Ono no Komachi

Here is a collection of sexy, brief, fleeting poems about love, lust and longing. They originate from a time in Japanese history where aristocratic women of the Heian court were free to marry and conduct love affairs according to their desires. Education and refinement were so highly valued that the courtly manner of expressing oneself, whether to give condolences for a death, to send back a forgotten fan, or to heighten the anticipation of a lover's visit, was with a poem of just five lines. A convention of secrecy surrounding love affairs fills these verses with palpable emotion. These vivid and erotic poems express love in all its forms, and do so with amazing economy of words, unforgettable imagery and breath-taking modernity. INTRODUCED BY NIKITA GILL'They are full of dreams, of autumns, of lovers known or not yet met, of desire, wonderment, loneliness' Irish Times Translated by Jane Hirshfield with Mariko Aratani, this is an edition that brings the story of the poems to life with a detailed introduction and notes on the translation.

Ono no Komachi, poet och hovdam på 800-talet, räknas i Japan som en av de ”odödliga poeterna”. Hennes format var waka-­dikten, som med sina fem rader ger mer ­utrymme åt känslodramatik än den senare, tre­radiga haikun som främst ägnas naturimpressioner. Komachi är en av världslitteraturens stora kärlekspoeter – hennes graciösa stil och genomgående melankoli förenas med en sällsynt hetta i de få dikter som finns bevarade av henne. För första gången på svenska presenteras nu dikter av Ono no Komachi och därutöver ett antal dikter som ofta tillskrivs henne – ­Vibeke Emonds kunnigt kommenterade översättningsvolym är en verklig händelse!

These translated poems were written by 2 ladies of the Heian court of Japan between the ninth and eleventh centuries A. D. The poems speak intimately of their authors' sexual longing, fulfillment and disillusionment.