This first English translation of the Wakan roei shu, includes two
introductory essays, insightful commentaries on each passage, and three
expositions, which discuss the collection's influence on Japanese
literary history, music, and calligraphy. For centuries these short,
evocative poems were memorized and cherished by Japanese courtiers who
sang them at court, into lovers' ears, or at moments when spoken words
failed to express their feelings. Until the Meiji Restoration
(1868-1912), calligraphers, poets, and artists looked to the Wakan roei
shu for inspiration, incorporating its text into many of Japan's most
celebrated masterpieces, from the no play Takasago to the Tale of Genji
and the calligraphy of Fujiwara no Yukinari, whose eleventh-century
calligraphic interpretations of the collection were treasured by
Japanese for centuries. The collection - arranged in accordance with the
four seasons and covering more than forty topics, from celestial bodies
to ministers of state - includes poems by some of the most beloved
Chinese and Japanese masters, including Po Chu-i (772-846) and Sugawara
no Michizane (845-903). Like haiku, the poems in the Wakan roei shu are
brief and reflective, with many adhering to the classical Japanese
poetic form of thirty-one syllables. Most of the Chinese selections in
this book are excerpts taken from much longer poems, with one or two
verses of the original chosen to harmonize with Japanese aesthetic
tastes. Now English-speaking readers can enjoy the Wakan roei shu, long
treasured by Japanese readers for its revelatory beauty.
