The Tales of Ise

by Anonymous (Translator), H. Jay Harris (Translator), Kenneth Yasuda (Foreword)

A timeless work, beloved since the Middle Ages, takes a glorious new form in this deluxe modern edition.

The Tales of Ise contains 125 vignettes following a valiant hero from his 'coming of age' to his death. Included here are sixteen black-and-white woodblock prints originally published in 1608.

Genres: Japan, Poetry, Japanese Literature, Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, Literature

248 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1972

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinatingly structured book. It tells the life of a young man (loosely based on the life of the hero Narihira... though his name is only mentioned in one poem) and his many adventures up to the point of his death. Each section is told with an introduction beginning "Long ago,"and then a poem. Some sections are longer with aftermaths following the poems, but mostly the tales are told through the short five line poems.

The poems range from serious subject matter, humorous banter and of course several love poems. They work more often than not and some of them are deeply moving (says someone who tends to be cynical when works try to go for an emotional reaction).

The writing is beautiful and the translation is stunning. My words cannot do this unnamed writer justice, so I will not even try. Instead, I will let a few of his poems say what I cannot.

Could this be the same moon?
Could this be the spring of old?
Only I am as I have always been,
but without you here
.........

I can see you so clearly,
but never touch you
with my hands,
for you are as far away
as the laurel tree within the moon

My heart is full,
but I will keep it all unsaid
for there is no one
to share my thoughts with,
not a soul like me.

I knew I'd have to walk on the path
we all must finally take,
but I had no idea
it would be tomorrow,
much less today

4/5 stars and a recommendation to anyone with any interest in poetry.

Side note: The penguin edition I have contains extensive notes for each poem (the notes are significantly longer than the work itself) so those wanting to know deeper meanings and history behind the poems will find a great deal knowledge in these sections.

[E. G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

List of Illustrations
Foreword, by Donald Keene
Introduction & Notes
Further Reading
Note on the Translation and Text

--The Tales of Ise

A Note on the Commentary
Commentary

Appendix 1: Glossary of Literary and Social Conventions
Appendix 2: Historical Characters
Appendix 3: Genealogies of the Historical Characters
Appendix 4: Principles of Romanization
Appendix 5: Romanized Transliterations of the Poems
Appendix 6: Maps

Acknowledgements

[Steve]

Two pages of Ise monogatari in a lovely edition from the early Tokugawa era (1608).

Nota bene: I have combined the reviews of two translations/commentaries of Ise monogatari into one. If you've read the one review, then you've read the other.


Some of Japan's oldest texts have been holding me enthralled. After the life and poetry of Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), it is now the Ise monogatari (The Tales of Ise) that have connected with me through the intervening centuries. Though the experts are still arguing about who wrote it and when (and their task is not simplified by the fact that it had a long genesis with multiple stages and later editors felt entitled to make interpolations), it would appear that Ise assumed the essentials of its present form somewhere between 905 and 951.(*) The author/compiler of that text is not known, but it is known that (1) approximately one-third of the poems in Ise are the work of Ariwara no Narihira (825-880) and (2) other portions were written after Narihira's death.

Narihira, the grandson of an emperor through a secondary wife, must have been quite a character. Praised for his manly beauty and for his mastery of poetry in Japanese, he somehow managed to avoid the then standard obligation at the Japanese court to be expert in Chinese language and literature in an age when the writing of Japanese verse was associated with women and love poems. In fact, in the Sandai Jitsuroku (True Annals of Three Reigns) he is described as follows:

In appearance elegant and comely,
his self-indulgence notwithstanding,
seriously wanting in Chinese learning,
a fine craftsman of the native poetry.(**)

As with Lady Murasaki's Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji, ca. 1008), we are in a fix when we try to classify Ise. So why bother? What is this obsession with round pegs and square holes? Instead of classifying Ise, let's look at it carefully. Genji is episodic and, for readers whose taste was formed by the Western novelistic canon, rather elliptic in certain respects and somewhat narrow in focus. But compared to Ise, Genji is prolix and markedly expansive.

The most widely disseminated versions of Ise consist of 125 extremely short episodes (dan) composed of brief prose passages linking a few poems within each episode. There is a recurring male "character" (who, actually, cannot always be the same person) and much of his activity is locating, wooing and seducing women, though the last step is not always successful, resulting in a heartfelt lament. Frustrated desire not infrequently results in abduction. The poems, which can hardly be said to advance any plot, are evocatively indirect, focusing on little details bespeaking states of emotion. The indirection is so extreme that commentaries attempting to interpret Ise for befuddled readers sprang up almost immediately, resulting in a huge, convoluted and mutually contradictory tradition(***) which, from what little I have seen of it, is often more revealing of the individual commentator's attitudes and times than it is of the text being interpreted. (No surprise there.) The lack of clarity is further increased when the later interpolations actually contradict the passages from the earlier archaeological levels of the text. This text was not written to be understood but to be felt. It is an expression of early Japanese attitudes and aesthetics and has been influential to the present: every educated Japanese from the Muromachi period on had to read the Kokinshu, Genji monogatari and Ise monogatari, despite the somewhat questionable sexual morality of the latter two (from the point of view of the official morality).(4*)

One can see that Ise and Genji were written nearly a century apart: the court societies described by Genji and Ise differ noticeably - in Ise the Fujiwara(5*) were rising but still had competitors (including the emperors themselves), in Genji the Fujiwara were in control; in Ise the court aristocracy was not yet completely disconnected from the Japanese people, in Genji they were in their own never-neverland; the nebulous mysticism and use of geomancy, astrology, etc. of the courtiers in Genji is absent in Ise; the pioneer spirit of the 8th century Japanese aristocracy is weakened but still present in Ise, while in Genji they have arrived at a hyper-aestheticized state which I hesitate to characterize in a few words.

