Japanese Love Poetry

Article:
http://www.simplyhaiku.com/SHv4n4/reviews/Hirshfield.html

• Izumi Shikibu wrote Japanese Love Poetry
• She wrote over 240 love poems to her love who passed away from a disease
• Tanka poetry: aims for the heart of whatever it being written about
• The Ink Dark Moon is an example of a Tanka
• Tanka poetry can also be called Waka poetry
• The Heian Era is considered to be the best years for Japanese poetry and other literature
• Imagey is most important to be used in a Tanka

• Ono no Komachi is a legandary figure of the Heian Court

Example:
No way to see him
on this moonless night ---
I lie awake longing, burning,
breasts racing fire,
heart in flames.

Ono no Komachi
Translated by Hirshfield and Aratani