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Classical Asian Literature
"It is one of the very first art books which helped artists develop the aptitude for seeing the inner essence of various natural phenomena."--Shambhala Sun
"Guide to Capturing a Plum Blossom could fit neatly into any number of contemporary-sounding categories: hybrid text, art book, lyric essay, etc. It is a book that relies on interdependence of image and text, of history and the present, of evocation and concrete image."--The Rumpus
"Red Pine introduces Western readers to both the text itself and the traditions it has inherited."--Virginia Quarterly Review
"All lovers of Asian poetry, mysterious history, divine drawing, and plum blossoms will enjoy this book. Thank you once again, Red Pine, for deep translation."--Michael McClure
Through a series of brief four-lined poems and illustrations, Sung Po-jen aims at training artistic perception: how to truly see a plum blossom. First published in AD 1238, Guide to Capturing a Plum Blossom is considered the world's earliest-known printed art books. This bilingual edition contains the one hundred woodblock prints from the 1238 edition, calligraphic Chinese poems, and Red Pine's graceful translations and illuminating commentaries.
"Tiger Tracks"
winter wind bends dry grass
flicks its tail along the ridge
fearful force on the loose
Red Pine's commentary: "The Chinese liken the north wind that blows down from Siberia in winter to a roaring tiger. China is home to both the Siberian and the South China tigers. While both are on the verge of extinction, the small South China tiger still appears as far north as the Chungnan Mountains, where hermits have shown me their tracks."
Sung Po-jen was a Chinese poet of the thirteenth century.
Red Pine (a.k.a. Bill Porter) is one of the world's foremost translators of Chinese poetry and religious texts. His published translations include The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain, Lao-tzu's Taoteching, and Poems of the Masters. He lives near Seattle, Washington.
Written around 1660, the unique Chinese short story collection Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor (Doupeng xianhua), by the author known only as Aina the Layman, uses the seemingly innocuous setting of neighbors swapping yarns on hot summer days under a shady arbor to create a series of stories that embody deep disillusionment with traditional values. The tales, ostensibly told by different narrators, parody heroic legends and explore issues that contributed to the fall of the Ming dynasty a couple of decades before this collection was written, including self-centeredness and social violence. These stories speak to all troubled times, demanding that readers confront the pretense that may lurk behind moralistic stances.
Idle Talk under the Bean Arbor presents all twelve stories in English translation along with notes from the original commentator, as well as a helpful introduction and analysis of individual stories.
In the early eighteenth century, the noblewoman Ōgimachi Machiko composed a memoir of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, the powerful samurai for whom she had served as a concubine for twenty years. Machiko assisted Yoshiyasu in his ascent to the rank of chief adjutant to the Tokugawa shogun. She kept him in good graces with the imperial court, enabled him to study poetry with aristocratic teachers and have his compositions read by the retired emperor, and gave birth to two of his sons. Writing after Yoshiyasu's retirement, she recalled it all--from the glittering formal visits of the shogun and his entourage to the passage of the seasons as seen from her apartments in the Yanagisawa mansion.
In the Shelter of the Pine is the most significant work of literature by a woman of Japan's early modern era. Featuring Machiko's keen eye for detail, strong narrative voice, and polished prose studded with allusions to Chinese and Japanese classics, this memoir sheds light on everything from the social world of the Tokugawa elite to the role of literature in women's lives. Machiko modeled her story on The Tale of Genji, illustrating how the eleventh-century classic continued to inspire its female readers and provide them with the means to make sense of their experiences. Elegant, poetic, and revealing, In the Shelter of the Pine is a vivid portrait of a distant world and a vital addition to the canon of Japanese literature available in English.
The second edition of An Introduction to Literary Chinese incorporates recent developments in linguistics and has been expanded to include a lesson on Buddhist texts. Beginning with an overview of literary Chinese--its phonology, morphology, and syntax, as well as a short account of the nature of the writing system--the textbook then presents thirty-six lessons of increasing difficulty designed to introduce students to the basic patterns of the language and give them practice in reading a variety of texts.
Part I presents eight lessons on the basic syntactic components in literary Chinese. Each lesson begins with an overview of its topic, introduces an exemplary text, and provides a glossary, notes, and practice exercises. The sixteen lessons in Part II use increasingly long and complex texts to introduce styles of narrative and argumentation in literary Chinese and, at the same time, solidify students' grasp of the syntax. The advanced texts in the six lessons in Part III introduce students to central authors and philosophical traditions in premodern China and broaden the process of reading to include elements of cultural and historical interpretation. Part IV has six lessons comprising important Tang and Song dynasty prose and poetic texts.
"A delectable selection of poems by China's greatest women poets in translations of exquisite beauty. A rare achievement!"--Red Pine
"Jade Mirror's particular strength comes from the fact that all of its fine translators bring to the work different senses of where poetry is to be found in the originals as well present some of the finest poetic translation of the last twenty years."--Jerome Seaton
This anthology spans twenty-five hundred years of writing by women. These are voices that were most often left out of the official anthologies and represent a hidden tradition that deserves a wider audience.