In an attempt to triangulate the Japanese text behind two well regarded English translations, I read The Tales of Ise (1972) by H. Jay Harris and The Ise Stories (2010) by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler. Both Harris and Mostow/Tyler maintain the original 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic line count when translating the poetry, but in most other respects diverge strongly. Consider the first poem of the first episode:

Harris:

Fields of Kasuga
with whose tender, purple shoots
this gown has been dyed:
This confusion of my heart
whose boundaries no man knows...

Mostow/Tyler:

Young murasaki
sprung from Kasuga meadows,
you impress my cloak
with such Shinobu tangles,
they will never come undone.

They are in little more agreement about the prose passages. Both books offer extensive notes and reproductions of Tokugawa era illustrations of Ise monogatari from the same 1608 edition (see top). The notes provided by Mostow/Tyler also give a taste of the Japanese commentaries to Ise. I found that the notes of Harris, resp. Mostow/Tyler hardly overlapped and both were useful.


(*) Nonetheless, scholars believe that episodes were added at the beginning of the 11th century, and smaller changes were being made to various versions as late as the 16th century. All the oldest manuscripts have been lost, and there is no single, canonical Ise monogatari.

(**) Apparently, some scholars now prefer to interpret the third line as "not the conscientious type."

(***) Eloquently indicative is the following quote from Mostow/Tyler's commentary on dan 4: The meaning of the poem in this episode has been debated for centuries, the result being a numbing number of interpretations.

(4*) For example, though the Meiji ideologues condemned the "loose morals," they projected found political grounds to approve of Ise.

(5*) The Fujiwara family had increased its power slowly and carefully from the beginnings of the Heian era through a policy of marrying their daughters into the royal family, placing the youngest resultant princes upon the throne and ruling the country as regents.

Rating

http://leopard.booklikes.com/post/109...

[Steve]

Two pages of Ise monogatari in a lovely edition from the early Tokugawa era (1608).

Nota bene: I have combined the reviews of two translations/commentaries of Ise monogatari into one. If you've read the one review, then you've read the other.


Some of Japan's oldest texts have been holding me enthralled. After the life and poetry of Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), it is now the Ise monogatari (The Tales of Ise) that have connected with me through the intervening centuries. Though the experts are still arguing about who wrote it and when (and their task is not simplified by the fact that it had a long genesis with multiple stages and later editors felt entitled to make interpolations), it would appear that Ise assumed the essentials of its present form somewhere between 905 and 951.(*) The author/compiler of that text is not known, but it is known that (1) approximately one-third of the poems in Ise are the work of Ariwara no Narihira (825-880) and (2) other portions were written after Narihira's death.

Narihira, the grandson of an emperor through a secondary wife, must have been quite a character. Praised for his manly beauty and for his mastery of poetry in Japanese, he somehow managed to avoid the then standard obligation at the Japanese court to be expert in Chinese language and literature in an age when the writing of Japanese verse was associated with women and love poems. In fact, in the Sandai Jitsuroku (True Annals of Three Reigns) he is described as follows:

In appearance elegant and comely,
his self-indulgence notwithstanding,
seriously wanting in Chinese learning,
a fine craftsman of the native poetry.(**)

As with Lady Murasaki's Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji, ca. 1008), we are in a fix when we try to classify Ise. So why bother? What is this obsession with round pegs and square holes? Instead of classifying Ise, let's look at it carefully. Genji is episodic and, for readers whose taste was formed by the Western novelistic canon, rather elliptic in certain respects and somewhat narrow in focus. But compared to Ise, Genji is prolix and markedly expansive.

The most widely disseminated versions of Ise consist of 125 extremely short episodes (dan) composed of brief prose passages linking a few poems within each episode. There is a recurring male "character" (who, actually, cannot always be the same person) and much of his activity is locating, wooing and seducing women, though the last step is not always successful, resulting in a heartfelt lament. Frustrated desire not infrequently results in abduction. The poems, which can hardly be said to advance any plot, are evocatively indirect, focusing on little details bespeaking states of emotion. The indirection is so extreme that commentaries attempting to interpret Ise for befuddled readers sprang up almost immediately, resulting in a huge, convoluted and mutually contradictory tradition(***) which, from what little I have seen of it, is often more revealing of the individual commentator's attitudes and times than it is of the text being interpreted. (No surprise there.) The lack of clarity is further increased when the later interpolations actually contradict the passages from the earlier archaeological levels of the text. This text was not written to be understood but to be felt. It is an expression of early Japanese attitudes and aesthetics and has been influential to the present: every educated Japanese from the Muromachi period on had to read the Kokinshu, Genji monogatari and Ise monogatari, despite the somewhat questionable sexual morality of the latter two (from the point of view of the official morality).(4*)

One can see that Ise and Genji were written nearly a century apart: the court societies described by Genji and Ise differ noticeably - in Ise the Fujiwara(5*) were rising but still had competitors (including the emperors themselves), in Genji the Fujiwara were in control; in Ise the court aristocracy was not yet completely disconnected from the Japanese people, in Genji they were in their own never-neverland; the nebulous mysticism and use of geomancy, astrology, etc. of the courtiers in Genji is absent in Ise; the pioneer spirit of the 8th century Japanese aristocracy is weakened but still present in Ise, while in Genji they have arrived at a hyper-aestheticized state which I hesitate to characterize in a few words.

