Classical Authors Can Be Your Friends

A classical book author loved to read written works, which had been already considered as classical books of their age. Kenko, a Japanese poet & monk working between the late Kamakura Period & the early Nanboku-cho Period, or in the late Middle Ages of the Western calendar, was familiar with classical books of ancient Chinese including Tao Te Ching & Zhuangzi. Here is an English translation of the 13th passage of TsureZureGusa, a collection of brief essays of Kenko, well-known in Japan:

It is the best entertainment for me to open a book alone under the candle light, meeting a friend who had lived in the world before my birth, which I have never seen.

古典の著者というものは彼らの時代にすでに古典になっていた書物を愛読していた。鎌倉時代末期から南北朝時代初期、つまり、西洋の暦では中世末期に活躍していた日本の歌人で僧侶の兼好は『道徳経』や『荘子』を含む中国の古典に親しんでいた。ここには日本で有名な兼好の随筆集『徒然草』の第十三段の英訳例を記しておく。

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DATA

原文 = Original Japanese Text

ひとり灯 (ともしび) のもとに文 (ふみ) をひろげて、見ぬ世の人を友とするぞ、このなう慰むわざなり。

Author

Kenko, Japanese poet & monk, c1283-c1350.

An English Translation

It is the best entertainment for me to open a book alone under the candle light, meeting a friend who had lived in the world before my birth, which I have never seen.

作者

兼好法師。鎌倉時代末期から南北朝時代初期の歌人・僧侶。

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