"Murmured Conversations" is the first complete and rigorously annotated translation of "Sasamegoto" (1463-1464), considered the most important and representative poetic treatise of the medieval period in Japan because of its thoroughgoing construction of poetry as a way to attain, and signify through language, the mental liberation ("satori") that is the goal of Buddhist practice. It is a fascinating document revealing the central place of Buddhist philosophy in medieval Japanese artistic practices. Shinkei (1406-1475), the author of the treatise, is himself a major poet, regarded as the most brilliant among the practitioners of linked poetry ("renga") in the Muromachi Period.
Along with the extensive annotations, Ramirez-Christensen's commentaries illuminate the significance of each section of the treatise within the context of "waka" and "renga" poetics, of the history of classical Japanese aesthetic principles in general and of Shinkei's thought in particular, and the role of Buddhism in the contemporary understanding of cultural practices like poetry. This is the most comprehensive presentation available in English of a major classical Japanese critical text.

"Emptiness and Temporality" is an account of classical Japanese poetics based, for the first time, on the two concepts of emptiness (J."ku") and temporality ("mujo") that ground the medieval practice and understanding of poetry. It clarifies the unique structure of the collective poetic genre called "renga" (linked poetry) by analyzing Shinkei's writings, particularly "Sasamegoto." This book engages contemporary Western theory, especially Derrida's concepts of "differance" and deconstruction, to illuminate the progressive displacement that constitutes the dynamic poetry of the renga link as the sequence moves from verse 1 to 100. It also draws on phenomenology, Heidegger's "Being and Time," Bakhtin's notion of the dialogical, Gadamer's "Truth and Method," hermeneutics, and the concept of translation to delve into philosophical issues of language, mind, and the creative process. Furthermore, the book traces the development of the Japanese sense of the sublime and ineffable ("yugen" and its variants) from the identification, by earlier waka poets like Shunzei and Teika, of their artistic practice with Buddhist meditation (Zen or "shikan"), and of superior poetry as the ecstatic figuration of the Dharma realm. "Emptiness and Temporality" constitutes a radically new definition of Japanese poetry from the medieval period onward as a symbolist poetry, a figuration of the sacred rather than a representation of nature, and reveals how the spiritual or moral dimension is essential to an understanding of traditional Japanese aesthetic ideals and practices, such as No performance, calligraphy, and black-ink painting.

This literary biography is based primarily on Shinkei's own writings and is supplemented by various external sources. It includes annotated translations of Shinkei's most representative poetry.