A Net of Fireflies is a superb collection of classic haiku composed by the leading writers of this delicate but intricate art form.With over three Japanese hundred haiku poems written over five centuries, the book is a thorough introduction to the unique world of Japanese haiku. Thirty-three full color haiku paintings complement the poems, providing a new and delightful dimension for understanding and appreciating this often illusive but always ...
**Winner of the Noma Prize for New Writers**Set in rural Japan as the height of the bubble economy, Distant Thunder tells of a farming village gradually effaced by urbanization, corruption, and greed. After Matsuzo Wada has sold off the family's land and left his wife for another woman, his son Mitsuo is determined to support himself and his mother in the traditional manner, farming.All that remains of his ancestors' lands is a hothous ...
Mr. Collins is a funny writer [who puts] his finger on exactly what—makes Japan bewildering, endearing, amusing, inspiring."—The New York Times."There has been a murder in the posh locker room of the Tokyo Lawn Tennis Club. After a bad set of doubles, popular nice guy Shig Manabe is found floating in the hot tub, turning pink, and beginning to bubble crimson. Captain Tim Kawamura, family man and hero of the American Club murd ...
Readers of medieval Japanese literature have long been captivated by its romance and philosophy. In this volume, two acclaimed thirteenth-century classics, The Ten Foot Square Hut and Tales of the Heike, are presented in translation. The Ten Foot Square Hut (the Hojoki) takes its title from a four and half mat sized Tearoom, the size of the hut in which the hero of the story, Chomei, lives. It offers the memorable reflections of this sensitive a ...
This classic Japanese story of humor and adventure is available here for the first time in digital format.A pair of irrepressible scoundrels are the heroes of this madcap chronicle of adventure, full of earthy humor, along the great highway from Tokyo to Kyoto. The lusty tale of their disreputable doings is Japan's most celebrated comic novel.Shank's Mare was originally issued serially beginning in 1802, and was so successful that the ...
First published in 1682, The Life of an Amorous Man depicts the pursuits and follies of the glorious age of old Japan, when the new bourgeoisie, unfettered by the societal constraints of the traditional aristocracy, indulged in the free and easy life of Japan’s celebrated pleasure houses. The hero of this fascinating novel is a composite of the many daijin (men of wealth) who spent their time in these flourishing establishments.The nov ...
This is the most authoritative and concise book on Japanese haiku available: what it is, how it developed, and how it is practiced in both Japanese and English.While many haiku collections are available to Western readers, few books combine both translated haiku with haiku written originally in English, along with an analysis of individual poems and of the haiku form itself. Written by a leading scholar in the field—Kenneth Yasuda was ...
Geisha in Rivalry , first published as Udekurabe in 1918, has a secure place among Kafu Nagai's masterpieces. Set against the backdrop of Tokyo's Shimbashi geisha district, a company of vivid characters play out their drama of illicit love, shady intrigue, and unrelenting rivalry. In the forefront are the geisha: some powerful and spiteful like the imperious Rikiji, some crude and obvious like the gaudy Kikuchiyo, some naive and p ...
Written near the end of Sadako Sawamura's remarkable life, My Asakusa (Watashi co Asakusa) is a charming collection of autobiographical essays by a truly self-made woman.Recalling Japan at a time of great political turmoil and rapid cultural change, Sawamura shares with us her vignettes of growing up in Asakusa—one of the last of the old downtown Shitamachi neighborhoods of incessantly modernizing Tokyo—and her keen insigh ...
