The Zen Fool Ryokan

Fülszöveg

When the moon shines Clean and clear Let me enjoy a plum-branch In the evening so quiet
-ryokan
One of Japan's best-loved poets of any era, also renowned for his calligraphy, Ryokan was born in 1757 in Echigo, Niigata Prefecture, the eldest son of a Shinto priest. Ratherthan follow his father's footsteps as he was expected to do, however, he entered the Soto sect of Zen Buddhisnn at age seventeen. Four years later he took his vows as a Zen priest and underwent ten years of discipline and austerity. He also undertook several long pilgrimages throughout western Japan. He returned to his native land and settled in a lonely mountain hermitage he called "Gogo An," where he lived the spartan life of a monk and composed poetry in both Japanese and Chinese, which remain widely populartoday.
Ryokan's poems are celebrations of the joys and sadnesses of everyday life. His spare, direct style is remarkable for its immediacy and intimacy. This bilingual collection contains more than I 50 of... Tovább

Fülszöveg

When the moon shines Clean and clear Let me enjoy a plum-branch In the evening so quiet
-ryokan
One of Japan's best-loved poets of any era, also renowned for his calligraphy, Ryokan was born in 1757 in Echigo, Niigata Prefecture, the eldest son of a Shinto priest. Ratherthan follow his father's footsteps as he was expected to do, however, he entered the Soto sect of Zen Buddhisnn at age seventeen. Four years later he took his vows as a Zen priest and underwent ten years of discipline and austerity. He also undertook several long pilgrimages throughout western Japan. He returned to his native land and settled in a lonely mountain hermitage he called "Gogo An," where he lived the spartan life of a monk and composed poetry in both Japanese and Chinese, which remain widely populartoday.
Ryokan's poems are celebrations of the joys and sadnesses of everyday life. His spare, direct style is remarkable for its immediacy and intimacy. This bilingual collection contains more than I 50 of his finest poems in Japanese and Chinese, including his famous lyrical correspondence with the nun Teishin, who befriended him in his later years. It also includes a biographical essay on Ryokan, and useful notes on the poems themselves.
Misao Kodama taught English for many years at a junior high school in Kyoto, where she currently resides.
Hikosaku Yanagashima (deceased), was Professor of English at Kyoto Seika Junior College and Baika Women's College of Osaka. Vissza