Shigin (詩吟) is a form of art in which a person recites a Japanese or Chinese poem in the Japanese language by chanting. This is done in front of a large audience, a few friends, or even to one’s self. It has a rich history and is often practiced by the elderly rather than the…
The Mountain Temple has long been synonymous with haiku master Matsuo Basho (松尾芭蕉) and his immortal travel log, Oku no Hosomichi (奥の細道; The Narrow Road into the Deep North). Its very name evokes feelings of mystery and tranquility. Situated in the Yamagata (山形) region of the beautiful Tohoku (東北), Yamadera (山寺), meaning “mountain temple”, is…
Hi, readers! This is the Japan Info staff. We wanted to say thank you for always reading our articles and we’ve got a way for you to enjoy them more! Out of all the posts that have been published over the last week (July 25th to 31st) on Japan Info and/or on Facebook, we are…
If you have been studying Japanese for some time, you might have heard of Japanese poetry genres such as the haiku or tanka. Frankly speaking, some of these genres can be a bit difficult to grasp even for advanced Japanese speakers as they may use difficult kanji characters along with formal and/or traditional language. However,…
