phatically the golden age of
poetry. Japan has now outgrown the artless effusions described in the
preceding chapter, and during this period produced a body of verse of
an excellence which has never since been surpassed. The reader who
expects to find this poetry of a nation just emerging from the
barbaric stage of culture characterised by rude, untutored vigour,
will be surprised to learn that, on the contrary, it is distinguished
by polish rather than power. It is delicate in sentiment and refined
in language, and displays exquisite skill of phrase with a careful
adherence to certain canons of composition of its own."

I confess my knowledge of the language is insufficient to enable me to
read Japan's literary treasures in the original, and as I have
remarked, no man through the medium of a translation can adequately
form a correct opinion respecting any description of foreign
literature. I fear, however, that modern Japan is as little concerned
with its eighth-century poetry as the modern Englishman is with that
of Chaucer, not to speak of those great poets, most of whom are now
forgotten, who lived long before Chaucer and whose verses were not
only read but sung throughout the length and breadth of the land.

In a much later period of the history of the country, literature was
undoubtedly greatly in vogue. There was evolved what I may term a
distinct literary class, the language and literature of China were
diligently studied, and very much of the literature of this time is
written in Chinese. That language, indeed, seems to have been at one
period regarded in Japan very much as Latin was, and in some quarters
is even still, regarded in Europe as the appropriate medium for
expressing the most sublime thoughts of the brightest intellects. The
fiction of this period, usually termed the Heian--and there is plenty
of it still in existence--was for the most part written by women, so
that it will be seen the female novelist is not, as some persons
appear to imagine, a comparatively modern development. After the
twelfth century--and most of the literature I have referred to is
anterior to that--petty wars between the feudal princes appear to have
been incessant, and the whole country was for a great number of years
more concerned with fighting than with literature. History or
historical romance seems to have been the favourite literary
exercitation during this period. A good deal of the literature thereof
is still, I und