Fiction. Asian Studies. Illustrated by Horaku Nakamura. The Kojiki is arguably the earliest and most important collection of stories concerning the founding of Japan and the beginnings of Japanese culture. Dating from the sixth century, the Kojiki introduces us to a delightful host of gods and goddesses, heros and heroines, warriors and soothsayers, beautiful princesses and hideous demons. Yoko Danno's graceful retelling of THE KOJIKI in modern English brings this ancient classic to life for a new generation of readers. Illustrations, notes and bibliography are included to enhance the reader's enjoyment.

Songs and Stories of the Kojiki

Literature & Fiction

DANNO, Yoko

Classics

Ahadada Books

Respiration, breath, touch, breeze, influx, infusion, nearness, the closeness of words-these, and much more, form poet Yoko Danno's native language. What you hear is right here beside you, where you are watching and catching waves to shores both strange and familiar, floating in waters on a current of togetherness, buoyant and shared in an atmosphere overflowing with beginnings, with words that, heated by imagination's mirrors, spread and flourish into shapes of desire.  --Alan Botsford, Poet and Editor of Poetry Kanto

Aquamarine

Poetry

Glass Lyre Press

A retelling of the ancient stories of Japan, from creation myth to foundation of the Imperial state, in contemporary English by Yoko Danno.

Songs and Stories of the Kojiki: as retold by Yoko Danno

Red Moon Press

"trilogy" consists of 3 sets of 13 poems: 1) WINTER JOURNEY 2) SONG OF DESTRUCTION 3) DANCE OF FIRE. Of the poems Lindley Williams Hubbell says in the introduction: "Her poetry is at once imagistic and abstract....Yoko Danno gives us direct treatment of the subject herself....Yoko Danno's images are autonomous. They are like Marianne Moor's real toads in imaginary gardens." "Hagoromo: A Celestial Robe" is a narrative poem "based on the same myth as the Noh play of the celestial maiden who has her robe of feathers stolen-though in the case of the version Miss Danno uses, the celestial maiden stays on earth for many years as the wife of Ikatomi before returning to the heavens. What impresses me most about this poem is principally Miss Danno's imaginative penetration of the mind of the woman - we seen to touch the very quick of the female sensibility as the seasonal labors of a small Japanese village are evoked through the eyes of a being who only vaguely remembers her life in the heavens and is unable to explain the fragmentary memories that suddenly occur to her. The poem would be just as remarkable if it had been written by someone whose native tongue was English" - Timothy Harris (Asahi evening News)

Trilogy & Hagoromo: A Celestial Robe

Contemporary

The Ikuta Press

A collection of poems written during the period from 1970 to 1998.

Further Center: Poems 1970 ~ 1998