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{{Short description|Modern Japanese literature classification}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2024}}

The '''Third Generation of Postwar Writers''' (第三の新人, ''daisan no shinjin'') is a classification in [[Japanese literature|modern Japanese literature]] used to group writers who appeared in the [[postwar]] literary scene between 1953 and 1955. The term was coined by [[Yamamoto Kenkichi]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Scott J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qJ-gLR_dwfQC |title=Historical Dictionary of Modern Japanese Literature and Theater |date=2009-07-01 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-6319-4 |language=en}}</ref> They are well known for writing and reviving the prewar genre known as [[I-novel]]s.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Nihei |first=Chikako |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q1KWDwAAQBAJ |title=Haruki Murakami: Storytelling and Productive Distance |date=2019-05-03 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-02118-9 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Literature of Japan |url=http://asianinfo.org/asianinfo/japan/pro-literature.htm |access-date=2024-11-06 |website=asianinfo.org}}</ref>

[[Shūsaku Endō]], a member of the Third Generation once said, "In those days, although we had received the [[Akutagawa Prize]] one after another, hardly did anyone expect that we would become great writers. We were regarded as if we would soon be forgotten by the literary world. Precisely, almost all people did not start to know Akutagawa Prize until Ishihara Shintaro had won the prize and surfed away mass media and provoked public opinion into asunder, as the first manifesto from one of the Postwar Generation."{{Fact|date=May 2009}}

However, despite this, this generation has made a major mark on Japanese literature. The works of Endō in particularly have been translated into many languages and are widely read in the [[United States]], [[France]], and [[Germany]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

At that same time, women writers such as [[Aya Kōda]] (幸田文), [[Minako Oba]], and [[Sawako Ariyoshi]] also made their debuts.

After this generation, predominant and various writers like [[Shintaro Ishihara]], [[Morio Kita]], and [[Kenzaburō Ōe]] appeared.

==List of the third generation of postwar writers==
* [[Shūsaku Endō]] (遠藤周作)<ref name=":0" />
* [[Shōtarō Yasuoka]] (安岡章太郎)<ref name=":0" />
* [[Junnosuke Yoshiyuki]] (吉行淳之介)<ref name=":0" />
* [[Junzo Shono]] (庄野潤三)<ref name=":0" />
* [[Shumon Miura]] (三浦朱門)
* [[Ayako Sono]] (曽野綾子)<ref name=":0" />
* [[Hiroyuki Agawa]] (阿川弘之)<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2022-07-11 |title="Living Is Writing": Remembering Best-Selling Author and Buddhist Nun Setouchi Jakuchō |url=https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g02134/ |access-date=2024-11-06 |website=nippon.com |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Kojima Nobuo]] (小島信夫)<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
* [[Shimao Toshio]] (島尾 敏雄)<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Michihiro |first1=Yamane |url=https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789048558216/handbook-of-japanese-christian-writers |title=Handbook of Japanese Christian Writers |last2=Gessel |first2=Van |last3=Williams |first3=Mark |date=2022-11-01 |publisher=[[Amsterdam University Press]] |isbn=978-90-485-5821-6 |language=en |chapter=10. From out of the Depths: Shimao Toshio's Literary Response to Adversity}}</ref>
* [[Setouchi Jakucho|Setouchi Jakuchō]] (瀬戸内 寂聴)<ref name=":2" />

==See also==
* [[Japanese literature]]
* [[The First Generation of Postwar Writers]]
* [[The Second Generation of Postwar Writers]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Third Generation of Postwar Writers}}
[[Category:Japanese literature]]
[[Category:Literary circles]]
[[Category:1950s in Japan]]


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