A Study On Literature Reception Of Bai Juyi’s Poem During Heian Era In Japan

As a symbol of Chinese culture,Tang Poetry plays an extremely important part in Chinese international promotion.Therefore,several studies about this topic have appeared in recent years.Among these home and abroad studies,are Li Bai,Du Fu and Bai Juyi,who are regarded as the most outstanding representatives of this period.However,a special phenomenon has been discovered according to the analysis,which shows that the studies in Japan about Bai Juyi are far more than those on Li Bai and Du Fu.Additionally,a stone tablet in the cemetery of Bai Juyi even has an inscription,saying that “The greatest poet Mr.Bai,You are the benefactor of Japanese culture and are also the one who is admired by the whole country.Your contribution to Japan is as great as a mountain,which will last forever and will be remembered by our generations.” all of these show the great importance of Bai Juyi to Japanese culture.Thus,the study on the dissemination and influence of Bai Juyi to Japan has become one of the great important topics in the field of international promotion about Chinese poetry.As the climax stage in the Sino-Japanese exchange history,all aspects in Heian period,such as social institution,customs,religion,clothing,literature even the characters were all influenced by China.The Bai’s works were introduced to Japan under this “Han chasing”background,which spread and were accepted among different classes.Even arose the “Bai Juyi Phenomenon” in Japanese literature,lasting for more than 400 years,which had a profound impact on the development and transition of Japanese literature.From Emperor Saga and Ono no Takamura to Shimada Tadashi and Sugawara Michizane,the verse field was influenced by Bai’s works.Later,as the representatives of monogatari and prose,Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon’s works were also influenced by Bais’.Therefore,studying about the literature reception of Bai Juyi in this period has an important reference for the international promotion of Chinese poetry.The study focuses on the perspective of international literature dissemination,which adopts three main methods,such as literature research method,comparative literature research method and interdisciplinary research method.The paper consists of three parts.In the first part,it has a brief explanation on the background of Sino-Japanese cultural exchange during the Heian period.Then explores the reasons why Bai’s works can be widely spread in Japan.The second part focuses on the literature comparation.With the text comparative analysis between Bai’s works and Heian period literature,we can learn about the reception of Bai’s works in various literature fields.It shows that the reception experienced a process from imitation to localization and innovation.In terms of form,the poets learnt the Bai’s seven-character rhyme to create their poems.In the terms of content,they accept the vocabulary,allusions and images from Bai’s works.In the terms of themes,Bai’s leisure poems and sentimental poems are mostly accepted,and the Japanese thought of“things sorrow” is expressed through the description of life and nature.In the last part of the article,some enlightening suggestions for the poetry promotion in the Chinese international promotion are put forward,regarding its influence on Heian period literature.