In an attempt to triangulate the Japanese text behind two well regarded English translations, I read The Tales of Ise (1972) by H. Jay Harris and The Ise Stories (2010) by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler. Both Harris and Mostow/Tyler maintain the original 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic line count when translating the poetry, but in most other respects diverge strongly. Consider the first poem of the first episode:

Harris:

Fields of Kasuga
with whose tender, purple shoots
this gown has been dyed:
This confusion of my heart
whose boundaries no man knows...

Mostow/Tyler:

Young murasaki
sprung from Kasuga meadows,
you impress my cloak
with such Shinobu tangles,
they will never come undone.

They are in little more agreement about the prose passages. Both books offer extensive notes and reproductions of Tokugawa era illustrations of Ise monogatari from the same 1608 edition (see top). The notes provided by Mostow/Tyler also give a taste of the Japanese commentaries to Ise. I found that the notes of Harris, resp. Mostow/Tyler hardly overlapped and both were useful.


(*) Nonetheless, scholars believe that episodes were added at the beginning of the 11th century, and smaller changes were being made to various versions as late as the 16th century. All the oldest manuscripts have been lost, and there is no single, canonical Ise monogatari.

(**) Apparently, some scholars now prefer to interpret the third line as "not the conscientious type."

(***) Eloquently indicative is the following quote from Mostow/Tyler's commentary on dan 4: The meaning of the poem in this episode has been debated for centuries, the result being a numbing number of interpretations.

(4*) For example, though the Meiji ideologues condemned the "loose morals," they projected found political grounds to approve of Ise.

(5*) The Fujiwara family had increased its power slowly and carefully from the beginnings of the Heian era through a policy of marrying their daughters into the royal family, placing the youngest resultant princes upon the throne and ruling the country as regents.

Rating

http://leopard.booklikes.com/post/109...

[Markus · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tales of Ise
By Ariwara no Narihira (AD 825-880) and other poets.


The Tales can be read as a partly real-life and partly fictionalized portrait of the hero, the great lover and poet Narihira.

Moreover, the collection of the several episodes create a perspective of the aesthetics and ‘Ideal Way of Love’ of the early part of the Heian period (794-1185).

The translator called it the Japanese version of “L’Education Sentimentale”.

I had read the “Tales of Genji” last year and was interested in the comparison.

As it turns out, Genji, of the eleventh century, would likely not have been created without the much older ‘Tales of Ise’.

In the ‘Tales of Genji,’ we find the same setting of the Imperial Palace, the same layout of the Imperial City, the political and private actors, as well as individual situation very similar to the ones we find in the Tales of Ise.

The Genji however, is much more developed in every chapter and feels much more abundant in-depth. A good read indeed.

From my general interest in languages, I always wonder how the translator can handle such a challenging work of translation.

Indeed, Ancient Japanese and modern English is in no way compatible, especially in poetry, where so much of meaning is untold on the surface but understood by the ancient reader by his own culture of the time.

What we get in translation is only the bare bones, nothing of the substance, which we will have to imagine, if we can, or read the 226 pages of commentary.

It was not my intention at the beginning, but as I wanted to appreciate this ancient Japanese masterpiece of poetry, I did well to read the book first from cover to cover including the Introduction and the 226 pages of commentary, and then reread the poems.

Thanks, Tim, and I also will highly recommend this book to all lovers of Japanese Poetry and Literature.

[Alex Pler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Todo es misterio alrededor de Ise monogatari: quién lo escribió, con qué intención, en qué orden... Lo que nos queda es una fascinante colección de poemas amorosos, hilvanados por una narración sencilla a modo de apuntes. Dobles sentidos, vida cortesana y mangas mojadas.

[Yann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Les Contes d'Ise de Ariwara no Narihira, 在原 業平, (825-880) comptent parmi les plus anciens de la littérature japonaise. Il s'agit de cent vingt cinq histoires très courtes, moins d'une page, présentant généralement une situation de manière très rapide, schématique et succincte, permettant d'introduire un poème adapté à circonstance, composé par l'un des protagonistes. Parfois, ces poèmes peuvent appeler une réponse, où entament un court dialogues entre deux personnages. Ces poèmes courts expriment le plus souvent un sentiment élégiaque: regret, amour perdu, temps qui passe. Mais ils peuvent aussi donner dans la raillerie un peu acrimonieuse, lorsqu'un amant se plaint des rigueurs qu'on lui fait subir, ou qu'un prétendant trop volage se fait trop insistant.


On ne trouvera dans ces poésies aucune référence à des classiques plus anciens, mais un important appareil critique est nécessaire pour les rendre parfaitement intelligible: d'une part, ils sont souvent elliptiques et doivent être interpolés (ils sont parfois même parfaitement abscons), et d'autre part, l'auteur joue beaucoup sur les doubles sens (voir triple sens) que permettent le système d'écriture japonais, ainsi que sur des images et expressions idiomatiques qu'il faut éclaircir. Au final, une lecture agréable et touchante, car les sentiments exprimés n'ont pas été gâtés par trop grande sophistication, et gardent ainsi toute leur force et leur saveur.

[Smiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compared to “The Gossamer Years” (Tuttle, 1964), “As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams” (Penguin, 1983) and “The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon” (Penguin, 1981), this book was a bit disappointing due to probably its repeatedly typical presentation from DAN I - DAN CXXV (Episode 1-Episode 125) with its story and a poem or more translated from Japanese uta by maintaining “the 5-7-5-7- 7 syllabification of the original in all cases” (p. 29). However, its readers should set the scene by reading its introduction for essential background knowledge on this “as one of the great literary classics of Japan” (inner cover). Moreover, I’ve noticed each episode has notably the same opening words, that is, Long ago [mukashi (Keene, 1999, p. 453)]; therefore, the following three selected episodes I think would be of interest to some newcomers to read and grasp something in mind.

