Only Companion: Japanese Poems of Love and Longing

by Sam Hamill (Translator)

Written by court princesses, exiled officials, Zen priests, and recluses, the 150 poems translated here represent the rich diversity of Japan’s poetic tradition. Varying in tone from the sensuous and erotic to the profoundly spiritual, each poem captures a sense of the poignant beauty and longing known only in the fleeting experience of the moment. The translator has selected these five-line tanka —one of the great traditional verse forms of Japanese literature—from sources ranging from the classical imperial anthologies of the eighth and tenth centuries to works of the early twentieth century.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Japanese Literature, Japan

144 pages, Paperback

First published December 17, 1996

About the author

Poet, editor, translator, and essayist, Sam Hamill is author of more than thirty books including two from BOA Editions, Gratitude (1998), and Dumb Luck(2002). He has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including ones from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission, two Washington Governor’s Arts Awards, the Stanley Lindberg Lifetime Achievement Award for Editing, and the Washington Poets Association Lifetime Achievement Award for poetry. He co-founded Copper Canyon Press, and has worked extensively in prisons and with battered women and children.

Reviews

[Sneha Praveen]

Pale plum blossoms subtly perfume the evening, weaving shadow and light.
Willows stretch out their fingers.
Spring rains continue to fall.

—KYŌGOKU TAMEKANE

What might I leave you as a last gift when my time comes?
Springtime flowers,
the cuckoo singing all summer, the yellow leaves of autumn.

-RYŌKAN

[Matt Miles]

If you’re interested in an overview of Japanese poetry at its best, celebrating moments like love and cold fall breezes while also appreciating the fact that they will end, this collection wouldn’t be the worst choice.

[Roger Barnstead]

I WEPT READING THIS

None the less
Sam is an asshole of the first order

[Kathabela Wilson]

This lovely tiny book:Only Companion" was one that I chose to buy after I carried another tiny book of his "Sound of Water" as my only companion on our last trip to Japan (in my purse during our travels). "Sound of Water" was a gift from our Japanese mathematician host in Japan, a dear friend. It was chosen by his wife who is a librarian in Nagoya, to give to us (she knows us too). What a beautiful origin for the experience of a beautiful book. What a way to come to know a dear and admired friend (Sam Hamill). I wrote to him after we got back from Asia last summer, and he appreciated this little story of how I came to know his book. Then he recommended a few others. This was one. It is heightened poetry, and since I love tanka, it's ancient lyricism brought alive in our own time and language this little book is going in my purse for a while again... to refire the memories of our amazing trip and the love and longing for those places and times past as well. The tiny pages each include one tanka (waka) they are so old... in Japanese, preceded by his translation. It is a lesson in itself to see the tiny length of lines of the Japanese poems. The lightness of their look is stunning. While I was surprised a little to see the translations in the 57577 form in English, the translations are light, lyrical and deep. I would not write tanka of that length in English myself, as I love the lilting deep implications of very short lines, and I think it is possible to use English in that way, the translations in this form give the opportunity for us to see, inside two superb poetic minds... that of the original poet, and the translator, who is able to reveal in a heightened way, the inner subtlety and overtones hidden to us in the Japanese units. The first poem in the collection is a signpost a lamp light for us:

Wanting to preserve
the seeds of the human heart
for eternity
we return to the deep past--
the source of words in Japanese

(Kyogoku Tamekane)
trans Sam Hamill

[Michael Graber]

These crystallized little gems, in an inspired translation, speak directly to the heart in ways that are subtle, surprising, and startling. This lovely edition capture the spirit of the words in perfect pitch.

[Stephanie]

I cried several times while reading this book...and that rarely happens. The poems are beautiful beyond description, especially the ones about romances that seem to only be possible in dreams. I just can't recommend this one enough, and am keeping it forever.

[rati]

A book that can be read and read again - forever. Very beautiful poems...

[John]

More marvelous Japanese poetry from the past. The Japanese have this autumnal feeling in their best poetry. You can hear the hiss & howl of the lonely wind.

[Janet]

A small gem of a book packed with beautiful poems, beautifully translated . I find myself dipping into it over and over again.