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    A HUNDRED VERSES FROM OLD JAPAN - 100 verses with notes from the Hyaku-nin-isshiu: 'Single Verses by a Hundred People'
    A HUNDRED VERSES FROM OLD JAPAN - 100 verses with notes from the Hyaku-nin-isshiu: 'Single Verses by a Hundred People'
    A HUNDRED VERSES FROM OLD JAPAN - 100 verses with notes from the Hyaku-nin-isshiu: 'Single Verses by a Hundred People'
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    A HUNDRED VERSES FROM OLD JAPAN - 100 verses with notes from the Hyaku-nin-isshiu: 'Single Verses by a Hundred People'

    By Various Unknown

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    About this ebook

    The Hyaku-nin-isshiu, or 'Single Verses by a Hundred People', were collected together in Japan during A.D. 1235. These have been penned in the Tanka style, which has five lines and thirty-one syllables, arranged 5-7-5-7-7 which is an unusual metre for Western ears. They range from about the year A.D. 670, and have been placed in approximate chronological order.

    The Collection consists almost entirely of what the editor calls picture-poems and love-poems, intended to bring before the mind's eye some well-known scene in nature. It is marvellous what images are sketches in the mind’s eye within thirty-one syllables.
    Each poem is accompanied by a pen and ink thumbnail sketches and explanatory notes (where they have been available). Some sketches show the cherry blossoms which are doomed to fall, the dewdrops scattered by the wind, the mournful cry of the wild deer on the mountains, the dying crimson of the fallen maple leaves, the weird sadness of the cuckoo singing in the moonlight, or the loneliness of the recluse in the mountain wilds. While those verses which appear to be of a more cheerful type are rather of the nature of the 'Japanese smile', described by Lafcadio Hearn as a facial mask adopted to hide the real feelings.

    Japanese poetry differs very largely from anything we are used to in the West. It has very little rhyme or alliteration, and little, if any, rhythm, as we understand it.

    10% of the net sale will be donated to charities. YESTERDAY'S BOOKS for TODAY’S CHARITIES
    ============
    KEYWORDS/TAGS - a hundred verses from old japan, translation, Hyaku-nin-isshiu, Single Verses, Hundred People, collected A.D. 1235, before the Norman Conquest, advanced culture, Japan, ancient poetry, love poems, picture poems, mind's eye, nature scenes, marvellous, thumbnail sketches, cherry blossom, fall,dewdrops, wind, mournful cry, wild deer, mountains, dying crimson, fallen, maple leaves, weird sadness, cuckoo, singing, moonlight, loneliness, recluse, wilds, Japanese smile, Japanese poetry, poet, rhyme, alliteration, Tanka poetry, thirty-one syllables, 31 syllables, five lines, 5 lines, 5-7-5-7-7, metre, Western ears,8-6-8-6-6, Tenchi Tennō, Jitō Tenno, Kaki-No-Moto No Hitomaro, Yamabe No Akahito, Saru Maru Taiu, Chū-Nagon Yakamochi, Abe No Nakamaro, Kizen Hōshi, Ono No Komachi, Semi Maru, Sangi Takamura, Sōjō Henjō, Yōzei In,Kawara No Sadaijin, Kwōkō Tennō, Chū-Nagon Ariwara No Yuki-Hira, Ariwara No Nari-Hira Ason, Fujiwara No Toshi-Yuki Ason, Ise,Moto-Yoshi Shinnō, Sosei Hōshi, Bunya No Yasuhide, Ōye No Chisato, Kwan-Ke,Sanjō Udaijin, Tei-Shin Kō, Chū-Nagon Kanesuke, Minamoto No Mune-Yuki Ason, Ōshi-Kōchi No Mitsune, Nibu No Tadamine, Saka-No-Uye No Korenori, Harumichi No Tsuraki, Kino Tomonori, Fujiwara No Oki-Kaze, Kino Tsura-Yuki, Kiyowara No Fuka-Yabu, Bunya No Asayasu, Ukon,Sangi Hitoshi, Taira No Kanemori, Nibu No Tadami, Kiyowara No Moto-Suke, Chū-Nagon Yatsu-Tada, Chū-Nagon Asa-Tada, Ken-Toku Ko, Sō Ne-Yoshi-Tada, Ye-Kei Hōshi, Minamoto No Shige-Yuki, Ōnakatomi No Yoshi-Nobu Ason, Fujiwara No Yoshitaka, Fujiwara No Sanekata Ason, Michi-Nobu Ason, Udaishō Michi-Tsuna No Haha, Gidō-Sanshi No Haha, Dai-Nagon Kintō, Izumi Shikibu,Murasaki Shikibu, Daini No Sammi, Akazome Emon, Ko-Shikibu No Naishi, Ise No Taiu, Sei Shō-Nagon, Sakyō Taiu Michimasa, Gon Chū-Nagon Sada-Yori, Sagami,Daisōjō Gyōson, Suwo No Naishi, Sanjō In, Nō-In Hoshi, Riyō-Zen Hoshi, Dai-Nagon, Tsune-Nobu, Yūshi Naishinnō Ke Kii, Gon Chū-Nagon Masafusa, Minamoto No Toshi-Yori Ason, Fujiwara No Mototoshi, Hōshō-Ji Nyūdō Saki No Kwambaku Daijōdaijin, Sutoku In, Minamoto No Kanemasa, Sakyō No Taiu Aki-Suke, Taiken Mon-In Horikawa, Go Tokudai-Ji Sadaijin, Dō-In Hoshi, Kwō-Tai-Kōgū No Taiu Toshi-Nari, Fujiwara No Kiyo-Suke Ason, Shun-Ye Hōshi, Saigyō Hōshi, Jaku-Ren Hōshi, Kwōka Mon-In No Betto, Shikishi Naishinnō,
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAbela Publishing
    Release dateMay 1, 2017
    ISBN9781907256196
    A HUNDRED VERSES FROM OLD JAPAN - 100 verses with notes from the Hyaku-nin-isshiu: 'Single Verses by a Hundred People'

