Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death by Yoel Hoffmann Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death
Book Review: a wonderful read!
Summary: 5 Stars
I know very little about Japanese culture, Buddhism, Zen or anything else of that nature. Nevertheless (or perhaps because of, if i look at some of the other reviews of this book), I found Japanese Death Poems to be an extremely interesting read. The introduction and explanations of the poems are very well written and easy to read, and the poems themselves are extremely entertaining on many levels. I don't know whether they are translated well or not, but I enjoyed the English translations of the poems. I would definately recommend this book 100 percent.Book Review: a rare view of situational poetry
Summary: 5 Stars
While I agree that a bilingual text would have been better, this is an excellent selection of poetry written for a particular situation - the death of the author. One strength of the collection is that it is not limited to Zen masters but includes samurai, Shinto followers, women ... The result is a collection which includes a broad range of emotional flavors - from sassy to hopeful anticipation, from expectations of heaven (pure land) to dissolution ...The organizational principle (alphabetic) results in some curious juxtapositions. The explanatory text is useful, thought-provoking and non-intrusive. The introduction provides excellent background material on death in Japanese culture. Everything works together to create an excellent book.
Book Review: Bilingual Would Have Been Much Better
Summary: 3 Stars
OK, it was a nice book to pass the time, but I think it really should have been bilingual. They took the time to write the names in Kanji and romanized the poems, it would have been nice to see it in actual Japanese. I did appreciate the romanized though, at least you can see what they actually wrote instead of the authors intrepetations of what they wrote (which are pretty good overall). I have to say though, that if you were looking for deep insights into Buddhism or Japanese culture, you'll probably be disappointed. I just bought it at the train station to pass time and I enjoyed it overall, except the translations were a bit loose at times. Well, maybe if they actually explained their reasoning for the translations it would have been better.Book Review: fantastic
Summary: 5 Stars
this book is absolutely fantastic, a must buy, if this kind of stuff interests youBook Review: Good selection, poor commentary
Summary: 3 Stars
As an admirer of this form and of Zen, I am delighted by the selection but not impressed by the commentary. Since Buddhism and Zen both have influenced death poetry so strongly, one would have hoped that the editor would have shown some appreciation of the subtleties of both. Unfortunately, the view of Buddhism is sadly out-dated and fundamentally mistaken. Hoffman misses the essence of emptiness and talks fatuously and anachronistically of "the void". The meaning of death poems written by Zen monks, but also by Japanese poets then becomes distorted by this nihilistic interpretation of Buddhism. So, delight in the poems themselves but skip the introduction and commentary. For a better collection including some Chinese death poems, see the excellent collection "Penguin Book of Zen Poetry" by Lucien Stryk, Takashi Ikemoto.