Research Guides: Japanese Language, Culture, and Literature: Japanese literature

Books

In the UC Collection

The Japanese Language and Literature Collection is located in Langsam Library on 6 East. The call numbers for publications on the Japanese literature are PL 700-889. All items in the collection are cataloged in the UC Library Catalog.

Search the library catalog

Less commonly used Japanese materials are located in Southwest Depository, a.k.a. SWORD. When searching the Library Catalog, if you find that a book is located at SW Depository or SWORD, click on “Request Item,” fill out the form, and the book will be delivered to the library of your choice.

Catalog subject headings for "Japanese drama"
Catalog subject headings for "Japanese literature"
Catalog subject headings for "Japanese poetry"
Catalog title listings for Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei (major premodern works)

Other catalogs

OhioLINK Library Catalog | Help: Requesting Materials from OhioLINK libraries
WorldCAT FirstSearch - OCLC union catalog of books and other materials worldwide. | Interlibrary Loan Borrowing

Electronic texts in Japanese

Aozora Bunko
Electronic versions of literary works in Japanese from the late 19th c. onward
Japanese text Initiative
Electronic versions of literary works from the 8th c. to present (the University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center and the University of Pittsburgh East Asian Library)

Article databases

Academic Search Complete
Academic Search Complete, designed specifically for academic institutions includes more than 5,300 full-text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. This scholarly collection offers full text coverage of information in many areas of academic study including: archaeology, area studies, astronomy, biology, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, ethnic & multicultural studies, food science & technology, general science, geography, geology, law, mathematics, mechanical engineering, music, physics, psychology, religion & theology, women's studies, and other fields. Academic Search Complete offers critical information from many sources unique to this massive collection. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1865, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for 1,000 journals.
Coverage: 1865 - present
Humanities International Complete
Humanities International Complete is a comprehensive database of humanities content¸ providing full text of hundreds of journals¸ books and other published sources from around the world. Produced by Whitston Publishing (an imprint of EBSCO Publishing)¸ this database includes all data from American Humanities Index and Humanities International Index (over 1.6 million records) plus unique full text content.
JSTOR
JSTOR is a digital library of academic content in many formats and disciplines. The collections include top peer-reviewed scholarly journals as well as respected literary journals, academic monographs, research reports from trusted institutes, and diverse primary sources. Explore the visual side of JSTOR, including artwork, newspapers, manuscripts, photographs, and other artifacts contributed by libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies around the world
Literature Resource Center - LRC
Includes Gales Contemporary Authors Online (biographical coverage of more than 109¸000 writer); Contemporary Literary Criticism Select¸ (entries on all authors appearing in CLC since vol. 95 of the print series and complete profiles of 266 most studied authors from editions prior to vol. 95); and Dictionary of Literary Biography Online (more than 10¸000 biocritical essays on authors and their works written by academic scholars). The database also includes selected full-text¸ excerpted¸ and commissioned critical material from Gale's respected Literature Criticism and For Students Series.
MLA International Bibliography
The MLA International Bibliography provides a classified listing and subject index for books and articles published on modern languages¸ literatures¸ folklore¸ and linguistics. This database annually indexes over 45¸000 books and articles.
Project MUSE
Access to articles from over 40 journals in the humanities starting in 1995. Coverage: Full Text; 1995 - present

Selected online journals

Asian Studies Review
Journal of Japanese Studies
Japanese language and literature
"Japanese Language and Literature publishes contributions in the areas of Japanese literary studies, Japanese linguistics, and Japanese language and literature pedagogy, as well as articles from other disciplines that help interpret or define the problems of Japanese literary history, literary or linguistic study, or classroom practice."
Monumenta Nipponica

