Contents
E-texts, Publishers, Journals, Magazines
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Aozora Bunko (The Blue Sky Collection)
An extensive and growing collection of downloadable e-texts for modern Japanese authors (up to about 50 years ago). The texts are offered in plaintext and XHTML (sometimes HTML) versions. Software can be downloaded to make the XHTML appear more like actual printed text. A page of links gives the locations of other e-text sites, including those with classical works. Try this site first for most prewar modern authors.
Japanese Literature in Translation Search
The Japan Foundation's searchable database of Japanese literary works that have been translated into other languages, mostly after World War II. Searches can be made in either Japanese or romanization, although the site cautions that the list may not be complete.
This site, co-sponsored by the University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center and the University of Pittsburgh East Asian Library, identifies as its goal "to put online on the Web texts of classical Japanese literature in Japanese characters." The initial batch of texts included Kokin wakashū; Ise monogatari; Hōjōki; Ogura hyakunin isshu, Midaregami (well, classical in form anyway), and a selection of Noh plays (the gem of the collection, comprising a total of 37 versions of 13 plays, including multiple English translations). Subsequent additions have raised the total number of works available to over 50, including the eight major imperial collections of classical poetry and a growing number of modern works by novelists and poets. There is also an online Japanese Haiku Topical Dictionary available. Unfortunately, development of the site seems to have stalled in 2004.
The Japan P.E.N. Club Digital Library
A collection of about 800 e-texts written by members of the Japan P.E.N. Club. The site offers quite a few Japanese texts, arranged in a number of generic and topical categories, but the organization is haphazard and the site is of limited use. The works that have been translated into English can be found here; the quality of translation varies. The English version of the site has not been updated since it was started in 2001. The Japanese site promises a "renewal" in November 2010, after the 76th International PEN Congress, which is scheduled to be held in Tokyo in late September.
An eclectic selection of e-texts and links to other e-text sites. The focus is premodern works, especially historical texts and gunki monogatari, but otherwise not easy to characterize. A number of things can be found here that can't be found elsewhere, including texts of Confucian works and Meiji poetry. The collection has been compiled by Kikuchi Shin'ichi of Konan Women's University and Fukasawa Akio of Showa Women's University, whose declared intention is to provide reliable, scholarly texts. Japanese only.
Tsubouchi Shōyō's Shōsetsu shinzui (The Essence of the Novel)
A digital version of Nanette Gottlieb's 1983 translation of what is considered the first major example of modern Japanese literary criticism, available from New York University's Faculty Digital Archive (the page will take some time to load).
The official Kodansha International site, now simply containing information on Kodansha International's publications. Books cannot be ordered directly from the site -- links are provided to relevant Amazon.com pages
Essentially an illustrated catalog of Tuttle's books dealing with various aspects of Asian culture. Readers can order Tuttle books directly from the site. Tuttle, now a division of the Periplus Publishing Group, no longer has an English website.
Back issues of Japanese Book News, a quarterly journal of information on publication trends published by the Japan Foundation, "Publications and Goods" menu item on the Japan Foundation's main page.)
A site that introduces the contents of the latest issue and contains complete indexes for articles, monographs, and translations, along with an index of book reviews beginning with the Winter 1999 issue.