Customer Reviews

Essays in Idleness

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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Anyone interested in or studying Japanese history/literature/culture should read this book. It contains a series of short essays (zuihitsu) and reads much like Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book. These essays range from Kenko's moral opinions about various aspects of life to his aesthetic tastes and thoughts about beauty. These essays are Kenko's opinion, yet they can be taken as the opinions of Japan's society at the time of the writing. Therefore there is a great deal of interesting cultural information and meaning behind Kenko's words. So if you are interested in Japanese Buddhism or religion, this book's a must.

If you are interested in Japanese aesthetics- aware: the idea that beauty is transient/fleeting, wabi-sabi: by becoming aged and through use, an object's history and experience bestow upon it greater value than an object that is new, the idea that uncertainty/non-uniformity/ and incompletion can inspire imagination- by all means read this.

The Wordsworth Classics here presents a nice translation by G.B. Sansom of a classic, the Tsurezuregusa of Yoshida Kenko, written around 1330 by a Japanese monk. The format of the work is reminiscent of the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon - short observations, bits of memoir, commentary on the manners and morals of people around him.

There's a minimum of footnoting and the translator's style is smooth and readable. It's a dipping book which will appeal to modern Buddhists and pensive readers alike. As Kenko himself says:

"To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations - such is a pleasure beyond compare."

I originally studied this book in college and loved it, and bought it this time for a friend. My mistake was not checking who translated this edition, as it is quite different from mine. I prefer the translation by Donald Keene, as it is more whimsical and meant for everyone to understand.

Much of this little book works as well today as seven hundred years ago, when it was written. The observations on people and their manners sound a little old-fashioned, but still applicable.

At another level, this book is credited with the first clear statements of esthetic principles that guide modern Japanese design. The translator's footnotes show how it draws on works from Confucius, Lao Tzu, and other Chinese classics in building a uniquely Japanese text. I believe the translator missed an allusion to Chuang Tzu in essay number 42, but that does not detract from the generally high quality of scholarship in this presentation. This is a remarkable, first-person statement of the sources of Japanese culture.

Finally, these essays are uniquely products of their place and time. Kenko's view, as a monk, of the secular world affects nearly every essay.

Shonagon's 'Pillow Book' introduced me to traditional Japanese literature. This book, with all its similarities and differences, is a wonderful way to continue that friendship.

Easy to read yet mentally challenging, beautifully written yet familiar in style. The Tsurezuregusa is a classic of Japanese literature. This series of essays written by a 14th-century Buddhist priest and poet in Kyoto has had an enormous impact on Japanese culture, particularly in its elegant discussions about how to best appreciate the beauty of things. Reading the Tsurezuregusa, you are able to make friends with Kenko himself, and Kenko is a good friend indeed. Donald Keene's translation is a literary gem in its own right. You simply must read this book.

I bought this book for my husband, who asked me to find it for him. He is a retired salesman, sales trainer, life coach and hypnotherapist and has read a LOT of self-help books. He is really enjoying this book and from what he says, the book seems to have a theme of "don't sweat the small stuff" and "it is what it is" to it. For example, if you are unhappy with the way your yard looks in the winter (like we have been), well, it is supposed to look that way. Excellent gift book.