The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Essays

Download The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Essays PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231167709
Total Pages : 558 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (311 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Essays by : Steven D. Carter

Download or read book The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Essays written by Steven D. Carter and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-29 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A court lady of the Heian era, an early modern philologist, a Meiji-period novelist, and a physicist at Tokyo University. What do they have in common, besides being Japanese? They all wrote zuihitsuÑa uniquely Japanese literary genre encompassing features of the nonfiction or personal essay and miscellaneous musings. For sheer range of subject matter and breadth of perspective, the zuihitsu is unrivaled in the Japanese literary tradition, which may explain why few examples have been translated into English. Springing from a variety of social, artistic, political, and professional discourses, zuihitsu is an undeniably important literary form practiced by all types of people who reveal much about themselves, their identities, and the times in which they lived. Zuihitsu also contain a good deal of humor, which is often underrepresented in translations of ÒseriousÓ Japanese writing. This anthology presents a representative selection of more than one hundred zuihitsu from a range of historical periods written by close to fifty authorsÑfrom well-known figures, such as Matsuo Basho, Natsume Soseki, and Koda Aya, to such writers as Tachibana Nankei and Dekune Tatsuro, whose names appear here for the first time in English.Writers speak on the experience of coming down with a cold, the aesthetics of tea, the physiology and psychology of laughter, the demands of old age, standards of morality, childrearing, the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, sleeplessness, undergoing surgery, and training a parrot to say Òthank you.Ó Varying in length from paragraphs to pages, these works also provide moving descriptions of snowy landscapes, foggy London, Ueno ParkÕs famous cherry blossoms, and the appeal of rainy vistas, and relate the joys and troubles of everyone from desperate samurai to filial children and ailing cats.

The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Essays

Download The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Essays PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231167717
Total Pages : 558 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (311 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Essays by : Steven D. Carter

Download or read book The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Essays written by Steven D. Carter and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-29 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A court lady of the Heian era, an early modern philologist, a Meiji-period novelist, and a physicist at Tokyo University. What do they have in common, besides being Japanese? They all wrote zuihitsuÑa uniquely Japanese literary genre encompassing features of the nonfiction or personal essay and miscellaneous musings. For sheer range of subject matter and breadth of perspective, the zuihitsu is unrivaled in the Japanese literary tradition, which may explain why few examples have been translated into English. Springing from a variety of social, artistic, political, and professional discourses, zuihitsu is an undeniably important literary form practiced by all types of people who reveal much about themselves, their identities, and the times in which they lived. Zuihitsu also contain a good deal of humor, which is often underrepresented in translations of ÒseriousÓ Japanese writing. This anthology presents a representative selection of more than one hundred zuihitsu from a range of historical periods written by close to fifty authorsÑfrom well-known figures, such as Matsuo Basho, Natsume Soseki, and Koda Aya, to such writers as Tachibana Nankei and Dekune Tatsuro, whose names appear here for the first time in English.Writers speak on the experience of coming down with a cold, the aesthetics of tea, the physiology and psychology of laughter, the demands of old age, standards of morality, childrearing, the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, sleeplessness, undergoing surgery, and training a parrot to say Òthank you.Ó Varying in length from paragraphs to pages, these works also provide moving descriptions of snowy landscapes, foggy London, Ueno ParkÕs famous cherry blossoms, and the appeal of rainy vistas, and relate the joys and troubles of everyone from desperate samurai to filial children and ailing cats.

The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From restoration to occupation, 1868-1945

Download The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From restoration to occupation, 1868-1945 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780231118606
Total Pages : 900 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (186 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From restoration to occupation, 1868-1945 by : J. Thomas Rimer

Download or read book The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From restoration to occupation, 1868-1945 written by J. Thomas Rimer and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 900 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1870s, continues through the years of social change preceding World War I and the bold and innovative writing of the interwar period, and concludes with works written during World War II. Each chapter includes a helpful critical introduction and biographical introductions for each writer.

Traditional Japanese Literature

Download Traditional Japanese Literature PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231157304
Total Pages : 601 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (311 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Traditional Japanese Literature by : Haruo Shirane

Download or read book Traditional Japanese Literature written by Haruo Shirane and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 601 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditional Japanese Literature features a rich array of works dating from the very beginnings of the Japanese written language through the evolution of Japan's noted aristocratic court and warrior cultures. It contains stunning new translations of such canonical texts as The Tales of the Heike as well as works and genres previously ignored by scholars and unknown to general readers.

