FORMATION PROCESSES OF JAPANESE URBAN CULTURE AND LITERATURE

Abstract

The article is devoted to a general analysis of the literary processes of the Tokugawa period and the Genroku period, which is one of the most interesting periods in the history of Japanese literature. During this period of the country's history, Japan pursued a policy of isolation, creative activity spread from the intelligentsia to the military, from the military to the townsmen strata. This period is mainly characterized by the rapid development of townsmen culture and literature. Commercial printing developed, fiction and poetry flourished, and theater involving actors and puppets became popular. As a result of the formation of "townsmen literature", the genres of "haikai" appeared in poetry, "kabuki" and "joruri" in dramaturgy, reflecting the life of representatives of the third class. It is this period that serves as an important bridge between the transition of Japanese literature from the Medieval period to the Modern era. Thus, the study of the literary processes that took place in the Japanese literature of the Tokugawa period is important for a better understanding of the country's literature, not only of the Medieval period, but also of the Modern era The article primarily refers to the political and social situation in Japan in the 17th century and its specific aspects. The formation of townsmen culture and its factors are analyzed, and the processes of the emergence of townsmen literature based on townsmen culture are highlighted. In particular, the characteristic features of the literature preserved in the Tokugawa period under the name "chōnin bungaku" ("literature of the townspeople") are revealed. Then the conditions for the formation of haikai poetry and its formation as one of the main genres in Japanese poetry are analyzed. The article provides analytical comments on the artistic aspects of two types of theaters - "kabuki" and "joruri" theaters, which arose during the Genroku period, and their role in the formation of urban culture and literature.