Reddit mentions: The best japanese literary criticism books

Hi, throwing in my two cents that the best way to improve your reading/grammar and literary knowledge is to dive deep into anthologies and collections. Think of it as a sampling of the 'best of the best' and you are getting a taste of what is considered to be great. Also don't be afraid to pick up a piece of classic literature and think, "Good god, this was considered awesome?" That's ok. Some people don't like premodern literature. Some people LOVE it. Some people HATE it. Some people are all about cyberpunk angsty lit that's a product of our super modern society. Some love poetry...well, you get the picture. The beauty of an anthology is you can survey the goods -- and if you love something you read, odds are it's only a small selection taken from a much bigger book OR the writer is pretty prolific and if you like his style of writing, odds are you are going to LOVE the rest of his work.

Don't know where to begin? I recommend checking out some classics from overseas (which I use as a required book in my courses):

• Anthology of Japanese Literature compiled by Donald Keene
  This will take you from the world origin myth right up to Tokugawa period (from 794 to 1868) I'm partial to world origin myths and the Kamakura period. It's not easy to read but it's a good way to develop critical thinking skills and will broaden your world view!
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Anthology-Japanese-Literature-Mid-Nineteenth-Representative/dp/0802150586/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397829264&sr=8-1&keywords=Anthology+of+Japanese+Literature
  
  
• Anything by a Japanese poet named Matsuo Basho. Feeling down in the dumps? Read a haiku.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Narrow-Travel-Sketches-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140441859/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1397829577&sr=8-2&keywords=Matsuo+Basho
  
  Ok, so I don't like premodern literature? ^Then ^check ^out ^the ^modern ^stuff!
  
  
• Check out this anthology of Modern Japanese Literature:
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Japanese-Literature-From-Present/dp/0802150950/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=04S84RFJ5BQ76B3N06QT
  
  Also, to make yourself super cultured, start reading opera summaries and plays. That's right. Read them. Then go see them.
  
  
• 100 Greatest Operas and their stories is a great place to begin.
  
  Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/Great-Operas-Their-Stories-Act-/dp/0385054483/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397830047&sr=1-1&keywords=Operas
  
  
  TL;DR: Start reading! Collections and Anthologies are a great place to start.

Okay so

I'll divide this into a few sections, assuming you can only speak English and want books in a somewhat reasonable price range.

Though if you're at uni or have access to a uni library: make the most of it.

Oh yeah before I forget, as a general rule, if you're reading an explanation or exploration of a culture's beliefs or stories, find something written by someone who comes from the actual culture if you can. It's always best as a foreigner to have your first insight being from someone who's grown up with it. Avoid people like Alan Watts like the fucking plague. Though of course actual academics on the mythology and religion generally write quite well about them.

First up, Shintoism.

The perfect primer for Japanese mythology is the oldest book extant in Japan's history: the Kojiki. In English, you really cannot go past the Philippi translation. It is incredibly comprehensive with cross referencing and explaining basically any term you could want to know. Philippi explains the history of the book, the intracies of the language involved, and competing theories regarding contentious points alongside with the translation. The one downside here is that it's rather pricey. The book is out of print due to copyright issues, so you can only really get it for around $100 at the lowest. Still, it's a pretty great resource. A word of warning though, there are a lot of boring chapters in the Kojiki if you're interested in myths. Part of the reason why the Kojiki and the Nihongi were commissioned at the time was to legitimise imperial rule, so you have a lot of chapters that just talk about lineage, connecting the Imperial family back to Amaterasu. "Emperor Steve was born in this year, had six kids with three wives and died. He was succeeded by Emperor Greg." Stuff like that.

If you want something that isn't a primary text and is a little more accessible, The Kami Way is supposed to be quite good. It's very cheap, written by two academics (one from Japan one from the West), and quite short, making it easy to dive into. The one downside is that it's a little old, so its scholarship might not be quite as current as some other books.

Next up, Hinduism.

