This study examines how literary persons in Japan, China (including Taiwan), and Korea developed their relationship through poetry exchanges and how it changed their literature, the styles of writing, and ideas, with concrete examples. The purpose of this study is to clarify how international interaction through literature could play a role in understanding the culture of each country. Classical Chinese is a common language in the East Asian cultural sphere where Chinese characters are used, so

more »

... all intellectuals in Japan and Korea were fluent in Chinese classical language. Japanese, Chinese and Korean intellectuals were able to communicate with each other without having to know their spoken language by using Chinese classical language freely. It is well known that the poetry (" 詩詞 ", Shi and Ci) that are the essence of linguistic art in the Chinese classical language were quickly transmitted to both Japan and Korea and occupied a part of the history of literature in each country. The poetry (" 詩 詞 ", Shi and Ci) describes the sentiment and deep emotion of each creator and has been used as a social tool since ancient times. The social address at a banquet, words for a lingering farewell, and songs celebrating a birthday could be cited as examples of the poetry (" 詩詞 ", Shi and Ci) produced at socializing places. In some other cases, it could be used to express the feeling of loneliness to a distant friend, or to make fun of someone and even complain. These works which played an important role in socializing places (hereinafter abbreviated as "social poetry") have been widely used, not only for the communication between intellectuals from same country, but also for the interactions between Japanese, Chinese and Korean literary persons since the Meiji Restoration. It had a role in promoting mutual understanding. This study will clarify the actual situation of interaction through the poetry (" 詩詞 ", Shi and Ci) between Japan, China and Korea during the Meiji and Taisho eras of Japan and examine how it affected mutual literature, aspect of interaction and mutual understanding.