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 autumn bamboo Barbara Stoler Miller blinds boat brush Burton Watson calligraphy cherry blossoms Chiang China Chinese legend classical Chinese cold Confucian Courtesy of Ema Donald Keene drink eaves Edo Kanshi Ema Saikō Ema Sumiko fiefdom flowers fragrant friends frost garden Genji green hokku Hsiang inkstone Japan Japanese Literature Joryū Kado kanshi Konishi Genzui Kyoto lamp leaves light Literature in Chinese mandarin duck Matsuo Bashō metaphor Mino moon Moonflower Mount Ibuki mountain Nakamura Shin'ichirō Neo-Confucianism night Nihon Ninth Month note for Poem Oda Nobunaga Ōgaki original paint bamboo paperback plantain plum Poetry rain Ransai River Saikō Saiko's painting Saiko's poem sake San'yō scent Shōmu Shōmu Ikō Shunkin snow spring student Suna River tanka Tao-yün Theodore de Bary today's translation trees verse willow wind window woman women poets writing wrote Yabase yomikudashi zekku