Haiku Humor

by ADDISS, STEPHENYAMAMOTO, FUMIKO Y.

• ISBN13: 9781590304723
• ISBN10: 1590304721
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2007-10-09
• Publisher: Weatherhill

Summary

Humor has long been a lively element in traditional Japanese culture. Through parody, satire, personification, and wit, Japanese humor has a playful, subtle, and incongruous nature. Here, the benign and gentle quality of Japanese humor is presented through 120 haiku by such masters as Basho, Issa, and Buson, among others. Color reproductions of nearly fifty woodblock prints, paintings, and drawings accompany the poems.

Author Biography

Stephen Addiss, PhD, is a Tucker-Boatwright Professor in the Humanities: Art at the University of Richmond, Virginia, as a world-renowned calligrapher in his own right. He is the author of some thirty-five books, including How to Look at Japanese Art, The Art of Zen, and 77 Dances: Japanese Calligraphy by Poets, Monks, and Scholars, 1568–1868.

Fumiko Y. Yamamoto taught classical and modern Japanese literature and Japanese cultural images at the University of Kansas. Using her training in literature, especially in children’s literature, she has also worked with indigenous communities in Arizona and Oklahoma, joining in their efforts to revitalize their native languages.

Akira Y. Yamamoto, professor of anthropology and linguistics at the University of Kansas, taught anthropology and linguistics courses. He also works with endangered language communities in the Midwest and Southwest to document and revitalize their languages. He has been active in bringing together the language communities and professional communities for an effective and long-lasting language and culture revitalization program.