Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death Paperback – 3 April 2018

Gave it to my dad as a gift, he absolutely loved it and quoted to me from it for weeks.

A must read for fans of Japanese poetry

Insightful and sometimes profound. What more important subject for poetry is there? Don't think this is full of sad or depressing poetry. If you're a fan of Haiku or other forms of Japanese poetry then this is well worth a look.

This is a nicely sized, chunky book, well bound and presented.This book is both essentially a poetry book, that lists hundreds, if not thousands of poems written by both Monks, Samurai, and other poets from the 12th century, to the late 19th.The haiku are presented in English, with their Japanese translation in Romaji, to allow you to `read' them in their original form, should you so desire. There are occasionally notes after certain haiku regarding their author, the manner of their death and any other interesting information.I was more interested in the relatively short first part of the book, which includes an introduction to Japanese poetry as a whole, before going on to introduce death poetry set within the cultural context of Japan.I wish that more of the book was devoted to a full explanation of the history and culture surrounding the death poems, rather than having pages and pages and pages of poems themselves, but in any case, it is a good read, and has clearly been extensively researched, with help from academics at Kyoto University and Nihon University amongst others, and living Zen masters.This is not an academic book, for anyone expecting it to be so, it is consumer-oriented, but is a pretty solid introduction to the whole topic, well recommended!

I have given this book to fans of Japan and to fans of poetry. I always get strange looks when the wrapping paper comes off, but it is worth it. I love this collection.

Great quality of research & compilation. Very interesting angle of view on Haiku. I recommend this book to any Haiku or Zen/Buddhism enthusiast. Well done Professor Hoffmann and thank you.

My lad chose this book. Researched it... feels like reading variety of books enhance his vocabulary and knowledge

a beautiful book, really enjoyed this one