Japanese & Haiku Books - Page 5

Episcopal Haiku: The Church, Its Ways, and Its People, Seventeen Syllables at a Time

Sarah Goodyear, Ed Weissman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

humble and humorous 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

It's pretty easy to make fun of Episcopalians but this little tome manages to do so with great charm and humility. I turned down page corners thinking I would love to memorize a few of the delicious haikus and reel them off at the appropriate moment at church and non church functions. I then realized I had turned down most of the corners of the book. These elegant little poems are funny but also quite sound spiritually. One per page. I was enchanted. The perfect confirmation, God child, graduation gift or just I had to get this for you no occasion present for the Episcopalian or main stream Protestant or enlightened Roman Catholic. A delight.

Editorial Review:

The Episcopal Church's rituals and foibles, character and characters, beauty and liturgy - seventeen syllables at a time. Stand, sit, kneel, stand, kneel: It's quite a good workout for a Sunday morning. Blessing animals is a joyous day at church. Who has ugly pets? - and many more! Episcopal Haiku will delight Episcopalians with its humor and universally recognizable situations.

Haiku Humor: Wit and Folly in Japanese Poems and Prints

Stephen Addiss, Fumiko Y. Yamamoto, Akira Y. Yamamoto

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 2.0 of 5

Plebian or plebeian? 2 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

There is an illuminating typo on the page 12 "plebian".
This is a key word; humor is a clique matter.

The book penetrates the cultural barriers in a small way.
But haiku itself is small and thus there are many little successes.

We didn't go to school together with the poems' authors, did not laugh together just by showing to each other our funny facial expressions.

It's clear that modern Japanese writers produce somewhat more vivid humor for us, English speakers:

A New Year card
to my cat
from its vet

by Yorie

or

Having given his opinion
he returns home to
his wife's opinion

by Yacho.

However the centuries' old humor is questionable or too gentle:

Cats' eyes
children's hearts
autumn sky-all fickle

(Anonymous).
[first apostrophe is mine].

The old haiku masters succeed with ease to send their glimmering light through the fog of time and reach us:

Cats' love-
they parted
without ceremony

by Issa!

Artists' humor, of course, makes this book a good coffee table adornment.

Zinovy Vayman

Boston Haiku Society
Kaji Aso Institute
Haiku Villages, Inc.
Yuki Teikei Haiku Society
Hebrew Haiku Society
Moscow Circle of Haiku Poets

Editorial Review:

Humor has long been a lively element in traditional Japanese culture. Through parody, satire, personification, and wit, Japanese humor has a playful, subtle, and incongruous nature. Here, the benign and gentle quality of Japanese humor is presented through 120 haiku by such masters as Basho, Issa, and Buson, among others. Color reproductions of nearly fifty woodblock prints, paintings, and drawings accompany the poems.

Haiku U: From Aristotle to Zola, 100 Great Books in 17 Syllables

David M. Bader

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Take a hilarious crash course in literature—just three pithy lines—from a bestselling haiku humorist.

Why spend weeks slogging through The Iliad when you could just read the haiku? From Homer to Faulkner to Lao Tzu, the Great Books are now within the reach of even the shortest attention spans. Show off your literary prowess at cocktail parties with minimal prep time, thanks to the author of the popular Haikus for Jews.

In the sixteenth century, Zen monks in Japan developed the haiku, a poem consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Little did they know that their ancient art form was destined to become a handy tool for today’s time-crunched Western reader!

Reducing eyestrain and deforestation, Haiku U. distills dialogue and plot, capturing the essence of our favorite literary classics, seventeen syllables at time:

Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past:
Tea-soaked madeleine—
a childhood recalled. I had
brownies like that once.

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre:
O woe! His mad wife—
in the attic! Had they but
lived together first.

Just in time for graduation, Haiku U. gives the gift of an entire literary canon, packed into one hilarious gem.

Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Haiku and Other Whimsical Observations to Help You Understand the Modern Game

Gregg Easterbrook

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

I like football but not this book 2 out of 5 stars.
6 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Lets put it this way, i was selling it on ebay within 2 hours

absolutely horrible 1 out of 5 stars.
5 of 17 people found this review helpful.

I don't even have to read the book to know it is horrible, just look who wrote it. I am guessing he commented on certain games without actually watching them. Just a moron trying to throw around his opinion.