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    • 3/5
      It's an okay collection of poems. The pictures in the book are depicted really small so I couldn't appreciate them that much.

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    A HUNDRED VERSES FROM OLD JAPAN - 100 verses with notes from the Hyaku-nin-isshiu - Various Unknown

    IN

    INTRODUCTION

    THE Hyaku-nin-isshiu, or 'Single Verses by a Hundred People', were collected together in A.D. 1235 by Sadaiye Fujiwara, who included as his own contribution verse No. 97. They are placed in approximately chronological order, and range from about the year 670 to the year of compilation. The Japanese devote themselves to poetry very much more than we (in the West) do; and there is hardly a home in Japan, however humble, where these verses, or at least some of them, are not known. They are, and have been for many years, used also in connection with a game of cards, in which the skill consists in fitting parts of the different verses together.

    Japanese poetry differs very largely from anything we are used to; it has no recognisable rhyme or alliteration, and little, if any, rhythm, as we understand it. The verses in this Collection are all what are called Tanka, which was for many years the only form of verse known to the Japanese. A tanka verse has five line and thirty-one syllables, arranged thus: 5-7-5-7-7 as this is an unusual metre in our ears, I have adopted for the translation a five-lined verse of 8-6-8-6-6 metre, with the second, fourth, and fifth lines rhyming, in the hope of retaining at least some resemblance to the original form, while making the sound more familiar to English readers.

    I may perhaps insert here, as an example, the following well-known tanka verse, which does not appear in the Hyaku-nin-isshiu collection:—

    Idete inaba

    Nushinaki yado to

      Narinu tomo

      Nokiba no ume yo

    Haru wo wasuruna.

    Though masterless my home appear,

      When I have gone away,

    Oh plum tree growing by the caves,

      Forget not to display

      Thy buds in spring, I pray.

    This was written by Sanetomo Minamoto on the morning of the day he was murdered at Kamakura, as related in the note to verse No. 93.

    It is necessarily impossible in a translation of this kind to adhere at all literally to the text; more especially as Japanese poetry abounds in all sorts of puns, plays upon words, and alternative meanings, which cannot be rendered into English. For example, a favourite device with Japanese verse-writers is to introduce what Professor Chamberlain calls a 'pivot-word', which they consider adds an elegant touch to the composition. An instance of this will be found in verse No. 16, where the word matsu, though only appearing once, must be understood twice with its two different meanings. It is almost as if we should say, 'Sympathy is what I needless to say I never get it.' Other peculiarities of Japanese verse, as Professor Chamberlain points out, are the 'pillow-word', or recognized conventional epithet (see verse No. 17), and the 'preface', where the first two or three lines appear to have only the slightest connection with the main idea, and simply serve as an introduction (see verse No. 27).

    The Hyaku-nin-isshiu, like all Japanese classical poetry, contains no Chinese words, such as are so extensively introduced into the modern spoken language; it consists of poetical ideas clothed in poetical language, compressed within the regulation metre, embellished with various elegant word-plays, and is absolutely free from any trace of vulgarity. In the old days it was only the nobles, court officials, and church dignitaries, who wrote verses; or at all events only their verses have been handed down to our time, and the lower classes were not supposed to know anything at all about the art.

    Thus, it is related that long ago Prince Ota Dokwan was hunting with his retinue on the mountains; and, a storm of rain coming on, he stopped at a mountain inn, to request the loan of a rain-coat; a girl came at his call, and retired into the hut, coming back again in a few minutes looking rather confused, and without saying a word she humbly presented the Prince with a yamabuki blossom (a kind of yellow rose) on an outstretched fan. The Prince, much incensed at being trifled with like this, turned on his heel, and went off in high dudgeon; until one of his attendants reminded him of a well-known verse, which runs:—

    Nanae yae

    Hana wa sake domo

      Yamabuki no

    Mi no hitotsu dani

    Naka zo kanashiki.

    The yamabuki blossom has

      A wealth of petals gay ;

    But yet in spite of this, alas

      I much regret to say,

      No seed can it display.

    The words as printed in the last couplet mean, 'I am very sorry that it has not a single seed; but, if mino is taken as one word, it would mean, 'I am very sorry that (the yamabuki, i.e. herself, the mountain flower) has not any rain-coat'. And this was the maiden's delicate apology. The Prince, we are told, was astonished to find such culture and learning in a peasant girl!

    Perhaps what strikes one most in connection with the Hyaku-nin-isshiu is the date when the verses were written; most of them were produced before the time of the Norman Conquest, and one cannot but be struck with the advanced state of art and culture in Japan at a time when England was still in a very elementary

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