You just talk about Mishima. What about Kobo Abe, Kawabata and Tanizaki?!

Soseki didn't do it for me, Dazai didn't do it for me and Mishima barely had an appeal. So I've sort of gave up jp lit.

What I love about Kawabata and Tanizaki is that there writing is very sensual. For Kawabat it's not just the detailed description of objects like the kimonos in The Old Capital or the flower arrangements and teacups in Thousand Cranes, but also impressions like Komako stumbling down the corridor or the reflection of Yoko's face floating over the mountains in Snow Country. Tanizaki on the other hand conveys alle degrees of eroticism from subtle to violent like no other, even though it probably helps that his fetishes overlap with mine.

You sure you're not thinking of Kenzaburo Oe?

I had a brain fart, yes oe wrote 17. Abe did insult Mishima though, but then few didnt

Maybe try Japanese poetry? Their literary tradition leans more toward poetry than novels.

Do Westerners like Mishima more than Japan?

You won't understand Japanese poetry unless you know Japanese and have read theoretical (not necessarily historic, but it would help) works on that matter.

Read this a while ago.
Trully stunning when compared to all the weeb shit you see all around and the occidentalised japan of the 21st century

Read Some Prefer Nettles if you want more Tanizaki. It portrays a man's refound interest in traditional Japanese art after recognizing his dissatisfaction with his marriage and the western lifestyle his wife embodies.

makioka sisters are mentioned quite often on Veeky Forums.
Also, I've just read snow country by Kawabata and I really enjoyed it, even though I was hoping for mor eroticism.
Any recommendations for more erotic novels by Kawabata?

>cucked by himself

Beauty and Sadness has some pretty descriptive sexuality in it but its also really really sad as most Kawabata is.

Any of all read Higuchi ichiyo?

Where is a good place to start with Kawabata?

I've actually only read Mishima, tried starting two Abe books and they were good but the prose was a bit too sanitized for me at the time.

Actually in a creative writing MFA though, and Abe and Oe both appear on numerous syllabi, while no one talks about Mishima at all. Think one guy knows of Dazai.

Kokoro by Soseki and A Personal Matter by Oe still remain the best pieces of Japanese literature I've read so far. Although I'm currently finishing Forbidden Colors by Mishima and its becoming one of my all time favorites.

>How come everyone just wants to talk about that one irresponsibly hot guy and not any of his ugly old fatty contemporaries
Wow, op, do you blow minds for a living?

R A M P O
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Tanizaki is pretty good too though.

There's Edogawa Rampo if you want schlocky mystery stories. Some of them are so bad, but bad in a good way. I read them mainly because I wanted to see the master who originated all the cliches of Japanese mystery novels and stuff in action.

Master of Go is a good one I enjoyed of Kawabata.

Other stuff I've read is Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai
Confessions of a Yakuza by Junichi Saga
Shin Heike Monogatari by Eiji Yoshikawa

Another one but not Japanese lit is Brazil Maru. It's about Christian Japanese immigrants who move to Brazil to start their own Christian commune.

...

Can't go wrong with Snow Country or the Dancing Girl from Izu

yes

Invariably in almost every discussion about Mishima half the discussion is about other Japanese writers.

What Soseki and Dazai did you read? If it was Botchan by Soseki I suggest reading something else. It's a novel written for teenagers and is not representative of him. If Your only Dazai was No Longer Human I would suggest another one as well. It's easy to dismiss Dazai unfairly if you only have read a wikipedia article on him and assume all of his novels are the same mopey, slightly autobiographical stuff. I can't blame you for Mishima. I've read almost all his novels and a chunk of his plays, short stories and essays. I can't figure why I made myself do it.

Kawabata isn't really a very good author to look into if that's what you want. There is some eroticism in there but because of the heavy aesthetic emphasis there is never meant to be anything very erotic about it.

Mishima is of all the Japanese writers I have read one of the least Japanese like. It's a big part of the reason why he is popular outside of Japan but better writers like Ibuse (who are very Japanese like to an alienating extent to non-Japanese) isn't.

Pretty much anywhere. It's all great. Sound of the Mountain and Snow Country seem to be considered his best. People on Veeky Forums love Master of Go but it's very un-Kawabata like, so keep that in mind if you choose to start there.

Not who you were replying to by i've only read no longer human by dazai. If I were to read a second book of his what would you recommend?

I only read Mishima and Abe and hated both, though I guess Mishima's bio book is fun.

The Setting Sun is very good and fairly unlike No Longer Human. His short stories collections are also pretty interesting and are nothing at all like No Longer Human.

What about Natsume? What about Oe?

japanese author power rank:
\
the top 5 are:

soseki
tanizaki
kawabata
oe
akutagawa

and then the second tier-
abe
dazai
endo
mishima
inoue

then you got a bunch of people whose legacies aren't totally clear yet or are just aren't as important as the above few-
ibuse
ogai
r. murakami
kirino
yoshimoto
enchi
miyamoto

etc. etc.