaku monogatari in the 12th century, and the opening scene is inspired by Hojoki written in the 13th century by Kamo no Chomei.