Reviews

Far Beyond the Field: Haiku by Japanese Women by

pasarmalam's review against another edition

3.0

Baru tau ternyata haiku dulunya dianggap sebagai puisi yang 'maskulin' dan jarang sekali penyair perempuan diakui di kalangan mereka. Alasannya selain karena patriarki yang kental, juga karena perspektif yang tertanam sejak era Heian ketika bangsawan perempuan banyak menulis tanka sedangkan laki-laki baru menulis haiku beberapa abad kemudian (so you mean women invented poetry? /j). Selain itu, menulis haiku itu ternyata kegiatan sosial gais, jadi diadakan pertemuan-pertemuan di mana para penyair haiku bisa nulis bareng-bareng dan saling menunjukkan karya mereka. Jadi yang laki pada nulis nih kan, perempuan lah yang bertugas masak dan bersih-bersih dan menyiapkan mereka makan dan jagain anak dan ya gitu deh. Tapi, batasan sosial nggak menghentikan penyair perempuan untuk terus menulis. Suka sekali baca biografi pendek dan latar belakang perempuan yang berbeda-beda di sini; ada yang memutuskan jadi biarawati lalu berkelana keliling Jepang supaya bisa nulis haiku kayak Basho, ada yang seorang ibu rumah tangga, ada yang terang-terangan menolak peran gender yang dipaksakan ke mereka. Haiku karya mereka semua nggak cuma cantik aja, tapi juga terasa sangat personal dan punya karakteristik yang berbeda-beda.

radahldo's review against another edition

5.0

"toward thin ice
my shadow moves, moves
till it’s drowned"

Beautiful collection with brief but informative profiles of the backgrounds and personalities of the featured women

leelulah's review against another edition

4.0

I liked the introduction a lot, for the overview on the historical context and the sensible manner used to talk about women's history without denying Japan's patriarchal leanings. I like the earlier poetry more than the new but that's a question of taste. I also particularly approve of the inclusion of Christian poets, being a minority in Japan (a Methodist and Catholic).

ilovewongkarwai's review against another edition

5.0

This anthology is beautiful. It collects haiku by 20 different women from the seventeenth century to the present and I really liked seeing how their style and themes changed throughout those years. Every chapter starts with a short biographical note on each poet and the information Ueda included is pretty interesting, focusing on what kind of family they came from, if/how they struggled to write haiku, their career and published work.

I really enjoyed every page of this book, specially the last part dedicated to modern writers. I love how they still wrote about baskets full of flowers and fish, the sound of leaves during an autumn walk and the cherry blossoms, but they were also influenced by Western culture and included references to The Beatles, Coca-cola, McDonald's and luxury german cars.

A few favorites:

pine mushrooms
live a thousand years
in one autumn

Den Sutejo

short summer night
shall I throw away this baby
crying for milk?

seashells on the table
concealing the melodies
of the deep sea

Takeshita Shizunojo

fugu soup—
on the wall, a great big
John Lennon

Kuroda Momoko

like a dead
body, I try to stay afloat
in the pool

Mayuzumi Madoka

with a man
at Kentucky Fried Chicken
I grieve spring’s departure

Tsuji Momoko

agsdv's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

5.0

battlepoet's review against another edition

reflective relaxing slow-paced

5.0