Old Japan and Poetry of bygone days: Yamabe no Akahito
Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The Japanese poet Yamabe no Akahito belongs to the Nara period of history in the eighth century. In truth, much remains unknown about the life of Yamabe apart from the rich poetic legacy he bestowed on future generations. Therefore, the Yamabe that is attainable can only come from the poetry he wrote.
Internationally, Kyoto is famous for being a cradle of Japanese high culture. Of course, many factors justify this. However, the real cradle where Japanese high culture emerges to a great extent applies to Nara. In this sense, it is fitting that Yamabe belongs to this period of Japanese history.
His fifty surviving exquisite poems written between 724-736 enabled this poet to become one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals. These poems were written in the Manyoshu – an ancient anthology – that contain his sublime work. Of the fifty poems, thirteen are choka (long poems) and the other thirty-seven are tanka (short poems).
Yamabe in one poem writes:
I STARTED off along the shore,
The seashore at Tago,
And saw the white and glistening peak
Of Fuji all aglow
Through falling flakes of snow.
In another poem, Yamabe writes:
To my good friend
Would I show, I thought,
The plum blossoms,
Now lost to sight
Amid the falling snow.
It is stipulated that Yamabe composed many poems while traveling with Emperor Shomu. This in itself shows how highly cherished he was during his lifetime. Therefore, after leaving this world Yamabe became a blessed kami of poetry.
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
DONATIONS to SUPPORT MODERN TOKYO TIMES – please pay PayPal and DONATE to sawakoart@gmail.com
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi personal website and Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
http://global-security-news.com Global Security News – Geopolitics and Terrorism
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/moderntokyotimes
Some Japanese art and cultural articles by Modern Tokyo Times are republished based on the need to inform our growing international readership.