Asian literature is the literature produced inAsia.
InTang andSong dynastyChina, famouspoets such asLi Bai authored works of great importance. They wroteshī (Classical Chinese: 詩) poems, which have lines with equal numbers ofcharacters, as well ascí (詞) poems with mixed line varieties.Early-Modern Japanese literature (17th–19th centuries) developed comparable innovations such ashaiku, a form ofJapanese poetry that evolved from the ancienthokku (Japanese language: 発句) mode. Haiku consists of three sections (all in a single vertical line in Japanese): the first and third segments each have fivemorae (which are not thephonological equivalent ofsyllables), while the second has seven. Original haiku masters included such figures asEdo period poetMatsuo Bashō (松尾芭蕉); others influenced by Bashō includeKobayashi Issa andMasaoka Shiki.
ThepolymathRabindranath Tagore, aBengalipoet,dramatist, andwriter who was anIndian, became in 1913 the first AsianNobel laureate. He won hisNobel Prize in Literature for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had onEnglish,French, and other national literatures ofEurope and theAmericas. He also wrote theIndian anthem. Later, other Asian writers won Nobel Prizes in literature, includingYasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1966), andKenzaburō Ōe (Japan, 1994).Yasunari Kawabata wrote novelsand short stories distinguished by their elegant and spartan diction such as the novelsSnow Country andThe Master of Go.
