The Question of Modernity and Tradition in the Literature of the Five Mountains

Abstract

The paper deals with the question of modernity and tradition in the so called Literature of the Five Mountains (Gozan bungaku) written by Japanese medieval Zen monks. It analyses the various ways in which Zen monks-poets dealt with old and new in their poems, and in which they percieved what was modern and old.

Keywords

• Japanese literature
• Medieval Japan
• Gozan bungaku
• Literature of the Five Mountains
• poetry