Editorial Review:

Based on the increasingly popular weekly football commentary on the e-zine Slate, Tuesday Morning Quarterback showcases the esoteric humor that has made Gregg Easterbrook's column a hit with sports fans on the Internet. By using Zen poetry, Newtonian physics, historical allusions, and other conceits, Easterbrook creates a fresh, ironic commentary to the philosophy of the game. Including mostly original material as well as a handful of classic TMQ commentary from his column, this book, in the wry humorous tradition of Golf in the Kingdom, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, and O Holy Cow! The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto, is an intriguingly oddball yet right-on-the-money examination of football and its culture.

LOVE POEMS FROM THE JAPANESE (Shambhala Pocket Classics)

Sam Hamill

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A perfect introduction to the subject. 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Great things come in small packages has never been so true as it is with this little gem. Erotic, profound, and always beautiful, this is Japanese poetry at its short, short best. Read and enjoy.

Elegant and Exquisite! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

A diverse collection from classical, mediaeval and modern sources
including Manyoshu and Kokinshu, the poems have an elegant
simplicity. Brief biographies of the poets are supplied.
An exquisite volume well worth owning. It makes an excellent gift.

Lovely Japanese LOVE poems 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Just what you need if your wife needs an indication that you are still "there"!

The Autumnal dusk of life... 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

If you have a heart that is full of longing, a life that slips past too quickly, a love long lost or not yet known, a yearning for the spring, an ache for a distant tune partly forgotten or the remembrance of the scent of spring, then this book is for you. It will not lighten the load you bear, but it makes bearing it all the more meaningful.

More Wabi Sabi

Editorial Review:

A heart-stirring collection of Japanese love poems, ranging in tone from deeply erotic to profoundly spiritual--the perfect Valentine's Day gift. The poems have been selected by the poet and translator Hamill from Rexroth's classic One Hundred Poems from the Japanese and other sources.

Kokinshu: A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (C & T Asian Languages Series.) (C & T Asian Languages Series.)

John Timothy Wixted, Leonard Grzanka

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A Poor Offering 1 out of 5 stars.
15 of 20 people found this review helpful.

I am a student of Japanese literature, and have studied Classical Japanese Poetry at Waseda University; I own multiple Japanese texts of the Kokinwakashu (or Kokinshu, to be short), and have read them in Japanese, and I was interested to see how the English in this translation compares to other translators like Keene or Teele.

Rodd and Henkenius, while to be commended for the time they spent translating these poems, have spent much of it in vain; or vainly, I should say.

Their translations are almost offhand, commanding neither beauty in the English language nor a great deal of similarity in meaning to the Japanese poems they are based upon. Their arrogance too in assuming that they can simply insert metaphors into poems when those metaphors simply DO NOT EXIST in the original is staggering.

Take, for example, a poem by Ono no Komachi, number 797 in the original anthology.

(Iro miede / utsurou mono ha / yo no naka no / hito no kokoro no / hana ni zo arikeru)

Rodd and Henkenius have rendered this as:

that which fades within
without changing its color
is the hidden bloom
of the heart of man in
this world of disillusion

I cannot begin to describe how many things are wrong with this translation. First of all..."world of disillusion"?? I would like to ask Rodd and Henkenius where they find the word, or even the implied word, "disillusion" in the original work. It's not there. "Hidden bloom"? I would like to ask Rodd and Henkenius where they find the word, or even the implied word, "hidden" in the original work. It's not there. They are wantonly Orientalizing and debasing this great work through their meaningless additions.

Furthermore, their English poesy is flawed, weak, and foolish. The 5-7-5-7-7 waka format is a poor choice for the English poet; they have unfortunately decided to attempt (very, VERY poorly) to keep the original diction in their English; what they failed to take into account is that neither of them, apparently, have any skill in using that particular poetic form, and the English language is not meant, as the Japanese language is, to be able to fit into 5-7-5 syllabic diction. They insert spaces in strange places, avoid punctuation at all costs, and freely twist the meaning to suit their idiotic whims...and the result isn't even pretty to read.

Full of errors, full of discrepancies, full of deception toward those who would read this thinking it is full of valid translations of Classical Japanese poetry.

Avoid at all costs.

