Leaving the Hermitage

Leaving the Hermitage by Rohan Koda, translated by Jiro Nagura, 195 pages

Leaving the Hermitage is a collection of poems collectively telling the story of a poet who seeks refuge in a hermitage in order to escape the distractions of the passing world and draw from the deepest part of his heart the purest poetry, but who eventually discovers that poetry fills the mundane world as well.

Koda was better known as a novelist than a poet, and Leaving the Hermitage is a kind of novel of poetry, as the poet considers his lot and encounters a series of challenges to his repose.  The quality of the poems as poems is not that high, but it is impossible for anyone who does not read Japanese to know whether this is a failing of the poet or the translator, while the narrative flow has an undeniable charm.