The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Poetry

Such beauty here as I contemplate the day at Suma Bay,
blossoms aglow with the setting sun.

所がらながめにあかぬすまの浦の
けふ一しほの花の夕ばへ

Between technical documents and legal contracts, I checked the English on this along with hundreds of other medieval aristocratic tanzaku while working for a translation company. The above was written during the Siege of Osaka (1614-15) by Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of Japan’s ruthless samurai. One has to ask what he, despite old age, was doing that day in his efforts to wipe out the opposition. And what is good poetry?

Location: Osaka, Japan

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