Breeze Through Bamboo: Kanshi of Ema SaikōEma Saiko (1787-1861) was a remarkably evocative Japanese poet, one of the few known woman writers of kanshi - poems written in classical Chinese. Kanshi, because it encompasses a wider range of subjects than tanka and haiku, and with its greater length, can offer richer, more sustained descriptions. Writing in this form, Saiko distinguished herself during the Tokugawa period, when composition in Chinese was largely a men's province. An exquisite painter as well as a skillful poet, Saiko followed in the great Chinese tradition of the literati-painter. A leading member of three kanshi-writing groups, Saiko counted among her friends poets, scholars, painters, physicians, and other prominent people. She used kanshi as a diary, a canvas, and a mirror, weaving observations of her friends and of simple pleasures: intoxication, reading, painting, contemplation, the excitement of trips, and the joys of evening walks. Saiko's kanshi also reflected on the changes in her life - the growth and illnesses of family members, as well as her own physical decline. Organized chronologically, these poems provide an engaging portrait of an artist's life. |
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anthology aslant autumn bamboo blinds boat Burton Watson call a maid calligraphy cherry blossoms China Chinese legend chrysanthemums classical Chinese cold Confucian Confucian scholar Courtesy of Etna drink eaves Edo Kanshi Edo period Ema Saiko Etna Sumiko fall flowers fragrant friends frost garden Genji green hokku Hsiang inkstone Japan Japanese Literature Kado kanshi Konishi Genzui Kuwana Kyoto Lake Biwa lamp leaves light mandarin duck Matsuo Basho metaphor Mino moon Moonflower Mount Ibuki mountain Nakamura Shin'ichiro night Nihon Ninth Month Nobunaga note for Poem Oda Nobunaga Ogaki original painting Bamboo plantain plum Rai San'yo rain Ransai River Saiko Saiko's painting Saiko's poem sake San'yo San'yo Sensei scent Seigan Shunkin snow someone spring student Suna River sweet gourd tanka thousand today's translation trees Tung-p'o verse willow wind window woman women poets writing Yabase yellow yomikudashi zekku
Popular passages
Page 65 - ... couplet, in this idleness, I manage to get. All feelings are spawned while on the pillow. Tossing, turning, sleepless, thinking of an old friend, I happen to see the moon clear, close to the roof. Growing an Orchid I brought a humble orchid into my room and have since, for years, been intent on nurturing it. A light shower, and I've taken it outside, delighting in the sprouting purple buds. Mornings I watched it, evenings I caressed it, examining the flower buds a number of times. I've taken...
Page 160 - Occasional In the west and east friends seldom grow remote in heart. Old and lazy, I let their letters pile up unanswered. Once in a while, when I manage to respond to many, I have a cup of spring brew and feel my mind expand. Earthquake On the 4th and 5th of Eleventh Month in the First Year of Ansei [1854] the Ground Shook Terribly, and I Composed This to Document What Happened. Roof tiles flew, houses wanted to collapse, people, stampeding, trampled on each other. On the cold night all slept outdoors,...
Page 191 - While still making secret calls near Sixth Avenue, Genji said, "My wet nurse, Daini, has fallen gravely ill and become a nun. I must inquire after her," and went to visit her at her house, on Fifth Avenue, to rest on his way from the Palace. Because the gate through which his carriage was to enter was locked, he had Koremitsu summoned and, while waiting, looked at the avenue, which was none too appealing.
Page 53 - ... I've made light clothes, but feel too lazy to try them on. The days are finally longer, I see, and evenings short; incense in the duck-shaped censer dead, ashes still warm. Afraid only that the spring light will soon fade, I glance at blossoms fluttering down beyond the blinds. Bamboo in the Snow I Studied Painting Bamboo with Ink for Twenty Years but Was Unable to Paint Bamboo in the Snow, Until One Day the Snow Pressed Down the Bamboo; I Moved My Brush Fast and Also Made a Poem Before my window...
Page 53 - ... censer dead, ashes still warm. Afraid only that the spring light will soon fade, I glance at blossoms fluttering down beyond the blinds. Bamboo in the Snow I Studied Painting Bamboo with Ink for Twenty Years but Was Unable to Paint Bamboo in the Snow, Until One Day the Snow Pressed Down the Bamboo; I Moved My Brush Fast and Also Made a Poem Before my window the snow presses down beautiful bamboo. I playfully take up a purple brush, my hands both cold. 181. A species of the witch-hazel family...
Page 53 - ... Moved My Brush Fast and Also Made a Poem Before my window the snow presses down beautiful bamboo. I playfully take up a purple brush, my hands both cold. 181. A species of the witch-hazel family originally from Southern China and Taiwan. Its resin was used as medicine. 182. This happened in 1821. The first time in twenty years this difficult moment: Heaven has opened a copybook for me to see. Sleepless on a Moonlit Night The autumn night, limpid, often startles me out of dreams. Among the trees...
Page 42 - Reciting poems, three or four li, five or six of us, all good friends. On a steep hill we choose a flat place, then a spot with a better view. Sake in the gourd sweeter than honey, tipsy faces turned away from the setting sun. More than twenty days since coming to Kyoto, this day the most pleasurable of all.
Page 65 - ... clepsydra, rather slow, adds to my collar's cold. The sputtering lamp darkens, making the window light. A couplet, in this idleness, I manage to get. All feelings are spawned while on the pillow. Tossing, turning, sleepless, thinking of an old friend, I happen to see the moon clear, close to the roof. Growing an Orchid I brought a humble orchid into my room and have since, for years, been intent on nurturing it. A light shower, and I've taken it outside, delighting in the sprouting purple buds....
Bibliographic information
| Title | Breeze Through Bamboo: Kanshi of Ema Saikō Columbia Asian studies series Translations from the Asian classics |
| Author | Saikō Ema |
| Translated by | Hiroaki Sato |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Columbia University Press, 1998 |
| ISBN | 0231110650, 9780231110655 |
| Length | 246 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Asia / Central Asia Literary Criticism / Asian / General Poetry / Asian / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |