Customer Reviews

Japanese Death Poems

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

A superb collection of "last words" in poetry, this volume should be savoured and returned to - repeatedly. It has an impressive range of contributors from various traditions and the variety of expression in the poems compensates in part for the lack of a bilingual text. A book that belongs on poetry bookshelves as well as by the bedside during the thin gauzy hours with faint moonlight casting shadows of doubt...

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 book), I found Japanese Death Poems to be an extremely interesting read. The introduction and explanations of the poems are very well written and easy to read, and the poems themselves are extremely entertaining on many levels. I don't know whether they are translated well or not, but I enjoyed the English translations of the poems. I would definately recommend this book 100 percent.

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. One strength of the collection is that it is not limited to Zen masters but includes samurai, Shinto followers, women ... The result is a collection which includes a broad range of emotional flavors - from sassy to hopeful anticipation, from expectations of heaven (pure land) to dissolution ...

The organizational principle (alphabetic) results in some curious juxtapositions. The explanatory text is useful, thought-provoking and non-intrusive. The introduction provides excellent background material on death in Japanese culture. Everything works together to create an excellent book.

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 been nice to see it in actual Japanese. I did appreciate the romanized though, at least you can see what they actually wrote instead of the authors intrepetations of what they wrote (which are pretty good overall). I have to say though, that if you were looking for deep insights into Buddhism or Japanese culture, you'll probably be disappointed. I just bought it at the train station to pass time and I enjoyed it overall, except the translations were a bit loose at times. Well, maybe if they actually explained their reasoning for the translations it would have been better.

this book is absolutely fantastic, a must buy, if this kind of stuff interests you

An excellent collection of haiku and classical poetry composed in the face of immediate death. Some funny, some wrathful, some incredibly sad. This book is a fine reminder of a time and place where concentration and clarity of mind were condsidered paramount assets.

I read this book straight through, cover to cover. However I don't recommend that people read this book that way. I think this compilation is better appreciated if you read a few poems and take some time to contemplate them.

I did notice something interesting about the authors of these poems: It seemed to me that most of them realised that they are actually about to die and felt that they wasted their lives in their religious beliefs. These monks took a vow of poverty and had no possessions, ever. They begged every day to make it to the next. Then in the end, they got nothing out if it. They realised they're going to die just like everyone else. Kinda sad.