Ah, the mystery of love poetry! Wonderful piece, Leanne. And I am thinking about a collection of Japanese poetry written after WWII (in a box here somewhere), because I am now curious (thanks to Oppenheimer flying around the world) how love poems faired ever since; the bombing never mentioned by a single poet, but always in the background.
I translated an essay by Mamoru Oshii over a decade ago for Oshii scholar Brian Ruh, and while the material didn't make his book, I remember it well. Oshii was a fan of renouned Chinese language scholar Shirakawa. Shirakawa said that kanji were the playthings of the gods, their path to the world of men. And ours to theirs. I'm paraphrasing, ofc, but Oshii went on to say that's why he used kanji in manadalas or power (computer interfaces and starship warp portals), because of the power kanji represented. I have been in love with that essay ever since.
Ah, the mystery of love poetry! Wonderful piece, Leanne. And I am thinking about a collection of Japanese poetry written after WWII (in a box here somewhere), because I am now curious (thanks to Oppenheimer flying around the world) how love poems faired ever since; the bombing never mentioned by a single poet, but always in the background.
I translated an essay by Mamoru Oshii over a decade ago for Oshii scholar Brian Ruh, and while the material didn't make his book, I remember it well. Oshii was a fan of renouned Chinese language scholar Shirakawa. Shirakawa said that kanji were the playthings of the gods, their path to the world of men. And ours to theirs. I'm paraphrasing, ofc, but Oshii went on to say that's why he used kanji in manadalas or power (computer interfaces and starship warp portals), because of the power kanji represented. I have been in love with that essay ever since.