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A History of Japanese Literature (1899), written by the diplomat and Japanese and Korean scholar William George Aston, is the oldest comprehensive survey of the large Japanese literature having been published in English. Its range is from the Archaic period (before A.D. 700) until the so called Tokio period in the second half of the nineteenth century and covers all lyrics, poetry, prose and children's stories. The Japanese have a voluminous literature, extending over twelve centuries, which to this day has been very imperfectly explored by European students. Forty years ago no Englishman had read a page of a Japanese book, and although some Continental scholars had a useful acquaintance with the language, their contributions to our knowledge are unimportant. Much has been done in the interval, by writers of grammars and dictionaries, to facilitate the acquirement of this most difficult language, and translations by Sir E. Satow, Messrs. Mitford, Chamberlain, Dickins, and others, have given us interesting glimpses of certain phases of the literature. But the wider field has hitherto remained untouched. Beyond a few brief detached notices, there is no body of critical opinion on Japanese books in any European language, and although the Japanese themselves have done more in this direction,
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