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Kenneth L. Richard MAKURA NO SOSHI 枕草子 – Ca. 1002 A.D. – Ca. 2003. www.genji54.com/cpoetry/ makura_no_soshi.htm. Accessed August 10, 2006. The website created by Kenneth L. Richard (b. 1940), associate professor (now retired) with the Siebold University of Nagasaki, comprises some brief introductory information on Sei Shônagon, with links to other resources, and translations of seven passages. Richard obtained his PhD in Japanese Literature from the University of Washington in 1973, and among his publications are translations of Japanese poetry and a book on intercultural communication. This translator handles the ellipsis by inserting the phrase “is best” into the initial phrase for each season. He opts to render all three instances of okashi as “wonderful,” and aware quite simply as “moving.” Of interest is the way Richard employs a first-person singular pronoun only in the final sentence, a feature that particularly stands out because, by using passive voice to describe the coals “being hurried around,” he avoids peopling any of the other scenes. Kenneth L. Richard (ca. 2003) 228 Nature Descriptions From Lists — Section 1 Spring is best at dawn as gradually the hilltops lighten, while the light grows brighter until there are purple-tinged clouds trailing though the sky. Summer is best at night. That goes without saying when there is a full moon. But when fireflies flit here and there in a dark sky, that too is wonderful. It is even wonderful when it is raining. Autumn is best at dusk as the hills, now in the full direct sunlight, seem quite closer, and as crows fly away from one’s vantage point into their nesting places in threes, then in fours, then in pairs; how moving it is, this combination of light and darkness. It is more wonderful even when geese and the like, in formation, fly away and become specks in the sky. The sun finally sets, and then it is the sound of the wind, and the chirupping of insects. Winter is best at the time of early morning prayers, particularly when it has been snowing. When the ground is frosty and very white, or even when it isn’t and blazing coals are being hurried around, in the extreme cold, to all the room heaters, this too is full of interest. But by noon when the coals have cooled, leaving only gray ash in the big oval braziers and in our smaller round ones, I feel deprived. (n.p.) ...

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