Just Living

One of the best scholar-translators in the field presents a selection of writings by Tonna (1289–1372), an outstanding medieval Buddhist poet-monk, very little of whose work has been translated until now. Tonna was regarded as the leading Nijo¯ poet of his day and was known as one of the Four Deva Kings of the Waka. This anthology contains translations of 134 uta, 16 linked-verse couplets, and selections from a prose narrative, From a Frog at the Bottom of a Well, along with an introduction and explanatory notes, a glossary of important names and places, and a list of sources for the poems.

The medieval Buddhist poet-monk Tonna (1289–1372) was regarded as the leading poet of his day and a prominent scholar and critic. Despite his commoner status, he was assigned the task of acting as compiler for an imperial anthology of poetry and counted a number of prominent courtiers among his students and patrons. And yet his works, which remained required reading for virtually all serious poets in Japan for five hundred years after his death, have until recently received little scholarly attention in either Japan or the West. This anthology contains translations of 134 of Tonna's uta (the classical poetic form) and 16 linked verse couplets (renga) from his Grass Hut Collection and selections from a work of prose criticism, From a Frog at the Bottom of a Well, along with an introduction and explanatory notes, a glossary of important names and places, and a list of sources for the poems.

Steven D. Carter is professor of Japanese and chair of the department of East Asian languages and literatures at the University of California at Irvine. He is the author of Unforgotten Dreams, Waiting for the Wind, and The Road to Komatsubara, and editor of Traditional Japanese Poetry.

Linda H. Chance:
Everything about this volume conveys the milieu of the medieval poets simply and sincerely. And for that, its great master was just waiting.

Susan Salter Reynolds:
Carter's pristine and graceful translations have guided so many readers through untrammeled territory in Eastern religions. Japanese poet Tonna, for example, wrote in the classical, eliteuta form in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.

These translations seem beautifully precise and their number gives us the clearest profile yet of the neglected poet.