Michael F. Marra’s “A Poetic Guide to an Ancient Capital: Aizu Yaichi and the City of Nara” includes the English translation of all the poetry that the poet, aesthetician and art historian Aizu Yaichi (1881-1956) wrote on the city of Nara and the Nara Basin during his many trips to the ancient capital from 1908 to 1956. Together with the philosopher Watsuji Tetsurō’s (1889-1960) best-seller “Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples” (1919), Aizu’s poetry is undoubtedly the most influential writing on the city of Nara in the twentieth century. His efforts to preserve the monuments of the ancient city were powerful contributors to the establishment of Nara as a cultural icon in the modern age. It is not unusual today to see one of Aizu’s poems inscribed on a stone monument in front of major temples. Today, over more than half a century after his death, he is still remembered fondly by natives of Nara who proudly display in their houses scrolls... More > of Aizu’s poetry.< Less
