Description
Book SynopsisCompiled in the early tenth century, the
Kokinshū is an anthology of some eleven hundred poems that became celebrated as the cornerstone of the Japanese vernacular poetic tradition. This book offers an inviting and immersive selection of roughly one-third of the anthology in English translation.
Trade ReviewThese eminently readable and often beautiful translations will appeal to a new generation of readers in Japanese studies and beyond. The accompanying essays survey the genesis and afterlives of the collection and offer significant new insights on the original language of the poems and how to appreciate them in translation. -- Joseph T. Sorensen, author of
Optical Allusions: Screens, Paintings, and Poetry in Classical Japan (ca. 800–1200)From the cries of the warbler in spring to the lonely nights of longing for a lover, Duthie offers fresh translations from each book of the
Kokinshū, while grounding us in histories of scripts, reading and writing practices, and the power of poetry in premodern Japan. -- Christina Laffin, author of
Rewriting Medieval Japanese Women: Politics, Personality, and Literary Production in the Life of Nun AbutsuThis book should appeal to anyone interested in Japanese poetry, both for its evocative rendering of selections from the
Kokinshū and for its concisely informative account of the classic
waka anthology. -- Gustav Heldt, translator of
The Kojiki: An Account of Ancient MattersTable of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. TranslationMana Preface
Selected Poems from the
KokinwakashūKana Preface
Part II. Essays1. Poetry Before the Heian Period
2. The Heian Court and Kana Writing
3. The Conception and Structure of the
Kokinshū4. Topics of Composition
5. Prosody and Rhetorical Conventions
6. The
Kokinshū Prefaces
7. The
Kokinshū Text and Its Commentarial Tradition
8. Translating the
KokinshūAppendix: Poets in This Book
Bibliography and Further Reading
Index
