Author Description

Eighty-five poems from 7th and 8th-century Japan, with original text (kana and kanji) on facing page, and a short introduction. Four sections: (1) Poems and Songs from Asuka, (2) Strolling Entertainers' Songs, (3) The Maiden Unai, (4) Poems by Frontier Guards. The emphasis is on "long poems" rather than tanka, and on the voices of ordinary people.