Japanese Death Poems: Amazon.ca: Yoel Hoffman: Books

Product Description

Presenting a collection of jisel (death poems) composed by Japanese zen monks and haiku poets on the verge of death, this volume also includes background information to aid understanding of the works.

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First Sentence
The earliest known examples of Japanese lyric poetry are verses found in the first records of Japanese history, the Kojiki (Record of ancient matters), completed in 712 A.D. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
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Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good selection, poor commentary, Aug 15 2000

By	Tim Cornwell (Socorro, NM USA) - See all my reviews

As an admirer of this form and of Zen, I am delighted by the selection but not impressed by the commentary. Since Buddhism and Zen both have influenced death poetry so strongly, one would have hoped that the editor would have shown some appreciation of the subtleties of both. Unfortunately, the view of Buddhism is sadly out-dated and fundamentally mistaken. Hoffman misses the essence of emptiness and talks fatuously and anachronistically of "the void". The meaning of death poems written by Zen monks, but also by Japanese poets then becomes distorted by this nihilistic interpretation of Buddhism. So, delight in the poems themselves but skip the introduction and commentary. For a better collection including some Chinese death poems, see the excellent collection "Penguin Book of Zen Poetry" by Lucien Stryk, Takashi Ikemoto.

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5.0 out of 5 stars interesting tales, Jun 2 2004

By	Sam "Wilson" (Nassau, Bahamas) - See all my reviews

This book should be a very good read to you if you are interested in japanese culture and history. I have not yet finished the book but so far it has kept me wanting to return to its pages. In most cases it explores the lives of various interesting people and then gives you their last written words which you can find your own meaning in, it sets the mood for reflection. It is very refreshing and calming to read.

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5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best compilations of any poetry i've ever seen, Mar 25 2004

By	"softest_bullet" (Westerville, OH United States) - See all my reviews

this book will be one of the favorites of any sort in my collection for quite some time, i'm sure. it's filled with absolutely beautiful poems which range far beyond the gloomy atmosphere many people would expect of them. the begining portion of the book is written sort of like a textbook, and provides very interesting reading on japanese literature and history. then it is followed by the death poems of zen monks, which i find to be the most interesting portion of the book. concluding the book is a long section devoted to the last poems of very numerous haiku poets. this book shines a new light on the subject of death, and is quite well translated.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars We Are All Getting Ready To Have To Take The Ride!
A superb collection of "last words" in poetry, this volume should be savoured and returned to - repeatedly. Read more

Published on Mar 14 2004 by Hortensia Anderson

5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful read!
I know very little about Japanese culture, Buddhism, Zen or anything else of that nature. Nevertheless (or perhaps because of, if i look at some of the other reviews of this... Read more

Published on Jan 8 2002 by Isaac Vanduyn

5.0 out of 5 stars a rare view of situational poetry
While I agree that a bilingual text would have been better, this is an excellent selection of poetry written for a particular situation - the death of the author. Read more

Published on Jun 23 2001 by M. J. Smith

3.0 out of 5 stars Bilingual Would Have Been Much Better
OK, it was a nice book to pass the time, but I think it really should have been bilingual. They took the time to write the names in Kanji and romanized the poems, it would have... Read more

Published on April 19 2001 by JRavey