Chinese reading text - Kanbun reading text

If we look for the pinnacle of pure Japanese prose in the writings of Heian women's literature and take it as one extreme, then even though it is prose, it does not form a logical structure, but is extremely psychological, faithfully tracing the flow and flickering of consciousness. At the other extreme, Chinese readings, which have conjunctions suitable for stating logic and speech indicating the beginning of a paragraph, and also use pronouns accurately and effectively, the tone of Chinese readings added to Japanese prose transformed Japanese prose into something that has both practical utility on the one hand and literary expression on the other. Conversely, Japanese texts written in what was intended to be Chinese (so-called variant Chinese texts), such as the Shomonki, or religious literature, such as the Sanbo Ekotoba, take as their starting point or tone elements of Japanese texts, especially tales originating from Utamonogatari, and a separate blend of Japanese and Chinese emerges, with the use of connecting phrases, Japanese-style selection of adverbs and adjectives, and a subtle and abundant use of particles and auxiliary verbs.

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "Chinese readings" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…　純粋な和文の頂点を平安女流文学の文章に求めて，それを一つの極とすると，それは散文といっても論理的な構文を形成することなく，きわめて心理的な，また意識の流動･明滅のまにまに，それを忠実に追跡する文章である。それに対極をなす漢文読下し文は，論理を述べるに適した接続詞や段落の冒頭を示す発語を有し，代名詞などをも的確有効に用いるので，和文に付加された漢文読下し文の口調は，散文としての和文を，一方では実用に耐え，他方では文学的表現にもかなう両面を有するものに変質させた。また逆に《将門記》のように，漢文のつもりで書かれた日本語文(いわゆる変体漢文)のもの，あるいは《三宝絵詞（さんぼうえことば）》のような宗教文学を出発点もしくは基調として，和文の要素，ことに歌物語を祖とする説話などを合併しつつ，別途の和漢混淆が生じ，係り結びの使用や副詞，形容詞の和風の選択，助詞，助動詞の微妙で豊富な使用があらわれる。…

※「漢文読下し文」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報