So many poetry anthologies feel proud for going back to the 1800s or 1600s. This compilation, The Ink Dark Moon – Love Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu translated by Jane Hirshfield with Mariko Aratani, reminds us that love and passion are completely timeless. It features the stunningRead More →
The beauty and challenge of Japanese poetry, for those of us who do not read Japanese, is that we are reliant on the translator to accurately portray those beautiful words and sounds in a way which makes sense in our own language. Sometimes this can be incredibly challenging. The exactRead More →
I adore haiku. I bought a copy of Classic Haiku: A Master’s Selection, translated by Yuzuru Miura, right when it was released in 1991. The book has gone through cover changes since then, but the content within is just as beautiful and timely. These haiku are all originally written inRead More →
