"Cutting the Spring Breeze Throughout heaven and earth there is not a piece of ground where a single stick could be in…"

"When the Japanese Zen priest Mugaku Sogen (1226-1286) was in China and threatened by invading Mongol troops, he compo…"

"As if to say— "Isn't it true for men, as well: that the more the words, the less they are of value?"— the cuckoo does…"

"When I look upon the rich sheen of summer hairs in my new brush, I am saddened by a deer drawn at night to a hunter's…"

"I had forgotten— as I kept on forgetting to remind myself that those who vow to forget are the ones who can't forget."

"All these images from a world of long ago— of what good are they? Pine winds, come—please blow away these unforgotten…"

"Even in one’s sleep, it is dreams of this world one sees, and of no other; just as there is no dawning here that brin…"

"If one continues to compose poems of the sort that everyone else considers good, one must remain forever at that ordi…"

"In this art of poetry, those who speak ill of Teika should be denied the protection of the gods and Buddhas and conde…"

"The annals of Japanese literary history abound with stories of suffering literati. [...] None of these, however, seem…"