The Tale of Genji was good, but it did get repititive after awhile (then he seduced the woman with the big nose, then he seduced the girl young enough to be his daughter, then he seduced the rest of the female population). I liked the intrigue and backstabbing in the Tale of the Heiki better.

I WISH I could read enough Japanese to really get the poetry, but I still have problems with verb tenses, and alot of the shadings and double meanings of the words are beyond me. I think Sam Hamill is a pretty good translator as he is also a poet and doesn't go strictly word for word.

I like waka better too. Haiku are decent when they are used to sum up in a few words what the author is feeling at a certain time, like in Basho's work, but taken out of context they lose alot of their meaning. Waka are good enough to stand on their own.

I haven't read any plays, so that's a good suggestion. Do you have any particular works or translators you like? Thanks [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

Tsuki ya aranu
hara ya mukashi no
haru naranu
wa ga mi hototsu wa
moto no mi no shite