SOURCE: An introduction to The Izayoi Nikki, in Translations from Early Japanese Literature, Harvard University Press, 1951, pp. 3-51.

In the following excerpt, first published in 1947, Reischauer places the Izayoi Nikki in historical context by examining trends in Japanese literature during the late classic and early feudal periods.

1. the Gi; 1. the izayoi Nikki and Its Place in Japanese Literature =~ Sizayoi Nikki and Its Place in Japanese Literature

The Izayoi nikki (The Diary of the Waning Moon) is not a truly great piece of literature even in the original Japanese. My literal translation of it most certainly has not added to its literary merit, but neither has it robbed it of any great literary worth, simply because there is not much in the original Japanese to be lost.

Having admitted that the Izayoi nikki is not a masterpiece of world literature, I must now point out that there are many...