alphabetical list of classical Japanese works
translations - studies - electronic texts

Unlike published bibliographies, this list can continue to be updated as new translations appear, or existing ones come to my attention. Wide but not exhaustive coverage has been its aim--rather than including every known rendering of much translated works, it seemed more useful to devote the space (and my energies) to hunting down unique translations of lesser known works. I welcome comments on editorial principles (such as they are). Do tell me if you spot any obvious omissions or mistakes. For a fuller list of translations, covering many more works in kanbun, see Francine Herail's Bibliographie japonaise (Paris: POF, 1986).

Notes of reviews are being added in the format: surname of reviewer, journal, vol. and date (page nos. omitted). I'd be very grateful for more references, particularly of review articles.

I am gradually adding links to downloadable files of Japanese texts. You should also check the pages of Professor M. Shibata (Meisei Univ.) [url] , Professor Akihiro Okajima (Fukui Univ.) [url] and Professor Shin'ichi Kikuchi (Konan Woman's Univ.) [url].

When works are known by more than one name, or there are different readings for the title, cross-references have been given. Characters for some titles were verified in Nihon koten bungaku daijiten (Iwanami, one vol. edition, 1986). In general the readings follows those of the Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature. Frequently mentioned works (e.g. New Leaves or Distant Isles) are cited in abbreviated form as are names of some journals and series (e.g. (MN for Monumenta Nipponica). See the table of abbreviations at bottom of this page.

In association with Amazon.com. Links have been added to most recent edition available (paperback whenever possible). Links are also given when appropriate to U.K. and German sites of Amazon. Try www.bol.com for books in French and some other European languages. As many out-of-print books can be located on Barnes & Noble second-hand service, I have added a few links. Unlike Amazon's service, you get to see what copies are available (see result for "Penguin Book of Japanese Verse").

Word division in romanization of titles is somewhat arbitrary. Is it Kokinwakashu or Kokin wakashu? This affects searches, but also the order in which titles are arranged. (Izumi shikibu shu precedes Izumigajo.)

Abbreviations

(1) Abbreviations of names of journals/series/acronyms
(2) Abbreviations of frequently cited publications

(1) Abbreviations of names of journals and series; other acronyms

Some journals not cited in the bibliography are included here in the interests of completeness.

BEFEO:

BOAS: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

GSRJ: Gunsho ruiju series* (1779-1819, ed. Hanawa Hokinoichi)

HJAS: Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

JALLC: JALLC Text Archives [source of electronic texts]

JAOS: Journal of the American Oriental Society

JATJ: Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese

JJRS: Journal of Japanese Religious Studies (Nanzan). URL

JJS: Journal of Japanese Studies

KNBT: Kochu nihon bungaku taikei series*

MOAG: "Mitteilungen" der deutschen Gesellschaft fuer Natur- und Voelkerkunde Ostasiens

MN: Monumenta Nipponica (Sophia University, Tokyo). URL
OE: Oriens Extremus (Hamburg)

O.P.: out of print
POF: Publications Orientalistes de France

TASJ: Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan

TLS: Times Literary Supplement
tr.: translated, translation

UP: University Press

*Why are these two series here and not more familiar ones? Conveniently out of copyright, they are being used as the base texts for electronic texts available on Japanese web sites.

(2) Abbreviations of frequently cited publications

For the sake of clarity and convenience, a mixture of reference styles are used.

Aston, History, 1899

Aston, William. A History of Japanese Literature. New York, 1899. (+Reprints)

Benl, Kirschbluetenzweig, 1985

Benl, Oscar. Der Kirschbluetenzweig: Japanische Liebesgeschichten aus tausend Jahren. Munchen: Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, 1985.

Bownas and Thwaite 1964

Bownas, Geoffrey, and Anthony Thwaite, Penguin Book of Japanese Verse. Harmondsworth, 1964. [O.P. but see B&N second-hand. Revised edition available from Amazon U.K.?]

Brower and Miner, JSP, 1961

Brower, Robert H., and Earl Miner. Japanese Court Poetry. Stanford Studies in the Civilizations of Eastern Asia. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961.

Cranston, "Dark Path," 1975

Cranston, Edwin A. "The Dark Path: Images of Longing in Japanese Love Poetry." HJAS 35 (1975): 60-100.

Daniels, Selections from Japanese Literature, 1953

Daniels, F. J., ed. Selections from Japanese Literature (12th to 19th Centuries). London: Lund Humphries, 1958. [Introduction to excerpt, Japanese text, notes, romanization and translation]

Florenz, Quellen, 1919

Florenz, Karl. Die historischen Quellen der Shinto-Religion. Goettingen, Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1919.

