Development of the phonetic kana writing system had great influence on the rise of waka/tanka poetry, but on the prose its impact was even greater. Especially in women´s writing the effect was fundamental. The new hiragana alphabet, called onnade (女手, woman´s hand) made it possible for court ladies to write immortal literature, while men´s writings, written in Chinese characters, have been long forgotten. Genji monogatari, written by Murasaki Shikibu soon after the year 1000, is of course the pinnacle of the period, but there were others before her.

Taketori monogatari (The tale of the Bamboo Cutter) from the beginning of the 10th century is regarded as the first story ever, but the author is unknown. It is also known by the name of Kaguyahime, the shining princess. In Finnish translations, of which there are many different versions, it is generally classified as a fairy tale.

The Japanese literature started by writing down poetic expressions. Prose came out naturally to describe the connections around the poems. Thus early prose works were often of the type of utamonogatari, where prose and poetry alternated. Another common type was nikki, a diary, a form of literature especially favoured by women. There are random pieces of these translated into Finnish, but only one complete story. That is Sarashina nikki (1020-1060), written by the daughter of Sugawara no Takasue and translated by Miika Pölkki in 2005 by the name of Keisarinnan hovineidon päiväkirja.

In addition to Murasaki Shikibu there was another court lady who was almost equally famous, that is Sei Shōnagon. Her renowned work, called Makura no sōshi, was written a little before the year 1000. Several extracts of it have been translated into Finnish by Kai Nieminen and they are published mostly in an anthology called Itämaisen elämänviisauden kirja, edited by Pertti Seppälä 1994.

The famous Genji monogatari will be dealt in more detail in future updates.