'Comp' . Donald Keene. New York: Grove Press, 1955. Print. Ki, Tsurayuki.
Ki no Tsurayuki’s Tosa Nikki and Matsuo Bashou’s Oku no Hosomichi are one such example. Tosa Nikki, written in 936, and Oku no Hosomichi, finished in 1694 are both examples of kikou, or travel diaries. (Keene p.82) (Encyclopedia of Japan) Known more formally as kikou bungaku, or travel diary literature, kikou are compositions recording and describing a journey. The length of kikou vary considerably and can be episodic, but go nowhere near the length of a work like Genji Monogatari. The diary ‘entries’ also vary in form and can be organized by date, by event, or may simply be free flowing with no formatted division in the prose.
Donald Keene. New York: Grove Press, 1955. Print. Shikibu, Murasaki, and Royall Tyler. The Tale of Genji.
That being said, Shinkokinshū was compiled exactly 300 years after Kokinshū was originally compiled, therefore making Shinkokinshū an anniversary collection that would also be inspired by the original works. Shinkokinshū shows within it there are parts that draw a lot from the past, while there are also works from the modern time period. As for prose, there have been some changes in language that can be seen between some examples. Descriptions of residencies and everyday life will always vary from person to person, as it is seen in The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon with its decriptions of life in the Imperial court and the very different An Account of My Hut by Kamo no Chōmei and its description of a very different world as seen by the humble Buddhist monk. The two accounts were also written about 200 years apart, which allows for there to be some significant societal changes to be seen between the writings, in addition to the difference in the lifestyles of the of the respective authors.
The societal values from both time periods can be viewed as honorable, but the poems conveyed the notable differences between the two. Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight remain two of the most important literary works in the English history. They exhibit many of the same characteristics in their heroes; however, there are a greater number of differences between the two poems. Their style and types and the societal values they reflect are distinctive. Most of their differences are due to the fact that they were written in completely different time periods.
While they are both Kiko, they are written in very different ways, which shows the difference in values and opinions between literature written during the Heian period, and literature written during the Medieval period. Works Cited Basho, Matsuo. Oku no Hosomichi. Web. Keene Donald.
Two examples of such travel journals that were very famous in Japanese literary history are Tosa nikki, written by Ki no Tsurayuki during the Heian period in the year 935, and Oku no hosomichi(The Narrow Road to the Deep North) written by the acclaimed haiku and renga(linked verse) poet Matsuo Bashō from the spring of 1689 to December of 1691 during the Tokugawa period. Despite the separation of these two works by over seven hundred years, these works have many similarities, such as the use of poetry as a way to show the thoughts and feelings of the people on the journey and the detailed accounts of the travels of the authors and their companions. This paper will also describe the differences between these two travel journals. Although Tosa nikki and Oku no hosomichi are similar in the fact that they both detail journeys to distant areas of Japan, their primary differences lie i... ... middle of paper ... ... same literary genre, are both travel journals which stand on their own as unique works which both involve journeys to different places and for different reasons. On the other hand, Oku no hosomichi and Tosa nikki differ from each other in the overall mood of the individual journals, as Oku no hosomichi is more lighthearted while Tosa nikki has more of a somber mood due to the tragic loss of the governor's daughter in the story.
Furthermore, communication between cultures which do not share the same language is considerably more difficult . Each culture, has its distinct syntax, expressions and structure which causes confusion in intercultural communication. For example , in Asian countries the word “no” is rarely used, so that “yea” can mean “no” or “perhaps”. Therefore, an American traveling to Japan might be considered impolite if he ignores this rule. Furthermore, individuals who are not comfortable with a certain language may not be taken seriously.
Within the traditional Japanese literature of kiko, or traveling journal, there are many similarities due to being a part of the same category. But, even though they may be a part of the same genre, there is a great increase in differences that come with the time period that they are written in. The two kiko that I will be comparing are Tosa Nikki, written by Ki no Tsurayuki, and Oku no Hosomichi, written by Matsuo Basho, both involve traveling away from the capital. In the case of Tosa Nikki, which was written in the Heian period, it was looked down upon for men to write about emotions so he wrote it in the perspective of women to make it look fictional. Oku no Hosomichi, which was written in the Tokugawa period, a time in which things that were not spoken about before, like discomfort and drinking tea, was common.
Two travel dairies or nikki stand out in Japanese traditional literature; both share the same literary designation, but they come from drastically different time periods. The first journal Tosa nikki was written in 936, the second journal Oku no hosomuchi was written starting in 1689 and finally finished in 1702. Both authors had a purpose for their writing, and shared their thoughts with the Japanese people; but how different could two men of the same culture be? Ki no Tsurayuki wrote his travel diary the Tosa Nikki during the Heian period while preparing and journeying from the Tosa Province (modern day Kochi Prefecture) to the capital city of Kyoto. This journey was to the north and was made primarily by sea; this was notable because the Japanese were legendarily poor sailors.