Hare et al., Distant Isle, 1996

The Distant Isle: Studies and Translations of Japanese Literature in Honor of Robert H. Brower, ed. by Thomas Hare, Robert Borgen, and Sharalyn Orbaugh. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan, 1996

Gatten and Chambers, New Leaves, 1993

Gatten, Aileen and Anthony Hood Chambers, eds. New Leaves: Studies and Translations of Japanese Literature in Honor of Edward Seidensticker. Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, No. 11. Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 1993.

Heinrich, Currents, 1997

Heinrich, Amy Vladeck, ed. Currents in Japanese Culture: Translations and Transformations. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.

Herail, Bibliographie, 1986

Herail, Francine. Bibliographie Japonaise. Paris: POF, 1986.

Keene, Anthology, 1955.

Keene, Donald, ed. Anthology of Japanese Literature from the earliest era to the Nineteenth Century. New York: Grove Press, 1955. [pbk 1988]. REV: Roggendorf, MN 13 (1957).

McCullough, Classical Japanese Prose, 1990

McCullough, Helen, compiled and ed. Classical Japanese Prose: An Anthology. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990.

Miner et al., Princeton Companion, 1985 [PCCJL]

Miner, Earl, Hiroko Odagiri, and Robert E. Morrell. The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.

Naumann, Zauberschale, 1973

Naumann, Nelly and Wolfram. Die Zauberschale: Erzaehlungen vom Leben japanischer Damen, Moenche, Herren und Knechte. Munich, Vienna: Carl Hanser. Reprint: Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch, 1990.

Omori and Doi, Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan, 1920

Omori, Annie Shepley, and Kochi Doi. Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1920.196 p. [Sarashina nikki, Murasaki Shikibu nikki, Izumi Shikibu nikki]

Pigeot, Michiyuki-bun.

Pigeot, Jacqueline. Mischiyuki-bun: Poetique de l'itineraire dans la litterature du Japon ancien. College de France: Bibliotheque de l'institute des hautes etudes japonaises. Paris: G.-P. Maisonneuve et Larose, 1982. [For full page references see "Index General"]

Reischauer and Yamagiwa, Translations, 1951

Reischauer, Edwin O., and Joseph K. Yamagiwa. Translations from Early Japanese Literature. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard-Yenching Institute Studies XXIX, 1951.

Sato and Watson 1981

Sato, Hiroaki, and Burton Watson, eds. From the Country of Eight Islands. An Anthology of Japanese Poetry. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1981. [Rpt Columbia UP]

Sieffert, Le Livre des contes, 1993.

Sieffert, Rene. Le Livre des contes. Paris: P.O.F., 1993.

Skord, Tales of Tears and Laughter, 1991

Skord, Virginia. Tales of Tears and Laughter: Short Fiction of Medieval Japan. Honolulu: Hawaii University Press, 1991.

Teele, Ono no Komachi, 1993

Teele, Roy E., Nicholas J. Teele, and H. Rebecca Teele. Ono no Komachi: Poems, Stories, No Plays. New York & London: Garland Publishing, 1993

Tyler, Tales, 1987

Tyler, Royall. Japanese Tales. New York: Pantheon Books, 1987. [Tales cited here by number, see index, pp. 367-330 for details.]

Tyler, JND, 1992

Tyler, Royall. Japanese No Dramas. Harmondsworth: Penguin,1992.

Araki, James T. "Yuriwaka and Ulysses: The Homeric Epic at the Court of Ochi Yoshitaka." Monumenta Nipponica 33.1 (1978).

Carter, Steven D. Waiting for the Wind: thirty-six poets of Japan's Medieval Age. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989.

Carter, Steven D. The Road to Komatsubara: A Classical Reading of the Renga Hyakuin. Harvard East Asia Monographs No. 124: Harvard University Press, 1987.

Childs, Margaret Helen. "Religious awakening stories in late medieval Japan: the dynamics of didacticism." Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, 1983.

Childs, Margaret H. "Didacticism in Medieval Short Stories: Hatsuse Monogatari and Akimichi." Monumenta Nipponica 46.3 (1987): 253-288.

Jouon de Longrais, F. Tashi, le roman de celle qui epousa deux empereurs - Nidai no kisaki - 1140-1202. 2 vols. Tokyo: Maison franco-japonaise, 1967-70.

*Not a translation as such. (See Herail, Bibliographie, 161.) But what are his sources? Heike monogatari 1.7 "Nidai no kisaki" also tells the story of Tashi, consort first of Retired Emperor Konoe. then of Emperor Nijo.

Dykstra, Yoshiko Kurata. "Miraculous Tales of the Lotus Sutra: The Dainihonkoku Hokkegenki." MN 32.2 (1977): 189-210.

Hirota, Dennis. Plain Words on the Pure Land Way: Sayings of the Wandering Monks of Medieval Japan. A Translation of Ichigon Hodan. Kyoto: Ryokoku University Translation Center, 1989.

Renondeau, G. Anthologie de la poesie japonaise classique. Paris: Gallimard, 1971.