Poetry. Asian Studies. Translated from the Chinese by Jonathan Chaves. Yuan Hung-tao (1568-1610) was the greatest poet of Ming dynasty China. His poetry and essays brilliantly exhibit an originality and vitality that were lacking in the writing of his contemporaries. The writings of Yuan and his two brothers reveal these men to have been individualists who made outstanding contributions to the growth and development of poetry, presenting a penetrating picture of Ming society. "With this volume, Chaves makes an outstanding contribution to the books that present classical Chinese poetry in both accurate and enjoyable English translation"--Choice. Jonathan Chaves is a professor of Chinese at George Washington University and the translator of several volumes of poetry, including Heaven My Blanket, Earth My Pillow.

Yang Wan-Li (11271206) is one of China's four masters of Southern Sung poetry. These poems were written at what could be seen as a low point in Sung history: an invasion by the Jurchens had forced the Sung to flee to the southern city of Hangchow. But they created at Hangchow a refuge of elegant solitude from which they gazed longingly toward the north, and in this quiet setting, they were able to enjoy the beauties of nature. Many of the poems are perfect verbalizations of the magnificent landscape paintings of the Sung painters: misty, ethereal and luminous. The poetry, however, also holds the annoyances of overwork, aching feet, creaking bones and the pleasures of wine, filling it with humanity and a zest for living.

This first English translation of the Wakan roei shu, includes two introductory essays, insightful commentaries on each passage, and three expositions, which discuss the collection's influence on Japanese literary history, music, and calligraphy. For centuries these short, evocative poems were memorized and cherished by Japanese courtiers who sang them at court, into lovers' ears, or at moments when spoken words failed to express their feelings. Until the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), calligraphers, poets, and artists looked to the Wakan roei shu for inspiration, incorporating its text into many of Japan's most celebrated masterpieces, from the no play Takasago to the Tale of Genji and the calligraphy of Fujiwara no Yukinari, whose eleventh-century calligraphic interpretations of the collection were treasured by Japanese for centuries. The collection - arranged in accordance with the four seasons and covering more than forty topics, from celestial bodies to ministers of state - includes poems by some of the most beloved Chinese and Japanese masters, including Po Chu-i (772-846) and Sugawara no Michizane (845-903). Like haiku, the poems in the Wakan roei shu are brief and reflective, with many adhering to the classical Japanese poetic form of thirty-one syllables. Most of the Chinese selections in this book are excerpts taken from much longer poems, with one or two verses of the original chosen to harmonize with Japanese aesthetic tastes. Now English-speaking readers can enjoy the Wakan roei shu, long treasured by Japanese readers for its revelatory beauty.

Jonathan Chaves makes available a vast store of rich and significant poems by both major and minor poets from China's last three dynasties. Featured are poems from the Yuan dynasty, which range from quiet landscape depictions to expansive, freely expressive works; from the Ming era, notable for its stylistic quality and its diversity; and from tte Ch'ing dynasty, known for poets who, by refusing to fit into any category, helped continue the fascinating richness of late Ming cultural life. Annotated with biographical sketches of the poets and illustrated with their paintings, this collection is an unprecedented anthology of exceptionally well translated Chinese poetry up to the twentieth century.

In the literary and artistic milieu of early modern Japan the Chinese and Japanese arts flourished side by side. Kod?jin, the "Old Taoist" (1865-1944), was the last of these great poet-painters in Japan. Under the support of various patrons, he composed a number of Taoist-influenced Chinese and Japanese poems and did lively and delightful ink paintings, continuing the tradition of the poet-sage who devotes himself to study of the ancients, lives quietly and modestly, and creates art primarily for himself and his friends.

Portraying this last representative of a tradition of gentle and refined artistry in the midst of a society that valued economic growth and national achievement above all, this beautifully illustrated book brings together 150 of Kod?jin's Chinese poems (introduced and translated by Jonathan Chaves), more than 100 of his haiku and tanka (introduced and translated by Stephen Addiss), and many examples of his calligraphy and ink paintings. Addiss's in-depth introduction details the importance of the poet-painter tradition, outlines the life of Kod?jin, and offers a critical appraisal of his work, while J. Thomas Rimer's essay puts the literary work of the Old Taoist in context.