The Jlit website is a (largely) academic site devoted to various aspects of one of the world's great literatures. As a single-webmaster operation, the site has tended to expand in a somewhat eclectic manner. Nevertheless, there is material here that will not readily be found elsewhere, so feel free to browse.

 

Poem 89 from One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets

 

   tama-no-o yo

taenaba taene

   nagaraeba

shinoburu koto no

yowari mo zo suru

 

   Precious thread of life,

if you are to break, then break.

   Should I go on living,

I would only lose the strength

to conceal what I must bear.

-- Princess Shokushi

For notes and more poems, start here.

 

 

 

 

The Annotated Bushido is a companion site of the Jlit website. The complete text of this iconic study of Japanese ethics is provided online, along with extensive notes and careful indications of textual differences between the 1900 and 1905 editions.