Awesome Nightfall

"On anyone's list, Saigyo ranks among Japan's best poets. With Hitomaro and Basho, he has long been one of the poets most loved by the Japanese. (Basho viewed Saigyo as a model for his life as a recluse, a monk, and a poet traveler.) A master of many styles of poetry, Saigyo was [also] a pioneer in a new style, presenting a rich, darkly imagistic field with symbolic overtones. [. . . ] This new volume by LaFleur adds 43 new translations to the almost 200 previously published in his earlier Mirror for the Moon and provides a greatly expanded 70-page introduction to Saigyo's life and times that provides an invaluable framework for interpretation. [. . .] LaFleur's appealing contemporary English versions convey Saigyo's relatively informal voice and diction, and his long involvement with the poems is evident both in his translations and his commentary. This attractive new volume presents a more substantial overview of Saigyo's life and times than has been undertaken in any of the earlier English-language translations. Decades of scholarly and personal engagement with Saigyo's writings make LaFleur a reliable guide to the literary modes, techniques, and values that inform Saigyo's poetry. Many of the translations here are not only immediately appealing but reward reflection and re-reading."