Before reading the extracts, I think we can better understand and enjoy reading The Tales more if, from different translators, we compare their translations, episode by episode, guided by a good reference, for example: A History of Japanese Literature Volume 1 (Keene, 1999) from which his following romanized transliterated sentence is extracted:

Mukashi hito wa kaku ichihayaki miyabi wo nan shikeru (People in the past displayed in this manner remarkable elegance.) (Keene, 1999, p. 453)

In the meantime, I think comparing between Episode 1, the last sentence should suffice; the one above by Dr Keene taken as a supplementary guide.

This book's translation: DAN I The men of former times thus felt such deep elegance. (Harris, 1972, p. 37)

The recent one: 1 The elegant behaviour of men in those days could be quite impulsive. (Macmillan, 2016, p. 3)

We can see their subtle differences, in other words, the three translations are impossible to be exact, they can vary and we can't help but agree that "Variety is the spice of life".

Another query is that why readers still long to read The Tales, again, according to Dr Keene: "But probably the chief reason why Tales of Ise was so popular was that it represented in encapsulated form the glamour of the Heian court and was therefore irresistibly attractive to members of later generations who yearned for that golden age." (p. 452)

And here comes the real thing:

DAN LXXXII [the famous cherry-viewing scene]

Long ago there lived an Imperial Prince named Prince Koreteka. Just beyond Yamazaki at the place known as Minase he had a detached palace. Each year when the cherry blossoms were flowering he was to be found at that palace. On such occasions he usually took with him the man who was Captain of the Right in the Imperial Stables. (As this happened long ago I have forgotten the name of the man.) They were not too avid about falconry but rather immersed themselves in writing native-style poems when drinking great amounts of wine. The cherries at this place, now the Nagisa Palace in the hunting region of Katano, were especially magnificent. Dismounting from their horses and sitting beneath the trees they broke off flowering sprays and wreathed themselves in blossoms. Without distinctions of rank everyone composed poems. That recited by the Captain of the Stables:
If within this world
there should be no cherry flowers
for all to enjoy
how would men then free of care
find their hearts in the springtime!

Such indeed was his. And someone else:
When indeed they fall
how much more these cherry flowers
are endeared to us –
What within this fleeting world
is meant to last forever …?

As they got up to return the sun had already set. One of the company who had been given to carry the wine came up from the fields. “Let us finish off this wine,” said he, and in looking for a suitable spot they came to a place called River of Heaven. … Thus the Captain of the Stables recited for the Prince:
From the Weaving Maid
after a day of hunting
I would lodging seek
since we at twilight have come
to the River of Heaven.

Again and again His Highness repeated this poem but unable to come up with a fitting reply. Ki no Aritsune was also in attendance upon the Prince and his returning poem was:
Only once he comes,
she awaits the Herdsman Star
for their yearly tryst:
I am hard put to believe
she’d welcome any other!
… (pp. 121-123)

DAN LXXXIV

Long ago there lived a young man. True, he was of a low rank, but his mother was an Imperial Princess. This lady who was his mother resided in a place called Nagaoka. As this son was serving at the Court in the Capital, he was unable to pay a visit to her for long periods though he tried. As this was when just in the twelfth month there was suddenly a letter from her. He read it and was surprised to find the poem:
As I grow in age
that farewell which is final
must be spoken of –
Thus all the more I yearn now
to see my son once again.

The son, weeping profusely, recited:
Ah, within this world
that farewell which is final
I would wish away:
For your thousandth year I pray,
I who am your loving child. (pp. 125-126)

DAN CXVIII

Long ago a man after a long period of silence said, “My heart has not forgotten you. May I call upon you …?” So she sent back:
Lovely languorous vine
you have got so many trees
round which you entwine –
Thus that you should be constant
plants no joy within my heart. (p. 152)
etc.

However, once in a while, serious readers should consult The Notes to Translation (pp. 159-228) for more detail and literary contexts, especially, DAN LXIX which is the longest, most important and best piece of writing. (p. 204)

In summary, we would enjoy trying to appreciate this famous book "The Tales of Ise" more if we read each episode comparatively guided by some good authoritative texts as well as reading
its synopsis for its scope and cultural background at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tal.... Enjoy!

---------
Reference:
Keene, Donald, A History of Japanese Literature, Volume 1: Seeds in the Heart (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999)

[Akemi G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It looks like Penguin is publishing the translation of this classic. I read this in the original Japanese--it's one of my favorite classics, so I'm glad. (And the cover design is from the old painting for this book--very appropriate.)

It's the forerunner of The Tale of Genji; not as developed as Genji, but therefore has the raw immediacy. As the title suggests, this is a collection of short stories, all loosely modeled after a historical figure Ariwara no Narihira (825-880), a courtier and romantic poet.

[sanaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Japanese poetry is definitely different from Farsi but having patience and reading through this book and all its extensive notes I learned how to enjoy it and I learned how it is intricate like Farsi poems are. How it is formal yet expressive of something deeply humane.
pure, shear enjoyment in the crowded subway!

[Eadweard · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the earliest works of japanese literature, and one of the most imporant too, extensively referenced. It's a bit repetitive but it's also pretty short, the poems were quite good.

"More ephemeral/ even than writing numbers/ on a stream"

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un clásico.
Poemas que se pasan de dramáticos.

Habría disfrutafo más de una edición bilingüe.

