Forest of Eyes

The writing of Tada Chimako (1930-2003) is crucial to understanding modern Japanese poetry although her work is situated outside the poetic mainstream. A solitary visionary, Tada is uniquely admired in Japan for her poems, essays, and translations. Withdrawing to Kobe after the publication of her first collection, she spent most of her life close to nature, far from Tokyo, Japan's literary epicenter. Writing poetry in both traditional Japanese forms and Western free verse and prose poetry, Tada is known as a poet of intellect and erudition but also as one of sensuality and emotion. Jeffrey Angles is Associate Professor at Western Michigan University. He is coeditor, with J. Thomas Rimer, of Japan: A Traveler's Literary Companion. He has won translation grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the PEN Club of America.

Translator's Acknowledgments Note on the Translation Introduction From Fireworks (1956) From The Gladiator's Arena (1960) From Universe of the Rose (1964) From The Town of Mirrors, or Forest of Eyes (1968) From A False Record of Ages (1971) From The Four-Faced Path (1975) From A Spray of Water: Tanka (1975) From Lotophagi (1980) From Ceremonial Fire (1986) From Along the Riverbank (1998) From The Land of the Long River (2) From A Souvenir of Wind: Haiku (2003) From Upon Breaking the Seal (2004) From Person of the Playful Sta: Tanka (2005) Translator's Notes Chronology Selected Works Index of Titles and First Lines