A U.S. researcher of Japanese literature has published two books of “waka” poems composed by the emperor and empress of the Meiji Era (1868-1912) with assistance from his poet wife. It was ...

Emperor Hirohito's scratchy penmanship will be on show for the first time with a collection of rare handwritten “waka” poems he composed in his waning years. The special exhibition at the ...

1,000 years ago, aristocrats would compose short Waka poems seated by a babbling brook at the imperial palace, sipping sake and admiring the changes in the seasons. This outdoor party was revived ...

Their compositions shaped Japanese court poetry, or “waka” in Japanese, which is rooted in nature and its constant seasonal cycle. However, it is the sakura, not plum trees, that occupies a ...