Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death

An excellent introduction to the Japanese tradition of jisei, this volume is crammed with exquisite, spontaneous verse and pithy, often hilarious, descriptions of the eccentric and committed monastics who wrote the poems. --Tricycle: The Buddhist Review

 

Although the consciousness of death is, in most cultures, very much a part of life, this is perhaps nowhere more true than in Japan, where the approach to end has given rise to a centuries-old tradition of writing jisei, or the death poem. Such a poem is often written in the very last moments of the poet's life.

 

Hundreds of Japanese death poems, many with a commentary describing the circumstances of the poet's death, have been translated into English here, the vast majority of them for the first time. Compiler Yoel Hoffmann explores the attitudes and customs surrounding death in historical and present-day Japan and gives examples of how these have been reflected in the nation's literature. The development of writing jisei is then examined--from the longing poems of the early nobility and the more masculine verses of the samurai to the satirical death poems of later centuries.

 

Zen Buddhist ideas about death are also described as a preface to the collection of Chinese death poems by Zen monks that are also included. Finally, the last section contains three hundred twenty haiku, some of which have never been assembled before, in translated English and Romanized Japanese.

Author: Yoel Hoffmann
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Published: 04/03/2018
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 6.90h x 5.10w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9784805314432

About the Author
Professor Yoel Hoffmann has written several books on Buddhism and comparative philosophy, including The Sound of the One Hand, Radical Zen: the Sayings of Joshu, and The Idea of Self-East and West.