In these two works by contemporary Japanese playwright Yamazaki Masakazu, potent figures from Japan's past illuminate the psychological and philosophical concerns of the twentieth century.
Translated here in full are Zeami (1963), based on the life of the great master of the no theater, and Sanetomo (1973), the hero of which is the Kamakura general and poet. The translation by J. Thomas Rimer includes both an introduction, which discusses the plays, placing them in their specific historical contexts, and an interview with Yamazaki, in which the author speaks of his life, work, and the course of Japanese drama over the past decades.

Yokomitsu Riichi, Modernist (Modern Asian Literature Series)

Literature & Fiction

Keene, Dennis

History & Criticism

Columbia Univ. Pr.

Though the prose poem came into existence as a principally French literary genre in the nineteenth century, it occupies a place of considerable importance in twentieth-century Japanese poetry. This selection of poems is the first anthology of this genre and, in effect, the first appearance of this kind of poetry in English.Originally published in 1980.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The Modern Japanese Prose Poem: An Anthology of Six Poets (Princeton Legacy Library)

Princeton University Press

Ikezawa has been described as one of the best short story writers in the world today. 
When he won his country's highest literary award ten years ago, readers hailed the arrival of a new voice in Japanese fiction: clear, unerring, and resonant. As the title itself suggests, all four of the stories in this collection are in some way about people moving away from ordinary life, seeing things from a distance, as though looking at their world through the window of a spaceship moving into orbit. 
In the last and most daring piece of all, an international team is sent to explore a ruined site in northern Afghanistan. A helicopter crash reduces their number to two, a Japanese and a Frenchman, who decide to press on. Watched by a high, circling eagle, they find what appears to be a ruined citadel, among whose stones they hear a form of music so strange it seems to call to them from another world. And the longer they stay the deeper they are drawn into it, until they're forced to choose: to return, or to go beyond... 
Here, and we hope in other collections to come, readers will encounter a rare writer whose work attains the highest level of imagination, yet remains always anchored in a reassuring normality. Welcome to "a brave new lyrical world."

Still Lives

IKEZAWA, Natsuki

Short Stories & Anthologies

Kodansha Amer Inc

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