The Kokinshu: Weekly Reading
This is the poem I currently relate to the most. It pretty much sums up my state of mind for the past 5 years. I'll have to post something more positive next week so everyone doesn't fall under the impression that the Kokinshu is nothing but doom and gloom. =/
Though I am resigned to my sad fate,
I cannot vanish from our world
-this world in which I
must live on in wretched misery.
The Kokinshu is a compilation of well over a thousand short poems composed by Japanese poets in the Heian period (as ordered by Emperer Uda). It dates all the way back roughly to the year 905. I have fallen in love with these poems!
The book I'm pulling these poems from deserve the following credits:
John Timothy Wixted (Author), Leonard Grzanka (Author), Laurel Rasplica Rodd (Translator), Mary Catherine Henkenius (Translator)
The book itself can be purchased on Amazon if you follow this link.
Please keep in mind that The Kokinshu has been published by many different publishers and translated by many different people over time. I'm simply sharing with you the translations from one book.
Though I am resigned to my sad fate,
I cannot vanish from our world
-this world in which I
must live on in wretched misery.
The Kokinshu is a compilation of well over a thousand short poems composed by Japanese poets in the Heian period (as ordered by Emperer Uda). It dates all the way back roughly to the year 905. I have fallen in love with these poems!
The book I'm pulling these poems from deserve the following credits:
John Timothy Wixted (Author), Leonard Grzanka (Author), Laurel Rasplica Rodd (Translator), Mary Catherine Henkenius (Translator)
The book itself can be purchased on Amazon if you follow this link.
Please keep in mind that The Kokinshu has been published by many different publishers and translated by many different people over time. I'm simply sharing with you the translations from one book.