2 posts tagged “poetry”
"People say the tanka form [of poetry] is inconvenient because it's so short. I think its shortness is precisely what makes it convenient...We are constantly being subjected to so many sensations, coming from both inside and outside ourselves, that we forget them soon after they occur, or even if we remember them for a little while, we end up by never once in our whole lifetimes ever expressing them because there is not enough content to sustain the thought...Although a sensation may only last a second, it is a second that will never return again. I refuse to let such moments slip by."
Ishikawa Takuboku 1886-1912
"Thus haiku has something in common with painting, in the representation of the object alone, without comment, never presented to be other than what it is, but not represented completely as it is. For if the haiku poet moves us by presenting rather than describing objects, he does so by presenting the particulars in which the emotional powers of the things or scenes reside. And from these particulars comes the significance and the importance of his particular haiku. He renders in a few epithets what he experiences, so that imagination will fill those spaces with all the details in which the experiential value of the images reside. He does not give us meaning; he gives us the concrete objects which have meaning, because he has so experienced them."
Kenneth Yasuda, Japanese Haiku: Its Essential Nature and History, 1957
"The seeds of Japanese poetry lie in the human heart and grow into leaves of ten thousand words. Many things happen to the people of this world, and all that they think and feel is given expression in description of things they see and hear. When we hear the warbling of the mountain thrush in the blossoms or the voice of the frog in the water, we know every living being has its song. It is poetry which, without effort, moves heaven and earth, stirs the feelings of the invisible gods and spirits, smooths the relations of men and women, and calms the hearts of fierce warriors."
Ki no Tsurayuki, Introduction to the Kokin Wakashu, 905
Finally finished Everyday Things in Modern Japan, which was excellent. It really engrossed me in a subject matter (historical demographics) that usually comes out quite dry. The emphasis is on the Edo period (better records for that time), but the author transitions from the late Sengoku period and also brings in some early Meiji period as well, as her thesis is that traditional Japanese home life didn't really change all that much (from Westernization) until WWII, except among the very rich or the intellectual class. Highly recommended.
I had two books come in this week that I'm really looking forward to reading, both examples of Heian literature. (Wait, don't look at me like that, I know we're poor, but they were used ex-library copies and they were cheap!)
The first was The Changelings (Torikaebaya monogatari no kenkyu), translated by Rosette Willig. This is a story about a brother and sister who decide to "switch places" and each live as the opposite sex. Yes, it sounds like shoujo manga (wait, it IS shoujo manga!), but the story was actually written by an anonymous author sometime between 1196 and 1202. They're not sure if the author is male or female. The writing seems female, but evidently poorly done, so it may be a man imitating a woman, in the same way that Ki no Tsuriyuki did in his Tosa Diary. Anyway, I've been looking for this book for a long time, but just recently found it at a price I was willing to pay. It looks like it will be entertaining.
The second was one I stumbled across recently: The Poetic Memoirs of Lady Daibu (Kenreimon-in Ukyo no Daibu shu), translated by Phillip Tudor Harris. Set during the same time period as the Tale of the Heike, it features some of the Taira clan in a very different light. Lady Daibu's (not her real name, btw) birthdate is unknown, but scholars put it somewhere between 1150 and 1160. She is last heard from in 1232, when she is approached for a couple of her poems to be included in an imperial collection, the Shinchokusenshu. I lucked out on this one and only paid $5 (plus shipping, which made it like $9)! I've only read in about 50 pages so far (all introduction--there's like three introductory essays before the actual translation begins), but so far, so good. Great, concise information about the end of the Heian era, court life and how to put the work in its historical context. Also, the next SCA project I wanted to do (besides all the sewing, which comes with the territory) was a shu (poetry collection), and this book is exactly the format I wanted to emulate.
Damn, I'm such a geek!
