Information about Classical Japanese

The Classical Japanese language (Japanese: 文語 bungo) is the literary form of the Japanese language that was the standard until the early Showa period. It is based on Late Old Japanese, the language as spoken during the Heian era, but exhibits some later influences. Its use started to decline during the late Meiji period when novelists started writing their works in the spoken form, but newspapers and official documents were still written in the old style. After World War II, most documents switched to the spoken style, although the classical style continues to be used in traditional genres such as haiku.

Orthography

See historical kana usage.

Grammar

<rt>とう だい もと くら <rb>灯台下暗し</rb> The particle は is omitted more often than in the spoken style.

<rt>をんな　 さんがい 　　いへ</rt> <rb>女は三界に家なし</rb>

Vocabulary

External links

• Bungo Nyūmon: A Brief Introduction to Classical Japanese
• Classical-Japanese.net
• Bibliography of premodern Japanese texts and translations