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 Huysmans, Maupassant, Wilde and D. H. Lawrence that have exercised influence rather than Murasaki Shikibu, Saikaku, Bakin and the other famous prose writers of earlier centuries. The remark made in 1910 by Natsumé Sōseki, one of the most important of the post-Meiji novelists, could well be uttered by the vast majority of modern Japanese prose writers: “What governs my mind at this moment, what will influence all my future work, is not, alas, the tradition of my ancestors, but, rather, thoughts brought over from across the sea, and by an alien race.” But few post-war writers in making this statement would be inclined to include Sōseki’s expression of regret.

Japan is, of course, not the only country in which imported literature has exerted an influence, but the historical conditions of the Meiji Period made this influence of primary importance. As Mr Mishima (who among the younger writers is particularly conscious of his own country’s classical heritage) has said, “In most other countries there exists a strong literary tradition into which writers can assimilate whatever is imported. In Japan our literature does not rest on any such tradition. Although our talented writers have managed to utilize their abilities individually, there are very few of them who have managed to ground their works on secure tradition.”

In Japan, as in most other countries, the story or tale has an extremely long and varied history. Among the earliest collections that have come down to us (leaving aside ancient mythological collections where the literary motive is secondary) are those from the Heian Period in which brief prose passages serve to provide the background for thirty-one-syllable classical poems or to link a series of such poems by means of rudimentary plots. The Tales of Isé from the ninth century is the best-known example; The Tales of Yamato (tenth century) belongs to the same tradition. The Tales of Tsutsumi Chūnagon