Romanticism (roman shugi), a late 18th-century European philosophical and literary movement, privileged emotion as the supreme manifestation of individual will. Romanticism came to Japan through translations and adaptations in the Meiji period, and resonated with such writers as Kitamura Tokoku, Shimazaki Toson, and Yosano Akiko. Although Romanticism was eclipsed by naturalism and realism, it saw resurgence during the war years in 1935 when Yasuda Yojuro created the Nihon Roman-ha, or Japan Romanticism School, calling for a return to Japanese tradition and criticizing modernization.
Historical dictionary of modern Japanese literature and theater. J. Scott Miller. 2009.