Customer Reviews

A Waka Anthology - Volume One: The Gem-Glistening Cup

5 star:		(3)
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Superb value for money, and loaded with useful, practical detail. Beyond the poetry itself and the clear, concise translations, Cranston includes biographical details on the contributors to the Manyoshu, speculations on doubtful provenances (how come we have Hitomaro's last words when he describes dying alone...?)and bilingual versions of every poem. The book also contains a handy line-index, which is a god-send to harrassed translators trying to work out exactly what and who someone is quoting at them. Should be on every literary translator's reference shelf.

It is very thorough. I got it because I want to study the structure of Waka, choka, and tanka. The book's format is more like a textbook than just straight poetry. It's also huge. I will use it as a resource and will end up reading the whole thing over the next several years.

This volume is really all you need, in terms of translated classical Japanese poetry (along with vol. 2 and the impending later volumes, of course). I now wish that I hadn't bought so many inferior, shorter editions of waka over the years ... I think I have three separate copies of the Man'yoshu, all of which fall short of this mind-boggling collection. The commentary and translation are both absolutely first-rate.