Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600 (Translations from the Asian Classics)

Shipped quickly and very well! Left a very heartwarming message and happy to support a memorial library! And I never leave feedback! Thank you so much! :)

Delivery was timely and the book was in good condition (bought it used).It was a book I rented in university and I really wanted to own a copy. The poems and stories are great and the editors do a great job of explaining the vaguer aspects of the topics discussed.I'd recommend this book if you are trying to get more knowledge on Japanese culture and history.

This book is incredibly informative, I loved the stories

Great quality!

This volume reflects the state of the art in translations of pre-modern (classical) Japanese literature. No interested reader or scholar can afford to be without it.

I am sure that in many respects this is an excellent work. But be forewarned that in at least one instance the story is bowdlerized.The myth I am referring to is the one about Yamato Takeru and his slaying of the Kumaso brothers. He accomplishes the feat while still a young boy. He dresses as a girl and enters the party where the Kumaso brothers are feasting, and they seat the beautiful "girl" between them and enjoy him tremendously (we can safely assume that they are not discussing the care of koi).When the two brothers are soused he stabs the elder through the chest, in warrior style. The younger however he stabs through the anus, presumably in revenge for an analogous and dishonorable act just done to him.But you would be hard pressed to divine that from this translation. Why do translators think that watering down strong wine is what modern audiences want???