“The Country Where Turtles Cry: Climate and Poetry of Japan” (亀が鳴く国——日本の風土誌) by Susumu Nakanishi, translated by Aya Yuhki and edited by Bruce Allen, has been published by Kadokawa Shoten.
An English translation of a masterpiece that deciphers the cultural characteristics of Japan, using waka, tanka, and haiku as clues. What is the Japanese aesthetic sense that has been passed down from the ancient times of the Manyoshu, and how was it nurtured in the climate and lifestyle? Using the national poetry forms of waka, tanka, and haiku, we will read and understand the cultural characteristics.
Born in Tokyo in 1929, Nakanishi has a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in literature from University of Tokyo. As the leading scholar of comparative studies for Japanese culture, he has been named a Person of Cultural Merit and received the Order of Culture.
Born in Tokyo in 1934, Yuhki graduated from Ochanomizu University. She is a tanka poet, translator, president of the International Tanka Society and publisher of International Tanka.
Born in Boston, Allen has a B.A. from Amherst College and an M.A. from Sophia University. He is a translator and a retired professor of the Department of English Language and Literature at Seisen University.
For more information, visit https://www.kadokawa.co.jp/ (site is in Japanese).