Japanese Classics

>>9778148
>What is the Japanese equivalent of "The Greeks" or Homer/Iliad/Aurelius/Plato/Aristotle/etc?
The Chinese

i haven't read it but when people say "don quixote" was the first novel people respond that actually "the book of genji" was the first novel. so that one must be good i guess.

>>9778148
The death poems.

>>9778162
Familiar with that one. Thank you nonetheless.

>>9778156
I forgot I'm also on a weeaboo forum where they think Japanese "culture" is pure anime, vidya, or hentai.

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>>9778148
The Tales of Ise and the Tale of the Heike are what you're looking for as a small starting point. The latter is often referred to as the Japanese Iliad.

>>9778156
fpbp

>>9778167
Anon, Japanese didn't even have a writing system until hanzi (i.e. kanji) were introduced. The very Nihon Shoki is written in classical Chinese FFS.

>>9778167
>>9778167
>>>9778156
>I forgot I'm also on a weeaboo forum where they think Japanese "culture" is pure anime, vidya, or hentai.
if you knew anything about japanese culture besides anime vidya and hentai you'd know "the chinese" is literally the correct answer

>>9778167
>>9778245
>>9778245
The Kojiki is the earliest text with the earliest properly Japanese myths, and it's written in Chinese too.

>>9778167
get fucked OP

The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki are the Iliad and Odyssey of Japanese culture. Kukai is sort of the father of sophisticated philosophical discourse in Japan, so you might think of him as a Plato figure, though that's stretching the analogy a bit.

As far as more developed literature, you can then move to the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, which is sort of a collection of essays - what would be come perhaps the quintessential Japanese literary form. Then Tale of Genji.

Though he was basically unread until the 20th century, Dogen brought Zen to Japan, and his essays, from the 13th century, are pretty awesome.

Definitely read the Tsurezuregusa of Kenko - he's really the Montaigne figure here. Maybe also Kamo no Chomei. And just get a collection of Haiku, they all have some good Basho and Ikkyu.

If you become acquainted with all that stuff, while also reading up on the basic contours of Japanese history (which is easy because it basically starts in the 8th century), you'll have a good classical framework.