The Poems of Nakahara Chuya.

Throughout his poetry Nakahara Chuya interplays, in his own unconventional way, two underlying Japanese emotional characteristics; the need to understand moods of awaremi (pity) - an essential part of the Japanese kokoro (heart) - and humour. The Japanese have a number of terms to express humour, and Nakahara runs the gamut from kishitsu (humour of disposition) to kibun (humour of mood). Further Nakahara was always able to exploit the nuances of Japanese language which is so dependent on sound, expression and tone.

Born into an upper-middle-class family of strong literary…