Tangled Hair: Selected Tanka From Midaregami is a selection of Akiko Yosano's rather impressive Japanese poetry, which was originally published in 1901, and is here superbly translated by the combined efforts of Sanford Goldstein (Professor Emeritus, Purdue University and Keiwa College, Japan) and Seishi Shinoda (Niigata University, Japan) into English for a new generation of readers. The "tanka" is the most popular form of Japanese poetry, representing 1,200 years of literary history and tradition. These translations are sensitive to context and subtle word meaning, are presented with extensive notes concerning the poems themselves, and include facets relating to the author's life. 95: Through these pines/The breeze equally/On her cheeks and mine,/Yet how like strangers/Our thoughts.