The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama

Download The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231128304
Total Pages : 738 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (311 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama by : J. Thomas Rimer

Download or read book The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama written by J. Thomas Rimer and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-29 with total page 738 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology is the first to survey the full range of modern Japanese drama and make available JapanÕs best and most representative twentieth- and early-twenty-first-century works in one volume. Divided into six chronological sections: ÒThe Age of Taisho DramaÓ; The Tsukiji Tsukiji Little Theater and Its AftermathÓ; ÒWartime and Postwar DramaÓ; ÒThe 1960s and Underground TheaterÓ; ÒThe 1980s and BeyondÓ; and ÒPopular Theater,Ó the collection opens with a comprehensive introduction to Meiji period drama and provides an informal yet complete history of twentieth-century Japanese theater for students, scholars, instructors, and dramatists. The collection features a mix of original and previously published translations of works, among them plays by such writers as Masamune Hakucho (The Couple Next Door), Enchi Fumiko (Restless Night in Late Spring), Abe Kobo (The Man Who Turned into a Stick), Morimoto Kaoru (A WomanÕs Life), Kara Juro (Two Women), Terayama Shuji (Poison Boy), Noda Hideki (Poems for Sale), and Mishima Yukio (The Sardine SellerÕs Net of Love). Leading translators include Donald Keene, J. Thomas Rimer, Mitsuyra Mori, M. Cody Poulton, John Gillespie, Mari Boyd, and Brian Powell. Each section features an introduction to the developments and character of the period, notes on the playsÕ productions, and photographs of their stage performances. The volume complements any course on modern Japanese literature and any study of modern drama in China, Korea, or other Asian or contemporary Western nation.

Essays in Idleness

Download Essays in Idleness PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780231112550
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (125 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Essays in Idleness by : 吉田兼好

Download or read book Essays in Idleness written by 吉田兼好 and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Buddhist priest Kenko clung to tradition, Buddhism, and the pleasures of solitude, and the themes he treats in his "Essays, " written sometime between 1330 and 1332, are all suffused with an unspoken acceptance of Buddhist beliefs.

The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature

Download The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231530277
Total Pages : 981 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature by : J. Thomas Rimer

Download or read book The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature written by J. Thomas Rimer and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2011-11-15 with total page 981 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Featuring choice selections from the core anthologies The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From Restoration to Occupation, 1868–1945, and The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From 1945 to the Present, this collection offers a concise yet remarkably rich introduction to the fiction, poetry, drama, and essays of Japan's modern encounter with the West. Spanning a period of exceptional invention and transition, this volume is not only a critical companion to courses on Japanese literary and intellectual development but also an essential reference for scholarship on Japanese history, culture, and interactions with the East and West. The first half covers the three major styles of literary expression that informed Japanese writing and performance in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: classical Japanese fiction and drama, Chinese poetry, and Western literary representation and cultural critique. Their juxtaposition brilliantly captures the social, intellectual, and political challenges shaping Japan during this period, particularly the rise of nationalism, the complex interaction between traditional and modern forces, and the encroachment of Western ideas and writing. The second half conveys the changes that have transformed Japan since the end of the Pacific War, such as the heady transition from poverty to prosperity, the friction between conflicting ideologies and political beliefs, and the growing influence of popular culture on the country's artistic and intellectual traditions. Featuring sensitive translations of works by Nagai Kafu, Natsume Soseki, Oe Kenzaburo, Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, and many others, this anthology relates an essential portrait of Japan's dynamic modernization.

The Frontier Within

Download The Frontier Within PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231535090
Total Pages : 215 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Frontier Within by : Kōbō Abe

Download or read book The Frontier Within written by Kōbō Abe and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2013-06-25 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abe Kobo (1924–1993) was one of Japan's greatest postwar writers, widely recognized for his imaginative science fiction and plays of the absurd. However, he also wrote theoretical criticism for which he is lesser known, merging literary, historical, and philosophical perspectives into keen reflections on the nature of creativity, the evolution of the human species, and an impressive range of other subjects. Abe Kobo tackled contemporary social issues and literary theory with the depth and facility of a visionary thinker. Featuring twelve essays from his prolific career—including "Poetry and Poets (Consciousness and the Unconscious)," written in 1944, and "The Frontier Within, Part II," written in 1969—this anthology introduces English-speaking readers to Abe Kobo as critic and intellectual for the first time. Demonstrating the importance of his theoretical work to a broader understanding of his fiction—and a richer portrait of Japan's postwar imagination—Richard F. Calichman provides an incisive introduction to Abe Kobo's achievements and situates his essays historically and intellectually.

New Essays in Japanese Aesthetics

Download New Essays in Japanese Aesthetics PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 0739180827
Total Pages : 520 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (391 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis New Essays in Japanese Aesthetics by : A. Minh Nguyen

Download or read book New Essays in Japanese Aesthetics written by A. Minh Nguyen and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2017-12-29 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection begins with an engaging historical overview of Japanese aesthetics and offers contemporary multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives on the artistic and aesthetic traditions of Japan and the central themes in Japanese art and aesthetics.