[Anima · Rating 5 out of 5]

'From White to Red

Long ago, a lady of affected ways was living near the man. As she was confident in her ability to write poetry, she decided to test him with a poem. She plucked a chrysanthemum that was turning a reddish colour as it faded and sent it to him with a poem.
On this blossom
where is passion’s red?
For all I can tell
it is as pure as you—
a branch laden with snow.

Pretending that he did not understand the meaning of the poem, the man replied:

Surely the sleeve of the one
who plucked the
chrysanthemum
is as beautiful as the flower,
hiding beneath its white
a sensual red.'

'Stirrups of Musashi

Long ago, when the man was living in Musashi, he wrote a letter to a lady in the capital: ‘Should I tell you, it would make me blush; but should I not, I will feel miserable.’ On the outside of the letter he inscribed the words ‘Stirrups of Musashi’. After that, he sent no further word. But a while later, a poem arrived from the lady in the capital:
Stirrups of Musashi,
as I am still attached to you
like the buckles to your stirrups,
how hard not to hear from you
but more hateful when I do.

When the man read her poem, he could no longer bear it and replied:

When I write, you protest.
When I don’t, you bear a grudge.
At times like this,
the Stirrups of Musashi
will surely die of a broken heart.'

[Marcos Augusto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classical Japanese work of the Heian period (794–1185), written about 980 as Ise monogatari. It is one of the uta monogatari (“poem tales”) that emerged as a literary genre in the late 10th century and is related to the literary diary form that preceded it. Tales of Ise consists of 143 episodes, each containing one or more poems and an explanation in prose of the circumstances of its composition. The brevity and often the ambiguity of the tanka (a five-line fixed-form poem) gave rise to a need for such explanations, and when these explanations became extended or (as in the case of Ise monogatari) were interpreted as biographical information about one poet (Ariwara Narihira), they approached the realm of fiction.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is impossible for me to “grade” these brilliant translations along with their academic study commentary by H.C. McCullough and others. This is, at least, my third reading of the HCM text. I am comparing H.C. McCullough (5*s) with translations of Jay Harris and Peter McMillan. If possible, I will also be looking at the Tyler/Mostov and Vos translations.

I am having a hard time letting HCM’s translation and commentary go back to the shelf. I have gone back and reread her comments on the IM poems and reread the appendices A, Kokinshu Poems of the Six Poetic Geniuses, and B, Texts of the Ise Monogatari.

The GR listing have these various translation conflated so it is sometimes difficult to associate a review with a specific translator.

I have finished a second reading of the Harris translation, this time attending more to the translators notes and commentary. The translation seems awkward in reading. One needs a romanji copy of the text to understand many of the notes. However, I think the notes are worth working through to gather additional potential insights on the text of the Ise Tales. Harris intended his translation to support a literary reading of the tale, but I prefer McMillan’s translation to read the Ise Tales as a literary work.

[Ale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solo encontré la edición en español aunque hubiera preferido la versión en inglés traducida directamente del japonés.
El traductor en la introducción busca paralelismos entre la literatura japonesa y la española, al igual que la justificación de que "todo se puede traducir". Discrepo enormemente porque cada idioma es un mundo y hay ocasiones en las cuales hay cosas imposibles de traducir.
Por otro lado, no me ha gustado la romanización de ciertos nombres. No puedo aceptar que para saber cómo entonar un nombre en japonés, se le ponga una tilde. Simplemente es uno de los mayores errores que se puede hacer.
Sin embargo, al margen de la traducción, la cual veo importante en todo texto o libro japonés, "Los Cantares de Ise" es una obra fundamental para cualquier japonóloga/o. El poder adentrarse en el periodo Heian y disfrutar del florecimiento de la literatura de aquella época, es una maravilla que Japón puede brindarnos.
Aconsejo pues tal libro, pero aconsejo también buscar otra edición.

[Gwern · Rating 2 out of 5]

Moved to gwern.net.

[Bere Tarará · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinantes micro relatos poéticos, no se puede dejar de leer. La forma en que se desarrollaba el amor entre hombres y mujeres del Japón antiguo es embriagadora

[Eustacia Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot say that I’m studying Heian Japan without reading as many of its most important works as possible, even if it is poetry. The Tales of Ise is a collection of 125 narrative-poems consisting of a short narrative + poem(s), all loosely based on the life of Narihara, the model lover.

While I might have mentioned this before, I cannot overstate how important poetry was to the people of Heian Japan. Knowledge of poetry and the ability to write poems was highly valued and one of the ways that you’d be evaluated as a person. As someone who’s never been very good with poetry, I was a bit intimidated by The Tales of Ise. However, the narrative with poetry style made the poetry very accessible to me. Most of the tales are about romantic love, but we do get to read about friendship, love for the homeland, and even exile!

Two poems I liked:

The further I travel,
the more I long for the place
from when I have come.
How I envy the ebbing waves
returning home.

Poem 7 – The Returning Waves

And

I knew I’d have to walk on the path
we must all finally take,
but I had no idea
it would be tomorrow,
much less today.

Poem 125 – This Day

Since poetry is not my strong suit, I really appreciated the explanations of the poems at the end. MacMillian not only breaks down each story, but also explains bits of life in Heian Japan while he’s talking. I learnt a lot from the commentary and felt that it was helpful, although if you’re reading just to appreciate the poems, you may not need it.

Overall, this was a beautiful work. I know that The Tale of Genji contains many poems as well, but the story of Genji’s life caused me to missed the beauty of those poems – it took The Tales of Ise to get me to appreciate the beauty of waka poems. My next challenge will be to read these in Japanese!

This review was first posted at Eustea Reads

[Joe Hay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic little book and a great introduction to Japanese literature.

