Review: The Journal of Socho

The Journal of Socho by H. Mack Horton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a pleasure to sit back and read Socho's musings and poems as a way to unwind. I do wish he had included more detail about his travel rather than travails, but I enjoyed the overall feel of the book.

Interestingly, I had bookmarked several of his poems and hokkus, but upon re-reading them I can't say they did much for me, until I re-read the circumstances under which they were written. They really reflect what he had been going through, and his feelings at the time.

I also found myself reading more of the notes, which comprise about 50% of the book, than I usually do.

If you don't expect too much from this book other than a pleasurable read from one of history's greatest linked-verse poets, then it won't disappoint.

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Review: Traversing the Frontier: The Man'yōshū Account of a Japanese Mission to Silla in 736-737

Traversing the Frontier: The Man'yōshū Account of a Japanese Mission to Silla in 736-737 by H. Mack Horton
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I can't really rate this, since most of it was over my head. The actual travel account is from page 10 to 44 (with the Kanji and Japanese sounds transliterated as well). The rest is pretty much commentary. 

The first part is more or less an introduction, then the travelogue itself. Then "Traversing the Frontier", or basically a geographical tracing of where they (most likely) traveled. The sections after this (Internal contexts, Historical contexts, Literary contexts, Authorial and Editorial contexts) were pretty much over my head. I scanned some of the Historical contexts section, but even then I didn't absorb much. 

As for the travelogue itself, it isn't really a travelogue, but more a collection of poems and sentiments, most about how much they miss home and miss their wives. This was a bit disappointing, although I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy reading it. 

Still, obviously much work was done on this book, which from what I can tell is exhaustive and excellent, so hopefully someone more knowledgable than I am on the subject can give it a more thorough review. 

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