Hinduism is fucking terrifying to tackle because there is just so much stuff on it. Keep in mind that Hinduism is more a collection of belief systems than one unified belief system, keep in mind that it has an incredibly well preserved written and oral history, keep in mind that it's an offshoot of one of the oldest attested religions on Earth... there's a lot here.

and then you have the five hundred books written by western people about the TRUE way to Awaken Your Chakras

Now two of the most important texts here are the Rig Veda and the Upanishads. The Rig Veda is one of the oldest religious texts in the world, a collection of religious hymns. Until recently, there was no good full translation into English. Sure you can find one on the Sacred Texts website but... it's crap from 19th century England. Scholarship was not the same then as it is now. However, in 2014, an absolutely fantastic resource was completed. It is the full Rig Veda, unabridged, with commentary on every single one of over a thousand hymns. The poetry sings, the commentary is insightful... and it costs 400 american dollars all up. I only got to read these through my university library.

There's a few good Upanishad translations for cheap though. A lot shorter too, normally clocking it at only around 500 pages. I picked one up from Oxford World's Classics. This is pretty essential if you want to understand what the Brahman concept from Digital Devil Saga actually is.

In terms of a general introduction though, probably this book is the best. It's a pretty thorough overview that covers the history of Hinduism from ancient times to today, the mythology of it, etc.

Next, Buddhism.

Buddhism has a similar problem to Hinduism in terms of scope, though somewhat less pronounced, as Buddhism is genuinely just one belief system, separated into sects that are much more comparable to Christianity's variations. You do probably get even more "Namaste Bro" type people with Buddism than you do Hinduism though.

My knowledge here isn't as much up to scratch though, as up til now I've read more about the practice and history of Buddhism as opposed to going in depth about the mythology and cosmology of it all, which I only really know on a very superficial level. I'm trying to change that right now though; it's super interesting to learn what Hindu gods became in the Buddhist belief system, and how they evolved further upon reaching Japan.

If you're looking more into the mythology side of things, don't read something like the Dhammpada, which is a sayings text. Of course it's interconnected, but you'll probably want something a bit more direct.

I'd recommend again going to an academic text rather than straight into the three baskets. And in this case, I'd recommend this book, which I picked up purely because of a certain coincidence and have found very interesting. By framing it around the cosmology of Buddhism, this book naturally leads into talking about Buddhist deities, and other things you're more likely to be interested in, without skimping on explanation about how this connects to the Buddhist belief system.

Finally, Taoism

all i can recommend you here is the tao te ching and the zhuangzi, get them with a good commentary, i don't know enough about other texts that explain taoism to recommend any

That's about what I'd recommend. If anyone wants to suggest any improvements to this list please do!

I'll do classical works, since those are what I know best.

Classical works:

Kojiki. One of the recent translations is highly readable. It contains the major native myths and legends, which you will see referenced over and over again in your modern works.

Manyoshu: Earliest surviving collection of native poetry. A partial translation done in the 50s is the one I recommend, as the final English was worked over by an actual English language poet, making it by far the most accessible one around. Poets and topics range far and wide, especially when compared with later classical works.

Tales of Ise: Another one with a recent translation. Provides a good look at the noble aesthetic, romance in classical Japan, etc.

Kokin Wakashu: There are no easy to find translations of this, unfortunately. However, if you were to ask a Japanese scholar what the definitive Japanese classic is, this would be it. All later aesthetics, from literature to art, derive in large part from it in one way or another. It is a collection of poetry from 905 (approx) that epitomizes the new noble aesthetic of the age, and as I said, sets the tone for the next millennium and beyond.

Tale of Genji: The definitive prose classic. Courtly love and romance, political intrigues, all that. There are several full-length English translations (and a few that aren't full length). There are still many adherents to the Arthur Waley version, despite its age. The newer Royall Tyler translation is more thorough and scholarly accurate, however.

Tale of the Heike: Several translations exist, but the recent one by Royall Tyler does a good job of projecting the lyrical quality of the original while maintaining accuracy. Several others exist as well, but the Tyler is probably the easiest to both find and read. Tale of war and upheaval at the end of the 12th century, showing the decline of the nobility and rise of the new warrior class. Probably hard to go from cover to cover with, as there are many names/events/places that are hard to follow for most readers. Spot reading recommended.

Confessions of Lady Nijo: There are a few translations, but the one I have linked is probably the easiest to find. Discusses the life of a woman who served in the imperial courts of the late 13th/early 14th C. and all the trials and tribulations she faced by receiving the favors of the emperor.

