Tag: Hyakunin Isshu
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April 2023 Update: Mental Blocks and Review
Hello Readers, The good news is that I cross the halfway point in late March and memorized 50 of the poems! 🎉 When I started in January, I wasn’t I’d get very far before life got in the way. It has gotten in the way since returning to the US, but I have been able…
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Memorization Progress, February 2023
Hello dear readers, My progress in memorizing the Hyakunin Isshu poems, for the sake of learning to play karuta, continues, but since returning to the US, it has taken some twists and turns. When I got back home, it became clear how busy my day to day life is compared to Japan, where I didn’t…
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Recovering from Japan earthquake, reviving Japanese culture
In light of the terrible damage and trauma from the Great Tohoku Earthquake in Japan, I found this article by the Asahi Shinbun very touching. As mentioned in this post, high-schools in Japan often have a karuta club of some kind devoted to the Hyakunin Isshu poetry anthology, and the game which involves grabbing the…
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A Short Parting: Poem Number 16
I thought this was a cool, simple poem: Japanese Romanization Translation 立ち別れ Tachiwakare Even if I depart いなばの山の Inaba no yama no and go to Inaba Mountain, 峰に生ふる Mine ni ōru on whose peak grow まつとしきかば Matsutoshi kikaba pines, if I hear you pine for me, 今かへりこむ Ima kaeri kon I will return straightaway to…
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Pillow Words in the Hyakunin Isshu
Reading classical Japanese is hard enough as it is, but what makes the Hyakunin Isshu interesting, among other things, is the colorful, archaic phrases sometimes used. These phrases are strictly literary, and tend to have a dramatic sound to them, but when translating to English, they may be left untranslated. These words are called makura…
The Hyakunin Isshu 