The Ten Thousand Leaves: Poems from the Man'yoshu
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Book Overview
A sweeping anthology of classical Japanese poetry, including poems about love, war, trees and mountains, everyday life, and so much more. One of the most important works of Japanese literature of all time, available here in an accessible translation. The first and greatest anthology of classical Japanese poetry, the Man'yōshū is considered, along with The Tale of Genji, to be one of the most important works in classical Japanese literature. The title means "anthology of ten thousand leaves," the anthology of anthologies from the first flowering of artistic and literary sensibility during the Asuka and Nara periods--the seventh and eighth centuries. Exhibiting an astonishing variety, the poems range from the grand animistic rhetoric of laments for the imperial family to the stark and curiously modern "Dialogue of the Destitute"; from the elegant banquet verse of aristocrats to the "poems of the frontier guardsmen." As its title suggests, The Ten Thousand Leaves is a gathering of poems of many kinds, from a period unparalleled in Japanese history. This volume reproduces the first five books of the original Man'yōshū, with an introduction and notes by the translator, Ian Hideo Levy, whose elegant and informative edition was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:1681378906
ISBN13:9781681378909
Release Date:July 2025
Publisher:New York Review of Books
Length:432 Pages
Weight:1.01 lbs.
Dimensions:1.0" x 5.7" x 8.2"
Customer Reviews
2 ratings
TEN THOUSAND LEAVES
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
THIS BOOK IS ONE OF MY MOST LOVED JAPANESE POETRY BOOKS... THESE POEMS OF LOVE AND LONGING... TOUCHES MY HEART LIKE WAVES OF CRASHING TEARS OR BREEZES OF BLISS... EXCELLENT... 10 STARS...!!!
Love and Longing in Old Japan
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 19 years ago
The poignancy in these poems speaks as directly to the heart today as it must have in the eighth century. Separation of lovers, whether by war or by the necessity of maintaining secrecy, intensified the longing. The illustrations are very nice, and the introduction and notes provide a helpful and interesting context.
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