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If one continues to compose poems of the sort that everyone else considers good, one must remain forever at that ordinary level. On the other hand, when one writes poems whose essence is profound and difficult, others fail to understand them, and this is frustrating.

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More quotes by Shotetsu

All these images
from a world of long ago—
of what good are they?
Pine winds, come—please blow away
these unforgotten dreams.

When I
look upon
of summer hairs
by a deer
drawn
at night
to a hunter's torch.

In this art of poetry, those who speak ill of Teika should be denied the protection of the gods and Buddhas and condemned to the punishments of hell.

How cruel the voice
that bars me from traveling
the way of dreams.
Not a man, but still a gate guard
is that wind in the reeds.

As if to say—
"Isn't it true for men, as well:
that the more the words,
the less they are of value?"—
the cuckoo does not call again.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Shotetsu (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.