Reference: online

Contemporary Authors
Information about contemporary authors including works¸ biographies¸ birth dates¸ etc.
International Bibliography of Book Reviews (IBR Online)
IBR contains over 880¸000 entries about book reviews from the years 1985-to present. The database is international and interdisciplinary¸ the reviews have been published in approx. 6¸000 academic journals mainly in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Coverage: 1985 - present
Literature Resource Center - LRC
Includes Gales Contemporary Authors Online (biographical coverage of more than 109¸000 writer); Contemporary Literary Criticism Select¸ (entries on all authors appearing in CLC since vol. 95 of the print series and complete profiles of 266 most studied authors from editions prior to vol. 95); and Dictionary of Literary Biography Online (more than 10¸000 biocritical essays on authors and their works written by academic scholars). The database also includes selected full-text¸ excerpted¸ and commissioned critical material from Gale's respected Literature Criticism and For Students Series.

Reference: print

Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Literature by Sen'Ichi Hisamatsu
Call Number: LANGSAM Stacks PL723 .H58
ISBN: 0870112538
Publication Date: 1976-08-01
Guide to Japanese drama by Leonard Cabell Pronko
Call Number: LANGSAM Reference Z3308.L5 P76
Publication Date: 1973
Guide to Japanese Poetry by J. Thomas Rimer; Robert E. Morrell
Call Number: LANGSAM Reference Z3308.L5 R54 1975
ISBN: 0816111111
Publication Date: 1976-03-01
Guide to Japanese Prose by Alfred H. Marks; Barry D. Bort
Call Number: LANGSAM Reference Z3308.L5 M37
ISBN: 0816111103
Publication Date: 1975-06-01
Historical Dictionary of Modern Japanese Literature and Theater by J. Scott Miller
Call Number: LANGSAM Reference PL716 .M47 2009
ISBN: 9780810858107
Publication Date: 2009-07-01
With the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japan opened its doors to the West and underwent remarkable changes as it sought to become a modern nation. Accompanying the political changes that Western trade ushered in were widespread social and cultural changes. Newspapers, novels, poems, and plays from the Western world were soon adapted and translated into Japanese. The combination of the rich storytelling tradition of Japan with the realism and modernism of the West produced some of the greatest literature of the modern age. Historical Dictionary of Modern Japanese Literature and Theater presents a broad perspective on the development and history of literature narrative, poetry, and drama in modern Japan. This book offers a chronology, introduction, bibliography, and over 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries on authors, literary and historical developments, trends, genres, and concepts that played a central role in the evolution of modern Japanese literature."
Japanese Folk Literature by Joanne P. Algarin
Call Number: LANGSAM Reference Z3308.L5 A44 1982
ISBN: 0835215164
Publication Date: 1982-10-01
Japanese Women Novelists in the 20th Century by Sachiko Schierbeck
Call Number: SW Depository PL725 .S35 1994
ISBN: 8772892684
Publication Date: 1994-01-19
It was not until Kawabata Yasunari won the 1968 Nobel Prize for literature that the average Western reader became aware of contemporary Japanese literature. A few translations of writings by Japanese women have appeared lately, yet the West remains largely ignorant of this wide field. In this book Sachiko Schierbeck profiles the 104 female winners of prestigious literary prizes in Japan since the beginning of the century. It contains summaries of their selected works, and a bibliography of works translated into Western languages from 1900 to 1993. These works give insight into the minds and hearts of Japanese women and draw a truer picture of the conditions of Japanese community life than any sociological study would present. Schierbeck's 104 biographies constitute a useful reference work not only to students of literature but to anyone with an interest in women's studies, history or sociology.
Medieval Japanese Writers by Steven D. Carter
Call Number: SW Depository PS129 .D5 v.203
ISBN: 0787630977
Publication Date: 1999-03-03
This text systematically presents career biographies of Medieval Japanese writers.
Modern Japanese Novelists by John Lewell; Paul De Angelis (Editor)
Call Number: LANGSAM Stacks PL747.55 .L48 1993
ISBN: 4770016492
Publication Date: 1993-06-01
The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature by Earl Miner; Hiroko Odagiri; Robert E. Morrell
Call Number: LANGSAM Reference PL726.1 .M495 1985
ISBN: 0691065993
Publication Date: 1986-02-21