Waka and Things, Waka as Things

Download or read book Waka and Things, Waka as Things written by Edward Kamens and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-01-01 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A challenging study offering a new perspective on classical Japanese poems and how they interact with and are part of material culture This generously illustrated volume offers a fresh perspective on classical Japanese poetry (waka), including many poems treated here for the first time in a Western-language publication. Edward Kamens examines these poems both as they relate to material things and as things in and of themselves, exploring their intimate connections to artifacts and works of visual art, sacred and secular alike, and investigating the unique rhetorical messages and powers accessed and activated through these multimedia productions. This book makes a major contribution to Japanese literary and cultural studies.