Arthur Waley introduced many of the great classics of Japanese (and Chinese) literature, hitherto unknown, to a European audience in the first half of the twentieth century. Although he was firstly a scholar, Waley’s translations are elegant and poetic, while remaining faithful to the text, and are supported by lengthy introductions and notes.
Some of the works have been reissued in the past in altered or truncated editions which do not do justice to the original translations. The editions given here are all complete, and represent a corpus of scholarship on Japanese literature which is unique and remains of great importance.
Routledge has already reissued Waley’s Collected Works on Chinese Literature.