Editorial Review:

This is the first complete translation of the tenth-century work Kokinshu, one of the three most important anthologies of the Japanese classical tradition. This edition presents the entire work, including clearly annotated translations not only of the 1,111 poems, but also of the original Japanese and Chinese prefaces. Royally commissioned in order to return Japanese poetry to the public arena after a renewed interest in Chinese literature, the Kokinshu's compilers linked the poems by topic, theme, imagery, and chronological and narrative progression to form an integrated anthology; thus, the Kokinshu is meant to be read as a single unit. Indexed.

Ten Thousand Leaves

Anonymous

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Love and Longing in Old Japan 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

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.

TEN THOUSAND LEAVES 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

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...!!!

Haiku (Asian Arts and Crafts For Creative Kids)

Patricia Donegan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great explanations and craft ideas 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is awesome. The author does a GREAT job at explaining about the essential elements of haiku and how to include them in your poetry. This book is great for teachers who would like a simple guide to help them teach the art of haiku to their students. In addition, this book suggests a number of extension activities involving the arts that are great as well.

Editorial Review:

Haiku introduces five styles of haiku to readers and includes projects on:
* Your first haiku--how to get started with the classic form of poetry
* Your favorite season--exploring nature, a traditional element in haiku
* Your own personal haiku--writing in haibun, a form of haiku that uses personal narrative
* Haiku with pictures--creating haiga, an illustrated haiku
* Haiku with a friend--developing renga, linked-verse haiku
The Asian Arts & Crafts for Creative Kids series is the first series, aimed at readers ages 7-12, that provides a fun and educational introduction to Asian culture and art. Through hands on projects readers will explore each art--engaging in activities to gain a better understanding of each form.

Dream Writing Assignments: 600+ Prompts for Creative Writing

David E. LeCount

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

who the #!!@*# cares about these prompts? 2 out of 5 stars.
10 of 13 people found this review helpful.

In preparation for facilitating a creative writing class I bought some books of writing prompts, this book among them. Here is an example of one of the prompts: "What daily actvities are planned in the home for brain-different pollywogs?" Here's another, from the same page: "Can a person with Attention Deficit Disorder ever become an explosives expert? A diamond cutter? What medications might make it possible?"

Oh, come on now!

Just to deconstruct the second one, I don't think these kinds of prompts about people who experience Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) are useful. We all fail to pay attention much more often than we realize. Assuming that it would take a medication to make it possible for someone who experiences ADD to work in those professions is not an assumption I am willing to make, and is consistent with the medicalization of everything. (Ever seen the drug ad on TV that asserts that feeling well may be a symptom that something hidden is wrong?)

And who the hell cares about brain-different pollywogs? Certainly not the people in the class I am going to be with. They want to write about things that really move people. They want to find a way into the hearts of their readers, not talk about things like "if you were a pearl who would your parents be?"

And finally- prompt 529: "Why do men wear socks and ladies wear nylons?" Geez, Mr. Count, haven't you ever seen a woman wear socks? We often do, especially with gym shoes.

My vote: I wish I hadn't ordered this book because it proved to be pretty much useless to me.

Editorial Review:

Creative questions elicit creative responses. That's what English teacher David LeCount demonstrates in this collection of quirky, provocative writing prompts designed to release students from standardized writing assignments.

Lotus Moon: The Poetry of the Buddhist Nun Rengetsu (Inklings)

Rengetsu

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent Translations 5 out of 5 stars.
15 of 15 people found this review helpful.

Another reviewer called the translations of these waka "pure" and John Stevens truly collaborates with the Buddhist nun poet, Rengetsu ("lotus moon") in this collection. Each poem has crystalline clarity and shines like a full moon. One that stays in my head and my heart is:

Looking out over the bay,
I see clouds of cold rain
Summoning winter,
And hear the wind in the pines
Whisper its name.

Ah!

Editorial Review:

At the age of 33, Otagaki Nobu renounced a world that had visited great tragedy upon her (the death of two husbands and two infant children) and was ordained as a nun, taking the Buddhist name Rengetsu, or Lotus Moon. The rest of her long and productive life was devoted to spiritual pursuits, service to others and a multifaceted career as a poet, calligrapher, potter and painter. This is a selection of her finest waka poetry, presented in both the original Japanese and in English. Illustrated with reproductions of Rengetsu's pottery, painting and calligraphy, Lotus Moon is an invitation to commune with the soul of a remarkable woman and her artistic legacy.