Only Companion: Japanese Poems of Love and Longing (Shambhala Centaur Editions) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1570623007 ISBN 13: 9781570623004

Publisher: Shambhala, 1996

Synopsis

Written by court princesses, exiled officials, Zen priests, and recluses, the one hundred and fifty poems translated here represent the rich diversity of Japan's poetic tradition. Varying in tone from the sensuous and erotic to the profoundly spiritual, each poem captures a sense of the poignant beauty and longing known only in the fleeting experience of the moment. The translator has selected these five-line tanka—one of the great traditional verse forms of Japanese literature—from sources ranging from the classical imperial anthologies of the eighth and tenth centuries to works of the early twentieth century.

About this title

About the Author:

Sam Hamill is the author of more than thirty books of poetry, essays, and translations from the classical Chinese and Japanese, ancient Greek, Latin, and other languages. He has been a recipient of fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission. He lives near Port Townsend, Washington.

Language Notes:

Text: English, Japanese (translation)
Original Language: Japanese

About this edition

• Publisher: Shambhala
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1570623007
• ISBN 13: 9781570623004
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 124