Hiroaki Sato

Everything you want to know about haiku written by one of the foremost experts in the field and the "finest translator of contemporary Japanese poetry into American English" (Gary Snyder)

On Haiku

Mutsuo Takahashi

“In the name of / Man, member, / and the holy fluid, / Amen,” begins Mutsuo Takahashi's epic one-thousand-line erotic fantasy poem, “Ode,” the centerpiece of his groundbreaking collection of queer poetry, Poems of a Penisist. Takahashi's work, reminiscent of Walt Whitman's, is a celebration of the male body, treating homosexual desire as something sacred. Stunningly beautiful and passionate, Poems of a Penisist is one of the most important compilations of homoerotic poetry written in the twentieth century.

Poems of a Penisist

Through his masterful translations of original samurai tales, laws, dicta, reports, and arguments accompanied by insightful commentary, Hiroaki Sato chronicles the changing ethos of the Japanese warrior from the samurai's historical origins to his rise to political power. For this purpose, Sato has chosen to translate, wherever possible, writings closest in time to the actual event.

Legends of the Samurai

No other Asian poetic form has so intrigued and beguiled the English-speaking world as the Japanese haiku. Even before World War I such imagist poets as Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, and John Gould Fletcher were experimenting with the form. At that time, Pound well described the haiku as "an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time." Indeed, it is the haiku's sense of immediacy and its precision that continue to appeal to poets and poetry lovers today. In recent decades there has been an upsurge of interest in the haiku, leading to a number of critical studies of the form, studies that have now culminated in the present book. This insightful work not only considers the haiku itself but also the extremely important yet often ignored renga or linked-verse form, out of which the haiku grew. No deep understanding of the haiku is possible without familiarity with the renga. One Hundred Frogs begins with a detailed history and description of the renga and haiku. Many renowned Japanese poets, most notably Basho, are represented in the wealth of translated poetry that illustrates the text. To bring this history up to date, a discussion of modern Japanese and Western haiku is included. Next, the author discusses the craft of translating renga and haiku and explores recent developments in the two forms, offering a representative selection of modern works. To reveal the myriad choices open to translators of renga and haiku, the author provides an in-depth analysis of one of Japan's most famous haiku, Basho's poem about a frog in a pond, and presents a compilation of over one hundred translations and variations of the poem. The book closes with short anthologies of English-language renga and haiku by contemporary Western poets that offer a tantalizing glimpse of the diversity of expression possible with these two forms. An instructive celebration of the renga and haiku, this volume furnishes a new perspective on the work of some of Japan's outstanding poets of old and lays a foundation for the appreciation of the renga and haiku that are being written today.

From Renga to Haiku to English

One Hundred Frogs

Burton Watson

A survey of Japanese poetry contains the works of over one hundred poets from the eighth century to the present

An Anthology of Japanese Poetry

From the Country of Eight Islands

In Legends of the Samurai, Hiroaki Sato confronts both the history and the legend of the samurai, untangling the two to present an authentic picture of these legendary warriors. Through his masterful translations of original samurai tales, laws, dicta, reports, and arguments accompanied by insightful commentary, Sato chronicles the changing ethos of the Japanese warrior from the samurai's historical origins to his rise to political power. A fascinating look at Japanese history as seen through the evolution of the samurai, Legends of the Samurai stands as the ultimate authority on its subject.

Throughout history, Japanese women have excelled in poetry - from the folk songs of the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) compiled in 712 and the court poetry of the 9th to the 14th centuries, on through the age of haikai and kanshi to the 19th century, into the contemporary period when books of women's poems have created a sensation.This anthology presents examples of the work of more than 100 Japanese women poets, arranged chronologically, and of all the major verse forms: choka, tanka, haikai (haiku), kanshi (verse written in Chinese), and free verse. The poems describe not just seasonal changes and the vagaries of love - which form the thematic core of traditional Japanese poetry - but also the devastations of war, childbirth, conflicts between child-rearing and work, experiences as refugees, experiences as non-Japanese residents in Japan, and more.Sections of poetry open with headnotes, and the editor has provided explanations of terms and references for those unfamiliar with the Japanese language. Other useful tools include a glossary of poetic terms, a chronology, and a bibliography that points the reader toward other works by and about these poets. There is no comparable collection available in English.Students and anyone who appreciates poetry and Japanese culture will treasure this magnificent anthology. Editor and translator Hiroaki Sato is a past winner of the PEN America translator prize and the Japan-United States Friendship Commission's 1999 literary translation award.

An Anthology

Japanese Women Poets: An Anthology

Yūgen is one of the ineffable qualities that underscores Japanese art. Hiroaki Sato here studies its subtle manifestations in a host of genres.

A Quest for the World of Yugen

Snow in a Silver Bowl

Perhaps the most famous of all haiku is Basho's poem: "Old pond/Frog jumps in/The sound of water." It is the most frequently translated haiku. Sato has collected some 135 translations, versions, parodies, & inspired recreations of "pond-frog-sound," from the likes of Lafcadio Hearn, Daisetz Suzuki, Donald Keene, Kenneth Rexroth, Edward Seidensticker, Robert Aitken, & Allen Ginsberg, in formats from the 5-7-5 syllables of the original haiku to sonnets, limericks, prose poems, & e.e. cummings-style flights of typographical fancy. Sato's brief introduction provides fascinating background, & inkwash frogs hop across the pages to make the book as fun to look at as it is to read.

Over the decades the reputation of the samurai has grown to mythical proportions, owing to such films as Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and Yojimbo as well as works such as James Clavell's epic Shogun. In Legends of the Samurai, Hiroaki Sato confronts both the history and the legend of the samurai, untangling the two to present an authentic picture of these legendary warriors. Through his masterful translations of original samurai tales, laws, dicta, reports, and arguments accompanied by insightful commentary, Sato chronicles the changing ethos of the Japanese warrior from the samurai's historical origins to his rise to political power. A fascinating look at Japanese history as seen through the evolution of the samurai, Legends of the Samurai stands as the ultimate authority on its subject.

Sakutarō Hagiwara

Poems and Prose of Hagiwara Sakutarō ; Translated from the Japanese, with an Introduction, by Hiroaki Sato

Howling at the Moon

A remarkable and true tale of loyalty, vengeance, and ritual suicide. . . . In the spring of 1701, the regional lord Asano Naganori wounded his supervising official, Kira Yoshinaka, during an important ceremony in the ruling shogunate's Edo Castle and was at once condemned to death. Within two years, in the dead of winter, a band of forty-seven of Asano's retainers avenged him by breaking into Yoshinaka’s mansion and killing him. Subsequently, all the men were sentenced to death but allowed to perform it honorably by seppuku. This incident—often called the Ako Incident—became a symbol of samurai honor andat once prompted stage dramatization in kabuki and puppet theater. It has since has been told and retold in short and long stories, movies, TV dramas. The story has also attracted the attention of foreign writers and translators. The most recent retelling was the 2013 Hollywood film 47 Ronin, with Keanu Reeves, though it was wildly and willfully distorted. What did actually happen and how has this famous vendetta resonated through history? Hiroaki Sato's examination is a close, comprehensive look at the Ako Incident through the context of its times, portraits of the main protagonists, and its literary legacy in the haiku ofthe avengers. Also included is Sato's new translation of Akutagawa Ryunosuke's short story about leader Oishi Kuranosuke as he awaited sentencing.

Hiroaki Sato

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