Having lived in 6 countries, there’s one thing I’ve learned: people aren’t that different, really. Our emotions are the same, just the expressions thereof are determined by culture, upbringing, sex… And the fun thing is that these human emotions haven’t changed much in the last, say 1000 years.
Case in point: Japanese love poems from the Heian period.
The Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, compiled in 1235 by Fujiwara-no-Teika, is a collection of 100 poems by 100 Japanese poets who lived from the Asuka period (7th century) to the Heian period (late 12th century). Most of them were aristocrats (the only Japanese who could read and write at the time), but even though their lives are so vastly different from ours, their emotional poetry still strikes a chord.
Read my new take on the Hyakunin Isshu over on Yamato (it’s a free post): https://yamatomagazine.substack.com/p/love-poems-for-eternity-the-ogura-hyakunin-isshu, an old one from this blog is here.