Ivan Morris’s definitive and widely acclaimed portrait of the ceremonious and melancholy world of ancient Japan. • "A book which should delight anyone interested in Japan.” —The New York Times Book ReviewUsing The Tale of Genji and other major literary works from Japan’s Heian period as a frame of reference, The World of the Shining Prince recreates an era when women set the cultural tone. Focusing on the world of the emperor’s court—a wo...

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon is a fascinating, detailed account of Japanese court life in the eleventh century. Written by a lady of the court at the height of Heian culture, this book enthralls with its lively gossip, witty observations, and subtle impressions. Lady Shonagon was an erstwhile rival of Lady Murasaki, whose novel, The Tale of Genji, fictionalized the elite world Lady Shonagon so eloquently relates. Featuring reflections on royal and religious ceremonies,...

Modern Japanese Short Stories is a remarkable collection of Japanese stories from the pioneers of contemporary Japanese literature. This volume's twenty-five stories by as many authors display a wide range of style and subject matter—offering a revealing picture of modern Japanese culture and society.The stories in this anthology include:"Tattoo" by Junichiro Tanizaki—a large spider tattooed on the back of a young woman results in unexpected ...

"Written with precise skill and beautifully controlled power. The translation by Ivan Morris is outstanding." —The New York TimesThis haunting novel explores the complete degradation and isolation of a man by war. Fires on the Plain is set on the island of Leyte in the Philippines during World War II, where the Japanese army is disintegrating under the hammer blows of the American landings. Within this broader disintegration is another, that of a single human being, Private Tamura....

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon is a fascinating, detailed account of Japanese court life in the eleventh century. Written by a lady of the court at the height of Heian culture, this book enthralls with its lively gossip, witty observations, and subtle impressions. Lady Shonagon was an erstwhile rival of Lady Murasaki, whose novel, The Tale of Genji, fictionalized the elite world Lady Shonagon so eloquently relates. Featuring reflections on royal and religious ceremonies,...

A haunting portrait of a young man's obsession with idealized beauty and his destructive quest to possess it fully—and the book that "established Mishima's claim as one of the outstanding writers of the world" (The New York Times).Because of the boyhood trauma of seeing his mother make love to another man in the presence of his dying father, Mizoguchi becomes a hopeless stutterer. Taunted by his schoolmates, he feels utter...

A new translation of the idiosyncratic diary of a C10 court lady in Heian Japan. Along with the TALE OF GENJI, this is one of the major Japanese Classics.

In the refined, ritual-bound world of the Heian imperial court, the beautiful and gifted Prince Genji moves through a life of love affairs, political maneuvering, and quiet heartbreak, watched over by a narrator who understands every subtle cruelty and kindness of court life. Written by a noblewoman a thousand years ago, it captures interior lives with a psychological precision that feels startlingly contemporary. Widely credited as the world's first novel in the modern sense — a sprawling...

These two works on life's fleeting pleasures are by Buddhist monks from medieval Japan, but each shows a different world-view. In the short memoir Hôjôki, Chômei recounts his decision to withdraw from worldly affairs and live as a hermit in a tiny hut in the mountains, contemplating the impermanence of human existence. Kenko, however, displays a fascination with more earthy matters in his collection of anecdotes, advice and observations. From ribald stories of drunken monks to ach...

The acknowledged masterpiece of Japanese literature, Murasaki's great 11th century novel is a beautifully crafted story of love, betrayal and death at the Imperial Court.At the core of this epic is Prince Genji, the son of an emperor, whose passionate character, love affairs and shifting political fortunes, offer an exquisite glimpse of the golden age of Japan. Royal Tyler's superb new translation is scrupulously true to the Japanese original but appeals immediately to the modern r...

**The world’s first novel, in a translation that is “likely to be the definitive edition . . . for many years to come” (The Wall Street Journal)A Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, with flaps and deckle-edged paper**Written in the eleventh century, this exquisite portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan is widely celebrated as the world’s first novel. Genji, the Shining Prince, is the son of an emperor. He is a passionate character whose tempestuous nature, family ...

“A grand and epic prose poem . . . The purely human experience of war in the Pacific, written in the graceful imagery of a human being who—somehow—survived.”—Tom HanksSee Robert Leckie's story in the HBO miniseries The PacificHere is one of the most riveting first-person accounts ever to come out of World War II. Robert Leckie enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in January 1942, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Har...