Early Modern Japanese Literature

Download Early Modern Japanese Literature PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231507437
Total Pages : 1054 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Early Modern Japanese Literature by : Haruo Shirane

Download or read book Early Modern Japanese Literature written by Haruo Shirane and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2002-07-10 with total page 1054 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first anthology ever devoted to early modern Japanese literature, spanning the period from 1600 to 1900, known variously as the Edo or the Tokugawa, one of the most creative epochs of Japanese culture. This anthology, which will be of vital interest to anyone involved in this era, includes not only fiction, poetry, and drama, but also essays, treatises, literary criticism, comic poetry, adaptations from Chinese, folk stories and other non-canonical works. Many of these texts have never been translated into English before, and several classics have been newly translated for this collection. Early Modern Japanese Literature introduces English readers to an unprecedented range of prose fiction genres, including dangibon (satiric sermons), kibyôshi (satiric and didactic picture books), sharebon (books of wit and fashion), yomihon (reading books), kokkeibon (books of humor), gôkan (bound books), and ninjôbon (books of romance and sentiment). The anthology also offers a rich array of poetry—waka, haiku, senryû, kyôka, kyôshi—and eleven plays, which range from contemporary domestic drama to historical plays and from early puppet theater to nineteenth century kabuki. Since much of early modern Japanese literature is highly allusive and often elliptical, this anthology features introductions and commentary that provide the critical context for appreciating this diverse and fascinating body of texts. One of the major characteristics of early modern Japanese literature is that almost all of the popular fiction was amply illustrated by wood-block prints, creating an extensive text-image phenomenon. In some genres such as kibyôshi and gôkan the text in fact appeared inside the woodblock image. Woodblock prints of actors were also an important aspect of the culture of kabuki drama. A major feature of this anthology is the inclusion of over 200 woodblock prints that accompanied the original texts and drama.

A Tokyo Anthology

Download A Tokyo Anthology PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 0824855930
Total Pages : 538 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (248 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Tokyo Anthology by : Sumie Jones

Download or read book A Tokyo Anthology written by Sumie Jones and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The city of Tokyo, renamed after the Meiji Restoration, developed an urban culture that was a dynamic integration of Edo’s highly developed traditions and Meiji renovations, some of which reflected the influence of Western culture. This wide-ranging anthology—including fictional and dramatic works, essays, newspaper articles, political manifestos, and cartoons—tells the story of how the city’s literature and arts grew out of an often chaotic and sometimes paradoxical political environment to move toward a consummate Japanese “modernity.” Tokyo’s downtown audience constituted a market that demanded visuality and spectacle, while the educated uptown favored written, realistic literature. The literary products resulting from these conflicting consumer bases were therefore hybrid entities of old and new technologies. A Tokyo Anthology guides the reader through Japanese literature’s journey from classical to spoken, pictocentric to logocentric, and fantastic to realistic—making the novel the dominant form of modern literature. The volume highlights not only familiar masterpieces but also lesser known examples chosen from the city’s downtown life and counterculture. Imitating the custom of creative artists of the Edo period, scholars from the United States, Canada, England, and Japan have collaborated in order to produce this intriguing sampling of Meiji works in the best possible translations. The editors have sought out the most reliable first editions of texts, also reproducing most of their original illustrations. With few exceptions the translations presented here are the first in the English language. This rich anthology will be welcomed by students and scholars of Japan studies and by a wide general audience interested in Japan’s popular culture, media culture, and literature in translation.

How to Read a Japanese Poem

Download How to Read a Japanese Poem PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231546858
Total Pages : 373 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis How to Read a Japanese Poem by : Steven D. Carter

Download or read book How to Read a Japanese Poem written by Steven D. Carter and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to Read a Japanese Poem offers a comprehensive approach to making sense of traditional Japanese poetry of all genres and periods. Steven D. Carter explains to Anglophone students the methods of composition and literary interpretation used by Japanese poets, scholars, and critics from ancient times to the present, and adds commentary that will assist the modern reader. How to Read a Japanese Poem presents readings of poems by major figures such as Saigyō and Bashō as well as lesser known poets, with nearly two hundred examples that encompass all genres of Japanese poetry. The book gives attention to well-known forms such as haikai or haiku, as well as ancient songs, comic poems, and linked verse. Each chapter provides examples of a genre in chronological order, followed by notes about authorship and other contextual details, including the time of composition, physical setting, and social occasion. The commentaries focus on a central feature of Japanese poetic discourse: that poems are often occasional, written in specific situations, and are best read in light of their milieu. Carter elucidates key concepts useful in examining Japanese poetics as well as the technical vocabulary of Japanese poetic discourse, familiarizing students with critical terms and concepts. An appendix offers succinct definitions of technical terms and essays on aesthetic ideals and devices.

