Chinese Literary Forms in Heian Japan: Poetics and Practice

In Chinese Literary Forms in Heian Japan (Harvard University Press), Steininger looks at how literary Chinese was used as a script across medieval East Asia. From purposes of official administration, to political protest, sermons of mourning and poems of celebration, literary Chinese was used for a wide array of cosmopolitan functions in regions spanning from as far west as the Tarim Basin to the eastern kingdom of Heian period Japan (794-1185). Steininger takes a closer looks at texts from the mid-Heian court including the Tale of Genji and the Pillow Book, providing a case study of the various applications of the language.