Vovin (East Asian languages, U. of Hawai'i-Manoa) continues his new English translation of the earliest and largest Japanese poetic anthology, dating to 759 AD. He explains that it is also the
most important compendium of Japanese culture per se produced during the Asuka period (195-710) and most of the Nara period (710-784). Book five is of particular importance for the history of
the Japanese language and the history of Japanese literature, he says, is dominated by the two outstanding poets Opot繹mo-n繹 TaNp簾t繹 and Yaman繹up禱-n繹 Okura, and contains a number of examples of
exquisite Chinese prose. He includes the original text, kana, transliteration, romanization, glossing, and detailed commentary. There is no index. Global Oriental is an imprint of Brill.
Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
