Murmured Conversations

Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen is Professor of Japanese Literature at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Heart's Flower: The Life and Poetry of Shinkei (Stanford, 1994), and the co-editor of The Father-Daughter Plot: Japanese Literary Women and the Law of the Father (2001).

@fmct:Contents @toc4:Acknowledgmentsxxx List of Abbreviationsxxx @toc2:Introduction1 @toc1:Part One @toc2:1.Prologue000 2.Renga History000 3.On the Tsukubash'000 4.Post-Shinkokinsh' Waka000 5.Ancient and Middle-Period Renga000 6.The Character of the Work of the Early Masters000 7.The Style of Ineffable Depth (Y'gen)000 8.Learning and the Study of Renga000 9.The Role of Waka in Renga Training000 10.On Hokku000 11.Double Meaning in Poetry000 12.The Manifold Configurations of Poetry000 13.The Roots of Poetry in Temporality000 14.Poetic Process as a Contemplation000 15.The Wisdom of Nondiscrimination000 16.Right Teaching and the Individual Poet000 17.The Influence of Companions in the Way000 18.Poetry and the Mundane Mind000 19.The Issue of Fame as Index of Poetic Value000 20.Poetry Is an Existential Discipline000 21.Poetry Is a Self-Consuming Passion000 22.Worldly Glory Versus Reclusive Concentration000 23.Criticism Is a Function of One's Own Limitations000 24.Sitting with a Master000 25.Constant Practice Is Decisive000 26.Valorizing the Deviant or Obscure000 27.The Difficulty of Comprehending Superior Poetry000 28.The "Vulgar" Verse000 29.Plagiarism000 30.Excessive Straining After Effect000 31.Semantic Confusion000 32.Incomprehensibility000 33.The Close Link and the Distant Link000 34.On Hen-jo-dai-kyoku-ry' as the Structure of the Renga Link000 35.On Rikugi: The Six Types of Poetry000 36.Poetry Contests and Criticism000 37.Marks and Grade Points in Renga000 38.One's True Poetry Emerges in Old Age000 39.The State of Renga in Our Time000 @toc1:Part Two @toc2:40.About Hen-jo-dai-kyoku-ry'000 41.The Central Place of Grace (en) in the Poetic Process 000 42.Verses on the Moon, Flowers, and Snow000 43.The Verse of Ineffable Remoteness (Y'on)000 44.Renga Rules and Buddhist Precepts: The Question of Morality and Freedom000 45.Poetry and Zen Meditation, the Cosmic Body, and the True Word000 46.The Link Between Maeku and Tsukeku000 47.The Nature and Goal of Criticism000 48.Selecting Friends of the Way000 49.The Close Link and the Distant Link000 50.On the Issue of the Ultimate Style000 51.Discipline in the Mind-Ground000 52.Orthodoxy and Plurality000 53.Reclusion000 54.The Impartiality of Divine Response000 55.Heredity, Social Status, and the Way000 56.The Mark of Temporality in Talent, Training, and Fame or Obscurity000 57.The Difficulty of Achieving the Way: The Transmission of Mind Is Beyond Language000 58.Mutually Supportive and Antagonistic Arts000 59.The Practice of Poetry in Our Time000 @toc3:The State of Confusion in Modern Renga000 The Pedagogic Method Should Suit the Student's Capacity 000 The Three Buddha-Bodies, the Three Truths, and Poetic Levels000 @toc2:60.The Question of the True Buddha and the Ultimate Poem000 61.The Ten Virtues000 62.Epilogue000 @toc4:Notes000 Appendix: Biographical Notes000 Bibliography000 Character List000 Index of First Lines000 Index000