Expressions of passion and heartbreak, written by Murasaki Shikibu 1,000 years ago, transcend time and culture in this new translation of the poetry in the first 33 chapters of The Tale of Genji. It is the relationship between the novel's characters and the poetry that creates the beauty and sustained erotic tone of Lady Murasaki's story. For the first time, these 400+ poems are presented in the increasingly popular format of tanka (5-7-5-7-7), along with extended notes that reveal the hidden details and depth of meaning in Murasaki's real and fictional worlds.

"The History of the Fleet Street House": 20 p. at the end of v. 18.

Mukoda's wonderful stories vividly present the strengths and sorrows of modern Japanese women.--Gail Tsukiyama "Superbly rendered into English."--Publishers Weekly

"The tanka anthology is a compendium of more than 800 poems by nearly 70 poets from around the world, the foremost practitioners of the ancient and modern genre of tanka. While poets continue to experiment, the contemporary tanka in English may be described as typically an untitled free-verse short poem having anywhere from about twelve to thirty-one syllables arranged in words and phrases over five lines, crafted to stand alone as a unitary, aesthetic whole - a complete poem. Excepting those written in a minimalist style, a tanka is about two breaths in length when read aloud. During the last thirty years, it has emerged as a robust short form that is identifiable as a distinct verse type while being extremely variable in its details."--BOOK JACKET.