Women poets have a long and industrious history in Japan, where they have been writing tanka for over 1,000 years, appearing in the first Imperial anthologies and in the oldest novel in the world, Murasaki Shikibu's "The Tale of Genji." While many aspects of the tanka form, such as the 31-syllable count and seasonal words have lasted through the ages, other time-bound traditions have fallen by the wayside. Chief among them are the use of tanka as a form of courtship between lovers. No longer set in the rarified realm of aristocratic romance, modern tanka reflect the changes in women's social status and the myriad lives they lead.
One thing that is immediately evident in these volumes is the way in which world travel has shaped the experiences of both poets, giving them a perspective outside of their own culture. Hatsue Kawamura is one of Japan's foremost tanka writers, with four books to her credit. This is her first in English, skillfully translated by Australian Amelia Fielden. While these tanka, divided into 25 sections, capture the fullness of family and the difficulties of aging, they also contain many images of travel and globalization.
Kawamura edits the acclaimed Tanka Journal, and translates tanka as well. While many tanka poets endlessly debate the form's viability in other languages and cultures, Kawamura's journal publishes tanka from all around the world in many different languages. "All human beings, irrespective of nationality or race, sing of the same emotions of joy and sorrow. Tanka is an ancient Japanese form, but we Japanese do not have a monopoly on it," she writes.