Since it’s World Poetry Day, I’d like to share the Japanese idea of what poetry is, which may sound like a daunting topic to explore.
But it’s not so difficult because a Japanese poet in the 10th century figured it out and left a compelling explanation. My job is to translate it in a digestible manner 😁.
A collection of Japanese poems was compiled by Imperial decree for the first time ever in 905, and poetry master Ki-no-Tsurayuki wrote in its preface:
[Verses in Japan blossom from the seeds in our hearts and unfurl into words, like leaves upon a tree. The myriad things we encounter, witness, or hear, take shape in the form of words. Who can resist being inspired to poetry hearing the songs of nightingales among flowers or the croaks of frogs echoing through a pond? Poetry shakes heaven and earth effortlessly; even gods and demons are moved to tears, even quarreling men and women come to terms, and even the fury of warriors is soothed by poems.]
…In a nutshell, poetry changes your world by changing your perspective, often drawing your focus toward the vast and beautiful universe ensnared in the littlest moments in life.
Princess Shikishi, a 12th-century royalty who lost her right to love a man for life to a centuries-old tradition of offering a royal virgin to Kamo Shrine in Kyoto, spent years transforming her yearning for love and the glimpses of nature witnessed from her secluded world into poetry.
山深み 春とも知らぬ 松の戸に たえだえかかる 雪の玉水
Living far in the mountains where even the news of spring seldom reaches, meltwater trickles on and off down my pine door.
The Japanese word for “words” is written 言葉, which literally means “leaves of language.”
Imagining what her seed of language was when she wrote the poem above helps us take our minds off of ugly thoughts and focus on the abundance of beauty the world has to offer, even in the ugliest of times ☺️.
Happy World Poetry Day!
Painting by NAKAJIMA Kiyoshi.
▶︎ Enjoy more stories like this in my books on Japanese culture and history, available at:
@themetroclassic
#worldpoetryday #poetry #japaneseculture #japan #booklover #japao #japon #giappone #японія #japanese #poems #japaneseart #metroclassicjapanese