For Western readers, Japanese poetry can seem opaque, frivolous, or a combination of both. Having the poems framed by little narratives, as Ise Monogatari does, gives you excellent perspective on their origin, context, and emotional depth. And what a fascinating context it is: you come to learn that poetry was an important mode of communication and self-expression in the Heian aristocracy. People gave congratulations, started relationships, and even worked out their issues by sending each other these short, tidy poems. And, as this book is clear evidence of, these conversations were public and received scrutiny, praise and criticism from society at large.

This was Twitter before Twitter, and it totally disproves the idea that social media is trashy because of the length of the medium. Short communications can be elegant and memorable. 280 characters? Try 31 syllables.

I read a more recent edition than I could find on Goodreads - The Peter MacMillan Penguin edition. I find MacMillan's introduction, glossaries, maps and inclusion of romaji versions of all the poems very helpful, but I found the commentaries a bit tedious and unnecessary. I feel like they could have been whittled down to the bare information necessary for understanding the language / context. So I can't speak to this volume specifically. Some translation decisions made me roll my eyes, but I did find the text very readable.

P.S. Narihira and Prince Koretaka were totally sleeping together, Mr. MacMillan. Come on, bro.

[Crhistian | Makotodama · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I racconti di Ise" sono perfetti per chi ama l'essenzialità della poesia giapponese. Probabilmente raramente avrete letto qualcosa come l'Isemonogatari: ogni passo, infatti, può essere letto indipendentemente dagli altri a causa della trama molto sottile che percorre il testo, ovvero le vicende del poeta Ariwara no Narihira.
La caratteristica principale del testo, la sua rapsodicità, è stato ciò che mi ha permesso di apprezzare di più questo libro. Infatti, data la difficoltà di ricostruire un filo conduttore preciso e ritrovare una trama lineare, leggere ogni brano come un’unica storia e slegata dal resto mi ha fatto sentire come se stessi percorrendo un viaggio, viaggio che mi ha portato nel pieno degli autunni giapponesi e le loro foglie rosse, mi ha fatto apprezzare la bellezza e la temporaneità dei fiori di ciliegio, le spiagge con i Pini di Sumiyoshi e mi ha fatto vivere gli amori del Giappone dell’epoca Heian.
Consiglio di consumazione: leggete "I racconti di Ise" molto lentamente, non abbiate la smania di dover subito arrivare alla fine o di leggere più pagine possibili nel minor tempo possibile. Per apprezzarlo al meglio dovete soffermarvi su ogni passo, carpire i significati e le allusioni di ogni poesia, calarvi in epoche antiche e lontane che mai avete visto. In questo modo riuscirete a godere al meglio di quest'opera dell'epoca Heian e ricostruire la trama sottile dietro ad essa.

[Freca - Narrazioni da Divano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Monogatari nella tradizione giapponese ho scoperto essere le storie, le storie di qualcuno che vengono tramandate: qui abbiamo Use, e abbiamo stralci della sua vita, da cui la traduzione del titolo in racconti, immagini che ci fanno saltare da un masso all'altro mentre il fiume degli eventi scorre, seguendolo senza esserne travolti. Ma chi è Ise? Un funzionario di corte nel Giappone a cavallo dell'anno mille, e cosa ci racconta? Alcuni momenti cruciali delle sue avventure amorose. Viene definito nella quarta di copertina 'non solo un canzoniere d'amore dell'antico Giappone', e questi paragoni li trovo sempre interessanti con le dovute differenze culturali per avere un parametro di riferimento.
Libro particolarmente interessante da un punto di vista culturale.

[sanaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This my second time reading this book but I have to say I enjoyed this translation and annotations way more than McCullough's. I have no idea how I enjoy reading about a guy so always in love and so unfaithful. I guess I am beginning to see the world with the sensitivities of the Japanese poets and their pain and joys. This translation helped me enjoy the language games that the poet played, so much like Farsi poets, and that made the experience twice enjoyable.

[Cardenio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perdón. Demasiado masculinizado para mi gusto. Lo más rescatable es la producción poética de los cantares.

[David Areyzaga · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review of Peter Macmillan's translation of The Tales of Ise.

Perhaps "tale" is not the most optimal word to describe the narrations contained in this collection, but the original term, monogatari is not that precise either. In general terms, this genre covers narrations derived from the Japanese oral tradition, which in turn derived from Chinese literature during the Heian Period (794–1185 CE), at the height of the Imperial court which led to a boom in poetry and literature. Within the monogatari genre, we find the uta-monogatari, in which waka poetry is interspersed with prose. Ise Monogatari, or The Tales of Ise is part of this tradition, and it contains 125 "tales" mostly about love, life in the court, nature, friendship, beauty and desire, and they loosely capture the life of Ariwara no Narihira, a courtier and poet from the period. Each poem is rich in linguistic features thanks to wordplay, and to additional meanings found when separating the first and last syllables of each verse. Also, given the intertextuality of this collection, which is directly related to imperial poetry collections such as the Kokin Wakashū and the Man'yōshū, and the ambiguity of some sections, interpretations of the meaning behind the text are varied.

