A Year of Japanese Epigrams

Rediscover the beauty of Japanese poetry, redesigned for the modern reader. Explore 365 Japanese epigrams—compact, crystalline verses in the tradition of haiku—one for every day of the year.


This classic collection, curated and translated by William N. Porter, brings together traditional epigrams that quietly celebrate the changing seasons and the depth of human emotion.


While the poetry remains untouched in this new edition, the reading experience has been thoughtfully reimagined. The Flickerwell Classics Edition breathes new life into this anthology with a bespoke digital-first design optimized for modern devices.


Why Choose the Flickerwell Classics Edition?


• Seamless Reading Experience: Annotations that were once tucked away in endnotes have been moved to sit alongside the poems they illuminate.

• Restored Images: The original illustrations by Kazunori Ishibashi have been carefully restored and appear throughout.

• Fully Accessible: Built from the ground up in a modern EPUB format, this edition prioritizes accessibility with clean layouts, resizable text, and compatibility with assistive technologies.

• A Perfect Daily Ritual: Organized by the seasons, it is the ideal companion for daily reflection, mindfulness, or a quiet moment of literary escape.


Fully accessible and thoughtfully typeset for digital readers, this edition is the definitive way to experience Porter's elegant translations: whether you read one poem a day with the seasons, or lose yourself in the whole collection at a sitting.