Modern Japanese Tanka: an Anthology
by Makoto Ueda (Editor)
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Description
Tanka, a clasical Japanese verse form like haiku, has experienced a resurgence of interest among twentieth-century poets and readers. Arguably the central genre of Japanese literature, the 31-syllable lyric made up the great majority of Japanese poetry from the ninth to the nineteenth century and was the inspiration for such poetry as haiku and renga. Tanka has begun to attract considerable attention in North America in recent years. Modern Japanese Tanka is the first comprehensive show more collection available in English. Tanka retains the aesthetic sensibilities that circumscribe Japanese culture, but just as Japan has changed during this tumultuous century, tanka has undergone equally radical shifts. Responding to artistic and social movements of the West, tanka has incorporated influences ranging from Marxism to Avant-Garde. Modern Japanese Tanka includes four hundred poems by twenty of Japan's most renowned poets who have made major contributions to the hisotry of tanka in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With his graceful, eloquent translations, Makoto Ueda captures the distinct voices of these individual poets, providing biographical sketches of each as well as transliterating Japanese text below each poem. His introduction gives an excellent overview of the development of tanka in the last one hundred years. Tracing the contemporary tanka tradition from Yosana Tekkan in the late nineteenth century to the late twentieth-century poetry of such writers as Taware Machi, Modern Japanese Tankselegantly conveys an authentic sense of Japanese lyric to a Western audience. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A great and highly-readable book of modern tanka. The introduction gives a solid introduction to the development of modern tanka, both from Japanese and Western influences. Twenty poets are featured with a short biography of each and a nice introductory selection. The poems are varied and interesting. Definitely worth reading.
A micro-poem for every mood, every hunger, every passing fancy.
today too
out of this urge to cry
I went to the city
today too
out of this urge to cry
I went to the city
stalwartly
youngsters strut
toward death
in the summer mountains
where ropes hang like intestine
youngsters strut
toward death
in the summer mountains
where ropes hang like intestine
Reviewed in Blithe Spirit 6/3 Feb 1996
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Modern Japanese Tanka: an Anthology
- Original publication date
- 1996 (English collection) (English collection)
Classifications
- Genres
- Poetry, Fiction and Literature, Literature Studies and Criticism
- DDC/MDS
- 895.61008 — Literature & rhetoric Literatures of other languages Literatures of East and Southeast Asia Japanese Japanese poetry Collections
- LCC
- PL782 .E3 .M66 — Language and Literature Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Languages of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Japanese language and literature Japanese literature Collections
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 66
- Popularity
- 472,002
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (4.46)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