If that doesn't sound like a translation nightmare to you, I don't know what else is. While every language pair and genre poses its particular and specific challenges, the complexity posed here for translation from Japanese into any language that doesn't rely on the same resources is particularly complicated. Peter Macmillan opts for using multiple translation spaces beyond the target text itself to manifest the complex beauty of this collection. He translates each tale into English, and tries to recreate whenever possible the puns and other rhetorical devices, but he dedicates a precise yet substantial commentary for every tale that provides the social and cultural context necessary for its understanding and to even acknowledge challenging interpretations (thus showing that the source text is not something as stable as one might assume), and to offer an insight on the grammatical and semantic nuances from Japanese that encourage him to take some creative license whenever possible. Beyond those areas, Macmillan includes a detailed introduction about the text, a general note on his translation, a glossary of expressions, literary traditions, and historical figures present throughout the work, and other supplementary materials (paratexts) such as the transliterations of the original Japanese waka that offer the opportunity to read his translation actively and closely. And while there will never be such a thing as "the most complete reading" possible of this text, this translation certainly aims toward that ideal realm, and Macmillan does it consistently, and with enough humility to admit he doesn't know everything but tries to do know as much as possible, in order to share the text with English-speaking audiences. However, those supplementary materials are just that, supplementary and optional readings, given that the translations alone have plenty to offer thanks to Macmillan's efforts to recreate the flavor and beauty of their Japanese counterparts. To me, this is an outstanding work, for lesser translators and literary critics belonging to the same academic realm would have chosen to translate each poem literally and use notes and other supplementary materials as the sole output of everything contained in the original, without so much as an attempt to recreate those wonders in the target language.

In summary, this is an exemplary translation that doesn't hide the complexities of its source text, and includes enough materials even for demanding readers, but it doesn't shy away from actually creating something worthwhile in the target language for any and all readers interested in this text. In fact, it may even encourage further reading, rather than leaving readers with a false sense of confidence that a translation on its own can capture everything, including the "halo" surrounding the original text.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Binge reviewing my best-read specimens of Japanese literature of all time.

Reading The Tales of Ise feels like tracing the faint scent of plum blossoms through a corridor of centuries. It is not a novel in any conventional sense, but a sequence of 125 lyrical episodes — part poetry anthology, part autobiographical fiction, and part meditation on love’s fragility. Written in the ninth century and often attributed to Ki no Tsurayuki or Ariwara no Narihira, the work stands at the shimmering threshold between myth and memory, between life and artifice.

The stories are brief and exquisite: a man glimpses a woman beneath cherry trees and composes a poem; two lovers exchange verses under the moonlight; an exile finds consolation in distant mountains.

The prose is delicate, almost skeletal, yet every word is weighted with emotional gravity. The poems embedded within — those thirty-one-syllable waka — are the real soul of the text. They flicker like embers, holding entire landscapes of feeling within a single image: a dew drop, a migrating goose, a fading colour of dawn.

What fascinates me most about The Tales of Ise is its fusion of narrative and lyric, the way each story exists not to advance a plot but to evoke a moment. Time, in the Heian imagination, was not linear — it rippled. Each episode feels suspended between before and after, an eternal “now” of beauty and loss. The unnamed protagonist — sometimes lover, sometimes wanderer, sometimes poet — seems to drift through these vignettes like a ghost of his own memories. He is not a hero but a witness to transience.

And yet, there is humour and sensuality too. The world of the Ise tales is not austere; it’s filled with desire, with the quiet ache of court life — the forbidden glance, the brush of a sleeve, the pulse of unspoken affection. It’s a text that thrives on the ma — that shimmering pause between emotions. To read it slowly, poem by poem, is to learn the rhythm of Heian sensibility: elegance tinged with impermanence.

Translation matters immensely here. When rendered with sensitivity, The Tales of Ise breathes — you can almost hear the rustle of silk, the hush of falling petals. Good translators preserve its understatement, its layered irony, its bittersweet tone. Every phrase feels like a whisper across time, reminding us that language can be both fragile and eternal.

In a strange way, The Tales of Ise anticipates modern forms: the prose poem, the lyrical essay, even autofiction. The “I” that flickers through these fragments is fluid — sometimes personal, sometimes collective, as if the author were both himself and every poet who ever loved and lost. That’s why the book endures: it doesn’t tell a story; it enacts the act of remembering.

Why should you read this book today?

Because it teaches you the beauty of restraint — the art of saying everything by saying almost nothing. In a world drowning in noise, The Tales of Ise is a whisper that cuts through the chaos. It reminds us that emotion need not be loud to be profound, that love stories need not end in declaration to be immortal. To read it is to rediscover the ancient truth that poetry, when lived, becomes philosophy.

What impact did the book have on me?

It altered my sense of intimacy. I realized that connection is not always about proximity — it can live in distance, in the half-spoken, in the pauses between poems. The book made me fall in love with brevity, with the idea that a single image — a moon reflected in a cup of water — can carry a lifetime’s longing. After reading it, even silence began to feel articulate.

Classic. Try it by all means.

[Federica Norcini · Rating 5 out of 5]

