Salad Anniversary

"these poems mix the ancient grace and musicality of the tanka form with a modern insight and wit. With a light, fresh touch and a cool eye, Machi Tawara celebrates the small events in a life fully lived and one that is wonderfully touched by humor and beauty. This book will stay with you through the day, and long after you have finished it." Reading Group Choices "It is no wonder this book triggered a cultural phenomenon in Japan. She describes the source of her desires and frustrations with such precision that they become universal. . . Machi Tawaras Salad Anniversary is an acutely self-aware portrait of modern life and love. . . Sensorial experiences string together past, present, and future, creating a narrative based on emotionally evocative images. " Asymptote Journal "Haruki Murakami is doleful, Hanya Yanagiharas crestfallen, Banana Yoshimoto is a near infinite abyss. The poet Machi Tawara is of a different ilk; she has a distinctly sanguine tone. . . Tawara is a champion of gratitude and glee, best capturing simple satisfactions. . . From the garden to the produce aisle, her verses are full of zestcombining a feeling of contentment with images of ripening fruit. . . Tawaras tanka bunch together like an overfull vine of grapes, creating powerful narratives that often have a timeless feeling, like that of a folk legend. . . It is the weaving together of the part (her hopeful tanka) and the whole (the narrative of her poems) that yield such a fruitful collection, perfect for the coming summer." The New Orleans Review

Machi Tawara (b. Osaka, 1962) is one of Japan's most popular tanka poets and is credited for giving new relevance to this millennia-old Japanese poetry form. Her first volume of tanka, Salad Anniversary (1987), became an immediate bestseller and turned its author into an instant celebrity. Salad Anniversary inspired televised serial dramas, a musical revue and a full-length movie, and went on to sell 8 million copies worldwide. She has been awarded multiple prizes for her poetry, including the Kadokawa Tanka Award and the Modern Japanese Poets Association Award. Tawara is also a critic, translator and travel writer, and contributes to various national newspapers and magazines in Japan.