<DIV>After, more than 15 years of preparation, this volume of nearly 1,600 songs and poems from the earliest times to 784 is now available. These translations aim to be both faithful to the original and alive as literature, with great attention paid to nuance, cadence, and tone. Edwin A. Cranston's extensive commentary introduces the poems and provides historical, biographical, and literary information that allows for a full appreciation of the poems. Not only does the collection include many of the ¹nest works in the literature, it also provides evocative glimpses of the spirit and folkways of early Japanese civilization.<br><BR></div>