Word: heian
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Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241) was, by most accounts, a horrible bully. The Japanese nobleman lived through the country's violent transition from the Heian aristocratic era to the martial Kamakura shogunate, and was surly, severe and infamously ugly, as if malformed by the turbulence of his times. But as a poet and editor, Teika has transcended the ages. He compiled Japan's most influential and long-lasting anthology of poems: the Hyakunin Isshu (one hundred people, one poem each), also known as the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. For more than seven centuries, these poems have resonated with countless readers. They...
...over a decade into his study of the language, he navigated more than a millennium of its finest compositions - the creation myths of Japan's oldest book, the 7th century Kojiki; early poetry from the 8th century collection Manyoshu; the sublime socio-psychological epics by the legendary 11th century Heian court ladies; Zen-inflected 14th century battle tales and Noh dramas; haiku, travelogues, kabuki and puppet plays of the Edo period (1600-1868); and the panoply of modern novels, poetry and plays from the Meiji era on. Still read by Japanese-literature students, the anthology alone would have secured Keene...
...Dastardly Dynasts Your essay, "Heirs Apparent" [Oct. 1], made me think deeply about the future of Japan and reminded me of the medieval past: in the Heian period, a warrior class descended from rural peasants diminished the power of rich ruling families. History shows that the privileged and protected can't evade changing times forever. Masaaki Otani, Tadotsu, Japan...
...innovations of the Silver Pavilion was the central importance of its gardens, a design approach that became basic to Japanese architecture. Gardens had always held an important place in the nation's soul, as we know from The Tale of Genji and other early court fiction of the Heian period. At that time, however, gardens were seasonal, emphasizing spring and autumn to illustrate the perishability of beauty, the concept of the "pity of things." In Yoshimasa's era, however, gardens moved toward a Zen aesthetic, becoming more serene places of contemplation that favored the use of symbols of eternity such...
...representations of the passage of human time. It immerses us deeply in a strange and distant culture, whose graceful decadence initially seems light-years away from the haste and thirst for progress of modern Japan. But 21st century Japan shares the same sense of fecund decay as Genji's Heian period?in both eras, society has become complex, gaudy but, finally, ennui-inducing. Now, as then, it is more rewarding to scrutinize the smallest signs of every human interaction rather than engage in the tawdry world outside the concubine's boudoir?or love hotel's rumpus room...