I racconti di Ise furono scritti in Giappone da più persone tra il IX e il X secolo d. C. E sono interpretati come una biografia romanzata di Ariwara no Narihira, un nobile di altissimo rango (825-880) figlio di un principe e una principessa figli a loro volta di due imperatori.
La struttura dell'Opera è divisa in 125 dan, sono dei piccoli capitoli in cui le poesie waka, protagoniste assolute, sono accompagnate da brevi parti in prosa che fanno da cornice, utili a introdurre le circostanze in cui le poesie sono state scritte per valorizzarle e renderle comprensibili vusto il largo uso di figure retoriche.
Queste poesie hanno una grandissima rilevanza storica perché sono diventate un modello di scrittura da seguire per i componimenti successivi e mostra alcuni stereotipi di genere che mirano a rafforzare l'autorità maschile, nel periodo Nara Infatti le donne avevano più potere mentre nel periodo Heian gli uomini iniziarono a costruire un vero e proprio Harem a corte.
Lo Ise monogatari è stato contrassegnato con due concetti chiave: MIYABI e IROGONOMI
Citando Andrea Maurizi:
MIYABI: aristocratica eleganza, codice estetico curtense, raffinato splendore.
IROGONOMI: esperto delle vie dell'amore, caratteristica irrinunciabile per essere considerato un uomo raffinato, che attraverso le poesie riflette e comprende i propri sentimenti.
Narihira viene nominato una sola volta in tutta l'opera, era un grande seduttore, bello e capace di affascinare donne e uomini di qualsiasi età, incurante dell'etichetta di corte, caratteristica che gli procurerà diversi problemi perché intraprenderà delle relazioni sentimentali oltraggiose con due donne inarrivabili: Takaiko, una consorte Imperiale, e Yasuko, la sacerdotessa di Ise.
Sarà scoperto ed esiliato proprio per questo.
Oltre alla struttura anche il filo logico, la trama e la linea temporale sono abbastanza precari, alcuni episodi vengono raccontati molteplici volte da punti di vista diversi.
Ho avuto la percezione di trovarmi in una situazione in cui ci si sveglia per diversi giorni consecutivi tornando indietro nel tempo dovendo rivivere quella giornata da capo, ogni volta cambiando il focus quindi la lettura non è affatto facile.
Mi avevano sconsigliato di iniziare i classici giapponesi con il "Genji" perché troppo impegnativo, ho invece ringraziato di averlo potuto conoscere in anticipo perché mi ha permesso di poter leggere e capire meglio le poesie di questo libro che altrimenti mi sarebvero apparse completamente astruse.
Inoltre il Genji è molto più scorrevole, la storia avvincente mantiene un filo logico e connessioni univoche, la linea temporale non viene continuamente distorta come qui, le maggiori difficoltà sono tenere a mente i personaggi e gli intrecci tra gli stessi oltre all'imponenza dell'opera ma la comprensione è più accessibile.
Lo Ise monogatari è abbastanza criptico infatti nei secoli, per non dire millenni, è stato continuamente rivalutato e rielaborato il suo significato proprio a causa delle molteplici incognite che lo contraddistinguono.
È vero che è molto breve ma nella sua brevità è immensamente complesso.
Sono veramente contenta di averlo conosciuto perché è un'opera particolare, unica se paragonata alla letteratura occidentale che nonostante le sue osticità mi ha arricchito moltissimo.

[Raúl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Con el sabor de haber sido el primero, y de haber acertado, cuando se forjó, vivió, sintió y escribió este libro, entre finales del siglo IX y el siglo X, los Ise Monogatari (伊勢物語) es una colección de 125 pequeñas estampas, cada una de ellas conteniendo uno o varios tanka. El tanka es la forma clásica de la poesía japonesa, una estrofa de cinco versos, con 5-7-5-7-7 sílabas; de ella, deriva tanto el waka, composición extensa que encadena estrofas de 5-7-5 sílaras, y el jaiku.
Este un libro de una cultura ajena, que cuesta dominar porque tenemos demasiados estereotipos sobre la misma. Pero cuando uno entra en ella, descubre estas maravillas, como el Taketori, el Genji, el Makura no Sōshi, el Heike, el Tsutsumi chunagon monogatari, a Ueda Akinari y a Saikaku, etc. Cuando se lee, no estamos ante una lectura arqueológica, sino ante una temática viva, posible en nuestro mundo actual.
Libro seleccionado por Borges para su Biblioteca personal, esta edición de Hiperión, traducida por el pionero Antonio Cabezas García, nos ofrece una versión muy personal de Narijira, en donde se intenta recrear en español la riqueza del japonés del cortesano de hace 1000 años. Es un libro breve, que se leyéndolo con pausa, se consume en seguida, y que siempre nos espera para relecturas completas o parciales.
Un detalle de la edición. Tengo la primera edición, de esa época en que los libros de Hiperion tenían el regusto del libro objeto: es un libro intonso, con hojas no guillotinadas, cubierta de cartón monocolor con estampado. Una cubierta de un color rosa desvaído, con el estampado de color rojo mortecino, en un homenaje a la flor del almendro.
Un libro de cabecera.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Japanese poetry has to be one of the most difficult combos of language and form to try to translate into English. Peter Macmillan's translation of Tales of Ise does a great job, but just as important to me, his intro, commentary, and glossary also explain why the translation is so difficult. Macmillan explains the concepts you need to know to understand how complex these five-line poems really are--pillow words, complex puns, connections to other famous poems both Japanese and Chinese, use of seasonal words, involved metaphors, rhythm and rhyme that work in Japanese and can't really be translated into English. At times he gives alternate translations in his commentary and explains what a literal translation would be versus why he chose to translate the way he did. He also gives great explanations of the courting and marriage customs of Heian Japan. Reading his notes furthered my understanding not only of the Tales of Ise but also other Japanese classics like the Tale of Genji and 100 Poets 100 Poems.

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written from the mid-800s to the late 900s, The Tales of Ise consists of 125 short chapters centered around a poem or poems that tell the story of a man from his coming of age to this passing. Unable to be with a woman he loves, the man spends his life alternating between trying in vain to be with her and sleeping with many other women.

The Mostow Tyler translation contains many lovely illustrations to go along with the chapters and a discussion with each chapter instead of at the end of the book making more easy to casually read.

My only issue with this translation is with the poems themselves. They seem to have been translated in a way to prioritize a nearly direct translation with the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable structure they were written in, but sometimes at the expense of clarity. As a result, I was most comfortable reading this version along side the McCullough and Macmillan translations.