In April of this year, shakuhachi performer and Japanese music lecturer Christopher Blasdel’s book, Jiuta Sōkyoku Lyrics and Explanations: Songs of a Floating World, was reviewed by Brian Karentyk in The Times Literary Supplement. In his highly complimentary article, The Floating World: Classic anthologies of Japanese poetry in new translations, Karentyk notes that Blasdel’s book is “the first of its kind to appear in English for more than forty years” and praises it as proving that an “ever deeper understanding can be found in the translation – and, more precisely, in the re-translation of the classics”. The book is one of many authored by Blasdel, along with countless articles and essays, in addition to recordings on which he has performed. For this work, Blasdel drew on his decades of experience living and working in Japan, where he taught at Temple University Japan and International Christian University in Tokyo. To read the review, click here.