Hope this is a good start for you all.

You seem to have a good grasp on things. It looks like some of the linked threads follow a similar path, and I'll probably be following a very similar path myself. Nice books, too. I have quite a few myself. I'm not quite sure which of these are good (since they all had great Amazon reviews). I have the following:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014RTDPBA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078G5P6Q4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4789014401/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/478901441X/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4805312270/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1572229195/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GW5KTDK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0976998122/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0658014900/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(Although Genki I and the Genki workbook, plus the Kata/Hira quick guide looks good)

Jun'ichiro Tanizaki is one of my favorite authors. Start with Seven Japanese Tales, then try out his novels, like Quicksand and The Key.

I've read several Japanese short story collections, and they are a lovely way to get introduced to Japanese lit. I don't remember the names of the collections I've read. I think I read The Showa Anthology and Modern Japanese Literature, and you could try this one, this one, or this one.

Also Donald Keene put together a pretty good anthology of stuff in translation that covers a lot of the most important authors from the Meiji era until the late 20th century, you can get a copy for a few bucks on Amazon.

Be sure to get the textbooks. You WILL be using them. Especially the workbooks.
These are what you'll need:
https://www.amazon.com/GENKI-Integrated-Course-Elementary-Japanese/dp/4789014401/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501126453&sr=8-1&keywords=genki

https://www.amazon.com/Genki-Integrated-Elementary-Japanese-Workbook/dp/478901441X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=478901441X&pd_rd_r=9T6QJ16NYXTG8SS140AV&pd_rd_w=Rs3eV&pd_rd_wg=AzzaO&psc=1&refRID=9T6QJ16NYXTG8SS140AV
https://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Look-Learn-Eri-Banno/dp/4789013499/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1501126506&sr=1-1&keywords=kanji+look+and+learn
https://www.amazon.com/Title-KANJI-LOOK-LEARN-WORKBOOK/dp/4789013502/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1501126506&sr=1-2&keywords=kanji+look+and+learn

I also suggest getting little things like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Vocabulary-Quickstudy-Inc-BarCharts/dp/1572229195/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1572229195&pd_rd_r=9T6QJ16NYXTG8SS140AV&pd_rd_w=Rs3eV&pd_rd_wg=AzzaO&psc=1&refRID=9T6QJ16NYXTG8SS140AV
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Grammar-Quickstudy-Inc-BarCharts/dp/1572229128/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1572229128&pd_rd_r=1R88XNVSTEQ0BSSQ6J78&pd_rd_w=lbplP&pd_rd_wg=hbKyk&psc=1&refRID=1R88XNVSTEQ0BSSQ6J78

I can't say I've read any of the academic texts on the film, but amazon has quite a few of them, which should also be available through your school's library or inter-loan system:

https://www.amazon.com/Retrofitting-Blade-Runner-Androids-Electric/dp/0879725109

https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Blade-Runner-T-Shanahan-ebook/dp/B00LAZPHQ6

https://www.amazon.com/Blade-Runner-Philosophy-Popular-Culture-ebook/dp/B07GBXQCFZ

https://www.amazon.com/Blade-Runner-Constellations-Sean-Redmond-ebook/dp/B01G12GNS8

https://www.amazon.com/Postmodern-Theory-Blade-Runner-Practice/dp/1501311794

https://www.amazon.com/Postmodern-Metanarratives-Blade-Runner-Literature/dp/1137439726

https://www.amazon.com/Blade-Runner-Experience-Science-Fiction-ebook/dp/B00BAHAS0E

https://www.amazon.com/Blade-Runner-Four-Essays-ebook/dp/B00E8M1GW2

https://www.amazon.com/Studying-Blade-Runner-Instructors-Films/dp/1903663792

I think it's Japanese Vocabulary (Quick Study Academic) http://amzn.com/1572229195

> The perfect primer for Japanese mythology is the oldest book extant in Japan's history: the Kojiki.

Any opinion on the Heldt version? I hate it when they use literal English translations of names, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper and has an ebook version.

https://www.amazon.com/Kojiki-Account-Ancient-Translations-Classics/dp/0231163894/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=X6DH1QPXT19GRQPPQPYG