Written on the Sky: Poems from the Japanese (New Directions Paperbook)

Even though I love all kinds of poetry, my some of my favorite poetry styles are Japanese Haiku, Senryu and Tanka poems. Over the years I have read numerous books on Japanese poetry and this is why while browsing on Amazon, when I saw this small 90 page soft cover volume (Written on the sky: Poems from the Japanese translated by Kennedy Rexroth) I decided to purchase it.This beautiful book is a pure treasure to read. It has many Japanese poems written by poets I had never read before and I loved all of them. This is just one of the beautiful poems I loved by Enomoto Seofu-Jo.“Everyone is asleepThere is nothing to come betweenthe moon and me.”If you love Japanese Poetry you may want to check out this small volume.Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: The Samurai Soul: A poetic tribute to warriors).

This volume is a disappointment. About all it's good for is as a pocket-sized book. And the kanji in the authors' names are in standard print rather than cursive script and so more intelligible to one who is neither Japanese nor Chinese. Rexroth's translations are still superlative but the book omits his wonderful introduction and his equally wonderful footnotes. The original New Directions editions of his work are much better than this book.

The copy I received was perfect and as promised

This was meant to be a Valentine's Day present, but I kind of stole it. Kenneth Rexroth does a wonderful job in this translation and selection of these very old Japanese poems. They are mostly written in the traditional tanka or haiku. The blunt simplicity of the words gives me chills and show the timeless quality of how you can say so much with so little. This collection of poetry reminds me that language is a gift.

Completed within a day.. it was a nice experience!