Kokinshu

The Kokinshu is a collection of Japanese elite poems. Most of their poems are fascinating to me because the poems consist of only 5 lines. I have tried to make poems similar to theirs in high school, but it seems much more difficult than it looks. Even though I have the syllables right, I did not get to express what I want to say. In those 5 lines there are so much emotions stress into the poem. I can see throughout the collection that there are two main themes; seasonal poems and love poems. In the first poem of Ki no Tsurayuki, the poem is about the changing seasons.

"When snow comes in spring--
fair season of layered haze
and burgeoning buds--
flowers fall in villages
where flowers have yet to bloom"

It is basically about the transition of falling snow to plum bossoms. The snow represents the winter season while the bloom represents spring. Japanese write mostly about beautiful things in life. Their poems do not stress anything about bloodshed, being poor, or political life. From reading these poems, I get a totally different perspectives from one's feelings. Japanese poems are totally different than those of the Chinese poems.