For Dignity, Justice, and Revolution

Download For Dignity, Justice, and Revolution PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022603478X
Total Pages : 441 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (26 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis For Dignity, Justice, and Revolution by : Heather Bowen-Struyk

Download or read book For Dignity, Justice, and Revolution written by Heather Bowen-Struyk and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-01-14 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A significant contribution to the body of English language scholarship and translation of Japanese proletarian literature. Highly recommended.” —Choice Fiction created by and for the working class emerged worldwide in the early twentieth century as a response to rapid modernization, dramatic inequality, and imperial expansion. In Japan, literary youth, men and women, sought to turn their imaginations and craft to tackling the ensuing injustices, with results that captured both middle-class and worker-farmer readers. This anthology is a landmark introduction to Japanese proletarian literature from that period. Contextualized by introductory essays, forty expertly translated stories touch on topics like perilous factories, predatory bosses, ethnic discrimination, and the myriad indignities of poverty. Together, they show how even intensely personal issues form a pattern of oppression. Fostering labor consciousness as part of an international leftist arts movement, these writers were also challenging the institution of modern literature itself. This anthology demonstrates the vitality of the “red decade” long buried in modern Japanese literary history. “The thread of thought underlying the stories . . . is, as Edmund Wilson eloquently established in To the Finland Station, one of the fundamental components of our contemporary consciousness.” —Kyoto Journal “An essential guidebook for navigating twentieth-century Japan’s literary and political terrain.” —Edward Fowler, University of California, Irvine, author of San’ya Blues: Laboring Life in Contemporary Tokyo “Excellent translations of excellent writers.” —John Whitter Treat, Yale University, author of The Rise and Fall of Modern Japanese Literature “Lucidly structured. . . . The editors have also made the welcome decision to retain self-censored and suppressed passages.” —Japan Times “Engaging and in-depth.” —Japan Studies

Lafcadio Hearn's Japan

Download Lafcadio Hearn's Japan PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Tuttle Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1462900100
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (629 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Lafcadio Hearn's Japan by : Lafcadio Hearn

Download or read book Lafcadio Hearn's Japan written by Lafcadio Hearn and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2011-04-11 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of writings from Lafcaido Hern paints a rare and fascinating picture of pre-modern Japan Over a century after his death, author, translator, and educator Lafcaido Hearn remains one of the best-known Westerners ever to make Japan his home. Almost more Japanese than the Japanese--"to think with their thoughts" was his aim--his prolific writings on things Japanese were instrumental in introducing Japanese culture to the West. In this masterful anthology, Donald Richie shows that Hearn was first and foremost a reliable and enthusiastic observer, who faithfully recorded a detailed account of the people, customs, and culture of late nineteen-century Japan. Opening and closing with excerpts from Hearn's final books, Richie's astute selection from among "over 4,000 printed pages" not including correspondence and other writing, also reveals Hearn's later, more sober and reflective attitudes to the things that he observed and wrote about. Part One, "The Land," chronicles Hearn's early years when he wrote primarily about the appearance of his adopted home. Part Two, "The People," records the author's later years when he came to terms with the Japanese themselves. In this anthology, Richie, more gifted in capturing the essence of a person on the page than any other foreign writer living in Japan, has picked out the best of Hearn's evocations. Select writings include: The Chief City of the Province of the Gods Three Popular Ballads In the Cave of the Children's Ghosts Bits of Life and Death A Street Singer Kimiko On A Bridge

Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons

Download Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231152817
Total Pages : 346 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (311 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons by : Haruo Shirane

Download or read book Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons written by Haruo Shirane and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Elegant representations of nature and the four seasons populate a wide range of Japanese genres and media. In Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons, Haruo Shirane shows how, when, and why this practice developed and explicates the richly encoded social, religious, and political meanings of this imagery. Shirane discusses textual, cultivated, material, performative, and gastronomic representations of nature. He reveals how this kind of 'secondary nature, ' which flourished in Japan's urban environment, fostered and idealized a sense of harmony with the natural world just at the moment when it began to recede from view. Illuminating the deeper meaning behind Japanese aesthetics and artifacts, Shirane also clarifies the use of natural and seasonal topics as well as the changes in their cultural associations and functions across history, genre, and community over more than a millennium. In this book, the four seasons are revealed to be as much a cultural construction as a reflection of the physical world."--Back cover.

Woman Critiqued

Download Woman Critiqued PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 9780824829582
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (295 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Woman Critiqued by : Rebecca L. Copeland

Download or read book Woman Critiqued written by Rebecca L. Copeland and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Women Critiqued' offers English-language readers access to some of the salient critiques that have been directed at women writers, on the one hand, and reactions to these by women writers, on the other.

Modern Japanese Tanka

Download Modern Japanese Tanka PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780231104333
Total Pages : 316 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (43 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Modern Japanese Tanka by : Makoto Ueda

Download or read book Modern Japanese Tanka written by Makoto Ueda and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: His introduction gives an excellent overview of the development of tanka in the last one hundred years.