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Literature

Prose gradually became far less formal. The language became simpler and the subject matter far less sophisticated. The topics were similar to the themes used by block printers when they created sketches.
The writer Ihara Saikaku was the first popular writer of Japanese fiction. He chose themes that would be popular with the commoners.
Basho Matsuo developed a new poetic form called haiku. Eventually, people in the most remote areas of Japan took pride in writing haiku. 
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