Published six years after Hearn arrived in Japan, these stories focus on the inner spiritual life of the Japanese. Sometimes touching and always compelling, they are drawn from Hearn's own experiences, telling stories of the people and customs that still make Japan so unique. Kokoro includes an informative foreword by Patricia Welch which highlights how, 125 years later, our understanding of Japan can still be deepened by Hearn's heartfelt prose.
Similar in form to the well-known, more serious haiku, the satirical--and often humorous--poems known as senryu have received little scholarly attention because most were written by anonymous amateur poets and were therefore considered popular literature unworthy of serious study. Senryu are interesting, however, precisely because they reflect the thoughts and feelings of ordinary townspeople in a way that other more orthodox types of Japanese literature do not. In his introduction on the nature and historical background of the form, Makoto Ueda explores the elements of humor and satire contained in senryu, highlighting the mores that lie behind the laughter the poems evince.
Collecting 400 eighteenth- and nineteenth-century poems--with the romanized Japanese verse presented at the bottom of each page--Light Verse from the Floating World is divided into thematic sections, each preceded by a short introduction: - satirical senryu, aimed at people of the ruling warrior class and civilians of various professions; - senryu on human relationships--between young lovers, husband and wife, parent and child, or family members of different generations; - poems on townspeople enjoying themselves in the "amusement" district; - ridicule of well-known historical figures; - and poems on the poets' general outlook on life. Replete with keen observations on the human world rather than the natural one, this first comprehensive anthology in English translation of this major genre of Japanese literature will appeal to scholars and students of Japanese culture, as well as general readers of poetry.
By 1816, Japan had recovered from the famines of the 1780s and moved beyond the political reforms of the 1790s. Despite persistent economic and social stresses, the country seemed headed for a new period of growth. The idea that the shogunate would not last forever was far from anyone's mind.
Yet, in that year, an anonymous samurai produced a scathing critique of Edo society. Writing as Buyo Inshi, "a retired gentleman of Edo," he expressed in An Account of What I Have Seen and Heard a profound despair with the state of the realm. Seeing decay wherever he turned, Buyo feared the world would soon descend into war. In his anecdotes, Buyo shows a sometimes surprising familiarity with the shadier aspects of Edo life. He speaks of the corruption of samurai officials; the suffering of the poor in villages and cities; the operation of brothels; the dealings of blind moneylenders; the selling and buying of temple abbotships; and the dubious strategies seen in law courts. Perhaps it was the frankness of his account that made him prefer to stay anonymous. A team of Edo specialists undertook the original translation of Buyo's work. This abridged edition streamlines this translation for classroom use, preserving the scope and emphasis of Buyo's argument while eliminating repetitions and diversions. It also retains the introductory essay that situates the work within Edo society and history.
"Hyesim's poems: transformative as walking high granite mountains by moonlight, with fragrant herbs underfoot and a thermos of clear tea in the backpack. Their bedrock is thusness, their images' beauty is pellucid and new, their view without limit. The shelf of essential Zen poets for American readers grows larger with this immediately indispensable collection."--Jane Hirshfield
"His poems speak softly and clearly, like hearing a temple bell that was struck a thousand years ago."--Sam Hamill
Chin'gak Kuksa Hyesim (1178-1234) was the first Zen master dedicated to poetry in Korea.
Ian Haight's books of translations include Borderland Roads: Selected Poems of Ho Kyun and Garden Chrysanthemums and First Mountain Snow: Zen Questions and Answers from Korea.
Often considered the highest achievement in Korean fiction, The Nine Cloud Dream poses the question: Will the life we dream of truly make us happy? Written in 17th-century Korea, this classic novel's wondrous story begins when a young monk living on a sacred Lotus Peak in China succumbs to the temptation of eight fairy maidens. For doubting his master's Buddhist teachings, the monk is forced to endure a strange punishment: reincarnation as the most ideal of men. On his journey through this new life full of material, martial, and sensual accomplishments beyond his wildest dreams, he encounters the eight fairies in human form, each one furthering his path towards understanding the fleeting value of his good fortune. As his successes grow, he comes closer and closer to finally comprehending the fundamental truths of the Buddha's teachings. Like Hesse's Siddhartha, The Nine Cloud Dream is an unforgettable tale that explores the meaning of a good life and the virtue of living simply with mindfulness. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Hyakunin Isshu is the most famous and popular collection of Japanese poetry, and the first work of Japanese literature ever to be translated into English. Compiled in the fourteenth century, the book is a collection of one hundred waka poems (a precursor of haiku), dating back to the seventh century. It's had a huge influence on Japanese culture ever since it was first published and is considered one of the three most important works of Japanese classical literature along with The Tale of Genji and Tales of Ise. "For more than seven centuries, these poems have resonated with countless readers ... [Peter
MacMillan's] excellent new translation of these poems makes clear why they have mattered
so much for so long ... [revealing] the vivid emotions that have kept the heart of the
collection beating all this time." --TIME For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
