Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death

Rating:
Summary: a rare view of situational poetry
Review: While I agree that a bilingual text would have been better, this is an excellent selection of poetry written for a particular situation - the death of the author. One strength of the collection is that it is not limited to Zen masters but includes samurai, Shinto followers, women ... The result is a collection which includes a broad range of emotional flavors - from sassy to hopeful anticipation, from expectations of heaven (pure land) to dissolution ...

The organizational principle (alphabetic) results in some curious juxtapositions. The explanatory text is useful, thought-provoking and non-intrusive. The introduction provides excellent background material on death in Japanese culture. Everything works together to create an excellent book.