Essays in Idleness
A most delightful book, and one that has served as a model of Japanese style and taste since the seventeenth century. These cameo-like vignettes reflect the importance of the little, fleeting futile things, and each essay is Kenko himself.(Asian Student)If you enjoy things briefly told, if you want to try the prose equivalent ofwakaandhaiku, if you already know Montaigne and would like to meet a spiritual kinsman, then you might want to take an evening and readEssays in Idleness.... [A] superb translation.(Washington Post)A sensitive, personal reading.(Journal of Asian Studies)TheTsurezuregusais a key instrument in attempting to teach the classical Japanese tradition to the modern Western student.... This is indeed a welcome volume.(Monumenta Nipponica)--This text refers to an alternatePaperbackedition.