Evening of Japanese poetry at the UPT Library

Evening of Japanese poetry at the UPT Library

On the evening of November 12, 2019, the hall of the UPT Central Library hosted, for the first time in Romania, the atmosphere of the kimono exhibition " Japanese kimono, poetry in motion", an evening of completely new Japanese poetry. Prof. Camelia Nakagawara, the lecturer who also teaches Japanese courses at the UPT Library, spoke about the extremely important role of poetry in the history of Japan, especially during the Heian period (794-1185), when there were poetic clans and poetry rose to the rank of policy, being published dozens of collections of exemplary poems and treatises on poetry.

One of the leading representatives of this poetic culture was nobleman and poet Fujiwara-no-Teika (1162 - 1241), who not only wrote treatises on poetry and compiled multiple anthologies, but nuanced the methods for writing "waka" poetry (Japanese poetry in 5-7-5 format, 7-7 syllables). He also compiled a collection of 100 poems from 100 well-known poets, called Ogura hyakuninshu, which later turned into a card game called "Uta-garuta" or "Karuta", which became and continues to be popular in Japan to this day, even national competitions being organized, where the contestants show their ability to recognize the poems in fractions of a second, while they are recited by a reciter.

The audience at the poetry evening was able to listen to 7 of the 100 poems, recited by prof. Nakagawara, PhD and trilingually recited, in Japanese, English and Romanian, together with two librarians, Alexandra Petrușe and Georgeta Ioana. This event is also part of what is becoming a tradition in Romania: November, as the month of Japanese culture.