Renshi is a modern version of the traditional Japanese linked poem, Renku. As the 70th anniversary for the end of the World War II approaches and the politicians prepare for their 'historic speeches' to be delivered on August 15, 2015, 4 poets from Japan, China and Korea decide to have a Trilingual Renshi session, linking themselves to each other through translation and e-mails. The result is a mandala of 36 poems with the shared themes of 'Sea', 'Rice', and 'Sun'. It is at once the celebration of humanity which transcends nation, race, and even language, and the poetic action for the...

Shuntaro Tanikawa has been the most inventive modern Japanese poet, ever since he published "Two Billion Light Years of Solitude" (1952), his first book, aged twenty one. Undamaged by Japan s post-War trauma, he took up the language and ran with it. He has continued running. When in 1968 his first" Collected Poems" appeared the critics noted at once his popularity and his refusal to compromise with the negative tones that dominated the poetic palette of contemporary Japan. This new selection supplements his original "Selected Poems "published by Carcanet in 1998."