SOURCE: "The Poetry of Izumi Shikibu," Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. XXV, No. 1-2, 1970, pp. 3-125.

In the following excerpt, Cranston examines many of Izumi's poems, discussing her techniques, choice of themes, and imagery.

The Heian poetess Izumi Shikibu has left a collection of over 1500 tanka and a reputation for genius, passion, and piety. She is also the heroine of what appears to be a fictionalized memoir, the Izumi Shikibu nikki, as well as of several legends, noh plays, otogizoshi, and temple histories. She lived in an age of memorable women, and her name is commonly mentioned in the same breath with those of her famous contemporaries Sei Shonagon and Murasaki Shikibu. A typical appraisal of Izumi the poet appears in a modern Japanese biographical dictionary: 'Her poems are passionate and free, exploding with brilliance; the wealth of her imagination is like heavenly chargers coursing the void; and her freedom...